Love Redeemed (The Market Series)

by Sorcha Mowbray

  “I believe I have just the girl for you. Philippe, please take him to the Green Room.” She nodded for him to be led upstairs. Following the bewigged liaison, he walked down a hallway and into the aforementioned room. The walls were a pale sage with a multicolored rug in the middle showing a mélange of sage, emerald, olive, and a little brown for balance. The furniture had all been done in variations of the colors found in the rug, as were the bedspread and sheets. There could be little doubt why they called it the green room.

  He looked at the sheets closely, then the drapes. Fingering the sumptuous fabrics, he experienced envy for the lucky man who had this textile account. No expense had been spared on the luxuriousness of the fabrics adorning The Market. A soft knock at the door interrupted his examination. He turned as an all too familiar redhead entered the room. “Serena?” He stripped the infernal mask from his face and still could not credit what his own eyes told him. She was here, in a brothel.

  Her gasp provided confirmation, but when she blanched sheet white and blindly reached out to grasp a nearby chair no doubt remained. The jade-green silk of her dress swished as she moved. He could not help but notice how beautiful she was, an exact replica of his memory.

  “How did you find me?” Her voice cracked.

  “What the hell are you doing in a brothel and where have you been? I looked all over London for you!” Anger boiled deep within.

  Chapter Five

  “I owe you an explanation.” Serena’s shoulders slumped.

  “Is Serena even your real name?” Brennan’s head pounded making her voice sound small and faraway.

  “Yes. I told you my real name.” Silent tears tracked down her cheeks as she looked up.

  Anger warred with the desire to comfort her and sooth away her tears. Compassion won out, though he refrained from touching her. “Tell me what is going on. Please, I must understand.”

  “I’m a prostitute. I live and work here at The Market. My mother was a prostitute. I have no idea who my father was.” She sat down in the chair she had been using for support.

  “Why did you not tell me before I had you to dinner with my friends?” Embarrassment and anger bubbled up again and the edge had crept back into his voice.

  “I should have, but you looked at me in a way I have never been looked at by any man. You treated me differently. For a moment I felt like a woman attractive in her own right, not because I had been purchased like a mare from Tattersalls. I wanted to know what it would be like to be with someone and not have it be a business transaction. You were handsome and earnest, and I was selfish.” She stared at her hands clasped tight in her lap.

  “And when you lay with me? What was that? Payment for my services rendered?” He tried to tamp back the fury burning in him. He could not abide liars. His father had lied to his mother throughout their marriage, and each time she discovered the lies it killed him to see how hurt she was. This whole conversation was too reminiscent of similar arguments he’d listened to as a child.

  “No!” Serena’s head snapped back, horror etched on her face. “That was something shared and beautiful between us. I had no idea it could be like that between a man and a woman.” Her breath hitched.

  “Then why did you leave? Why not stay and tell me?” Brennan needed to know, to understand. Her dishonesty pierced his soul like an arrow to the heart.

  “I had lied! I deceived you and felt dirty for it. But in the end, I could not bear to have you look at me as all men look at me. I wanted to remember how it felt to be seen and respected. Leaving was the only option.” She rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms.

  Brennan drew a deep breath and paced across the room away from her quiet weeping. Her perfidy smothered him, made it hard to think, to trust. But, they barely knew each other for all that had passed between them in such a short time. She lied, but she also showed real regret for her actions. Unlike his father, who had never shown remorse, the deceit tore her to pieces. A small sniffle drew his attention back to her and he turned. She rose from her chair, stiffened her body, and held her head high.

  “I understand how deeply I have wronged you. All I can do is apologize for any harm I have caused you or your family. I do hope in time you might forgive me or at least understand why. Good-bye, Mr. Whitling.” She curtsied and moved toward the door.

  “Stop right there.” He strode across the room and halted before her. Once in proximity to her lush form and delicate scent of lilies, he realized he would forgive her. The burgeoning emotions deep in his heart swept his doubts and fears away as a savage need to restrain her physically from leaving whipped through him. She could not leave like this. Distancing herself was intolerable. “Mr. Whitling? After the intimacies we have shared, I do believe the formality is rather misplaced. Promise me you will never lie to me again. I can’t tolerate a liar.” His voice came out rough, as though he had gravel trapped in his throat.

  “Never,” she averred on a whisper of breath.

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Kissed her with all of the longing he had repressed for the past month. His tongue plundered the warm cavern of her mouth, tasting and stroking. He wanted to know her, know all of her with a bone-deep desire he could not explain.

  Relief washed through Serena when he deepened the kiss. Her body flattened against him as his hands gripped her shoulders causing her toes to curl in her slippers. A deep-seated desire to pleasure him with the full range of her skills drove her hard as she was no longer bound by his notion of virginity. Edging away from his heat, she worked to strip him of his clothing.

  He placed his hands over hers on the buttons of his waistcoat. “Stop.”

  “I want to do this for you. This and other things I could not do that night.” Serenity in the rightness of taking care of him stole through her.

