Geoffrey’s pulse throbbed. Etienne, still in recovery, had traipsed around the countryside in the dark while a madman rode about pretending to be a ghost. Likely because he was avoiding Geoffrey. Likely because Geoffrey knocked on his door, invaded his space, and asked for things he had no right to even consider.
“You were out there for too long,” Geoffrey said, his voice rough.
Etienne glanced up at him, his eyes wide, and he straightened.
Geoffrey drew in his breath and stepped toward him. His hands clenched.
Etienne clutched the cloak tighter to him. Drops of water shone from it, and he folded the thick material, his dark eyes not leaving Geoffrey’s face. He lifted his chin and stared at Geoffrey. “I can leave the castle.”
“Of course.” Geoffrey stiffened and strove to not lose himself in the rich shades of brown in the man’s eyes. He wanted to grip the man’s wrist to beseech him to not do anything similar ever again, to tell him worry had consumed him when he snuck to the man’s room to apologize and found the place still abandoned. He lifted his chin and steadied his voice. “It’s dangerous out there. The sightless specter . . . there was a sighting. A coachman saw it. I saw it. Whoever rides it might hurt you.”
Etienne glanced away. “Perhaps he’s a real ghost.”
Geoffrey set his jaw, and his nostrils flared as he clenched his fists. “I don’t want you out there by yourself.”
Etienne stared at him for a moment. “He’s dangerous, yes?”
“Indeed,” Geoffrey growled and then lowered his voice. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Etienne’s eyes glistened, a soft sheen visible. His voice roughened. “You care.”
Geoffrey scratched his neck, and averted his eyes. His heat beat quickened, and he swiveled toward Etienne. “Of course I care!”
Etienne drew in his breath, and heat rushed to Geoffrey’s face. His fingers tensed, and he stepped back. Obviously, Etienne knew Geoffrey cared, and the emotion terrified him. Hadn’t Geoffrey driven him off into the dangerous night with his lustful, impossible urges? Geoffrey forced his eyes away, annoyed that his breath sounded so loudly in the quiet corridor.
Etienne cleared his throat. “About before . . .”
Geoffrey stiffened, conscious of each joint in his body seeking to steady themselves. “We needn’t speak of it.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Etienne stretched out his hand and pulled Geoffrey closer to him in a strong movement that made Geoffrey gasp. Etienne’s work-roughened palms, coarser than the men of the ton, slid over him. Geoffrey’s skin heated as Etienne’s hand grasped Geoffrey’s coat. Geoffrey longed to bury his hands in the man’s wavy locks.
Etienne’s lips curled, and he slid his arms around Geoffrey’s neck, enveloping him in his scent. Geoffrey’s nostrils flared, his body seeking to record everything about Etienne. Etienne’s strong arms maneuvered their bodies together so that they touched in all the right places. Geoffrey’s cock throbbed, and Warmth spread through Geoffrey. Etienne’s moist breath was on his ear, and Geoffrey gasped as Etienne’s teeth pulled on his earlobe.
Geoffrey closed his eyes as joy soared up through his body and threatened to burst inside of him. His hands grasped Etienne’s narrow hips and moved to his firm, taut cheeks. He caressed them and then, with a moan, grabbed Etienne and lifted him up. Etienne wrapped his legs around him, panting. Their lips touched, and then their tongues.
Etienne laughed and shoved his hands against Geoffrey’s chest, unwrapping himself and setting his legs down. “The servants . . .”
“Sod the servants.” Geoffrey scowled but took a step away from Etienne, though he was unable to remove his eyes from him.
They hurried through the quiet hallway, and Geoffrey pushed Etienne into his room. The fire still glowed, casting shades of orange and red into the room.
Geoffrey drew his face to Etienne’s, sucking on his lip, his tongue. His mouth never left Etienne’s as he moved him to the bed. Geoffrey had never appreciated kissing before, considering it a step easily skipped, but nothing could persuade him to discontinue pressing his lips against Etienne’s now. He could prolong the pleasure forever. Gliding his hands over Etienne’s body, he tore open Etienne’s shirt and feasted at the sight of the man’s hard chest. He brushed his fingers over the scattering of dark hair around the coppery brown nipples.
Etienne moved his head away. It lay on the pillow, his cheekbones emphasized by the firelight. He gazed at Geoffrey, and a warmth seemed to fill them that caused Geoffrey to swallow hard as heat coursed through his body.
