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matter what the price. And on the heels of this silent promise, he stepped forth and bowed deeply, rising to take her hand in his. He gracefully lifted it to his lips and kissed it with a firm sense of ownership.
    “Bonjour mademoiselle Marion. Je m’apelle Joshua. Et mon amî Ludovico.”
    Her smile widened in reward and she blinked once, gazing at him as a soft pink flush rose to stain her porcelain cheeks.
    Ludovico grinned and sat down with a powerful thud on the couch, happily throwing his ankle over his knee again, his most comfortable of postures. He could plainly see that the air was safe for letting down one’s guard, for now. It was with excessive amusement that Ludovico watched the two lovers for he knew the girl to be more experienced than she let on. Joshua had a clear heart and it glowed bright and true. Not a liar himself, it was not his nature to lead with suspicion, as many did. He would never have suspected that her act was just good business. She was not at all a virgin, nor anything close to such. On nights previous, when Ludovico had come to le Chabanais on his own, he had witnessed for himself her act performed as thus, and with a different man each night. None, however, were so heartily duped as his gullible, inexperienced friend, and this made him smile from ear to ear to watch the play. He’d tell him later... perhaps in a hundred years. They had all the time in the world to laugh together at this moment. Now, was his alone to enjoy.
    Why spoil the fun?
    Joshua guided the young Marion to a chair and offered her a glass of Burgundy.
    “Bonté me! Would it be very wicked of me?” she asked with the sweet excitement of the young.
    “Only a little wicked, perhaps,” Ludovico chimed in with a knowing smile.
    Joshua shot him a look and turned back to Marion. “He is only funning. It would not be at all wicked, my dearest.”
    “Everything in moderation, my dear,” Ludovico said with a highly amused smile as he watched Joshua pour a small glass and hand it to her outstretched hands. She wrapped both around it, as a child might. Raising it to her lips, she tucked her nose into the glass, breathed in the spicy aroma and then, to both men’s surprise, drank it down in one gulp.
    Looking up with those beautiful green eyes, she gave Joshua her most winning smile and held out the glass, with eyebrows raised eagerly for more. “Well, now,” he laughed, “looks like it agrees with you!”
    She brought one hand to her bosom in uncertainty, her smile dropped at once. “Oh, was that very bad of me?” Ludovico was entertained beyond anything and cocked his head to the side in disbelief. The effect women could have on the male species never ceased to amaze him. He was not immune, under normal circumstances. Had he not seen the vixen’s performances previously, he too, would have been bamboozled. He had to own she was incredibly charming, entirely believable, and diamond-bright.
    Joshua instructed with the patience of a saint. “Not bad, per se. You drank fast, yes, but I blame myself for poor teaching.”
    “Might I try again? I will be more careful, Monsieur Joshua.”
    “Of course. When you say my name that way, I will bend my back past snapping to give you the world.” He leaned in closely to her, locking eyes with hers. “Your voice is to me like the sun is to fruit on a vine.”
    Ludovico coughed in an attempt to disguise his laughter. Joshua shot him a look that helped contain his mirth. Marion pushed up her glass for another lesson, tout suite.
    Joshua smiled, stepped away and poured again. “Savor it, my fairest. The cherry oak flavor conveys more thoroughly to the tongue, when sipped.”
    “Savor it,” she repeated as though to memorize, an action that filled him full with masculine pride and importance. She took a small sip and looked up to him from underneath her lashes for approval. Spellbound, he grinned and took a seat beside her.
    “You don’t want the Burgundy, sirs?” she