by Merry Farmer
The girls leapt into action as fast as if it were a race and Lionel had fired the starter’s pistol. They rushed from the room, each one trying to beat the others up the stairs to the dormitories. Their footsteps were thunderous on the stairs even from the great hall. Lionel nodded toward Stephen and Max before following them. As he left, the majority of the gentlemen guests got up to head home as well, though a few stayed behind to help clean up.
“It baffles me how popular this place has become,” Stephen said, leaning against the table. When Max slid up next to him, Stephen rested an arm around his back as casual as could be.
David shrugged. “You should know as well as anyone how starved for affection our kind can be. It was no accident I suggested you reopen the orphanage here. These men need it.”
Stephen hummed sagely, his confidence growing as David confirmed the very thoughts he’d been having earlier.
A moment later, that confidence hardened into business as David’s expression darkened.
“We’ve located Joe and Alistair on the continent,” David said. “They were in Spain, but they’re on their way home now.”
“Any word on who the man with the lion is or what that even means?” Max asked, tensing as he leaned into Stephen’s side.
David shook his head, rubbing his chin. “Jewel claims he knows, or thinks he knows. He says it’s only a matter of time before he finds what he’s looking for.”
“And what is he looking for?” Stephen asked.
David let out an irritated breath. “He won’t say.” He paused, then added, “Lionel might be on to something when it comes to Jewel’s penchant for dramatics and self-aggrandizement.”
“He is an actor, after all,” Max agreed.
“He’s also one of the cleverest people I know,” David said. “When he applies himself.”
Stephen knew exactly what he was talking about. In his ten years of raising and teaching young children, he’d encountered more than a few who were stunningly brilliant but lacked the ability to focus, and who were therefore considered stupid by those who didn’t know better.
“What about my father?” Max asked. “Has he made any moves lately?”
“None that we can detect,” David said, shaking his head. “But something is clearly afoot. The number of reported kidnappings has remained steady instead of going down, as we had hoped it would after Gretton Mills. Which means the ring is still active.”
“Are Sister Constance and her children safe?” Stephen asked, troubled at the mere idea that they wouldn’t be.
David sighed again. “She refuses to let us relocate her orphanage. Though if you ask me, it’s the Church that doesn’t want to relocate, not her. I’ll give the woman this much, she’s loyal to the things she believes in.”
“She always has been,” Stephen agreed.
“At least we’ve got a team of men guarding her orphanage night and day.” David paused. “I was honestly surprised by how many men volunteered for that duty.”
“I’m not,” Max said. When Stephen and David both looked at him, he went on with, “Who would say no when given the opportunity to finally stand up and do something to protect those who are being unfairly mistreated? Standing up for them is standing up for ourselves, the same as any of the fellows who spend their time braiding hair, doing lessons, and reading stories to the girls here. We can finally do something instead of feeling impotent.”
“Well said.” Stephen rested a hand on Max’s shoulder, his heart swelling with affection.
Max glanced to him with a fire in his eyes that was anything but impotent. It stirred Stephen in every sort of delicious way.
“With that,” David said, standing straight, mischief in his eyes. “I’d better go see what new trouble Lionel is getting himself into.” He winked at Stephen and Max, then turned and strode out of the great hall.
“Oh, Mr. Wirth, I’ve been meaning to ask you about…about something legal.” Annie jumped away from the table she was clearing to walk by David’s side. She stared at him with the same starry expression she’d always worn with Stephen, clearly besotted. “Seeing as you’re so smart and handsome and commanding and all,” she finished, her face going pink as the two of them turned the corner and left the great hall.
“God preserve us,” Stephen said, shaking his head. “And here I thought the poor thing had learned the ways of the world.”
“Not enough, or so it would seem,” Max laughed. “She’s such a dear thing.”