  “Very well, but go slow. I want to savor the feel of your hands on my body.” He released her letting her finish stripping him. Arousal spiked through her veins with the weight of his gaze tracking her every move. “Remove your dress.” His rich tone caused chill bumps to burst over her skin as she reached back and made short shrift of removing the green gown. Beneath she wore a black sheer chemise and under bust corset. She sported stockings with garters, but no drawers as usual. Aware of the erotic picture she presented, her breathing grew shallow to the point of panting.

  He groaned. “On your knees.”

  Feeling her control of the moment slip away left her unsure what had changed, but the natural compulsion to obey his demands drove her. She sank before him, took hold of his rising cock with a firm hand, and proceeded to lick from the back of his balls, over the glans, and to the glistening tip. His body shuddered in pure pleasure she needed no words to interpret.

  With practiced ease, she took his entire length in her mouth and proceeded to let him slide down into the back of her throat. She wanted to bring him to completion once before he touched her. This pleasure was for his enjoyment and hers. Swallowing as he worked in and out of her mouth and throat intensified the sensations for both of them. He moaned, threading his fingers through her hair, and proceeded to fuck her mouth with utter abandon.

  “Serena, I’m close.” He tried to retreat, but she wanted this. Pulling him closer and taking him deep spawned his orgasm. A guttural noise erupted from him as he pumped until the last drop hit her tongue. Reveling in the saltiness of him in her mouth, she released his softening penis.

  With his assistance, she rose up and pecked him on the cheek. “I wanted to do that for you the first time.”

  “Thank you.” He turned his face, kissing her, a velvet caress across her lips, and then led her over to the bed. There he stepped back to stare until she grew uncomfortable. “Beautiful.” He repeated his comment from their first time with the same reverence.

  Warmth centered in her chest unlike anything she’d ever experienced. His treatment of her had not changed with the knowledge of her profession. This was a good man. He kissed her again, letting it trail down he
r jaw to her neck and over her collarbone. He reached the neckline of her sheer chemise and opted to suckle her nipple through the material. Shivers of pleasure radiated out from her breasts to her pussy and everywhere in between. It continued as he switched to her other nipple and bore her back against the coverlet.

  Moving down her body, he spread her thighs, skating his tongue along her slit. Shivers of delight cascaded up and down her body, matching the swirling patterns his tongue traced over her sensitive flesh. Then he drove a finger into her channel, sliding it in and out. She moaned, “Brennan, mmmm….” Her hips pumped against his hand and tongue. He stopped, moving back up her body to kiss her, and this time she slicked her tongue over his lips to taste her essence.

  “Roll over,” he commanded. She obeyed, happy to please him in any way. He situated her on her stomach, hips toward the edge of the bed, and on her hands and knees. Her breasts hung, rasping with delicious friction against her chemise. With her ass in the air, she waited as he drove his finger into her sheath, working it in and out. Then he placed his cock at her entrance and plunged into her body. He withdrew to repeat his thrust and pressed his slick finger against her anus.

  She stiffened. This was new territory for her, something she had never done for her clients.

  “Relax,” he whispered against her skin. “Focus on the sensation of my cock sliding in and out of you.”

  As his finger eased past the tight ring of muscle, she wriggled at the discomfort. Once he slid in, while still fucking her, she realized it wasn’t bad. As he timed the rhythm of his finger and his staff, she appreciated why some enjoyed the sensation. The pleasurable, yet intense, feeling of fullness had her pressing back into both his hand and his cock.

  “That’s it. Let me make you feel good, as good as you’ve made me feel.” His voice sounded gruff with desire.

  The double penetration was a powerful decadence that pushed her over the edge and into the abyss. Her body spasmed all around him with an intensity she could never have imagined as she came apart. He removed his finger from her backside but continued pumping into her pulsing heat until he cried out and withdrew. The warm splatter of his cum hit her backside as he released.

  ***

  In the predawn darkness, as they lay together tangled in the green sheets of the bed, Brennan could no longer deny how right it was to be with her. To hold her in his arms. To love her.

  “I love you, Serena Freemont.” The words escaped before he thought about them, about the repercussions.

  Her gaze hardened, revealing her cynicism. “Don’t, Brennan. What we have is lovely, special even. But, love? Love does not exist. Not for women like me.” She pulled away from him and rose.

  “Do not make light of my feelings, Serena. I care for you. I was worried sick when I could not find you. Now I have, and I will not let you escape from me again.” He climbed off the bed and took her by the shoulders from behind to press her against his length.

  “I’m sorry, but all I can offer you is time here at The Market.” She paused. “I have responsibilities and rules I must live by.”

  “I will not share you with all of London.” Jealousy ripped through his gut and shredded his control. He spun her around and kissed her with all the ferocity contained within. “Mine. You are mine,” he said as they broke apart.

  Serena stared up at him, her breath coming in panting gasps. “I am. In any way that counts, I am yours. But, my body is not mine to give to you alone. Even if it were, I don’t know anything about you.” Her chin tilted up in stubborn determination. “I could not take the risk of walking away from my sole source of income.”

  “Then I will arrange it so your body is mine. I intend to have all of you. Heart, mind, body, and soul.” He wanted her as his wife, but their conversation told him she would reject the idea out of hand. He needed to speak to Madame Marchander about exclusivity and the future.

