Three Fates

of money. Why it’s worth our time to try to track them down. I’ve got an investment here, too, and I don’t even know for certain who the hell chased me out of Prague.”
    “I know they’re worth a lot of money, first, because my sister, Rebecca, researched them. Becca’s a demon with research and facts and data.”
    “No offense, Slick, but I don’t know your sister.”
    “She’s brilliant. Has so much information in her brain I’m always expecting it to start spilling out of her ears. It was she who pushed the whole idea of the touring business on the family. She was only about fifteen and here she comes up to Ma and Da with all these figures and projections and systems she’d put together. The economy was going to boom, she was sure of it. And with Cobh already of interest to tourists because of the Titanic and the Lusitania, and the fine scenery and harbor, we’d only have the more of them as time went on.”
    She forgot for a moment that she was luring him into giving her more information. “They listened to her?” The idea of parents paying any attention to the ideas of a child seemed both fascinating and ridiculous.
    “Sure they listened to her. Why wouldn’t they? ’Twasn’t as if they jumped up shouting, ‘Well, of course, if Bec says to do it, then we must.’ But it was discussed and picked over and hammered at until the conclusion was reached that she had a fine notion there, one worth exploring.”
    “My parents wouldn’t have listened.” She settled her head on his chest. “Of course, by the time I was fifteen, we’d stopped having what you could define as conversations.”
    “Why would that be?”
    “Ah, let’s see. Oh right, I remember. We don’t like each other.”
    Curious, and struck by the sheer bitterness in her tone, he rolled them over so he could see her face. “Why do you think they don’t like you?”
    “Because I’m wild, argumentative, nasty and wasted the many opportunities they offered me. Why are you smiling?”
    “I was just thinking the first three seem to be why I’m starting to like you. What opportunities did you waste?”
    “Education, social advancements, all of which I squandered or threw back in their faces, depending on my mood.”
    “Hmm. And why don’t you like them?”
    “Because they never saw me.” The minute she said it, she was embarrassed. Where in hell had that come from? To counter it, she wiggled under him and danced her fingers over his ass. “Hey, as long as we’re here . . .”
    “What did you want them to see?”
    “It doesn’t matter.” She rubbed her foot over his calf in long strokes, lifted her head enough to take a quick nip at his mouth. “We washed our hands of each other some time ago. They pretty much washed hands of each other, too. Stopped pretending to be married when I was sixteen. My mother’s been married twice since. My father just whores around—discreetly.”
    “It’s rough on you.”
    “Nothing to do with me.” She jerked a shoulder. “Anyway, I’m more interested in now, and whether you’ve got one more round in you before we go get that beer.”
    He wasn’t so easily distracted once he’d pinned to a point. But he lowered his head to nibble at her throat. “How’d you end up in Prague, working at that club?”
    “Stupidity.”
    He lifted his head. “That’s a wide area in my experience. What specific form?”
    She huffed out a breath. “If I’m not going to get laid again, I want to take a shower.”
    “I like to know more about the woman I’m making love with than her name.”
    “Too late, Slick. You already fucked me.”
    “The first time I fucked you,” he said in a cool, steady voice that made her feel ashamed. “The second time it was more. If we go on this way, there’ll be more yet. That’s how it works.”
    It sounded, quite a bit, like a threat. “Do you complicate everything?”
    “I do, yes. It’s a talent of mine. You said they didn’t see you. Well, I’m looking at you, Cleo, and I’m going to keep looking until I see clearly. Let’s see how you deal with that.”
    “I don’t like being pushed.”
    “That’s a problem, then, as I’m pushy.” He rolled off her. “You can have the shower first, but make it snappy. I’m half starved to death and dying for a beer.”
    He folded his hands on his belly, shut his eyes.
    Frowning, Cleo climbed off the bed. On her way to the bath, she shot him one last curious look, then grabbed her purse and shut