Slippery Creatures
Page 23
“I’ve done a few of those. You were pretty good.”
“And you’re exceedingly hard to resist,” Kim said softly. “Your eyes, your smile, your strength. Your hands.”
“My—” Will couldn’t help looking down at them. They were toughened and battered, scarred with thin white lines and thickened knuckles. Ugly working hands, not like Kim’s elegant manicured ones.
Kim was looking at them too. “Beautiful. Like English oak.” His eyes flicked up and met Will’s. “As I say, hard to resist, and I failed to on several occasions, which caused us both a great deal of unnecessary pain. The night I spent here and the one you spent at my flat were two of the best I can remember, entirely because of you, and I wish I hadn’t tainted them. I wish I had done better by you.”
Will could wish that too. “Thanks. That helps.”
“It’s not remotely enough and we both know it. I made such a bloody mess of everything. And it was all my mess, no fault of yours. I’m sorry. Especially since we worked rather well when we were on the same side.”
“It would help if you were more reliably unreliable. At least I’d know where I stood.”
“Sorry.”
They both sat in silence for a minute, listening to the old bookshop creak and settle around them.
“So what now?” Will said at last.
“For whom? I continue doing what’s required of me, attempting to arrange the pieces of my life into a shape that has some meaning. You run your bookshop and court your flower-making beauty—”
“Sorry, what? What are you talking about?”
“Your young lady. The ingenious and adorable milliner of whom I hear so much.”
“I never said a word to you about her!” Will protested.
“Didn’t you? Maybe it was Phoebe. In any case, I trust the assessment of her callipygous pulchritude is correct and that you’ll be very happy.”
“That’s as may be,” Will said severely, since he had no idea what it meant, “but first off, she’s not my young lady, and second, I didn’t mean ‘what now for the rest of both our lives’. I meant...” He shrugged. “Drink?”
Kim looked completely nonplussed, for once. It was rather satisfying. “Drink?”
“Two blokes in a bookshop. One of them has a lot on his plate and the other one says, you’ve had a bad day, let’s get a drink. So they go to the Black Horse on the corner. Does that sound familiar?”
“It sounds like the start of a joke,” Kim said, and then, a little less waspishly, “Or at least, a story.”
“It sounds like a good idea to me. Pub, couple of pints, chat. Coming?”
Kim’s eyes met his, deep and dark and definitely unsettled. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know. The football results? Politics. The pictures. Why the blazes you’re called Kim when your name is Arthur.”
“My name, since you raise the topic, is Arthur Aloysius Kimberley de Brabazon Secretan. What would you do in my place?”
“Leave the country,” Will said wholeheartedly. “You poor bastard, you never stood a chance.”
“Not much of one.” Kim’s lips twitched, just a little. “Pub, you say?”
Will stood. “Black Horse. And you’re buying.”
“Oh, now I see the motive.” Kim stood too and shrugged his coat on. “The gin there is abominable, by the way.”
“So drink beer. Is it always Kim, or does anyone call you Aloysius?”
Kim picked up his hat. “Not if they want to live.”
It could be the start of a story or the end of one, Will thought, as they headed out together into the cold, dark street. It could be a farewell, or the foundation of a friendship. It could be an awkward drink in a crowded pub with an upper-class man wound tighter than a neurasthenic’s pocket watch, or just possibly something else entirely, something precious and fragile that Will didn’t want to look at straight on in case he jinxed it. It could be anything.
He might as well find out what.
Kim Secretan and Will Darling return in THE SUGARED GAME.
The Will Darling Adventures
A m/m romance trilogy in the spirit of Golden Age pulp fiction. It’s the 1920s and tensions are rising along with hemlines. Soldier-turned-bookseller Will Darling finds himself tangled up in spies and secret formulas, clubs and conspiracies, Bolsheviks, blackmail, and Bright Young Things. And dubious aristocrat Lord Arthur ‘Kim’ Secretan is right in the middle of it all: enigmatic, unreliable, and utterly irresistible.
Slippery Creatures
The Sugared Game
Subtle Blood
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For more 1920s romance by KJ Charles, this time with magic...
Spectred Isle
Archaeologist Saul Lazenby has been all but unemployable since his disgrace during the War. Now he scrapes a living working for a rich eccentric who believes in magic. Saul knows it’s a lot of nonsense...except that he begins to find himself in increasingly strange and frightening situations. And at every turn he runs into the sardonic, mysterious Randolph Glyde.
Randolph is the last of an ancient line of arcanists, commanding deep secrets and extraordinary powers as he struggles to fulfil his family duties in a war-torn world. He knows there's something odd going on with the haunted-looking man who keeps turning up in all the wrong places. The only question for Randolph is whether Saul is victim or villain.
Saul hasn’t trusted anyone in a long time. But as the supernatural threat grows, along with the desire between them, he’ll need to believe in evasive, enraging, devastatingly attractive Randolph. Because he may be the only man who can save Saul’s life—or his soul.
“It's a fantastic book and I loved every moment of it.”—All About Romance
“Spectred Isle made me cry repeatedly. It is my favorite of KJ Charles’ books (and as someone who sold their soul to A Seditious Affair, I do not say that lightly), thanks to the incredible atmosphere, often creepy plot, beautiful romance with wonderful characters. The plot itself made me excited for more and I honestly can't wait to see what happens next.”—Book Me Up!
“An utterly captivating mix of adventure, mystery and romance all bound up in old English folklore, myth and magic.”—Romantic Historical Reviews
About the Author
KJ Charles lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden, and a cat with murder management issues.
KJ writes mostly historical romance, mostly queer, sometimes with fantasy or horror in there. She is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary.
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Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this book, reviews are very welcome.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Published by KJC Books
Copyright © 2020 by KJ Charles
Edited by Veronica Vega
Cover by Tiferet Design
ISBN: 978-1-912688-15-9
Also available in paperback
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