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into their palazzo.
    “You honor our house,” the silk merchant said, welcoming their guest and bowing.
    “’Tis I who am honored,” Sebastiano Rovere replied, bowing in return.
    “Allow me to present my wife, Orianna Venier, to you,
signore
.”
    Sebastiano Rovere bowed over Orianna’s elegant little hand, kissing it.
“Signora,”
he murmured. “The legend of your beauty does not do you justice.”
    “I am flattered by your gracious words,” Orianna answered him, wanting to yank her hand away from him, but with supreme self-control allowing him the time to release it.
    “We will have wine in the gardens,” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo said.
    “A charming idea,” their guest agreed. “And I will be allowed at long last to meet your daughter, the lady Bianca, soon?”
    “Of course,” the silk merchant replied as he led them outside.
    It was early evening and the sun had not yet set. They sat together upon two marble benches amid the greenery. A well-trained servant brought silver goblets of sweet wine for them. Sebastiano Rovere noted the goblets were decorated with small stones of black onyx amid pale gold scrollwork. They were exquisite, and for a brief moment he was jealous, for he did not believe he possessed any goblets as fine.
    “Is the wine to your taste, Signore Rovere?” the silk merchant inquired politely.
    “It is delicious,” was the reply. “Will you not ask your daughter to come and share it with us?” Rovere pressed Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo.
    Orianna raised her hand, and a servant was immediately at her side. “Tell Fabia to fetch the lady Bianca to us,” she said in her beautifully modulated voice. Then she turned to their guest. “It will be but a few moments,
signore
, but before my child joins us I have a boon to ask of you.”
    Sebastiano Rovere was surprised, but he was feeling extremely pleased with himself at this moment. “Please,
signora
, you have but to ask.”
    “You have requested that Bianca no longer attend Mass at Santa Anna Dolce with me. Please,
signore
, I beg that you rescind that order. I understand your concerns, and I share them with you. But soon Bianca will be gone from my side. I have gained such great pleasure these past months worshiping in my daughter’s company. Perhaps if you would escort us to the church yourself several times, your august presence would discourage any bad behavior, along with the knowledge of your betrothal.” Orianna reached out and put an elegant, beringed hand on his velvet-clad arm. “Please,
signore
, do not refuse a mother’s plea.” She gave him a small smile, astounded by the cold eyes that looked back at her.
    He considered her words. It was hardly a request he could refuse without appearing mean-spirited. He forced a smile. “If it means so much to you,
signora
, then of course I will grant your boon.” Then catching a movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of the girl in her rose-pink gown. He came to his feet, pleased to see he towered over her. He felt his cock twitch beneath his elegant robe, pressing almost painfully against the fabric of his trunk hose.
    “Thank you,
signore
,” Orianna said, almost cringing at the lust that touched his face when he saw Bianca, though it disappeared as quickly as it had come.
    “Come forward, Bianca,” her father said, beckoning her.
    She had gotten a quick look at him before he had seen her. He was a handsome man, Bianca thought. Perhaps it would not be so bad after all, even if he was twice her age. She glided forward, eyes lowered, her ebony lashes brushing her ivory cheekbones.
    She curtsied perfectly without so much as a wobble.
    Beauty and grace, Sebastiano Rovere thought, well pleased. For once the gossips had not lied. If truth be told, they had not praised her highly enough.
    “Signore Rovere, may I present to you my eldest daughter, Bianca. If having seen her now she continues to please you, then