A/N: It's been years since I've updated this, but it's been begging for an ending. Since I'm not far off it and the muses started giving me ideas since I've started working on other projects, I decided to finish it. Bear with me while I get back into the flow of this story. Thank you to my loyal readers! I love you all!

Juliet stormed into her room slamming the door hard enough to make the walls shake. It did nothing to assuage her fury. It was bad enough she was stuck with Alex, the idea of doing it without the cushioning of laudanum was almost more than she could bear. Already she was craving it, she needed it.

"Your tea miss." The pretentious housekeeper said setting a tray with a tea pot and a cup on the small table in front of the room's fireplace. Juliet watched her stonily as she left making it clear with every line of the woman's body and action said she wholeheartedly disapproved of Juliet's very existence. She expected Alex to hire someone that had morals that wouldn't be offended by Alex's mistress. Juliet was completely positive Alex hadn't been a monk, it wasn't in him. At some point he had to have brought women back to this house. The nightgown and robe that she had borrowed last night had been proof of that, as was the feminine opulence of the room she was standing in. It had been decorated with the intention of making a woman feel comfortable and feminine within its walls. The door that linked her room to Alex's was obviously meant for use and she couldn't see Alex not taking advantage of it. It certainly didn't look like a space for Jack Kelly to stay when he took it in his head.

Irritated at the idea of the room, of the fact he had probably had countless women in the room over the years. She wondered if his previous mistress had decorated it. It certainly wasn't to her tastes and would have to be addressed. She might be there temporarily and she was getting used to that notion, but she would be damned if she would be there with the ghost of another woman, or women. She picked up the tea, thinking of the changes she would have to make. She tasted willow bark tea distracted her from one infuriating situation to another. It was like a taunt, furious and blind with it she threw the cup in the fireplace where the dainty cup shattered with a slightly satisfying tinkle. However, it wasn't enough, turning to find the entire tea set on she snatched it up and threw the entire thing into the fireplace silver tray and all. It shattered with a satisfying clatter and hiss as the tea banked the fire.

"Miss?" The housekeeper asked opening the door moments after her furious shriek and the crash of the tea set going into the fireplace. She looked at the tea that spilled across the floor and the shattered glass. Her lips thinned into a tight line that Juliet had already had enough of.

"Your master is most assuredly no better than I am morally." Juliet snapped, the old woman glared at her, but Juliet held her ground. Rarely did she actually live with her lovers, but if she was going to live here then the woman needed to be set straight. She needed to look at this as another job, she needed to plan and set up her workplace accordingly. "If you entered this house with the thought you would be serving a good upstanding family then you were sorely mistaken. You will treat me with the respect and deference afforded any woman of the house. If you cannot then you may turn in your notice and you will leave without a good reference. "

"You expect me to treat a whore as I would the lady of the house?" the woman asked sharply. "You'll be gone before the month's out and I'll still retain my post no matter your thoughts on the matter. Mr. Conlon has appreciated my services for two years, he'll not take the preferences of a whore into account."

"It's immaterial how long I stay," Juliet responded her voice cool and deadly, much like Alex's in a rage. "For as long as I'm living here things will be run my way, do you understand? I have known Alexander Conlon far longer than you. I was his confidant and playmate as a child. His sister Kat raised me for most of my childhood; we were closer than any of his other associates and friends that might come through his door. If you think for one moment you can treat me any differently than you would treat any of them think again. I'll have you sacked and out of this house before you can blink. I'm not some random prostitute he picked up. I'm a childhood friend he is helping. How, when, and what I do to repay him for his protection and help is my business not yours. Now clean up this mess. I'll be back in a few hours and I expect this room to be put to rights."

She breezed past the older woman not caring in the least what the woman chose to do. If it was necessary to find another housekeeper for Alex, it was something she had handled in the past. It wouldn't be difficult to put the word out through Ally and find someone more suitable. If the woman couldn't handle an unmarried woman living in the house, then Alex had to have managed to hide the fact that he was a thief and a philanderer from her, though the former the woman might not have blinked an eye at. It was far different for a man to take his pleasures where he would than a woman, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd dealt with it.

