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“Yes, he is married. She is dull.” Aphrodite pulled a face. “It means he does not have to exert himself to keep her. Perhaps I am unfair, though, for she seems to be fond of him and he of her. On the few occasions he comes to London she does not accompany him. He is my friend, and she knows that, although she likes to pretend I don’t exist.”
“But you and he are no longer lovers?”
Aphrodite blinked. “No,” she said, and glanced sideways, to where Dobson was standing by the door. “No, we have not been lovers for many years. But we are fond of each other, and he has been a great help to me in business matters.”
Marietta nodded as if it was all clear to her, but she was feeling rather vulnerable. Adam sounded very unlike her and she could not imagine them ever being close after all this time. They may as well be strangers.
“What is his full name?” she said.
“Sir Adam Langley. He is a baronet, and although he is wealthy, he is no Fraser.”
Fraser, Vivianna’s father, had been very wealthy indeed.
“I wasn’t counting on a wealthy father,” Marietta said automatically. “Sir Adam Langley,” she repeated, and smiled. “I like his name, Mama. I hope I shall like him.”
“I hope so, too, Marietta. But there is something more you should know, mon petit puce. Your father has other children. Five of them.” She said it with a lift of her elegant eyebrows. “So you will never inherit, although…” But she shook her head. “Well, I will let him tell you about that.”
“Five children?” she whispered uncertainly. “Brothers and sisters?”
“Oui.”
Marietta felt a stirring of excitement. She would like to meet her half brothers and sisters one day, although it did not sound as if her father’s wife would be very likely to welcome her into their family. And truthfully, Marietta could not blame her.
The carriage arrived soon after, and Marietta settled herself for the journey back to her sister’s house.
She didn’t expect too many awkward questions—fortunately Vivianna’s time and attention were taken up with her baby son—although she knew she did not look her best. Max was right, learning about desire was very fatiguing.
A smile tugged at her mouth, and she bit her lip to subdue it. She wanted to hug herself and close her eyes and let the memories fill her head. Her body was still a bit sore this morning but it was a pleasant sort of ache. Now and again she would feel a slight tingle, as if her most sensitive places were remembering Max, too.
Tonight they would meet at the Lustful Lady, and Marietta knew she could hardly wait.
The house in Berkley Square was a shambles. Boxes and trunks were piled up in the hall, and there were servants scurrying about like scolded cats. Her heart beginning to thump with excitement, Marietta made her way into Vivianna’s sitting room.
A woman looked up from a comfortable chair by the fireplace, her heavily bandaged foot resting upon a plump cushion on a stool. Fashionably dressed in a velvet traveling gown with fur trimmings, she was middle-aged and attractive, with fair hair and light eyes. At the moment those eyes looked tired and there was a crease of pain between her brows, but both were chased away by joy when she recognized Marietta.
“Mama!” Marietta cried, and in an instant was on her knees at her mother’s side, her arms clinging.
Amy Greentree gave a choked laugh, and then she lifted Marietta’s face, blinking back tears as she gazed down into it. “Do you know, my dear,” she began huskily, “when you were little, if you had done something of which you knew I would disapprove, you always hugged me the tighter when you saw me. So what, Marietta, am I to think now?”
Marietta wondered at herself for being so transparent, but then Lady Greentree always had the knack for seeing straight into her daughters’ hearts.
“I am just glad to see you, Mama,” she said tearfully, rising to her feet again. “How is your poor ankle? Are you sure you should be traveling so far so soon? I did not think to see you in London for weeks.”
Lady Greentree allowed her to change the subject, although the expression in her eyes told Marietta that she did know something was amiss and was choosing not to mention it. “My ankle is still a little tender, but I can get about and the traveling was no bother. I simply sat and let others do things for me. Very lazy of me, really.”
“Does Mr. Jardine know you are here?”
Amy Greentree’s smile was open and without any coyness. “No, he is out, but he is expected back very soon. It will be nice to see him again—do you know, I have missed his sensible conversation.”
Marietta experienced her usual frustration. Just a downward sweep of the eyelashes or a flutter of the fingers and she might have been able to hope that her mother felt something more for Mr. Jardine than staid friendship. Yet again it seemed a hopeless case.
“But you have seen Vivianna and your grandson?”
Amy sighed, her eyes growing misty. “Oh, I have indeed. I have been sitting here thinking that I am a very fortunate woman, Marietta. If I had not come upon three lovely little girls on my estate all those years ago I might now have been a lonely and embittered old widow.”
“Fortunate? Hmm, I would say you deserve your good fortune, Mama, if that is what it is to put up with three stubborn and difficult females. In fact no one deserves it more.”
“I would have to agree with that.”
