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“You know this on so short an acquaintance?” Aphrodite asked curiously.
“I-I do. It’s as if I have known him always.”
Aphrodite nodded thoughtfully, and then took a deep breath. “My advice is don’t tell him what his cousin has done,” she said. “You don’t want to be seen to be telling tales, and Max will discover it for himself soon enough.”
“I wasn’t going to tell him,” she said in a small voice. “It was far too humiliating, Madame. But for the next task we will have to meet somewhere else. In fact I am sure I would make better progress if I made him step outside the place where he feels comfortable.”
Aphrodite nodded. “Very clever, Marietta. You are right, he will always be the master in his own home.” She tapped the arm of her chair, the wood carved into a replica of the sphinx. She nodded again, more decisively. “Yes, I have decided upon your next task. It will be an assignation, as if between two strangers. Do not speak with him before you meet, and when you do you must pretend not to know each other. You are two strangers come together and seeking only pleasure. It will be easier then to play your part, will it not? It will be easier for you to take command, mon petit puce?”
Marietta’s eyes glowed. “Oh, what a marvelous idea! An assignation with a stranger.” And especially when the stranger was Max. “I-I like that very much, Madame. Where shall I meet him?”
Ap
hrodite smiled. “You will meet here, at my club, in one of my private rooms. I will arrange everything—food and drink will be brought to you, and Dobson will be close by if you should need him.”
Marietta shook her head and laughed. “I don’t think I will need him. Max is a gentleman, and it is very difficult to make him stop behaving like a gentleman. He probably wants me to fail, Aphrodite. I had a great deal of trouble even getting him to kiss me! I had to plead with him. But once he started, well,” she smoothed her sleeve cuff, “he was rather good at it, I will admit that. You were right when you said he would know how to kiss.”
Aphrodite gave her daughter an amused look. “Indeed. Well, a kiss is a great step forward. You should not slight it, especially when you worked so hard for it. You have done well to get so far with a gentleman like Lord Roseby. And don’t despair, I have hopes you will get much further. The harder the task, mon petit puce, the sweeter the victory. And it is all to help you, non? So that you can decide whether or not you want to be a courtesan, and whether you enjoy having a man kiss you and touch you and…and more,” she finished, evidently deciding Marietta wasn’t ready for too much plain-speaking.
“I do enjoy it,” Marietta insisted. “Madame, I enjoyed him kissing me.”
Aphrodite’s lips twitched. “But did you enjoy kissing him? That is far more important. The courtesan is mistress of the situation, even when the man thinks it is he who is master.”
“Yes, I did. Very much indeed. I-I didn’t want to stop, but Max pushed me away and told me that was enough practice. I thought that was poor spirited of him, but I believe he was worried he was going to lose control.”
“I believe you are probably right,” Aphrodite said, straight-faced.
“And I suppose I was taking advantage of him. He is still weak from the attack, although he likes to pretend he is fully recovered.”
“Sometimes men need to be taken advantage of. They do not know what is best for them, Marietta.”
“I only hope I can complete my tasks before Max leaves London.”
“He is leaving?”
“Yes. Now that he has been disinherited he intends to go and live in Cornwall and brood on his future, or lack of one.” She rolled her eyes extravagantly.
“You do not feel sympathy for him then?”
“Yes, of course I do. But I don’t think he should give up so easily. I wouldn’t. And there is something odd about the whole business. Max has had a great many accidents apart from his most recent one, and I don’t think they’re accidents at all. I think someone is trying to hurt him.”
“Marietta.” Aphrodite was suddenly alert, the laughter gone from her face. “You must be careful! I do not like the sound of this. If someone is trying to hurt Max, then they may hurt you, too. Perhaps it would be better if we were to forget these tasks altogether. Or find another gentleman.”
Marietta realized that once again her tongue had run away with her, and she cried, distraught, “No, oh please, no! I’ve come this far, and I couldn’t start again now. I promise not to put myself in danger. Don’t make me stop now, please.”
Aphrodite took a moment to choose her words, and uncharacteristically her voice trembled. “Understand this, Marietta. I would never put you in the path of danger again. I have you back now, and I will not risk your life a second time.”
Marietta looked up and saw that her mother’s eyes were shining with tears. She knew that Aphrodite loved her, of course she did, but to see now how much made her heart melt with joy and gratitude.
“I know, Mama,” she whispered. “I won’t let anything happen, I promise.”
Aphrodite took a deep breath. “I will hold you to that.”
Marietta gathered her thoughts. “You have given me my task, the assignation between strangers here at Aphrodite’s Club, but what about the rules, Madame? Are there rules this time?”
“The rules, hmm. Yes, very well. The rules are these. You should dress as my protégés do—to be a courtesan, to feel like a courtesan, then you must look like a courtesan. Don’t worry, I have some gowns you can try on, and we will find the right one for you. When he arrives, you will greet your Max at the door of the room, and take him to the sofa. There you will make certain he is comfortable, and when the food and drink is brought, you will serve him. You will make him feel as if he is the most special man in the world, Marietta. Nothing should be too much trouble for you, nothing he asks—within the terms of our agreement, of course—should be too difficult. You will provide for his comfort, and give no thought to your own.”
“Hmm,” Marietta was frowning. “I thought a courtesan would be more…forthright. You make it sound like being a slave.”