“A little too dear sometimes.” Stephen sent him a soft look. “If only there were a man in her life whom she could really love.” He slid his hand into Max’s
Max grinned at their entwined fingers. “I think it’s about time the two of us put ourselves to bed as well,” he said in a low voice, leaning close to Stephen’s ear.
Stephen blushed in spite of himself, doubly when Max let go of his hand to stroke his thigh. “With the house so full of people?” he asked, his breath catching in his throat as Max’s hand ventured into tempting territory.
“What better time?” Max asked in a whisper. “Everyone will be distracted.”
“Good point.”
Stephen pushed away from the table, taking Max’s hand as he cut his way through the empty tables and the discarded dishes and projects they held.
Unlike his bedroom in the old orphanage, Stephen had chosen a room for him and Max on the second floor, at the front of the house. It was far enough from the dormitories and Mrs. Ross and Annie’s room that they could carry on without fear of disturbing anyone, but close enough to the stairs and the front of the house that they would always have a clear line of sight for everything going on in the building. They heard Lionel reading aloud in a colorful voice on the first floor as they slipped up, but thankfully, no one saw them pass.
As soon as their bedroom door was shut, Max pivoted to press Stephen’s back against the door, turning the lock with one hand and planting the other beside Stephen’s head. “I’ve been waiting all day to get you alone,” he said in a tempting voice, staring at Stephen’s lips for a moment before leaning in to kiss him.
It was heaven to be able to give in to his love for Max so easily. Stephen made quick work of the buttons of Max’s waistcoat, glad he wasn’t wearing a jacket, since they were at home, and tugged his shirt out of his trousers. He let out a sound of satisfaction as he smoothed his hands along the lean lines of Max’s sides, loving the feel of his skin. Max growled in approval and went straight to unfastening Stephen’s trousers as their mouths continued to meld together. In the relatively short time they’d been together, they’d managed to learn exactly what the other liked while still feeling the flames as though they were new.
“We must be the luckiest men in London,” Stephen sighed as the intensity of their efforts to undress each other increased. He pushed away from the door, backing Max toward the bed even as they both shed clothes.
“Because we found each other at precisely the right moment?” Max asked as the back of his legs bumped against the side of the bed.
“Because we found a way to be together, in spite of your father’s threats and society’s judgements,” Stephen said. He pushed Max just enough to send him spilling across the bed, then bent to lift one of his legs so that he could untie Max’s shoes.
“I doubt society or the law would turn a blind eye if they took a closer look at this orphanage,” Max said, chuckling in spite of his seriousness. He wriggled out of his suspenders and pulled off his shirt as Stephen removed his other shoe.
“We’ve the same protection that we’ve always had,” Stephen reasoned, bending to take off his own shoes once Max’s were taken care of. “Ignorance is bliss. And I have faith in The Brotherhood and the men of this neighborhood to keep everyone around us in the dark.”
“It’s amazing how discreet even the biggest queens can be when discretion is the difference between life and death,” Max agreed. He unfastened his trousers and kicked them off, leaving him gloriously naked and
waiting for Stephen, his cock already hard. “Once we help David and Lionel defeat this horrific trafficking ring, I dare say we’ll have the most charmed life anyone of our kind has ever had the luck to live.”
The need that pulsed through Stephen as he tore off the rest of his clothes while gazing hungrily at Max’s waiting body made the seriousness of Max’s statement ring discordantly in his head. “I don’t want to think about the darkness,” he said climbing onto the bed and balancing himself over top of Max. “I know it’s there, but when I’m with you like this, I can’t think of anything but how good you taste and how much it drives me wild to be inside you.”
“God, you’re irresistible when you’re worked up,” Max sighed. He plucked the spectacles from Stephen’s face and reached to set them on the bedside table before grabbing Stephen’s face and bringing it down for a kiss.
