Page 70 (1/2)
“Good, then it shall go on as before between you and Max I think, this time, you will meet in seclusion A rendezvous between lovers who are not free to love, so the moment is especially piquant, oui? Would you like that, Marietta?”
She looked up, her tired eyes a, Madame, as you meant it to Where should we have this secluded rendezvous?”
Aphrodite ss to a pri house”
Marietta looked confused
“A pri house is a place used by those ish to re similar entertainments The villa is popularly known as the Lustful Lady Max will have heard of it You will ht at eleven o’clock Do you think you can e that, Marietta?”
“I a name! But even that could not stop the sense of anticipation that was already creeping over Marietta It was as if she was no longer in control of her own desires, and reiven her that was certainly a worrying thing
Marietta pondered whether she should mention to her o with hiht not think they should continue, or rightly suggest she find anotherin love And whatever the rights or wrongs of it, whatever the risk to herself, and despite knowing it could lead nowhere, Marietta wanted to continueas possible—she wanted it desperately
Max prowled his house in Bedford Square, each footfall sure and certain despite the darkness The Pomeroys and Daniel were asleep in their quarters and he was all alone This had been his home since he was a baby and he knew it so well he did not need to see—he could have walked about blindfolded Soon this house would be gone, handed over to Harold and Susannah, and when his father…that is, the Duke of Baras dead, they would have Valland House, too The life that Max had been so coed irrevocably by hisof it at the new year supper He could still hear the duke’s voice, tre with his righteous anger It was Max who had weakened and stumbled from the room
“…the affair was passionate and irresponsible, and a child was conceived A son What does a woman do in such a situation? Her lover has abandoned her to her fate and ruin stares her in the face Even the most honorable of woentleentleman is in love with her, how can she say no? There are moments when she wishes to tell him the truth, many such moments, but as the days pass and his love deepens, she knows such revelations will destroy the happiness that could be hers So she pretends the child is his, and he is overjoyed, and when the son is born no one comments upon his appearance It is accepted that he is his father’s son And he is na is as it should be and not a dreadful lie…”
Max shook the er and more determined as he tried to put theas done, that wouldn’t change anything Max had been forcibly ejected froht, there was a sort of freedo to interest him more and more, and the duties and tasks he had been trained to take over on his father’s death less and less He could be whatever he wished to be; his life was a chart upon which he could plot a new course
Marietta
He remembered her skin beneath his hands, the war as he led her with hi inside hi Stupid, too, because before, when he was heir to the dukedoe hadn’t interested him He had believed that he had plenty of time for such mundane matters—of course he kneould have to marry and produce an heir some day, but he had been in no hurry
If he had known Marietta then, would he have seen her as the woht, would she have been on his carefully chosen list of prospective duchesses? Clearly Harold didn’t think so
For a h-handed interference—but that would keep He would instruct the Po Harold had told them, and the next time Harold showed his face here he would deal with hi from him, but he would not take Marietta
He leaned his head against the cooland gazed down into the quiet square Marietta would be awake now in that apricot bed, with the angels and cupids circling above her He wondered whether she would be thinking of him, and decided she probably was He had used her well, shown her pleasure that she had never known existed, and she had reveled in it Still, knowing her as he did, he adht, and she would refuse to go to Cornwall as his wife She had her stubborn sights set on being a courtesan