Nothing to Lose by Ceci Giltenan

Author:Ceci Giltenan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Time travel
Published: 2017-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Sara’s dreams did nothing to ease her carnal cravings. The next morning Ben took her across the lagoon in the gondola. Although Sara said she could walk from the Arsenale, Ben vetoed that.

“I will take you to Signora Peretti’s house. You said it’s on Rio de San Luca and that she has a porta d’acqua, a water door. I can take you directly there in the gondola and it will be much more discreet. If I’m seen sailing across the lagoon three days a week with the same woman, there will be talk. Furthermore, because Ceres’s father is a merchant, he is well known among the owners of the shipyards. Someone could piece things together.”

Inside the gondola’s felze, she couldn’t be easily seen.

But she could watch beautiful Ben as he rowed. Stop this Sara. Put Kyra in this gondola and let her swoon over Rafe.

When they arrived at the house, Ben helped her out and onto the steps of the water door, continuing to hold her hand for a moment. “I’ll return for you between half-past five and six.”

How could such casual contact be so seductive? Her mouth went dry. He’d said something to her.

“Is something wrong, Sara? Should I come later?”

Oh, right, the time he’ll pick me up. “No, that’ll be fine. I’ll see you then.”

He kissed her fingertips before stepping back and pushing away from the wall.

She watched him row away for a moment before knocking on the door.

The same manservant who had admitted them the previous day answered the door. “The signora is in her chamber. She asked that I send you up as soon as you arrived.”

And so it started.

The first thing Zina did was clear up Sara’s misconceptions about exactly what a courtesan was. Sara had thought of courtesans as…well, call-girls, high-priced prostitutes, but Zina explained that it wasn’t quite that simple.

“Prostitutes walk the street or work in a brothel, most often because they have no choice. It’s a last resort—sell themselves or starve. Courtesans choose the lifestyle and to be honest, sex is only a small part of it.”

“The lifestyle?”

“Yes. Sara, in this time, unless you are born into the nobility, life is often drudgery. There are rules about what you are allowed to wear, what you are allowed to possess, and where you are allowed to go.”

“Sumptuary laws?”

“Exactly. But those rules are ignored where courtesans are concerned. Frankly, there is little difference between a courtesan and a noblewoman except that a courtesan has much more freedom. In fact, it isn’t uncommon for women of wealth who are widowed to become courtesans. There are even a few widowed noblewomen who see the benefits of our life.”

“What are the benefits?”

Zina laughed. “A skilled courtesan is doted on by her noble benefactors. And what is her only responsibility? To be a beautiful and charming companion.”

“What about the whole sex part? Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Why should it? We are both from the twenty-first century. I knew loads of women there—all in serial monogamous relationships, mind you—who have slept with more men than I have.

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