  A short while later, Brennan found himself sitting across a delicate writing desk from Madame Marchander. Her blond hair glinted in the gaslight as her green eyes assessed him once again. “I take it the young lady I sent you was satisfactory.”

  “She was the precise woman I wanted. I would like to arrange an exclusive contract with her. She will be unavailable to anyone else, and she will come to me in my home when we spend time together.” An experienced businessman, Brennan knew a shrewd negotiator when he saw one.

  “Mmm, that will cost you. Are you prepared to pay for those rights?” She made notes on a sheet of paper in front of her.

  “I am prepared to pay for those rights and the right to marry Serena when I can convince her to accept me.” He decided he needed to lay all his cards on the table.

  “I see. After just one night with her?” Her gaze rested on him full of questions.

  “No. A month ago, she and I met by accident. I did not know who she was when I invited her to have dinner with a few friends and myself. She came and after everyone left, we got to know each other better. I expected to see her again, but she disappeared. I found her tonight purely by accident, but I have no intention of losing her again.” Brennan produced his checkbook and set it down on the desk. “I have no idea how this works, but I would like it resolved tonight.

  “And do you believe she wants to marry you?”

  “I believe she will if given time. I love her, but she claims not to know what love is. I need the time to show her so she might come to understand what we share. I do not wish to rush her, but I will not share her in the meantime, and I do not wish to make her feel trapped. I want her to choose me.”

  “Very good. I believe we can come to an arrangement which will satisfy both of our needs. You will be required to join The Market, until such time as she agrees to marry you. Should that happy event occur, you may choose to end your membership or continue it as you see fit. Our contracts run in six-month segments. For the duration, Serena will be bound to you as a mistress, and will be yours to do with as you please. You may of course feel free to gift her with anything you wish, keeping in mind it is a gift and will not be returned, nor will you be reimbursed at any time. I do not own the girls, so no fee is required should she choose to accept a proposal from you.”

  Brennan nodded. “And what of her staying with me?”

  Madame looked up from her note taking. “She may spend the night with you, but is required to have at least one night a week off. She may choose to spend that night here or under your roof as long as she is not obliged for services, unless they are freely given. If she stays with you regularly, I will expect her to visit with me once a week alone.”

  “Fine. How soon will this agreement be put in place?” Brennan needed to restrain himself, too eager to have it done.

  Glancing at the clock on the wall she replied, “You may return this afternoon to collect Serena and her bags should she wish to go with you. I will have the contract ready for you to sign at that time.” She eyed his bankbook. “A check to cover your membership is all that is left tonight. I will be conducting an investigation into your reputation over the next week and if I find anything objectionable the contract will be null and void based on your failure to disclose such issues.”

  Her gaze bore in to him with an intensity that made him want to squirm like a young boy before the headmaster. It seemed she could see every mistake he had ever made. He wrote out the check and passed it across the desk. “I foresee no issues. Might I see Serena before I leave? I would like to be the one to tell her of our arrangement.”

  “Of course. She should still be in the green room.” Madame nodded in dismissal. Without a backward glance, he rose and departed to inform Serena.

  Chapter Six

  Alone in the green room, Serena waited to find out her fate. Brennan had left her, determined to find Madame, but she could not be sure he had the financial wherewithal to accomplish his goal. Besides being paid well there were other fees involved in being a member of The Market. More private club than public brothel, Madame Marchander catered to
a very exclusive clientele. Most of the members were peers of the realm or the ridiculously wealthy from around the world.

  A single knock was the lone signal she received before the door rattled and swung open. Brennan’s jaw locked tight, his body stiff and tense as he closed the portal. Serena’s throat tightened and her mouth dried out. He failed.

  “I spoke with Madame Marchander.” Brennan crossed over to the bed and sat on the edge.

  “Brennan, it is not your fault if an arrangement could not be reached.”

  “True, but irrelevant. You are now under an exclusive contract to me. You will not entertain any other men.”

  Surprised by the ferocity with which he spoke, Serena took a moment to absorb his words. Brennan had been so gentle before. This possessive side was a new development. She liked it. “Really? That sounds perfect. Will you be returning to see me tonight?”

  “I will be returning tonight to collect you and whatever you will need while you stay with me.” He reached for her hand and took it in his much larger one.

  “Stay with you? I do not understand. My clients have always visited me here. How is that possible?” Her heart sped up as fear Madame might throw her out clawed at her.

  “Part of the arrangement we reached includes you staying with me. You are to have one night off a week, you may choose to stay at my home or come back here to rest. You are to visit with Madame once a week without my attendance, so she may be assured of your welfare. And, of course, whatever gifts I choose to give you are yours to keep.” Brennan beamed at her.

  “Oh my. I had no idea….” She rose and paced. “How long is the contract for?”

  “Six months.” He crossed the room, stepped in her way, and stopped her. His brow creased. “Is this not happy news?”

  How could she explain her fears of being replaced at The Market, of becoming a two-bit dockside whore? “It—it is. Will I have a place to return to here if you no longer want me?” Fear squashed down on her chest, a leaden weight of worry.