Perhaps through Jameson he was hiding his nocturnal activities, if that was the case the housekeeper was a ticking time bomb. Juliet needed to treat this like any other job, it was her duty to protect her patron, to be certain Alex's servants had his best interests at heart not their own. After all, if he went down she went with him.

Though it had happened it was very rare for her not to live within her own home. She preferred her space and her clients had preferred it as well. She had found it allowed the space to keep her clients and herself from getting too emotionally involved and add complications. She was a fantasy, from the moment they entered her door she was what they wanted her to be. It wasn't an illusion that could be permanently maintained. It took too much to try and eventually led it to end in fury and disillusionment. It wasn't something she could afford. It was a risk she took with every man she took into her bed; every relationship could come to a dangerous conclusion. Mistresses ended up dead as a result of jealousy of thing were handled with the upmost delicacy and Juliet knew it well.

She needed to set up perimeters, to make certain things started off and remained emotionless, for herself and for her client. Alex would most likely still be in his study, it would be the perfect place for such a conversation as well as setting up a shopping expedition.

The more she treated Alex like every other client the better. There were certain rituals that needed to be observed when taking on a new patron. One of which would be to replace the lingerie from her previous affair. It helped her clear her head from what the previous patron had preferred.

Each client was different, each one had their own fetishizes and different things they found alluring. Normally she would have waited a little while to find those interests. She realized that even though she had given herself to Alex before, she hadn't been afforded the chance to know his interests in that area of his life. Their previous interlude had been so brief she hadn't the chance to know him as intimately as other men in her life.

It was odd to know that the man she had prophesied would be her only love, the first man she had given herself to, she found didn't know as well as men that had meant nothing to her. Shrugging off the thought she made her way back down to Alex's study where she found him still sitting behind his desk examining documents of some sort.

"What did you break?" he demanded not looking up.

"It's irrelevant, I'm sure you can replace it. " Juliet said sitting in the chair opposite of him, waving away his question as if it were pointless. In reality it was, the true purpose of her presence was to lay out their relationship as she would with any other client. It wouldn't do to deviate from her usual protocol." I think there are a few things we need to understand before this goes any further. Because of our past association there is some confusion as to the lines of our relationship."

"I'm listening." Alex replied setting his papers down and steepling his hands as he waited for her to continue.

"You seem to have the misplaced idea that I'm still the naïve girl you sent away all those years ago." Juliet began, he just raised an eyebrow and quirked his lips. It was a look she well remembered from childhood, one that said he was listening intently to both what she was saying and interpreting what was being said between the lines. It was somewhat unnerving, the only person she had ever taken into her bed that had known her anywhere as well as Alex had been Marcus. It was new ground for her and she required their relationship remained professional.

"Oh I think we both know you're no longer naïve." Alex said with dark wryness.

"No I'm not." Juliet replied with a small seductive smile playing on her lips, she skirted the desk and pushed his chair back to sit on his lap. "You may as well enjoy my lack of naiveté, unless of course you prefer the sweet, naïve, ingénue. You wouldn't be the first I've played that role for. Tell me what you want Alex, tell me your fantasies. I'll be whatever you want me to be."

"I'm curious about something." Alex said his voice cool, not responding as she toyed with his hair. She waited for his question not moving from his lap. "How exactly did you end up in your chosen profession? Most women would have started in a house, but not you, how did you escape that fate?"

"Do you really want to know Alex?" Juliet queried in annoyance standing and turning away from him. "Wouldn't be easier to just accept things as they are and enjoy me while I'm here? We both know that this isn't anything more than a short business arrangement. If there was even the slightest chance left we might go back to where we started, it was gone when you found out who and what I've become. What's the point in rehashing what will only make you hate me more?"

"Tell me Juliet." He commanded sitting back watching her closely. "You can tell me or I can find out on my own, your choice. I'd recommend you start with when you left."

"Fine." She sighed returning to her seat and studying her nails in a bored fashion. "I left New York, when I was propositioned at a bar after I had sold most of the family jewels I had taken from my father's house, I accepted. I certainly didn't thing it was the start of a career, but it would keep the wolf from the door. I wasn't very good of course, I hadn't much experience and I'm afraid I was a crier. It's bad for business to cry during the act. It doesn't exactly make a man feel like a god and that is after all my job."