Geoffrey growled and lowered his head to Etienne’s again. Their foreheads touched, the sensation filling Geoffrey. Touching Etienne was warmth and goodness all together. He avoided Etienne’s eyes, reluctant to reveal to him the extent of his emotions. After all, it shouldn’t mean anything. It should just mean two men with a bit of desire, taking advantage of the late hour and privacy.
He returned to Etienne’s chest, circling the man’s nipples with his finger, smiling as they pebbled beneath him. He swirled his tongue around them, rolling them into tight, salty peaks as he sucked.
He thrust his hands under Etienne’s shirt, and raked his fingernails along Etienne’s back. Etienne moaned and panted pleased murmurs beneath him, and Geoffrey was thankful for the thick castle walls. Etienne’s cock lay hard against him, and Geoffrey ran his fingers over the warm length.
He lifted his torso and tore off Etienne’s clothes. His shoes thumped on the Persian carpet, and Geoffrey flung the man’s shirt and breeches after them, needing to see everything. Etienne eyed him on the bed, his pale skin contrasting with the red bedspread. His cheeks were rosier than normal, his mouth parted. Geoffrey moved to remove his trousers, but Etienne’s arms tangled with his own, and then Etienne kneeled, undressing him.
His cock bounced free of the constraints. Etienne’s eyes widened, and he licked his lips. Geoffrey’s manhood throbbed, the crown already leaking. Etienne smiled and engulfed it with his mouth. Geoffrey hadn’t known his cock could grow so hard, and he gripped the bedspread, intent on not humiliating himself. Etienne sucked and licked, his full lips sliding up and down Geoffrey’s shaft.
This was nothing like the tentative fumbling he and Benedict had first done together, the awkward pronouncement that they may as well pleasure each other, stroking each other off as they lay beside each other, but always keeping their bodies a few inches apart, reminding themselves that it was an experiment, never anything more.
“What do you want?” Etienne asked.
“Everything,” Geoffrey gasped.
Etienne scrambled to lie on his stomach, exposing his rounded bottom and long, muscled legs. Geoffrey swallowed, and he moved his hands to caress the mounds. He spread Etienne open, the pale crease of skin visible. He licked his finger and moved it down the crevice and concentrated on teasing Etienne’s tight entrance. Etienne moaned beneath him and lifted his bottom closer to Geoffrey. Geoffrey plunged his finger into Etienne’s satiny heat, loosening him up. He pressed in and out, smiling at Etienne’s muffled gasps and cries beneath him.
Etienne squirmed, his body rising and falling. “Need you. Need you now.”
Geoffrey nodded and slid his hand beneath Etienne, to his cock, stroking it.
“Now,” Etienne implored, spreading his legs farther.
Geoffrey turned Etienne’s face to him, needing to taste the man. He kissed him as he thrust his fingers into the man’s entrance, this time using oil from his bedside cabinet. Removing his fingers, he slowly pushed his cock inside, gasping as he sank into Etienne, awed at the other man’s warmth. He shuddered and moved a hand to grasp Etienne’s cock, stroking it gently as he pressed in and out. Etienne gave a surprised murmur of pleasure, and Geoffrey lowered his chest so it pressed against Etienne’s back and kissed the nape of his neck.
Etienne arched his back, and Geoffrey lifted his torso and thrust with increased vigor. His cock strained as he slammed into the other man, and
his breaths transformed to pants as Etienne lifted up to meet him. He luxuriated in the friction, at the hard, masculine body beneath him. Sweat rolled over the planes of Etienne’s back, and a salty, musky scent pervaded the room.
“Oh God,” Geoffrey gasped, dissolving into a murmur of muddled sounds.
His vow was being broken, shattered, and dissolved with every push into the glorious heat.
The clock ticked, branches rattled against the window panes, but the only thing that mattered was Etienne.
Bliss soared through Geoffrey. Etienne quivered and Geoffrey’s hand dampened with Etienne’s seed. With a grunt, Geoffrey climaxed and toppled onto the bed, pulling Etienne to him, surrounding himself with the man’s limbs. He inhaled, his vision unsteady. It was no use comparing Etienne to other men. Etienne was perfect.
Chapter Fourteen
No good would come of him lusting after the local magistrate.
