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“Eighteen, nineteen at the most, is my guess. Let’sseeif her husband left anything intact. Flip her,”she ordered.

While still processing that a woman had touched her there, Rowie found herself facedown on the bed. From somewhere deep inside, she marshaled the strength to scream, but it lasted only a second before a hand on the back of her head pushed her face into the pillow.

“Quiet, girl,”the woman demanded. “You’ll disturb my patrons.”

She kicked her legs as she struggled to breathe, but harsh hands pinned her down. Her mind exploded in horror when her bottom cheekswereseparated, and a probing finger inspected the hole in the back. Itwasshocking, humiliating, and hurtunbearably.

“Excellent,”the older woman hummed. “No one has tilled this little arse. It’s tighter than Dick’s hatband. With a little coaching, she’ll play the part of a trembling virgin perfectly.Spread the news, gentlemen,”she crowed. “This Friday night, we’re having an auction.”

“No!”Even muffled by the pillow, her scream of protest was unmistakable.

“None ofthat,”Madam Heloise warned. “OrI’ll send someone to fetch a gag. You’re not ready forthat—yet.”

Once the rough hands released her, Rowie turned her head to the side and gasped for breath. It was in time to see the woman drop a money pouch into Emmett’s outstretched hand. The sum was considerable from the sound of the clink and the broad grin on his bearded face.

Johnson stood beside him, gaze locked on her, a blend of emotions, pity, and an almost-predatory hunger revealed on his youthful face. She closed her eyes, shutting him out. Having an audience while shewasinspectedand sold like a horse intensified her shame.

“Alwaysgooddoing business with you, Heloise,”Emmett said, sounding quite pleased. “Nexttime, I’ll stick around to sample your new whore.Onceyou’ve got her trained, and I don’t have to put up with her tears and other bullshit.”

A shudder wracked her body at the repulsive thought of him touching her in intimate ways.She’drather die.Fornow, shecouldpush those worries aside because the floorboards creaked, and the jingle of spurs preceded the resounding thud of the door closing.

When silence followed, she breathed asigh of relief, thinking shewasalone.Butshe caught a waft of perfume as someone sat beside her.

“The bastard’s got a heavy hand,”Heloise commented.

Rowie didn’t bother opening her eyes. “Why do you care? Do damaged goods reduce your profit at auction?”

The madam’s frank response was chilling. “I doubt anyone will be interestedin your face.”

When she rose, Rowie cracked open her good eyelid and watched her cross to a cart by the door upon which sat an almost-full bottle of whiskey. She poured a healthy portion into a glass and glanced over her shoulder.

“Care for a drink?”the madam offered. “Given your black eye and the company you’ve been keeping, I figure youcoulduse one.”

Whenshe didn’t answer, the woman shrugged, tossed back the generous shot, and studied her at length.

Rowie returned her regard. Heloise was not unattractive.

The kohl around her eyes and the cherry stain on her lips were too heavy, but she imagined that came with the territory in a place like this.

What caught and held her attention was the low-cut neckline of her red satin dress, revealing the upper curves of the most enormous breasts Rowie had ever seen.

Her cleavage alone had to measure eight inches.

The tightness of her corset had them essentially spillingover the top, but without it, her chest would still be impressive.

Slight of frame, itwasa marvel how she kept from toppling over.

“You work for me now, and I don’t tolerate slackers,”she informed her sharply. “You’re shocked by the turn your lifehastaken, but you’ll have togetoverthatfast. I have bills to pay and customers who need servicing.”

The wordsshe’dspokenwereplain and straightforward, and after whathadtranspiredin this room in the last half hour, she nolongermisconstrued the soundsshe’dheardin the hallway for pain.

Thiswasn’ta bad dream. The outlaws, the madam, and Carson’s deathweren’tfigments of her twisted imagination.

Thatdidn’t mean she couldn’t close her eyes and hope when she opened them again,she’dbe back home, safe in her bedroom at Eldridge House.

She gripped her chin, nails digging into her skin. “You don’t shut me out. Do youhearme, girl?”Heloise demanded. “I paidgoodmoney for you, which means I own you.Ifyou eat, where you sleep, and when you piss are all up to me. Ialsodecide who fucks you and how.”

The biting fingers released her, but only to deliver a stinging slap across her face. It wasn’t damaging like Emmett’s knuckles connecting with her cheekbone, but it hurt. Instinct made her open her eyes to see where the next blow would come from.

