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August rang off. “No one home,” he said. Her phone immediately ceased buzzing. “Guess you’re out playing tennis. Let’s try again.”
He dialed. Lia’s phone buzzed. And buzzed. And buzzed. If Lia had a gun, she’d use it to shoot her phone.
August rang off once more.
Her phone stopped buzzing.
“One more time,” August said. “She must be out gardening...” He dialed again. Lia’s phone buzzed again.
“Fine. Fine. You can stop now,” Lia said. August slipped his phone back into his pocket.
“Forget it,” he said. “I’ve never played tennis in my life.”
“The Young Ladies’ Gardening & Tennis Club of Wingthorn Hall isn’t a gardening or tennis club.”
“You don’t say.”
“I happen to manage the ‘appointments’ and the money of some friends of mine who are in the business of pleasure,” Lia explained. “That’s all. That’s why her number rings to me. If you want to see her, you come through me first.”
“You know it’s illegal,” he said. “Not being an escort. That’s legal. I would know. But you...runningan escort service is considered pandering and that is a crime in this country, you wicked tart.”
“I know the law,” Lia said. “Two of our best customers are barristers.”
“Tell me something. Why does a wealthy peer’s daughter need to have her own escort service? Your parents are filthy rich.”
“My parents have an open marriage. My grandfather had the largest vintage porn collection in Europe. My grandmother collected the lingerie of famous courtesans. My great-grandfather slept with hundreds of prostitutes in his life. He even died in the bed of his teenage mistress—exactly how he wanted to leave the world. The Godwicks have been playful deviants for centuries. You could call sex the family business if you want.” There was more to the story—much more—but she wasn’t about to give August more of her secrets than she had to. “Why do you do it?” she asked him.
“I love making love,” he said. “Friends, Romans, countrymen. All of them. Line them up and lay them out. That’s me.”
“Got a tart card?” she asked.
“Do you wish to hire me? My week is fairly open,” he said.
“You make a lot of money at it?”
He tilted his head to the side, raised his hands slightly, gave her a look that said,Really?
“Right. Stupid question,” she said. Lia walked over to the mantel. She turned Aphrodite back around. “So let me guess, you’re blackmailing me?”
“I would never blackmail you. It would be an utter betrayal of who I am and whatwedo,” he said.
She didn’t miss the pointed “we” in his statement.
“I’m attempting to get your attention, Lia. I need you to take me very seriously.”
If she hadn’t been taking him seriously before, she certainly was now.
“All right, you have my attention.”
“Good. I promise, I don’t like being the bad guy, Lia. And I hate being serious. I’d much rather we take our clothes off and jump into bed than have a serious talk. Sometimes it can’t be avoided, however. This is one of those unfortunate times.”
Lia ignored the comment about bed and jumping and her. At least, she tried to ignore it.
“Now...” August continued, “whether you like it or not, you need to either sell me the Rose Kylix or put it into my safekeeping.”
“Daddy was right about you. I should have listened.”
“Your father knows nothing about me, I promise,” August said. “If he knew what I knew, he never would have given that kylix to you. It is anextremelydangerous artifact. It can’t simply be left sitting around your rooms, waiting for someone to get pissed and drink a toast out of it for laughs and end up in an asylum because Zeus showed up in their bedroom five minutes later in the form of a giant swan with a raging stiffie.”