Etienne had merely desired to distract Geoffrey, to prevent him from glancing at that cobalt cloak and realizing Etienne and the sightless specter were the same.
But Geoffrey’s responsiveness . . . those kisses and embraces were not the casual response of a man for whom all carnal relations were pleasurable, who consented to experience that with another man, but only because of a lack of available female options. No, Geoffrey had been with men before. He hadn’t avoided Etienne’s cock, skimming around to maintain his fantasy of being with a woman. In fact, he had embraced it, fondled it, sucked it—for all Etienne’s experience, no one had ever pleasured Etienne before.
Etienne’s heart pounded as a warm, hard body shifted beside him. Geoffrey’s knee? Or something else? His heart raced, and he rolled over on the soft mattress. His body pressed against the velvet bedspread.
Geoffrey lay before him, his eyes closed. His thick stubble cast a dark shadow over his face, and Etienne imagined brushing his finger over it. In sleep, Geoffrey appeared innocent, not like a man charged with ridding the area of evil.
He smiled, absorbing Geoffrey’s features. A faint blush rested on the man’s cheekbones, whether his skin’s reminder of last night’s energetic activities or of the warmth of two men lying in the same bed together. Love marks covered Geoffrey’s chest. Etienne stifled the urge to part Geoffrey’s lips with his own.
He curled into Geoffrey’s arms, smiling as Geoffrey pulled him closer in his sleep. The man snored softly, his breath a pleasant rhythm that gave Etienne permission to explore. He rubbed a hand over one of Geoffrey’s muscular arms and raveled his other hand in the man’s chest hair. He moved his legs closer to Geoffrey, and locked his ankles around Geoffrey’s, enjoying the new sensation of warmth and closeness.
His chest moved alongside Geoffrey’s and for a moment it felt like they were more joined than in any of the other part of the previous night. Something thick and hard and velvety nudged Etienne. Definitely Geoffrey’s cock. The room should be cold, and yet…
Etienne frowned, and his eyes darted to the unlit fire. A dull ache in his chest started to pound, and he shifted his eyes to the grandfather clock.
The chamber maid.
Etienne untangled himself from Geoffrey’s arms and gathered his clothes. He smiled at Geoffrey’s untidiness last night, at his clothes lying rumpled on the floor. As he contemplated whether Geoffrey would want him to gather those as well, the door clicked.
Etienne’s heart raced, as if threatening to lurch from his chest, and his mouth dried. His body shook, and the consequences of being found, undressed, in Geoffrey’s room rushed toward him.
Etienne tucked his garments in a tight embrace and dove under the bed. Thankfully space. He pressed against the cold floorboards and bit his lips to keep his teeth from chattering.
The door swung open, and the chamber maid padded into the room. His muscles tensed, his body prepared to flee. He peered from underneath the bed as she crouched down and lit the hearth. A fire soon crackled and danced, and the chamber maid slipped from the room.
Undiscovered.
Etienne smiled. He locked the door and crept back onto the bed. The sound of the maid’s footsteps grew fainter. Thank goodness for having a small staff. Etienne slid back into bed and nibbled and sucked on Geoffrey’s neck, making his way up to the man’s mouth.
Geoffrey opened his eyes and blinked.
Etienne squirmed against him, desperate to touch as much of him as he could, not worrying now about waking him. He smiled as Geoffrey’s hands brushed against his back, as if the man were every bit as anxious to explore him. Geoffrey’s lips teased his open for a kiss. Geoffrey’s hands moved to Etienne’s head, his fingers playing with his hair. Warmth filled Etienne, and he wrapped his arms tightly around Geoffrey, never wanting to let go, never wanting this sensation to end.
Etienne’s eyes flickered to Geoffrey’s smiling ones. Etienne longed to fall into the man’s gaze, to lay there all day and contemplate Geoffrey, but he had so many secrets . . .
Shoving those thoughts aside for now, Etienne kissed Geoffrey again. He sucked on his lips, his tongue, his neck, his . . .
Geoffrey chuckled and struggled from his grasp. “Perhaps you can make things a bit less visible.”
Etienne’s cheeks flamed. “You didn’t object last night. And I seem to remember that you gave me some too.”
“Oh?” Geoffrey frowned.