She winced at the memory; it was a painful and humiliating one. Juliet paused trying to decide how much information to tell him and how much to let him find out. There was a piece of her past that was going to infuriate him further. A betrayal that he wasn't going to handle well. Her choice was to tell him herself or to hope he didn't find out.

She shook her head, discarding that latter choice. It would be stupid to hide it from him. He would find out one way or another, he was too good not to. This wasn't her usual customer, this was Alexander Conlon, and if he wanted the information he would get it. It would be better coming from her than finding out from another source.

It could be dangerous for both her and Marcus if she wasn't honest. She refused to repay Marcus for his kindness by putting a wedge between him and Alex. For that matter she refused to let Marcus get hurt for his aid and guidance.

"I wasn't sure I could continue, but the money he had thrown at me once he was done, was enough to keep us in the hotel for another couple days and some feed if we were careful." Juliet told Alex as she paced unable to sit still as she bared a part of her that she had never been forced to with another client. If she hadn't been certain that Alex wouldn't have been stubborn and found out for himself she wouldn't be answering his questions at all. "I knew that there were only two places I could get the education I needed. I could go to a house which really wasn't my style, or I could find a private tutor so to speak."

"Who would you have known that would tutor you?" Alex demanded, she glanced at him to find his face impassive and his eyes narrowed.

"I turned to a man that I knew had a reputation with the ladies." Juliet said in a practical tone. "I went to someone that I knew had enough experience to teach me what I needed to know and that could give me some guidance, as well as a start. You aren't so arrogant that you believe you are the only one of our acquaintances that know how to please a woman and please her well were you?"

"Who was it Jul?" Alex ground out, she could see his hands clenched in his lap, white with his rage.

"Marcus." She admitted. She couldn't help the flinch as he whirled from his chair and slammed his fist through the wall nearest to him. When he would have stormed from the room probably to do Marcus serious damage she found the courage to step into his way and slap her hands on his chest. Her heart was beating painfully in her chest, and her breath was coming in gasps from her fear, but she wouldn't let him harm Marcus.

"Get out of my way Juliet." Alex commanded, pushing her away. She fell to the floor and he paused seeing the terror cross her face, but she stood her ground. She was back on her feet and in his way before he could even feel the guilt at tossing her aside. He could see how much it was costing her to stand down his rage. "How could you? How could he?"

"He didn't have many other options." Juliet agued her voice desperate while she grasped at his arms. "I was going to get into this line of profession whether he wanted me to or not. He offered to fund me for a while, to find a better way, but I was determined. I suppose I wanted to hurt you, to shove in your face what you were trying to force on me. He could see it, so he did what he could to see me safe. He taught me well, he set me up with my first client. After that it's really a word of mouth business. He kept tabs on me and when I got involved with Morgan he came to me, he tried to get me to walk away, but I didn't listen. He threatened to come to you, but I threatened him to tell you who had taught me and given me my start. I don't know who told him, but he helped rescue me from Morgan. He paid for the private home until I was on my feet again; he introduced me to Jarrod once I was. I won't have you fighting with him. He helped me, maybe not how you would have wanted, but in the way I wanted and ultimately needed."

Alex jerked free and stalked away from her. She stood there waiting for the anger and the retribution. She wasn't certain he would be wrong in seeking revenge for what she had done. She could no longer see the right and wrong of it. Her choices no longer seemed as cut and dried as they once had been. She sat in the chair with her hands loosely in her lap.

"I won't go after Marcus." He said after a moment, his look was lividly hostile. Desperately she needed some more laudanum, she needed the calm and dulling of her emotions.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "There are some business matters that still need to be discussed."

"Business matters?" Alex said with a short dark laugh. "Really, what business matters do you need to discuss."

"Last night you told me you wanted me here." She began after a deep breath, turning her gaze from him to look out the window. "I would understand if that wish has changed. Most men prefer to keep me in my own place, out of their hair until they need me."

