Deception by Amanda Quick Page B

Greek?” Jared asked casually.
    “Oh, yes,” Olympia assured him. “Aunt Sophy and Aunt Ida instructed me in both.”
    “You miss your aunts, do you not?”
    “Very much. Aunt Ida died three years ago. Aunt Sophy followed her within six months. They were the only real family I had until my nephews arrived.”
    “You have been alone for some time.”
    “Yes.” Olympia hesitated. “One of the things I miss most is the conversations we were all accustomed to share in the evenings. Do you know what it is like to have no one about with whom you can converse, Mr. Chillhurst?”
    “Yes, Miss Wingfield,” he said quietly. “I understand very well. I have felt the lack of such a close companion most of my life.”
    Olympia met his steady gaze and knew that he was giving her a small peek into his very soul.
Fair enough
, she thought. She had just given him a glimpse of her own. Her hand shook as she took a sip of her brandy.
    “No one here in Upper Tudway is interested in the customs and legends of other lands,” Olympia confided. “Not even Mr. Draycott it seems, although for a while I had hoped … ” Her voice trailed off.
    Jared’s hand tightened around his glass. “Draycottis not interested in such matters, Miss Wingfield, but I am.”
    “I sensed that you were, sir. You are truly a man of the world.” Olympia gazed down into her brandy and then raised her head to look at him again. “Last night you mentioned that you had heard about some rather unusual customs practiced by peoples of a certain South Seas island.”
    “Ah, yes.” Jared closed his book and gazed into the fire. “Very interesting courtship customs among the islanders.”
    “You promised to go into greater detail this evening, if you will recall,” Olympia prompted.
    “Certainly.” Jared took a sip of his brandy and assumed a contemplative expression. “Apparently it is the habit among the islanders for the prospective suitor to take his lady to a place in the jungle that is considered to be magical. I’m told it’s a lagoon where a large waterfall cascades down a wall of rock.”
    “I see. It sounds very lovely.” Olympia took another sip of her brandy. “What happens next?”
    “If the lady wishes to be courted she allows the man to kiss her beneath the waterfall.” Jared turned the glass in his hands. “He gives her a token of his affections to signify his love. Legend has it that any union which begins in such a fashion will prove harmonious and fruitful.”
    “How interesting.” Olympia wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Jared. He looked so lean and strong and powerful sitting here with her. He could doubtless pick her up with just one hand, she thought.
    She wondered what it would feel like to have Jared lift her right up off her feet.
    And hold her against his chest
.
    And cover her mouth with his own
.
    Appalled at the direction of her thoughts, Olympiagave a start and fumbled with her glass. Brandy splashed on the desk.
    “Are you all right, Miss Wingfield?”
    “Yes, yes, of course.” Olympia hurriedly righted the glass and set it down. Mortified by her own clumsiness, she dabbed at the spilled brandy with a handkerchief and cast about wildly for something intellectual to say.
    “Speaking of interesting tokens of affection in the South Seas.” Olympia concentrated on wiping up the last of the brandy. “I, myself, have recently read about a very unusual practice carried on in that part of the world.”
    “Have you, Miss Wingfield?”
    “It seems that among the inhabitants of one of the islands it is the custom for the groom to present his bride with a large golden object in the shape of a phallus.”
    There was a deep silence from the other side of the room. Olympia glanced up, wondering if Jared had failed to hear her. A strange sensation went through her when she saw the disturbing expression on his face.
    “A golden phallus?” Jared asked.
    “Why, yes.” Olympia dropped the brandy-soaked