Chapter 47

The sun coming across the bedspread woke me from my sleep. Almost immediately I felt Mhairi stir beside me.

“Rise and shine, sleepy head,” she said. “Time for your first day as a fully fledged courtesan.”

I groaned in response but threw back the covers.

“Remind me why I’ve decided this was a good idea again?”

“Because money. And let’s not keep the men waiting.” She handed me my dressing gown.

“Something like that.”

“Right. You want the new design?”

“Yes,” I replied, beginning to brush my hair out. “It’s one Keaton will love, and let’s face it, right now he’s the man I need to impress most. Plus, he paid for the extra paint. At least one design needs to be dedicated to him.”

Mhairi came to join me, standing beside me in front of the large dresser on one side of our room. The other side was ordained with several large vases of flowers, each one from a different man I’d been screwed by at my official unveiling, the event every courtesan attends at the beginning of her career.

As I tried t