They’d learned so much about each other in the short months they’d been together, but Stephen was eager to learn more. He raked his hands along Max’s body, his breath catching at the heat of his skin and the firmness of his muscles. Max couldn’t seem to get enough of him either. Their hands were greedy as they explored each other. Stephen broke away from Max’s mouth to kiss his way across his neck and shoulder. He’d intended to travel as far south as he could and to sheathe Max’s cock deep in his mouth, but already he could sense that Max wouldn’t last that long.
“If I had known you were so hungry for this I would have skipped supper altogether,” he laughed, shifting to the side so that he could open the drawer in his bedside table and take out the jar of ointment they kept there.
Max pushed to his knees as well, plucking the jar from Stephen’s hands with a glint in his eyes. “If I had known it would be so easy to convince you to go to bed early tonight I would have lured you up here earlier.”
Max slipped an arm around Stephen’s waist and leaned in for a searing kiss. He was commanding and passionate, leaving Stephen in no doubt of what he wanted that evening. And Stephen was all too happy to give it to him. That in itself surprised him. Max had broken through every protective wall he’d put up over the years, in spite of his resistance, and proved that he was devoted and true. Nothing Stephen could possibly imagine was as arousing as Max’s faithfulness.
“Remember,” Max said with a teasing grin as he unscrewed the lid of the jar and helped himself to a generous amount of its contents. “Lionel is just downstairs, and if anyone in London is capable of hearing and distinguishing the slightest sounds, it’s him.”
“Are you warning me not to scream?” Stephen asked coyly over his shoulder as he bent forward, drawing a thick pillow to his stomach for balance. “Because I can’t promise anything.”
“Minx,” Max laughed, then brushed his fingers over the cleft of Stephen’s arse.
The jolt of cool ointment against his hot flesh had Stephen sucking in a breath in anticipation. Max moved closer, stroking and spreading him in preparation. He reached around Stephen’s side to close a hand around his cock, working him with an insistence that had Stephen sighing with pleasure and arching his hips for more. It was one thing to take the lead with Max when they were together, but opening himself up that way, surrendering all of his desperately needed control, all because he loved Max beyond anything he would have imagined was possible, meant the world to him.
“You are irresistible,” Max sighed, repositioning himself. He leaned forward to kiss Stephen’s shoulder before driving himself home.
Stephen let out a long, low moan of pleasure, adjusting his body to accommodate Max’s delicious invasion. Some men needed a lifetime to learn how to be with another in a way that brought the most pleasure to them both, but he and Max had found their rhythm astoundingly fast. Their joining was erotic and emotional, and so pleasurable it blurred Stephen’s vision. Max knew just how to thrust in him to hit the perfect spot, heightening his pleasure to an unbelievable degree.
Max’s thrusts sped up quickly, and Stephen knew he wasn’t going to last long. He wanted more than anything to fly into oblivion along with Max, so he grabbed Max’s hand and brought it to his aching cock, their fingers entwined. It was exactly what he needed to speed toward the edge himself, and as Max’s heavy breaths turned into desperate gasps of pleasure, and then a long, sharp cry, Stephen let himself go as well. The pleasure that shot through him, sending his seed spilling across their joined hands and the sheets, was too much for him to keep silent, as Max had warned. He cried out for joy, feeling as though his soul and Max’s were one.
Exhaustion overtook both of them, and within seconds they’d collapsed and rolled into each other’s arms, overheated, sweaty, and panting.
“You are my everything,” Stephen said, stroking Max’s damp, curling hair away from his forehead.
“I’m the luckiest man alive,” Max sighed, lifting his leg over Stephen’s hip and snuggling closer to him. “And I swear, I will stand by you for the rest of our lives, no matter what is thrown our way.”
Stephen kissed him with all the ardor in his heart that words simply couldn’t express. They would be together forever, and together, they would be strong enough to defeat even the most daunting of foes.
Epilogue
David Wirth paced the length of his office, his mind whirring with all of the new developments that had happened in the kidnapping ring in the last few weeks. Two groups of children had been rescued, but reports of even more going missing kept pouring in. He felt as though he were the proverbial Dutch boy, attempting to plug more and more holes in a dam and running out of hands.
