Read Online The Veiled Heart (The Velvet Basement Book 1) by Elsa Holland - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Elsa Holland
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for free.” She tugged down her chemise and let a full plump breast slip over her corset. “Come have a suckle, darling, I don’t bite.”
He cocked his head to the side and smiled, shrugged; she laughed then turned and went into the room.
A few more girls arrived before the corridors quieted.
He hung back in the corridor and waited a good five minutes, sure that all those due to attend were there. Inside, poorly lit steps led down into a large room in the basement. No doubt, the biggest room the brothel had for the workers to congregate in a single group.
The room sat partially above ground with long narrow windows high on the wall for some light during the day. It had some tables and chairs as well as baskets and boxes with vegetables. Carrots, potatoes, and some cabbages.
He pressed himself into the shadows and out of sight.
Veil removed, Lily stood at the front of the room and explained the virtues of protection to a crowd who were there because they’d been told to be. Most of them were chatting amongst themselves and not paying much attention.
To his mind, she was doing a stellar job given that last night was the first she’d heard of most of the facts she was presenting. His chest felt strange watching her speak so earnestly about the girls’ rights. She discussed their worth and the importance of taking charge of their bodies.
The fun started when she handed out the sheaths and the girls demonstrated strategies for using them.
Someone pulled out one of the carrots and established a competitive edge as those more experienced used not only their hands, but also their mouths and breasts to perform the task.
The changes in his Lily could not be mistaken. As the women started to play with the sheaths, experiment, and laugh, she relaxed.
Her laughter, when it came, was released like a bark. It just built up and burst out of her in the most undignified and yet captivating way. No, there would be no shy giggles behind her hand, not for his fearless Lily.
It should have at least made him smile, but it didn’t. Every second thumped tension in him. For her to be here now meant she had been here before, most likely on her own. He was tense at his own safety, even dressed down as he was he was clearly a man or more means that the residents, this late, this area, they were asking for real trouble.
In just under an hour, Lily packed her things, wrapped her veil back tightly around her face, and slipped on her overcoat to take her leave from a woman who seemed to be the proprietress. The leave taking involved an exchange of some kind of purse.
Blast it!
She had to pay for the privilege to help.
He slipped out of the room and waited in the corridor as the girls came out. What would make her come here? Put herself in danger? She was clearly not some suffragette. However, these women were important to her. Well, at least doing this for them was. Enough to ignore her own safety.
He moved back down the dimly lit space in the opposite direction of the exit.
The girls filed past in waves of cheap perfume and sweat, encased in yellowed chemises and worn corsets.
Some were twirling their sheaths and others stuffing them between their breasts.
“I’m ’ere to make a living. No food is going on the table if I have to ask every John to slip his piece in this.” A large, wiry-haired blonde had the sheath over two of her fingers and waved it around while wriggling her body around suggestively.
The four girls around the blonde laughed and started dueling with their sheath-covered fingers. “Down , boy.” “Give it to me. Oh, just like that , big boy.”
A buxom matronly type marched past the lot of them.
“I’m keeping mine. The bleeders put all sorts in your mouth.” The matron waved hers under his nose. “Something for you, honey?” She smiled and showed only gums. What could he do? If he smiled, there was no saying what that could be interpreted as. So like a man in a basin of cobras he stayed as still as
He cocked his head to the side and smiled, shrugged; she laughed then turned and went into the room.
A few more girls arrived before the corridors quieted.
He hung back in the corridor and waited a good five minutes, sure that all those due to attend were there. Inside, poorly lit steps led down into a large room in the basement. No doubt, the biggest room the brothel had for the workers to congregate in a single group.
The room sat partially above ground with long narrow windows high on the wall for some light during the day. It had some tables and chairs as well as baskets and boxes with vegetables. Carrots, potatoes, and some cabbages.
He pressed himself into the shadows and out of sight.
Veil removed, Lily stood at the front of the room and explained the virtues of protection to a crowd who were there because they’d been told to be. Most of them were chatting amongst themselves and not paying much attention.
To his mind, she was doing a stellar job given that last night was the first she’d heard of most of the facts she was presenting. His chest felt strange watching her speak so earnestly about the girls’ rights. She discussed their worth and the importance of taking charge of their bodies.
The fun started when she handed out the sheaths and the girls demonstrated strategies for using them.
Someone pulled out one of the carrots and established a competitive edge as those more experienced used not only their hands, but also their mouths and breasts to perform the task.
The changes in his Lily could not be mistaken. As the women started to play with the sheaths, experiment, and laugh, she relaxed.
Her laughter, when it came, was released like a bark. It just built up and burst out of her in the most undignified and yet captivating way. No, there would be no shy giggles behind her hand, not for his fearless Lily.
It should have at least made him smile, but it didn’t. Every second thumped tension in him. For her to be here now meant she had been here before, most likely on her own. He was tense at his own safety, even dressed down as he was he was clearly a man or more means that the residents, this late, this area, they were asking for real trouble.
In just under an hour, Lily packed her things, wrapped her veil back tightly around her face, and slipped on her overcoat to take her leave from a woman who seemed to be the proprietress. The leave taking involved an exchange of some kind of purse.
Blast it!
She had to pay for the privilege to help.
He slipped out of the room and waited in the corridor as the girls came out. What would make her come here? Put herself in danger? She was clearly not some suffragette. However, these women were important to her. Well, at least doing this for them was. Enough to ignore her own safety.
He moved back down the dimly lit space in the opposite direction of the exit.
The girls filed past in waves of cheap perfume and sweat, encased in yellowed chemises and worn corsets.
Some were twirling their sheaths and others stuffing them between their breasts.
“I’m ’ere to make a living. No food is going on the table if I have to ask every John to slip his piece in this.” A large, wiry-haired blonde had the sheath over two of her fingers and waved it around while wriggling her body around suggestively.
The four girls around the blonde laughed and started dueling with their sheath-covered fingers. “Down , boy.” “Give it to me. Oh, just like that , big boy.”
A buxom matronly type marched past the lot of them.
“I’m keeping mine. The bleeders put all sorts in your mouth.” The matron waved hers under his nose. “Something for you, honey?” She smiled and showed only gums. What could he do? If he smiled, there was no saying what that could be interpreted as. So like a man in a basin of cobras he stayed as still as
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