As David and Maria hugged and caressed at the entrance to her suite, he felt the line of her knickers beneath her dress. "You've started? It didn't work? I'm disappointed. We'll keep trying."

"No, not that. I put them on with the cotton in case it didn't work. There's no sense becoming a bloody mess to add to my disappointment." She rose to her toes and kissed him. "Come, let's get the road washed off you so we can play."

A very enjoyable hour later, as they lay gently churning beneath the duvet, David said, "I should pop so we can clean and dress. Evelyn is expecting us for lunch at twelve thirty."

After they recovered from their mutual, David withdrew and examined his penis. "Still no blood." He laughed. "Unless it's turned cream-coloured. But third quarter is tomorrow, so it's still early."

They towelled each other off, then Maria stepped back into her knickers and the folded cotton. "I never know exactly when it will begin, so I put these on the day before the moon quarter. About half the time it happens overnight, I wake with the first spotting."

"The moon phases progress at twenty-nine and a half days, so if you truly are synchronised with the moon, one onset of bleeding should be in the morning, and the next one in the evening and continue alternating in that way. When did your last one begin?"

Maria stood quietly with her finger raised for a long while, then smiled. "I've been trying to remember what I was doing at the time. That was a Sunday evening when I had dropped my knickers to think of you and play with myself before going to dinner. So that means I will wake with spotting tomorrow morning if we haven't been successful." She shook her head. "So funny I hadn't noticed the pattern, one early evening, the next early morning. You so clearly see things I never imagine even exist."

"But you must think about your cycle. It certainly reminds you it's there."

"Yes, but seeing the pattern, analysing it as you did. My mind doesn't work like that."

"Great! Only one of us afflicted, then." He chuckled. "We should finish dressing and go down. Speaking of down, looking at you standing there in only your knickers makes it tough to keep myself down."

She saw him well into a rise, then giggled as she began stroking. "Or we could miss going down again as we did last week."

"I'd love to, but Evelyn has someone he wishes to introduce me to at lunch." He wrapped her in his arms. "We should dress."

A while later, as David and Maria stood in conversation with Edith and Evelyn in the small salon outside the dining room, Evelyn said, "Here he is now." He stepped toward the approaching man and shook hands, then turned to Maria and David. "This is Paul Whitely." Evelyn completed the introductions, and he had begun a brief background on Paul when lunch was announced.

The Ambassador motioned Paul and David aside. "There appear to be many fine fits between you two, and I do want you to spend some time talking, but privately. You'll realise later why you're not seated near each other at the table. We'll continue after lunch."

David nodded, then returned to Maria to offer his arm. As they walked toward the dining room, she asked, "This another of your secrets?"

David blew out a big breath and nodded. "It seems so. I know nothing about it either, so we're both on the same page with this one. I'm to meet privately with Paul and Evelyn after we eat."

The group enjoyed a splendid lunch and pleasant light conversation, then at thirteen forty, they rose from the table. Edith sidled up beside David and smiled. "Maria was telling me how you've figured you'll know when she wakes in the morning."

"We're hoping it's clean."

"Are you aware a cycle's timing can be affected by deep emotions? That they can move events a day or more? I told her not to get her hopes too high. It took us many tries to conceive the first time."

Maria had arrived to stand next to them. "Yes, but the trying is so very enjoyable."

"We know that, but we're not supposed to admit it." Edith laughed. "Queen Victoria still reigns in many ways."

David saw Evelyn beckoning him from across the room, and he nodded in acknowledgement. Then explaining he had a meeting, he kissed Maria's cheek, bowed to Edith and left.

In a quiet corner, Evelyn continued from where he had left off before lunch and explained each to the other. "After you had given the Irish family's Hans Wilsdorf watch to R in London, he began scheming. Paul is a sales agent for Rolex in Britain. He's worked closely with Wilsdorf for a few years, but he also does some projects for R. He can set you up as a Rolex sales agent in Germany, giving you an easier way to cross the border than peddling potatoes."

Paul looked quizzically at Evelyn. "Potatoes?"

"David now drives across with bins of potatoes in the back of a lorry and sets up in the markets. It's great for his current project, but that will soon be completed. R is looking at bigger things."

David nodded, pursed his lips and blew out a breath. "Selling upmarket watches will certainly give me greater ease of movement and a more universal cover."

"There are currently two agents working the entire country. With the awareness of quality and the demand growing, there is plenty of room for a third, and Hans has agreed." Paul looked at David's wrist and smiled. "I see you're already a fan."

"I was so impressed with the Hans Wilsdorf I had worn for months, that I had to replace it with another." David told the story of taking the watch from the dead soldier as he began his evasion from the Front in Belgium. "I bought a Rolex for my wife also, the smaller one..." He let out a loud laugh. "Smaller watch, not smaller wife. She loves it."

"When could you travel to Bienne to meet with Hans?"

"It depends on the weather conditions in the Schwarzwald the next while. Probably not until into the second week of December."

Evelyn looked at each in turn, then said, "I'll leave you two to get to know each other."