Free The Grand Masquerade (The Bold Women Series Book 4) by Amanda Hughes

you have a patois, your French is tolerable.”
    Putting his fist to his mouth, he started to pace. He walked for so long he seemed to have forgotten her. Merry-makers staggered past him, tilting bottles to their lips, shouting and laughing. Whores could be heard hawking customers in the distance. Down by the landing a firearm discharged.
    After a while Sydnee assumed he was done with her, and she started back up the stairs.
    “Come back here,” he barked.
    Sydnee approached the man once more.
    With his lip curled, he asked, “How would you like a job working for only one customer?”
    “What would I do?”
    “This filth,” he said, nodding toward Madame Magdalene’s house.
    Sydnee blinked and asked, “Will I work for you?”
    “No thank God , ” the man said, rolling his eyes. “For my master. He has sent me to Natchez to find—to find—a girl of your sort.”
    Swinging his cane, he said, “Come, we will talk elsewhere.”
    They pushed through the streets, torches blazing outside of every establishment. The thoroughfares were muddy and crowded as patrons zigzagged in and out of every saloon. Clearly disgusted by the rabble, the man picked his way delicately through the throng. Sydnee, Vivian and the dogs followed behind him in a line. When they got to the river, the man stopped and asked, “Are you aware that there are creatures following you?”
    Sydnee nodded and said, “These are my friends.”
    “Well, tell them to wait here.”
    He turned and nodded to an attendant who was guarding the ramp of the paddle wheelers and said to Sydnee, “Come along!”
    Sydnee thought she would be happy to be boarding a paddle wheeler, but instead she was nervous. Lanterns were hanging on the deck, shedding a dim golden light as she followed him onto the boat. The paddle wheeler was quiet and deserted. The man picked up a smoke pot to ward off mosquitos and set it by a table. He sat down, crossing his hands over the head of his cane and looked at her.
    Sydnee stood before him, her eyes wide with expectation.
    “First things first. My name is Maxime. I am acting on behalf of my master who lives in New Orleans. I have been instructed to find a--tutor—for his sixteen-year-old son. The boy has some habits which are unnatural, and we do not approve.”
    Maxime pursed his lips. “Although there are women of your sort in New Orleans, I have come all the way to Natchez because this is a matter of utmost secrecy. My young master’s reputation is at stake as well as his father’s reputation. You will live in New Orleans with the family, take a room in the servant’s quarters and visit the young man as necessary in his garçonnière.
    When Sydnee looked confused, he explained. “The garçonnière is a small building in back of the main house where young gentlemen reside.”
    “What will I teach him?” Sydnee asked.
    Maxime clenched his jaw and looked from side to side. “ Mon Dieu ! Must I be explicit? The art of love—passion,” he hissed, clearly embarrassed. “Most importantly, you will teach him to desire females.”
    They fell silent a moment. Sydnee could hear the river splashing gently against the hull of the steamboat.
    “How old are you?” he asked.
    Remembering that she just had a birthday within the past few weeks, she said, “Fifteen.”
    Maxime put the hankie back to his nose and said, “Well, the first thing you must learn is to bathe regularly and wear becoming clothes.”
    Sydnee nodded.
    “Very well,” Maxime stated, standing up. “Come back tomorrow at dawn. We will be taking this packet to New Orleans.”
    *                    *                     *
    Sydnee found a private spot outside of town in the woods where she pitched a tent over a low branch. All night she was awake, listening to the dogs snore beside her. The thought of leaving her friends was torture. They were all she had in this world, and they had saved her life time and time again. Now she