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wise to spend some of your earnings on French lessons. I said that you are annoyed and that I understood and that Im sorry. It was not precisely a compliment.
    Then you shouldnt make it sound like one, she snapped.
    Sherry smiled now. Her lamentably accented English was noticeable for its absence. The trickery was always beneath you, Fanny.
    Oh, do not call me that. I detest that name.
    It is a perfectly fine name. Is it really yours?
    She reached for the silken robe that lay at the foot of the bed and slipped it on. Yes, she said, biting off the single syllable as she knotted her belt. Not Francine or Francesca or even Francis. Fanny.
    And your last name? Is it Dumont? He actually blinked at the glare she served up. Oh no, he said, thinking it through. Never say du mont mountain He was tempted to raise a hand to ward her off. He could not acquit her of wanting to scratch out his eyes. Hill, he said. You were born Fanny Hill
    Sherry did have to move quickly then, for she threw a pillow at him and was scrambling for her brush on the bedside table. He ducked when it came flying at his head. Have off! A truce. This would cost him dearly, he suspected, but it was worth every farthing hed pay out. He regarded her almost as warily as she regarded him. Finished?
    Fanny relaxed her grip on the mirror she held. It was a favorite of hers, and she would not have liked to see it broken. That, more than Sheridans call for a truce, decided her. I
    am not that Fanny Hill, she said smartly. She was she was common .
    Of course, you are not. He did not point out that John Cleland wrote Memoires of a Woman of Pleasure more than fifty years earlier. He wondered if she had read the book or if someone had told her about the erotic adventures of its heroine, Fanny Hill. He decided it was the latter, else she would not have characterized the fictional Miss Hill as common. It had always seemed to him that Fanny Hill was unburdened by regrets and liberated by pleasure, which made her a decidedly uncommon woman in any time. I understand that you would not approve of comparisons, he said, but she is not a woman without her virtues.
    Fannys suspicious glance did not waver, but she did finally set the mirror down. You will not tell anyone?
    A gentleman doesnt.
    Inexplicably, Fanny thought she would cry. She hardened herself against that urge and moved off her side of the great bed. I will want the house for at least another month, perhaps two.
    Sherry found his drawers and put them on. He was of the unwavering opinion that negotiations were better conducted with ones trousers on. I am willing to give you three, but I am unconvinced you will need so much time to find another protector.
    Oh, she said, interested in spite of herself. You have heard something?
    Something, he repeated. You are acquainted with Makepeace?
    Sir Charles Makepeace?
    The very one.
    He is looking for an arrangement?
    I cannot say if that is so, but surely how it turns out has something to do with you. I know that he is at loose ends.
    She considered this. A man never does well in that state.
    My thoughts exactly. We are at our most vulnerable.
    Not you, Sheridan. You are ruthless in your own fashion.
    I do not believe you have ever been at a loose end. You would cut it off rather than have it exposed.
    She was closer to the mark than he had thought possible. Before she made the logical leap and realized that was precisely what he was doing now, he pointed to his frock coat. I brought you a gift. He saw her eyes brighten and knew there were no more thoughts of loose ends. Avarice was perhaps her most honest emotion, and he did not fault her for it. He watched her search the coat and laugh delightedly when she found the box.
    Oh, Sherry, she said on a breath of sound, awed by the emeralds. What beautiful jewels!
    He crossed the room to stand beside her. Regardes-moi, mon petite . He touched the tip of her chin and tilted her en-chantingly greedy face toward him. Francine Dumont would