Page 5 of The Madam’s Highlander

He grimaced inwardly at the distaste of doing the very thing he'd been taught to prevent. But then his thoughts flashed to his mother, left alone in their country manor. She'd never been the same after his father's death. Neither of them had.

Ewan imagined her as he'd left her, sitting on the porch with her frail hands folded tightly over one another, as if she could hold in her fear of losing him. Except he'd felt it - from the moisture visible in her wide gaze to the tremble in her voice and the ferocity of her fragile hug.

He needed to ensure she was all right, and Freya would help him. No matter what it took.

CHAPTER TWO

It was almost dawn when Freya made her way up to her private room within Molly's. It was set far enough back in the establishment to afford her peace, away from the bustle of conversation and the primal sounds of pleasure. God knew she’d heard enough of that through the last two years.

A figure leaned against the door, fading into the shadows.

“Shouldna ye be downstairs?” Freya asked.

A rustle of cloth sounded and the figure straightened so the soft predawn light fell over the brunette's pretty face. Truly in this light, Alli looked younger than her twenty years. Young though she may be, she'd quickly made her way into Freya's trust before Molly's was even in existence.

Alli widened her silvery blue eyes with excitement. “What happened in yer private meeting with Captain Nay?”

Alli fanned her lashes, thick and black as her silky hair. Those lashes had won over many a disgruntled customer, ruffled feathers easily smoothed by the time a new girl could be brought round to see to his needs.

“Captain Nay?” Freya pulled the key from her pocket and cast Alli a questioning look.

“Aye.” Alli squared her shoulders and stood at stiff attention, her face set in an exaggeratedly severe expression. She turned her palm out, as if rejecting an offer of drink. “Nay, thank ye, lass – I'm fine with my tea tonight. Nay, thank ye, lass – I’m fine with my own company and a lonely bed tonight.” The pantomime ended with a casual shrug. “Captain Nay. All the girls call him that. Ye dinna know?”

Freya shook her head with a laugh and unlocked the door. “I apparently hadn't paid it much mind.”

Alli followed her into the large room. “Then surely ye paid a mind to how mighty handsome a man he is.”

“We of all people should know how deceiving beauty can be. Especially exceptional beauty.” Freya set the dagger on the small table beside the door.

“So ye did notice.” Alli put a hand over her mouth to cover a laugh, a habit borne of a crooked eyetooth that left her self-conscious.

Freya made a sound in the back of her throat, partly a hum, partly a scoff, and pulled her father's watch from the small pocket in her skirt. A habitual glance at the scratched glass face indicated it was seven in the morning, meaning it was six. For all the pride her da had in the old piece, it was perpetually ahead of schedule.

She laid it gently inside the china bowl she kept on the table just beside the blade.

Except for those two small reminders of home, Freya's room was as functional as the office housing her other life, the one filled with ledgers and figures and names.

The room consisted of a curtained bed, a wardrobe, the table by the door, another table to hold the ewer of fresh water for bathing, and a massive mirror tall enough for her to see herself from foot to brow. It had been a very necessary, very costly expense for the new madam in town when she'd started her operation two years prior. An appealing madam was a popular procuress.

Freya pulled at the pinching shoes she wore and immediately settled a couple inches lower once her feet were free of the restraints. The balls of her feet ached like she'd worn through the thin skin and worked her way into the hard bone beneath.

“Shouldna ye be downstairs?” Freya asked again while she untied her stockings and slipped the fine silk off her legs.

Alli rolled her eyes with the same exaggeration she'd demonstrated while playing Captain Fraser earlier.

Captain Nay, indeed. The thought brought a smirk to Freya's lips.

“Ye know it's no' ever busy now.” Alli folded her arms over her simple chemise. Aside from the russet-colored velvet cinching her narrow waist, she didn't wear the same lavish clothing as did the other girls. But then she wasn't on sale like they were.

“I was planning to finish reading the book ye lent me,” Alli said. “But then I found something even more enticing than knowing if Juliet would take the poison - ye meeting privately with Captain Nay.”

Freya chuckled and turned her back to Alli. “Verra well. If ye're here, ye might as well be of assistance.”

The click of the door told Freya the other girl had closed it. A soft tug jostled Freya's lower back and immediately the pressure around her hips lessened. “Tessa saw ye walking to yer office with him,” Alli said. “According to her, the good captain couldna keep his eyes off yer backside the whole way there.”

“Couldn't he?” Freya murmured. He’d certainly kept his eyes lifted to her face in so saintly a manner, it lured her to want to tempt him.

So he was not immune after all. She indulged in an arrogant smile.