She had come for her sittings once or twice a week. He had discovered gradually that, though she didn’t talk much, she was well-informed. She saw all the exhibitions, went to galleries, plays, and sometimes the opera, although music interested her little. She attended charity events and was even a trustee for one or two. It seemed that she knew a good deal about her father’s legal practice, and Marc soon realized, from small remarks Hortense let fall, that she had a sharp eye for making money.

But she had never given any hint of interest in sex. Hadley came by one day during a sitting and afterward remarked: “That’s a cold, prim woman.”

It might be so, but to Marc, there was something about her, something contained yet erotic, that made him all the more curious. By the third week, he started making small moves, delicate suggestions, to see if he got any response.

He didn’t. She observed him calmly with her brown eyes, but gave him nothing for his pains.

A month had passed before one afternoon he found it necessary to rearrange the line of her dress over her breasts. Stepping forward to do so, he paused a moment longer than he need have.

“Are you trying to make love to me, monsieur?” she quietly demanded.

Taken aback, he hesitated.

“Why do you ask?”

“I have had that impression for some time.”

“I am sure it would be interesting,” he said.

“Perhaps. There is only one way to find out.”

“Assuredly.”

It was a week later, coming to see his friend, that Hadley had found her at the studio wearing only a sheet she had hastily draped over herself. He had beat a hasty retreat, but later Marc had confessed to him: “It’s quite amazing. I just can’t get enough of her.” He’d nodded thoughtfully. “Or she of me.”

“And she seemed so cold. Is this her first adventure?”

“No. Her first was a long time ago. In Monte Carlo. She’s very careful. Has adventures when she’s away.” He grinned. “I am the first in Paris.”

“Congratulations.”

As Fox looked at the party going to Malmaison, he knew he was lucky. But he was nervous as well.

He was lucky because he’d gotten exactly whom he’d wanted. Marie and her brother, of course, and Marc’s friend Hadley. He was glad to have the American there, both because he was a nice fellow, and also because he provided cover. But luckiest of all, he’d gotten both Marie’s parents as well. And in its way, this was even more to his purpose than having Marie herself.

Part of the reason both Jules and his wife came, he supposed, was his choice of venue. When he’d told Jules, the older man had been most intrigued. “No one’s been there for years. I didn’t know one could even get in.”