The Raven Prince (Princes #1)(22)
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt

“Then why do you choose to wade into muddy streams after sheep?”

The earl shrugged his damp shoulders. “My father taught me that a good landowner knows his tenants and what they are doing. Then, too, I am more involved because of my agricultural studies.” He shrugged again and smiled at her rather ironically. “And I’m fond of wrestling ewes and the like.”

Anna returned the smile. “Did your father wrestle ewes as well?”

There was a silence, and she feared for a moment that she’d asked too personal a question.

“No, I don’t remember him getting that dirty.” Lord Swartingham watched the road ahead. “But he didn’t mind wading into a flooded field in spring or overseeing the harvest in fall. And he always took me with him to mind the people and the land.”

“He must’ve been a wonderful father,” she murmured. To have raised such a wonderful son.

“Yes. If I’m only half as good a father to my own children, I’ll be content.” He looked curiously at her. “You had no children from your marriage?”

Anna glanced down at her hands. They were clenched in fists over the reins. “No. We were married for four years, but it was not God’s will to grace us with children.”

“I’m sorry.” There seemed to be honest regret in the earl’s eyes.

“As am I, my lord.” Every day.

They were silent then until Ravenhill Abbey came into sight.

WHEN ANNA REACHED home that evening, Pearl was sitting up in bed and eating soup with Fanny’s help. She was still thin, but her hair had been pulled back from her temples with a bit of ribbon, and she wore one of the little maid’s old dresses. Anna took over the duty and sent Fanny down to finish making the supper.

“I forgot to thank you, ma’am,” Pearl said shyly.

“It’s quite all right.” Anna smiled. “I only hope you feel better soon.”

The other woman sighed. “Oh, I just need some rest, mostly.”

“Are you from around here, or were you traveling through when you became ill?” Anna proffered a bit of beef.

Pearl chewed slowly and swallowed. “No, ma’am. I was trying to get back to London where I live. A gent brought me out here in a fine carriage promising to set me up proper like.”

Anna raised her brows.

“I thought he was going to put me up in a little cottage.” Pearl smoothed the sheet under her fingers. “I’m getting older, you know. I can’t be working too much longer.”

Anna remained silent.

“But it were just a con,” Pearl said. “He only wanted me for a party with some friends.”

Anna cast about for something to say. “I’m sorry it wasn’t a permanent position.”

“Yeah. And that weren’t even the worst of it. He expected me to entertain him and his two friends.” Pearl’s mouth twisted down.

Two friends? “You mean you were to, um, entertain three gentlemen at once?” Anna asked faintly.

Pearl pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah. All together or one after another.” She must have seen Anna’s shock. “Some of them fine gentlemen likes to do it together, sort of showing off to each other. But the girl gets hurt lots of times.”

Good Lord. Anna stared at Pearl, appalled.

“But it don’t really matter,” Pearl continued. “I walked out.”

Anna could only manage a nod.

“Then I started feeling bad on the coach back. I must’ve dozed off, ’cause next thing I knew, my purse was gone and I was having to try to walk since the coach wouldn’t let me back on without my money.” Pearl shook her head. “I would’ve been dead for sure if you hadn’t found me when you did.”

Anna looked down at her palms. “May I ask you a question, Pearl?”

“Sure. Go ahead.” The other woman folded her hands at her waist and nodded. “Ask me anything you want.”

“Have you heard of an establishment called Aphrodite’s Grotto?”

Pearl cocked her head back against the pillow and looked at Anna curiously. “I didn’t think a lady like you knew about such places, ma’am.”

Anna avoided Pearl’s gaze. “I heard it mentioned by some gentlemen. I don’t think they knew I’d overheard.”

“I don’t guess not,” Pearl agreed. “Why, Aphrodite’s Grotto is a real high-priced bawdy house. The girls who work there have it soft, that’s for sure. ’Course, I’ve heard that some high-class ladies go there with their faces hidden by a mask to pretend to be what I am.”

Anna’s eyes widened. “You mean…?”

“They take whatever gent that catches their fancy in the room below and spends the night with them.” Pearl nodded matter-of-factly. “Or however long they want. Some even take a room and instruct the madam to send up a man of a certain description. Maybe a short, blond fellow or a tall, red-headed one.”

“It sounds a bit like picking a horse.” Anna wrinkled her nose.

Pearl gave the first smile Anna had seen. “That’s clever, ma’am. Like picking a stud.” She laughed. “I wouldn’t mind being the one that does the choosing for once, instead of the gents always getting to do the deciding.”

Anna smiled a little uncomfortably at this reminder of the realities of Pearl’s profession. “But why would a gentleman submit to such an arrangement?”

“The gents like it because they know they’re getting to spend the night with a real lady.” The other woman shrugged. “If you can call her a lady.”

Anna blinked and then shook herself. “I’m keeping you from your rest. I’d better go see about my own supper.”

“All right, then.” Pearl yawned. “Thank you again.”

All through supper that evening, Anna was distracted. Pearl’s comment that it would be nice to do the choosing for once kept running through her head. She poked rather absently at her meat pie. It was true, even on her level of society, that the men got to do most of the choosing. A young lady waited for a gentleman to come calling, while the gentleman was able to decide which young ladies to court. Once married, a respectable woman waited dutifully for her husband in the marriage bed. The man made the overtures of marital relations. Or not, as the case may be. At least it had been so in Anna’s marriage. She’d certainly never let Peter know she might have needs of her own or that she might not be satisfied with what occurred in bed.