Sarah Elizabeth Greene awakened later than usual. Lithe form rolled onto back, already uncomfortable from the afternoon’s heat. Delicate chemise clung to fine skin as she yawned. Last night’s tumble with a young captain was all she could manage with all the redcoats milling about and scaring away any potential new acquisitions. She smiled to herself as she gently pulled damp linen from her body and sat up.
Nelly, as she preferred to be called, had arrived in Jamaica three months ago. Since fleeing London, her bawdy house Mistress, and her last lover, who had unwittingly provided enough coin to set her up comfortably in a small house in Port Royal, she had managed to snare several well to do Jamaican merchants and two plantation owners with her charms. They kept her well enough to keep up appearances, but she was always on the prowl for more “income.”
“Sally,” she called sweetly to her young maid. “Come along. I am awake and should see to my toilet. And the bed linens will need changing. Hurry now, the shops will soon be closing their doors and their owners will be out and about and I must make ready.” With a provocative stretch she withdrew from the well worked bed and made her way to the closest window. The streets were once again busy. Hopefully tonight the soldiers and their poor but often captivating officers would not be the only ones out when the sun retired and she set out to business as usual.