"You will remain here for the foreseeable future." Alex said stonily. "I've sent for Ally and your things."

"If I am to live here then I have some conditions." She persisted, Alex's look was flinty, but she continued. She had to set the ground rules now before things became confusing and the lines too easily blurred. "My room is mine for as long as I live here and therefore treated as you would treat any guest's."

"I don't think you qualify as just any guest." Alex snapped.

"No I'm not, but I do require some privacy." She maintained. "I will of course be completely available to you any evening you have need. I will be available as an escort should you need me to various functions. My days are my own unless there is a function you need me for. I'm willing to be flexible."

"And if I have need of you during the day?" Alex asked stalking back to her and boxing her into the chair. He hated this, hated the professionalism that she treated him with. In the light of day it was hard to remember the broken sobs that had filled his ears the night before. "Is it just at night that I'm allowed to slake my needs?"

"I suppose not." She replied quietly. "It hasn't been the norm, but I can make allowances to for your wishes. In the usual way of things I would be paid a retainer for my services. It's your choice whether the rest of my bills come to you. Most of my previous employers have chosen to pay for my clothing and for the services of my maid. It is your choice what you chose to pay for."

"Your bills will come to me." Alex told her stepping back and leaning against his desk. "You will be rewarded if your services are particularly satisfactory with jewels as I assume you are accustomed to?"

"We will give this a trial period of a month." She said with a nod to his words. "If before this time you become dissatisfied and I am unable to meet your needs, you are of course well within your rights to dismiss me. Though you would be the first."

"Arrogant?" Alex asked, his eyebrow raising, his lips quirking again.

"Honest. I've never had any complaints, but should you have any I will do my best to see to it you are satisfied, that is after all my role." She said in a brisk businesslike fashion. "I would like to do some shopping this morning. While I assume you have sent for Ally and the rest of my belongings there are somethings I will require."

"I have no problem with you leaving to go shopping Jul." Alex said intentionally using his pet name for her. He saw her wince, but she didn't comment. "You can take Jameson, and I would recommend not trying to lose him. I still have birdies. Jameson has the authority to set up any lines of credit where I do not already have them in place. You will have carte blanche of course.

"Of course." Juliet said with a tight smile. The argument had effectively distracted him from her fit earlier about the laudanum, but he doubted it was the last of it. She was smart, cunning, and addicted. She wouldn't have given up if she hadn't thought she might able to get her hands on some. She had calmed down too quickly to discuss business with him. While she may have changed over the years he doubted it, prior, she would have pressed on sulking for at least a few hours. Jameson would need to keep a close eye on her.

"Where are you intending on shopping?" Alex asked, giving her a measuring look. She gave him a sly smile in response.

"I would be going to West 36th to start with." Juliet told him. "I prefer to buy lingerie from Lucile."

"Of course." Alex said dryly. "Apparently your chosen profession hasn't curbed your taste for the fashionable and expensive."

"Of course not, it's part of my job to be fashionable, and if the fashionable is expensive it's not my fault. Juliet retorted. "My uniform is no different than the maid or the butler. It's just something that society dictates stays between you and I. Trust me Alex you won't feel your money is wasted. "

"We'll have dinner tonight." Alex told her as he rang for Jameson. He handed Jameson a check book and gave quiet instructions as Juliet slipped into her coat.

She felt a heady sense of freedom as she slipped down the front steps of Alex's town home and to the waiting taxi. She spent hours in Lucile, buying lingerie and looking at fashion plates, she ordered four new dresses from Lucile's new line. She adored the flowing feminine style of Lucile's designs. Her hours were spent in a frivolous manner as far as Jameson knew. She had managed to slip two of the girls crisp twenty dollar bills and she slipped out the back with a borrowed coat and hat.

Julia took a taxi to the nearest drug store to purchase laudanum and returned without Jameson none the wiser. She took care to hide the small bottle in the cleavage of her corset.

Breezing through the door, she found Alex's study empty. Momentarily Juliet wondered where he had gone, but she didn't dwell on it. She reminded herself to treat him like she would any other client. She was not a wife to nag him, he could come and go as he pleased. It was her job to please him when and if he came home, to please him as the whim took him.