Etienne was conscious they were arguing over something ridiculous, but he would rather argue over something ridiculous than over something important. It would be easy if Geoffrey were to leave because he didn’t like love marks, but it would be much more difficult if he were to leave because he didn’t like Etienne
Etienne thrust his neck up for Geoffrey to see. “Are there love marks there?”
Geoffrey was silent. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No?”
“Though . . . perhaps it might be good if you were to wear a neckcloth.”
“Indeed?” Etienne lifted an eyebrow, and Geoffrey looked away.
“Perhaps you could wear it in the higher style too . . .”
“Oh for goodness’ sake.” Etienne sprang from the bed to the mirror.
“But it’s more likely someone would notice mine.”
Tension filled the room, and Etienne swept it away, continuing, his words only faltering slightly. “Anyway, in the odd event you decide to hire a valet who notices the marks, I’m sure you could say you were with a woman. He would probably be more surprised not to see signs of an active love life from a single man such as yourself. In fact . . . you might even hire me as your valet if it pains you so much. I’m sure the duke would appreciate it if you found something to occupy me with.”
“Besides thrusting yourself on men. Or having them thrust themselves on you.” Bitterness filled Geoffrey’s tone.
Etienne averted his eyes. “Any thrusting going on was decidedly not coming from me.”
Geoffrey smirked and whispered into Etienne’s ear, “Someday you must show me.”
“The thrusting?” Etienne’s mouth dropped open and he closed it hastily.
Geoffrey shrugged. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like.”
Etienne’s mouth dried, and he averted his eyes from Geoffrey, not wanting to be mistaken. “To be thrust into?”
Geoffrey nodded.
“Oh, it’s fine, I suppose. Tolerable.” Firework inducing last night. Etienne’s cock twitched, and he tilted his head at Geoffrey. “You wouldn’t want to receive sometime?”
“I . . .” Geoffrey swung his head away, his face paling.
“It doesn’t matter.” Etienne swallowed hard. He returned to the bed and pulled Geoffrey close. “I like receiving.”
Geoffrey shook his head, and his voice sounded raw. “The fire . . .”
Etienne met his gaze. “The maid was here.”
“While you were here?” Geoffrey’s body stiffened in Etienne’s arms, and he clenched his jaw. A stony expression Etienne didn’t recognize crossed over Geoffrey’s face and settled the
re. Geoffrey’s eyes hardened. “Get out.”
The words burned Etienne. He stilled. “She didn’t see me.”
“Impossible.”
Etienne lifted his head. “I awoke before you, and was just gathering my clothes when she came in. And when the handle turned, I dove under the bed.”
“I see.” Geoffrey relaxed slightly, and Etienne nuzzled closer to him, hoping to return him to the man he was mere minutes ago. “Why did you spend the night in my bed?”
“I—”
“If you awakened, you should have left immediately.”
“I—”
“And what if there had been no room under the bed, or if you had not been quick enough?”
“That didn’t happen.” Etienne’s voice was firm. He lifted his torso, and with a deep breath, moved his hands to Geoffrey’s cock. “Forget about this morning.”
Geoffrey lifted his torso up, and the sudden force flung Etienne off the bed. Etienne’s body crashed onto the floorboards, and he gasped for breath.
Geoffrey’s eyes widened as guilt flickered across his face, and he moved his legs onto the floor and extended a hand to Etienne. “Are you harmed?”
Etienne scrambled up. “I’m fine.”
He grabbed his clothes, conscious of his nudity and Geoffrey’s appraisal.
“The wound?”
“It’s fine.” Etienne bit his lip. “Everything is fine. The maid didn’t notice anything. And next time we can take greater care.”
For a moment, Etienne thought Geoffrey might pounce on him, but his voice roughened and he said, “There won’t be a next time. This meant nothing.”
“Oh.” Etienne stilled. He had known, of course, the experience would mean nothing, but he hadn’t realized how much his mind persisted in the foolish belief that it might. Geoffrey’s eagerness, his enjoyment, clouded all Etienne’s senses.
Etienne’s hands shuddered as he pulled on his breeches.
“Go.” Geoffrey’s voice faltered.
He shouldn’t have stayed in the bed for so long. Geoffrey was right. He cursed himself that in his wakening moments he had forgotten how wide the divide was between the two of them, between, for that matter, him and any other man.
Captured At The Castle (Scandal in Sussex Book 2) Page 13
