Page 52 of A Stolen Heart

“Yes, it certainly would have been,” the woman agreed, with a chuckle. “You did right to bring her to me. Now you’ll get paid twice for doing one job.”

“That’s right!” The male voice brightened, as if he had only just realized that fact.

Alexandra stirred. She wished they would go away. She would like to tell them to, but she couldn’t quite summon the words. She tried to roll over, but couldn’t. Her hands seemed to be awkwardly stuck above her head.

“Looks as if she’s waking up,” the woman said. “You’d best hold her, Peggoddy.”

There was a grunt of assent, and something clamped on Alexandra’s ankles, pinning them down. There was the sound of scissors, and she felt her gown move a little. The sound came closer and closer, and as it did, she felt air touch her skin. Suddenly the two sides of her gown were pulled apart, exposing her entire body to the air. At this Alexandra’s eyes popped open.

She found herself staring into the face of one of the oddest women she had ever seen. The woman’s face was wrinkled and lined, like an old woman’s, yet her hair was not white, but an impossibly fiery shade of red. The mass of hair was done in an intricate style, and on one side three bright, long feathers were pinned in adornment. Gold and diamonds winked at her neck and pulled down her earlobes. She wore an emerald dress, cut indecently low to expose her wrinkled breasts almost to the nipples. But it was her face that was the most peculiar. She had covered it with powder and paint in the fashion that had been popular twenty or thirty years earlier, the skin utterly white, her lips and cheeks rouged red. Heavy black pencil lined her eyes and brows, and a beauty patch had been stuck on her upper lip near the corner of her mouth.

The woman was looking at Alexandra’s body, bared to her gaze. She nodded, smiling a little in satisfaction. “Ah, this is a ripe ‘un.” She cupped one of Alexandra’s breasts and jiggled it, studying the way Alexandra’s nipple tightened in response. “Oh, yes, I think we’ll make quite a bit on her.”

Alexandra gasped when the woman touched her breast, and the woman glanced at her. “Awake now, are you?” she asked pleasantly, as if there were nothing bizarre about the situation. “Pretty eyes, too.” She frowned. “Too bad you hit her on her face, though, Peggoddy. That bruise’ll mar her face—and I don’t want to make her up. She’s too fresh-looking for that.” She sighed. “I guess we’ll have to wait a day or two for that bruise to go away.”

“What—” Alexandra’s word came out as a croak, and she swallowed and tried again. “What are you talking about? Who are you? What do you think you’re doing?” She looked at the large man, and suddenly memory came rushing back to her. “What did you do to my mother?”

“I’m Magdalena,” the woman said. “Catchy, isn’t it? There’s them say I’m wicked for using a name from the Bible, but I ask you—isn’t it a name they always remember? Don’t you worry, you’re in good hands. Magdalena knows how to make use of a girl when she gets her. I’m not one what just throws them in there. I make sure I present her right when I get a fresh one like you.”

Alexandra stared at her, uncomprehending. She tried to sit up, but once again was thwarted by her hands. She craned to look behind her and saw, to her astonishment, that a short velvet rope bound her hands and tied them to a hook in the wall behind her.

“What—why—”

“Peggoddy brought you here.” Magdalena nodded toward the huge man at the end of the bed, who was leaning forward, his hands braced on Alexandra’s ankles, weighing her down. “He knows I’m the best, don’t you, Peggoddy? Spread her legs, Peggoddy, and let me see what’s what.”

Alexandra let out a cry of outrage as Peggoddy obediently pulled her legs wide apart. “Stop! What are you doing?”

The woman did not answer, but put her hand between Alexandra’s legs and inserted a finger. Alexandra gasped, rendered speechless by the crude gesture.

“Ah, better and better.” The woman smiled. “A virgin. I’ll fetch a good price for your first time.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alexandra snapped, rage shooting through her. “But you had better let go of me this instant.”

Both Magdalena and the man Peggoddy seemed to find this statement highly amusing, for they began to laugh. Alexandra seethed and struggled against her bonds, which provided the strange pair even more mirth.

“Oh, she’s a feisty one.”

Magdalena signaled to Peggoddy, and he released her feet. He stepped back, but not quickly enough to avoid a kick on his arm from Alexandra. He scowled and raised his hand, but Magdalena motioned him away.

“You’ve already done enough damage. You’re not to touch her again.” She turned and looked at Alexandra, who was twisting and turning and pulling at her bonds. She watched until finally Alexandra gave it up as useless. Alexandra lay, panting, looking at the woman with hatred.

“Yes, I can see you’re going to be a stubborn one. Well, there’s nothing to be done about that. There’s plenty as likes ’em reluctant, ‘specially when they’re virgins. I can think of several who will be quite interested in you. In fact, I believe I’ll start a bidding war among them—that should drive the price right up.”

A chill ran through Alexandra. She was helpless and at this woman’s mercy. She closed her eyes and drew a breath, forcing herself to sound calm. She had to get out of here somehow. She had to find out if her mother was all right.

“Look,” she began. “I don’t know how I got here or why Peggoddy took me, but I can tell you that you have made some sort of mistake. I realize that money is your first consideration. And I am worth a great deal of money. I can pay you more than any of these men you’re talking about, if you will only let me go.”

“More than ten good years’ worth? I don’t think so, Miss High-and-Mighty. Even if you could, I’m not stupid enough to think that I could trust you to pay me after I let you go.”

“Send a note to my aunt. She will pay.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “There’ll be those who will pay me plenty a few nights from now, and I don’t need to be sticking my neck out sending relatives notes and such to get it.”

“No! Please, listen to me. You have to believe me. We could arrange it. I will pay you.”

There was a knock on the door, and it opened. A girl came in bearing a small tray. She barely glanced at Alexandra on the bed, accustomed, presumably, to such sights as a woman in a torn nightgown lying tied to the wall. She set the tray beside the bed.

“Sit up now,” Magdalena ordered. “Here’s food for you to eat.”