Redeeming-Love-By-Francine-Rivers

R E D E E M I N G L O V E
“I…I…beg your pardon, ma’am,” he stammered, confused and embarrassed.
What was this place?
“He thinks this is a hotel,” one of the girls said, looking at the pack slung
on his back. The others laughed.
“Oh, I bet he thinks this is something else all together, don’t you,
honey?” another said, looking him up and down.
Someone laughed. “He’s blushing! I haven’t seen a man blush since ’49.”
“Ladies, please,” the tall woman said, quieting them. She put down the
piece of chalk. She brushed the white dust from her slender fingers and
walked toward him. “I’m Susanna.” She held out her hand, and he took it
without thinking. Her fingers were cool, her grip firm. “How may I help
you?”
“I’m looking for someone. Angel. Her name’s Angel. At least, she used to
go by that name. I thought I saw her come in here yesterday afternoon.”
“Paul?”
He turned sharply and saw her standing in the doorway. She looked surprised
and dismayed. “Come with me, please,” she said. He followed her
down a hall and into a small office. She took a seat behind a big oak desk.
Papers were strewn over it, as were several books. On one corner was a
plain brown hatbox with a slot in it. “Please, sit down,” she said.
He sat and looked around at the simple, pristine setting. He couldn’t
make any sense of it. Why would a madam have an office more suited to a
nun? What sort of classes were being conducted in the other room?
Arithmetic problems had been written on the board, but now that he faced
Angel again, he didn’t think to ask. The old animosity was back in full force.
If it weren’t for her, he would be home with Miriam.
Angel was looking at him with her same directness, but she was different
somehow. He looked back at her coldly, trying to figure out what it was. She
was still beautiful, so incredibly beautiful…but she had always been that:
beautiful, cold, and hard as stone.
He frowned. That was it. The hardness. It was gone. Now there was a
softness about her. It was in her blue eyes, her faint smile, her quiet manner.
She’s serene.
The thought stunned him, and he shook it away. No, not serene. She just
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