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“Ah, but this is only one part of the lesson, mon petit puce. Later, then you can make demands on him. For now he must see you as the perfect woman, the one who holds the keys to all his wishes and dreams. That was what I said a moment ago, remember: He must believe he is the master, even while it is you who are really pulling the strings. And you may not believe it, but in my experience most men would like to be waited upon by a beautiful woman.”
“Oh, very well.” Marietta wasn’t happy. Waited upon? No, she wasn’t happy at all, but she didn’t see how she could refuse. Aphrodite was the one setting the rules, and it was only by abiding by them successfully that she would gain her mother’s patronage.
“After he has supped, you can converse with him, but you must talk only of the subjects that interest him. And you must gaze at him as if every word he speaks is a marvel to you.”
Marietta felt like yawning. She was beginning to grow bored just listening. “Gaze at him, hmm. I see.”
Aphrodite raised her eyebrows at her daughter’s tone, but continued on with her list of instructions. “A man likes to believe he is the center of a woman’s world, the only thing that she sees in it. Make him believe that.”
“I don’t—”
“Flirt with him, Marietta,” Aphrodite said bluntly. “Can you do that?”
“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” She considered it. “Yes, I think I could flirt very well with Max.”
“Good.”
“Should I kiss him again?”
“Of course.”
“And…touch him?”
“If you wish to.”
Marietta tried not to show her doubts, or her excitement.
“Of course, he may not want you to, remember that. He will not, as you said before, wish to lose control.”
No, Max would not want her to take charge of the situation. He would fight her, but she would fight back and…Except that she was supposed to be submissive, she reminded herself gloomily.
“If he wishes to touch you then you should allow him to touch your breasts,” Aphrodite said matter-of-factly. “If necessary he can touch you as far as your waist.”
Marietta had been listening, but her thoughts had taken flight. Max, kissing her, Max touching her, Max holding her in his arms when the balloon landed, his body beneath hers. Unlike the submissive rule, this one appealed to her, this one interested her immensely.
“Yes, Madame, I see,” she said at last. “I understand why you worry, but remember, I am ruined. You don’t have to be concerned about me losing something I have already lost.”
“Perhaps not,” Aphrodite said, with a lift of her eyebrows, “but you are still very much an innocent, and there is money to be made in innocence in this business, Marietta. If you have the stomach for it.”
Marietta gave her a puzzled look.
“Did you know that an untried girl can sell her virginity? There are even auctions for such things.”
She was shocked. Pay for a woman’s virginity? Bid to be the first? Surely a woman’s virginity was a gift in the woman’s keeping? Something to be given when she felt it was the right time and place, and the right man. Not a commodity like a button or a pair of shoes or a carriage horse.
“You are surprised,” the courtesan said gently. “But it is so. It happens all the time, Marietta. If you do decide to become a courtesan, then it is something you should know about. It is not such a terrible thing as you might think. Some girls lose their virginity to a stranger in a hayfield, or a boy they admire at a local fair. It is easily lost, more easily than you imagine. Why not make something worthwhile from the transaction?”
“I just…I always thought it was a gift, Madame.”
“Ah, and I have made it sound like a bunch of turnips on market day? It is a gift, but even gifts can be bought and sold.”
Marietta knew she would have to consider what Aphrodite had said, but the concept disturbed her. She had not been brought up to think in such a way—she supposed she had been privileged, far more privileged than the girls here at Aphrodite’s Club, and far more privileged than Aphrodite herself.
“Do you still wish to go ahead with the assignation?”
Startled, Marietta met her mother’s questioning dark eyes, and then smiled. “Of course. I am looking forward to it!”
“Then we need a time and date. We will say eight in the evening, in four days. I will expect you much earlier, however, so that we can prepare.”
