August, 1923, Venice, Italy
The Galloways, a British couple with a passing acquaintance of Lady Elizabeth when she was married to Lord Aynsley; the bishop of Milan; and the Austrian industrialist, Josef, the Baron von Holst, were sitting on the beach of the luxury resort hotel on the Adriatic near the city of Venice, Italy. The Galloways were chatting away with Elizabeth—or trying to—as she devoted much of her attention to the baron, a bigger than life, charismatic man in his robust mid thirties, who dominated the group without half trying.
The baron was well over six feet tall, broad of chest and not so broad of waist, with aristocratic features and bearing, with a strong jaw line, somewhat florid complexion, and a mane of reddish brown hair, which also cascaded over the dip in the top of his one-piece swimming costume. His thighs were those of a sportsman, solid-muscle beefy, his hands and feet were huge, and the bulge in the crotch of his swimming costume was as well. Elizabeth, thinking of him as a fine stallion, was nearly melting from the sight of him sitting in the folding canvas beach chair, which was straining to manage his bulk. At thirty-six, the man was at the height of his career and sexual power, as anyone looking at him could discern. He also was recognized as a man you didn't say "no" to.
The other man present, the bishop of Milan, must, Elizabeth thought, have ice running through his veins, as he wore a black cassock, buttoned to his throat, as he sat beside the baron. He was a cadaverous man who Elizabeth thought of as the Grim Reaper each time she saw him. Tall and thin, he was dark complexioned and had a flowing mane of jet-black hair. Despite all of the darkness, he wasn't sweating under the strong sun.
A sharply hooked nose spoiled any chance of anyone considering him handsome, and the expressions of his face exuded secrecy, judgmentalism, and "don't mess with me" warning. His eyes were a cold, steel blue that gave the impression of seeing and stripping naked everything and everyone. His primary idiosyncrasy was that the nails on his long, slender fingers were unusually long and were painted jet black. As with most Italians, he spoke with his hands, and anyone in a conversation with him had trouble concentrating on his face rather than the fluttering hands. He showed every evidence of using his hands purposely in that vein—to deny everyone access to his true thoughts by watching his eyes.
Whereas the Galloways were focused on Elizabeth and Elizabeth was trying to focus on the baron, both the baron and the bishop had eyes only for the figure of the young man swimming far off the beach in long, expert strokes.
With a sigh, Mrs. Galloway rose from her canvas chair, which wasn't easy for her—she was an overlarge woman. This was much in contrast with Lady Elizabeth, who was buxom but otherwise trim of figure and dressed in the highest style and deepest cut of swimming fashion of the time. At forty, she looked much younger, and had gone to every effort to do so.
"I believe I am in for a nap before high tea," Mrs. Galloway said. "Will you join us on the hotel verandah for that at 5:00, Lady Elizabeth?" With a "humph," Galloway, also rose. He was in steel and would have preferred to stay and speak with the munitions manufacturer, Josef von Holst, if the man had paid any attention to him at all and if Mrs. Galloway would have permitted it.
"Lady Elizabeth will be having high tea with me," the baron said, his voice a deep baritone with an edge of "to be obeyed" command to it.
Flustered, because this was the first that she had heard of the appointment—but clearly pleased—Elizabeth turned to Ann Galloway. "Perhaps tomorrow. But a nap does sound good. I believe I will take one as well. So, Baron . . ."
"I will have us served in the small gazebo in the forested glade behind the hotel. At 5:00," the baron answered. And that was that for the Galloways and Lady Elizabeth, who, rummaging around in the tented cabana behind them for their beach apparel, started their progress off the beach and toward the hotel.
The baron momentarily watched the hour-glass form of the handsome Elizabeth move away, her buttocks swaying against each other in her stately gait, before turning his attention back to the swimmer in the distance.
"Those orbs beg for breeding," the baron muttered.
The bishop raised his eyebrows but not necessarily for the reason one supposed. "I could say the same for the son. He's a handsome young man," the bishop said.
"Yes, very handsome," the baron agreed. "Ripe even."
"I would agree with that," the bishop said. "Very desirable. He would go for a fortune in the Turkish souks."
"What do you know of buying young men in a Turkish souk?" the baron asked.
"Enough," the bishop answered with a sly little smile. "But those two. What do you know of them? She hardly looks old enough to be his mother."
"And yet she is, I have learned."
"You have learned?"
"My solicitors have been busy since I met the Winslow woman and her ripe son, Paul. American—the woman is. The young man is hers but the other half of him is British. Lord Aynsley's son. The two are divorced. Aynsley's family insisted all along on a British wife. He married the American long enough for her family to refurbish Aynsley's Rest. He's married again now. The son is nineteen. She's kept him tied to her apron strings. Only now, this fall, starting at Cambridge—at the father's insistence. I think the woman would take the young man back to Boston if she could. Very dominating. And he appears to be totally submissive to her."
"Submissiveness is not necessarily a bad thing."
"No, it's not. And he's a saucy thing. I get every indication from him that he would be interested if set free of her. The young man needs to be released. He needs to be dominated."
"I would be interested too."
"I'll keep that in mind, of course. There is some help you could be to me in exchange—later in the year. You could help me now by needing to go back to the hotel for a nap. I see that he is swimming back to the beach."
The priest sighed. "As long as you keep me in mind. You of course are going to break him."
"Yes, of course. He's ripe for it. He will thank me for it one day."
"Now? Here?"
"Yes, now. In the cabana, I think. Your time will come Giuseppe. For now you need a nap."
"I cannot watch from afar?"