“That’s right. Youlookat your mistress when she’s speaking,”she declared, leaning over her.

“You can forget about the dreams you had yesterday. Today, your purpose is to make me lots of money. If I tell you to wrap your lips around a patron’s cock and suck, you’ll suck.

If he wants you to ride him like Annie fucking Oakley, you’ll whoop and holler and mount up as if you’ve wanted nothing more in your life.

Then, you’ll use that little cunny to milk him dry.

And by that, I mean relieving him of every cent he has.

Your job is to get him so enamored with your charms that he’ll come back for more.

Repeat business is where the real money comes from. ”

Her anger faded as she sat back and smoothed down her dress.

“Myspecialclients are creative. They won’t settle for a blowjob or a quick dip of their willie.

Butyou’ll be eagerevenif he wants to bend you over and go through the back door because that’s an upcharge.

Better if he brings a friend so they can both have a go at you at once, which is double.

”She waved a hand, setting her massive breasts to jiggling.

“Butyou don’t have to dicker about price; I negotiate.

All you need toknowisthatI’m the one you must please,evenmore so than your customers.

Disobey me, and the cost is steep. Comply, and you’ll find I’m not such a heartless bitch, after all. Isthatunderstood?”

“No,”she whispered despite being terrified of her and everything she had said, some of which she didn’t comprehend and never wanted to.

“You can’tjustbuy me and force me into servitude.

We fought a bloody war overthat. Carson and Iwereheading west to start a new life.

ButEmmett stopped our train and snatched me off it. Itrulydon’t belong here.”

Laughter burst out of her, high-pitched and jarring.

“Thereare three thousand prostitutes in this city,”she stated, motioning toward the window.

“Do you think any of them imagined a life with strangers sweating and coming all over them night after night? Each one has a hard-luck story to share. ‘My husband beats me,’”she mimicked in a whiny voice.

“‘My partner ran off with another woman, leaving me and our kids homeless and broke. I can’t find a decent-paying job.’”

Heloise tended to gesture while speaking, and she did so now, extending both arms to the sides. Rowie expected her to burst a seam and spill out of her dress at any moment. By some miracle, the stitching held up under the strain.

She went on, “‘Scrubbing clothes until my hands are cracked and bleeding is hard.’And the most common complaint of all, ‘I’m hungry.’”Without an ounce of sympathy, she concluded, “Your dead husband excuse isn’t unique.”

Music and laughter drifted through the floorboards as the madam stared at her coolly. “Where are you from?”

“Virginia,”Rowie answered, failing to see its relevance.

“A rebel,”she concluded, appearing disappointed. “Were you burned out or driven off by the Yankees, like everyone else?”

“I left for other reasons.”

“What reasons?”

“I got married, for one.”

“Hm…Buthe’s dead, as you say. Do you have other family? Does he? Someonewho’dcompensate meconsiderablyfor my trouble?”

“Like a ransom?”Rowie asked.

Jael would laugh at such a request and take joy in the prospect of her much-despised stepdaughter working in a brothel. Rowie tried to think of someone who might have the funds to help, but she couldn’t; she had no one.

The madam grunted. “I thought not. With your husband dead and no kinfolk to go to, what did you plan to do when you arrived in St. Louis? Forge on to the untamed frontier by yourself?”

“They took me so fast, I didn’t have time to consider.”

“The bit about finding a job wasn’t a lie. Decent work for good pay is a rarity in this town. You sound like quality, but you can scratch governessing off your list without references.”

“I play piano; I could teach.”

“Not off the street,”she scoffed. “Ifyou leave here, you’ll be starving and sick within a week.Ifyou make itthatlong without being raped or murdered.”

Images of her sucking and riding and bending over for countless men to make the madam lots of money prompted her to ask, “How is working for you so different?”

“Here, yougetprotection, a place to sleep, bathe, and three hot meals daily. I’veevengot a doctor who comes aroundregularlyto handle any problemsthatshould arise from the trade.”

She frowned, not understanding.

“By the saints,”Madam Heloise exclaimed as she tossed up her hands. “I’m talking about pregnancy.Surely, a farmgirlknowshow babies are made.Ordid you grow up on one of those fancy plantations?”

“We grew corn and tobacco, butmostlywe raised horses.”