“Well, see if you can squeeze them in. Preferably not next to me.” Ever since the terms of his grandfather’s will had become common knowledge in Rome, there had been a sharp increase in Titus’s female guests. Colleagues who’d barely bothered attending his dinners were now not only begging to attend but bringing along hordes of unmarried women with them. Titus’s winter had been one long parade of sisters, daughters, granddaughters, nieces…

“Should have married before the old gentleman died,” Ennia said, whisking a spare cloak off Titus’s chair and brushing it off vigorously. “Now you’re the biggest catch in Rome, and begging your pardon, Dominus, but I haven’t seen one girl yet who isn’t just a pretty little shark smelling blood in the water.”

“There’s bound to be one or two who aren’t just out for the, er, blood.”

“Keeping my eyes open, Dominus, believe me. I want to retire someday, you know. Running this big house all by myself—”

“Quit your grumbling,” Titus chided. Ennia, he knew, had been ridiculously pleased when he asked her to stay on as his housekeeper.

“Me?” she’d said, astounded. “I’d thought I’d help you move out of your apartments back to the family house, and that would be that. You’ll be needing a proper steward now.”

“Like you couldn’t keep that big pile of marble in order,” he teased. After the mourning period was done, he’d moved back into his family home as was expected—but paterfamilias or not, it had felt strange to move through his grandfather’s halls as master. “I wouldn’t have anyone else to manage my household, Ennia.”

“Thought you’d be getting rid of me.” She’d looked up at him shrewdly. “You’ve got coin now for the best fancy ladies in Rome, Dominus. No need for some housekeeper with a slum lord’s mouth. I know what I am.”

“I know what you are too. And I know what you’re worth.” Titus had lifted her skinny wrist and slipped over it a heavy gold bracelet inlaid with garnet and carnelian flowers. The first really costly thing he’d ever bought, and he had to take a deep breath at the thought that such a purchase no longer cost a month’s worth of his yearly allowance. “I want to keep you, Ennia. Anyone makes you a better offer to join their household, I’ll double it.”

“Hmm.” She eyed him, speculative.

“Of course,” Titus added, “I’ll have to confirm the offer first.”

She snorted, holding her arm up to admire the bracelet. “Perhaps I’d better stay on after all, Dominus. Else some snake of a girl will snap you up and make your life miserable.”