The worst part was that they knew exactly who was involved in the ring, but those men were untouchable. He wanted to kick the waste bin sitting at the corner of his desk as he paced out of sheer frustration. Men like Lord Chisolm and Lord Eastleigh believed they could get away with murder, because more often than not, they could.
“There has to be a way to expose them and bring them to justice,” he grumbled to himself as he turned at the far corner of his room and started back again.
“There are plenty of ways to expose men like that,” Lionel said from the doorway. “If you’re willing to pay the price of bringing them down.”
David jumped. He hadn’t noticed Lionel sauntering into the doorway. The way Lionel leaned against the frame, arms crossed, watching David with an otherworldly fire in his eyes was unnerving, to say the least. Lionel’s stance said he’d been watching for a while, and his eyes said he’d enjoyed what he was seeing a little too much.
“Good men shouldn’t have to sacrifice anything to bring down evil,” David muttered, continuing his pacing. “Justice should triumph over fortune and title.”
“Should,” Lionel agreed with a nod of his head. “But you and I both know it rarely happens that way.”
David huffed a humorless laugh. “I still don’t believe either Chisolm or Eastleigh are the masterminds behind this whole thing,” he said. “Deeply involved, yes. Financing the ring’s activity, also yes. But masterminding it?” He shook his head. “Someone higher must be involved.”
“Higher than a duke?” Lionel arched a perfectly-manicured eyebrow and whistled.
“Perhaps not in rank,” David went on, scowling as he racked his brain for answers. “There’s always an inner hierarchy in circles like that one.”
“Just like there is an inner hierarchy in The Brotherhood?” Lionel suggested.
David sent a wry grin his way. They both knew exactly how that particular hierarchy stood. “Whoever is at the top might not be a duke or higher.”
“They might even be the son of lower level gentry.” Lionel smirked, buffing his nails against the lapels of his midnight blue suit jacket.
David laughed. “You’re adorable when you give yourself delusions of grandeur.”
“And how would you know that they’re delusions?” Lionel straightened in mock offense.
“You’re precious, darling, but not to that degree,” David said with a grin.
“I’ll let yo
u continue to believe that, if you’d like.” Lionel pushed away from the doorway, stepping into the path of David’s pacing. David was inches away from him, their eyes locked and their lips just a breath away before he was aware of it. “Seeing as I like you and all,” Lionel finished in a low purr.
A swooping rush filled David’s gut and tightened his groin. Lionel stared at him as if daring him to lean in for a kiss. David stared right back, refusing to give in. It was a battle of wills they’d fought before and would fight again and again until one of them buckled.
The sound of the outer office door opening and closing cut through the vibrating tension between them.
“Hello?” a deep voice asked from the main room.
Lionel turned toward the door, keeping his eyes locked on David’s until the very last moment. He broke away, strode into the main part of the office, and said, “Why, hello, Officer Wrexham.”
David sucked in a breath, fighting to compose himself. Patrick Wrexham was exactly the man he needed to speak with, but he would trip all over himself and stammer like an idiot if he didn’t shake off the spell Lionel had come so close to putting him under.
“Is David in?” Wrexham asked as David rolled his shoulders and took a few more deep breaths in preparation for greeting him. “He’ll want to hear what I’ve uncovered.”
That was enough to ground David firmly in the issue at hand once more. “What have you uncovered?” he asked, striding into the main part of the office.
Lionel was already fixing tea for Wrexham as though nothing at all were out of the ordinary. Wrexham’s shoulders relaxed and his worried expression turned more confident as he stepped around one of the room’s sofas to shake David’s hand.
“I’ve had reports that Chisolm is back in England,” Wrexham said. “Though I haven’t been able to locate exactly where he is yet.”
“That’s more than we knew about the man yesterday,” David said, encouraged by the news. “By any chance have Joe Logan and Alistair Bevan returned as well?”