Juliet did hear Ally's voice wafting down from upstairs. She smiled as followed her maid's voice. She hadn't known how much she had needed Ally until she heard the welcome sound of her ordering Alex's maid and housekeeper in the correct manner of unpacking her belongings, with all the ruthlessness of a drill sergeant. Juliet let Ally handle the housekeeper, if the maid found her unmanageable then woman would be replaced.

"Jameson, please see to it the boxes go upstairs, my maid is already seeing to my unpacking." Juliet called over her shoulder to the butler. "She will be sure that they are put away as needed.

"So we'll be staying with Mr. Conlon?" Ally asked as Juliet entered her bedroom. She took stock of the open trunk, there would have to be more shopping to replace what she had lost on Titanic. She would need to settle in and get a better feel of the wardrobe she would need to suit Alex's needs.

"Apparently he's in need of a new mistress and we both know I'm in need of a powerful benefactor." Juliet replied removing her hat and gloves, tossing them down on the dressing table. "Could you have a bath drawn for me? I think bath before dinner would be just the ticket, and have my new purchases put away please."

"Is there anything I should have readied for tonight?" Ally questioned knowing her mistress's routine.

"Yes, actually." Juliet replied with a smile. "There's a black silk negligée and matching peignoir that I think will do nicely. If you could dispose of my old lingerie it would be appreciated. You may pocket the money as per usual."

"Thank you ma'am." Ally said with a smile, it was standard practice, but appreciated none the less. "I was told on my arrival to remove any of the laudanum or opium you had among your things."

"Apparently Alex has an aversion to me taking it." She replied calmly, she ignored Ally's narrowed look at her easy acceptance of this. "Perhaps I have been taking it a little too often. I'll need you to go to the pharmacy and find a suitable replacement. I'll also need you to procure the usual precautions against pregnancy of course."

"Mr. Conlon would like you to like you to join him for dinner." Ally told her. "You will have time for a nap before you will need to dress for dinner."

"Thank you." Juliet responded. "If you could help me from my gown, I'll lay down."

She would have to keep the laudanum from Ally as well. Normally she would have trusted her maid to keep her secrets. However, Ally had already made her dislike of her use of laudanum known. It was possible with another client that it could have gotten Julia dismissed. Alex would only agree with Ally and Ally would know it.

"I'll get my corset thank you." Juliet told her. "I'll call you if I need anything else."

"Are you alright miss?" Ally asked noting Juliet's hand pressed just below her heart.

"Yes, fine." Juliet waived her away. "Just a little tired and a little unsettled, none of this falls under my usual situation."

Ally nodded, she gave Juliet one last glance before was shooed from the room. Once she was alone Juliet removed her corset and took the bottle out. Knowing it would more difficult, if not impossible to get more she was careful about the amount she took. She needed to keep her visions at bay and she needed it to keep her calm during this trial.

Taking one little extra sip from the bottle, Juliet hiding it behind one of the books on the bookshelf in one corner of the room. She removed the rest of her undergarments leaving them where they fell. The water from the bath Ally had drawn was hot and sweet scented. It allowed the medication to swirl through her body all the more quickly.

Finally calmed and settled as much as she would be able to, she washed and stepped from the tub. Wrapping a soft comfortable linen robe around herself, she settled on her bed to rest. Her eyes were deliciously heavy, her body warm and light, she was asleep before she knew it. It seemed like mere moments later before Ally was waking her to dress.

"Will you dress for dinner Miss?" Ally asked as Juliet rose. Juliet considered it and discarded the notion.

"No, let's give Alex a proper welcome with his new mistress." She replied as she fingering the black lace that had been carefully set across the small settee in her room. "Have dinner brought up, set it before the fire. Has Alex returned yet?"

"No miss." Ally told her. Juliet smiled cunningly, as she unhooked her corset and reached for the new lingerie.

"Send him up when he gets home. Set the table in here and keep dinner warm until he's home." Juliet ordered. Ally nodded and slipped from the room to give her mistress's orders to the rest of the staff.