Glorious Angel by Johanna Lindsey

eyes opened wide. But Angela wasn’t paying attention to them as she stared at the brown building across the street. She was lost in the past. In all these years, hardly a day passed that Angela didn’t think about Bradford, and now she had seen him once again.
    Jane shook Angela’s arm. “Why don’t you go in there and see him? You know you want to.”
    “I—I couldn’t,” Angela stammered.
    “Of course you can,” Jane said, a gleam in her eyes. “We will say that you met a lady friend who offered to take you back to school.”
    “But that’s a lie.”
    “We’ll keep your secret, Angela,” Sybil offered encouragement. “And you can always hire a carriage to take you back to school if your friend won’t. It’s early in the afternoon. You won’t be missed until dinner. Go on into the building.”
    Angela handed her small package to Jane and slowly crossed the street.
    But when she reached the steps that led to the brown building, she suddenly had reservations about going on. It was an awfully brash thing to do, to go looking for a man. What would Bradford think of her?
    Angela turned about quickly, suddenly ready to run back to the store. But the girls were gone.Why not see it through? It seemed silly not to talk to Bradford.
    Angela mounted the steps and knocked loudly on the door. A few moments later the door was opened by a tall man in rolled-up shirt sleeves and vest, a cigar stuck between his teeth, who waited for her to speak. When she didn’t, he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, closing the door behind her.
    “Got to keep the cold out, honey,” the man said in a gruff but friendly voice.
    It took Angela a few seconds for her eyes to become adjusted to the dim lighting in the foyer, but she could see clearly into the room off the foyer that was brightly lit and filled with men and expensively dressed women sitting around large tables. This was a gambling house! Smoke floated out of the wide double doors, and the sound of laughter, groaning, shouting, and swearing mingled together. She saw that the foyer and the room beyond had dark red walls, with lewd pictures covering them.
    The man behind Angela startled her when he began removing her cape. “Since you ain’t escorted, you must be the new girl Henry promised to send over. Hey Peter!” he called out. “Go tell Maudie the new girl is here. You better give me your jacket too, honey. It’s nice and warm in here and we don’t want to hide the goods. You’re sure a fancy dresser, but you ain’t much for words. Come on, Maudie’s waiting.”

    Angela was speechless. What new girl was she supposed to be? She should explain, but the man was pulling her along behind him. He entered a room across from where the gamblers were winning and losing fortunes, and left her without saying any more.
    The room was large, and filled with women dressed in bright silks and satins, and lounging on plush velvet sofas. Even the walls were velvet. There was a fancy staircase in the back of the room, and here Angela saw Bradford on his way up the stairs, a pretty redhead on his arm. He saw her too and suddenly stopped. Her heart seemed to stop and her palms began to sweat. Did he recognize her after all this time?
    “Hey, Maudie, I’ve changed my mind,” Bradford said. “I’ll take that new girl.”
    Maudie looked in Angela’s direction and then smiled up at Bradford. “New is right, gent. That one will cost you extra.”
    “Hell!” Bradford grumbled. “I’ve already lost a damn fortune at your tables, so have a little pity.”
    “Sorry, gent, but that one is going to be in demand. She comes high.”
    “All right, how much?”
    “Double,” Maudie answered.
    Maudie approached Angela as the redhead left Bradford’s side and descended the stairs, a pouting expression on her heavily painted face. Angela realized now that all these women were prostitutes.

    She would have a hard time explaining her way out of here. But maybe Bradford had recognized