Marcus rolled over and felt his eyes closing as inevitably as the rivers of the world flowed into the ocean. Sated, relaxed, warm, his vision dimmed to nothing and for a moment all he could hear was his own heartbeat. The rhythmic pulsing lulling him to sleep as surely as a mother's song to a baby.

"Hey!" a feminine voice cried out. The whoompf of a pillow being flung at him broke the peaceful silence. "I did not arrange for this rather expensive room for you to catch a break!" Maria, daughter of Titus Marius Glaber, laughed at Corvus' disgruntled look.

"That's right, you arranged it wholly out of lust for me," Corvus said crossly, flinging the pillow back at her. She dodged the feeble throw rather easily, then stood with arms outstretched - and nothing on.

"Isn't that why you are here?"

Corvus thought exactly why he was here. Business? More than that, though that was indeed the reason the tryst had begun. Lust? Corvus examined Maria, standing by a table full of fruit, fresh from their exertions, and could not help but admit to that. Somewhere in the back of his mind the word Love was whispered, but he quickly threw that out of his head. There was no point in it, even if it were true. He was married to a patrician Aurelia, and to dump her for a crude street strumpet, as others would no doubt call her, would be the height of impropriety.

A playful grin broke out over her face as she recognized his thoughts - or so she thought. Slowly she meandered to the bed where he lay.

"Perhaps it is," Corvus chuckled as she began crawling on the bed towards him, quite provocatively. "I think the question is - why are you here? Certainly not because of my blood or position. You simply are not the type."

Maria frowned. "Is it not obvious?" Corvus' blank look confirmed that it certainly wasn't to him. "You're interesting! You're different! There's only so many of my father's henchmen that I can stand to look at me crudely. I can read their thoughts sure as a witch."

"I would've thought they would not be allowed to make such gestures or moves towards you?" Corvus asked, curious.

"Oh they don't, they wouldn't dare. Not after I stuck old Barbula with my dagger," Maria said in a perfectly reasonable tone. A laugh escaped from Corvus. "You don't believe me? Stabbed the bastard when he grabbed my chest in the tavern one night. Father just laughed and laughed!"

Corvus ruefully shook his head. "If only I could do the same to some in the Senate, when they look at me as though I'm some stodgy old senex bent on keeping the children from their fun."

"Well," Maria said with a playful tone, "I could certainly vouch for you not being a dreadful old senex...."

"That you could. However, you've made me give proof three times already, and I really should make an appearance at the races. Best to see what Flaccus has done right or wrong now, so that I may either copy or correct." Regretfully, he stood and picked up his tunic from the floor. Maria made no move to dress.

"Still, you don't understand why I am here with you do you?" Maria asked. Corvus shook his head.

"No. I know if it were only business, you would not converse with me about politics or Spain or the Numidians..."

"See, that is exactly why I do love our meetings!" Maria exclaimed unexpectedly. "You talk to me! Not as a woman, but as an equal! You tell me all these things and expect me to understand - not as a man talks to his five year old."

Was it really that way normally? Corvus thought to himself. Then he examined the last conversation he had had with his wife. It was like talking to a brick wall with that one.

"Perhaps. Thankfully we are not equals in bed though!" Corvus said with a grin. Maria laughed again as he tied up his sandals. He stood to leave, and looked down at her one last time. "Tell your father I have need for his men in Sicilia. The pirates in the area are wreaking havoc on grain shipments, and I need grain for the people, else we are likely to all be starving come winter."

Maria nodded to herself as Corvus swept out of the room. With a sigh, she too stood and dressed....