She had obviously been listening, so should know the answer. But he replied anyway. “I have.”
From the closer vantage point he could see that her eyes contained a dangerous light in them, something he would not have expected. This woman was one with a determined will.
“I would add my own request to his.”
So even the slaves looked to him to grant their desires. This should be interesting. He pasted on a lazy smile. “Would you ask that I keep him from falling in love with another?”
That spark flickered in her eyes. “I would not. In fact, the opposite.” When he straightened, surprised, she smiled. “Things will change when Titus leaves. I would be a fool to expect otherwise. The moment he steps out of Rome he loses his claim to me, and not by my will. But if he does not realize this truth, his return will be fierce.”
He could easily comprehend. Caius was known for his love of beautiful women; he may respect his son’s property while he was present, but he would not recognize it in his absence.
“The master was right about his son’s temper, but I have the understanding he lacks. My lord can be terrible in his jealousy; it inflames him. Please, Lord. There is enough tension between father and son as it is. I would not want it to erupt because of me.”
He somehow doubted the direction of her concern. From what he knew of his friend, it would not just be his father that he would grow angry with. And he knew also that he would not relish being in Titus’s path when he was raging.
“I promise, fair one, to do all in my power to make him forget you.” He smiled again. “I will throw him in the path of every lovely face I see.”
She smiled, too, and drew even nearer. When her body was pressed against his, awakening his senses acutely, she gave him a fiery kiss. “When you return to Rome,” she whispered, “I will give you the proper thanks.” She kissed him again, then moved away, back into the shadows, no doubt to prepare herself for Titus’s retiring.
Still burning with her touch, Jason decided to take a few minutes more to calm down before returning to the party. He briefly touched his moistened lips and smiled again. She, if nothing else, would be worth returning to Rome for. Which made him wonder how he could possibly grant her request. Especially since Titus was not one easily persuaded of anything. At least Caius’s request would be easy enough; the son did not show his best face to the father, but all his friends knew him as the responsible one.
Well, he had tried to persuade the man not to pay him. But when confronted with a determined man like Caius Asinius, one did not stand a chance.
*
Ester did not know whether to cross her arms in anger, sigh, or laugh. So she was silent for a moment, then simply said, “Cleopas, it is not that I object.”
“But yet you refuse.” He was sitting on the bed, his elbow propping his body up with the help of a mountain of pillows.
She sat beside him, her stance one of pleading. “Not for my own sake. You know that. It is simply that–”
“You have been dreaming and planning for so long.”
She lowered her eyes in humility. “And you have encouraged my dreams and plans.”
“So I have.” Cleopas pushed himself up and took her in his arms. “And I do still. But this is an option that had not occurred to me, and I am not certain why. It would be ideal.”
“For whom, Cleopas?” She rested her hands on his chest. “For us? For me? Or for them?”
He sighed and rested his forehead on hers. “Think about it. I will give you one month to decide, since it is your decision. Unless in that time you come up with something better, we will consent. How is that?”
Ester smiled. “You are a good and fair man, my husband.”
*
Ester left the sanctuary of her abode with Abigail close to her side. It was rare indeed for her to enter Jerusalem; the years of her marriage had taught her many things, one of which was that her own people, regardless of her continuous love for them, saw her as a traitorous recreant. And since she offered them no argument, their opinion had not changed over the ages. Instead, they viewed her with distaste, and she generally avoided the crowds, contenting herself with the world within her home.