The Hunt Club Chronicles Bundle (14 page)

Henry withdrew, and turned Nathan to face him. Bright eyes smiled back at him. Nathan seized Henry's head and dragged him close for a kiss.

But Henry pushed Nathan away. "You need a bath. I dirtied you."

"So you did. I like dirty, but I do need to speak to the children about their mother."

Henry gave him another nudge in the direction of his bath. "Of course, shall I await you downstairs?"

"No, I think we should see them together."

"As you wish."

"I want no secrets between us, Henry. I will need your help raising them."

Although Henry’s eyes widened with Nathan’s admission, his lover nodded. It didn’t make him a lesser man to admit he needed help. He was smart enough to know he’d need Henry for the rest of his life.

While he was imagining a wonderfully decadent future, Henry swept Nathan up in his arms and, to his considerable shock, dumped Nathan into his cold bath, splashing water everywhere.

Nathan spluttered. “You do realize you have to clean that mess up, don’t you, sir?”

Henry leaned close over the Nathan. “Of course, Your Grace, I live to serve.”

Nathan threw his head back and howled with laughter.

Epilogue

“The Duke of Lewes and Duke of Staines,” Nathan’s butler intoned.

Nathan risked a quick glance at Henry before standing to greet his guests. His lover appeared nervous. “Gentlemen, what an unexpected surprise.”

The Duke of Staines, flanked by his ever-present footman, stalked across the room and pulled Nathan into a rough hug. Nathan’s first lover set him at arm’s length and grinned. “I got your note and decided to pay our mutual friend a visit. I believe he has seen the error of his ways.”

Lewes, dark shadows beneath his eyes standing stark against his pale skin, grimaced as he drew closer. “Byworth.”

Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and stared the man down.

“Nate!”
Staines
snapped. “Enough. He’s been suitably punished for disappointing me.”

Yet while Lewes should have enjoyed that immensely, he didn’t appear content. His gaze darted about the chamber and settled on where Henry stood silently behind Nathan.

Staines
peered around Nathan too. “Ah, Arrow,” he drawled. “I wondered where you’d gotten to.”

Henry, or Arrow as he was apparently known in the Hunt Club, didn’t flinch from
Staines
’ bold appraisal. When
Staines
glanced at his servant, the groom took a pace toward Henry.

Nathan stepped between. “Leave him be.”

The servant, a strapping Irishman Nathan remembered well for his brutal devotion to his duke, hesitated. He cast a questioning glance at his master as
Staines
approached.

“Nate? Have you formed an attachment to my property?”

Nathan smoothly kept between Henry and the other men. “Stackpool is my property. My man, now.”

Behind him, Henry growled.

“Touching, don’t you think, Redding? Shall we let the young lovers remain in peace?” The duke turned to regard his own servant steadily.
Redding
cocked his head, eyes skimming over Henry with an avid light.

The duke frowned and
Redding
’s gaze returned to his master. “He’d run away again.”

Staines
nodded, and adjusted his sleeve. “Quite right, quite right. To return him to the Hunt Club would only breed dissent. He and Archer caused us trouble enough.” The Duke of Staines fixed his gaze on the Duke of Lewes where he fidgeted impatiently.

“Arrow, or should I say Stackpool, where is Archer?”

Nathan tucked his hand behind his back and motioned for his steward to come closer.

Henry grasped Nathan’s hand tight. “I don’t know, Your Grace. We became separated shortly after we left the house.”

Although
Staines
smiled at his and Henry’s new proximity, Nathan couldn’t care less. He had to do something to show Henry his support. He’d shoot his former lover if he made an attempt to drag Henry back to a life as a whore.

“How did you leave
London
?”

Henry squeezed Nathan’s hand tighter. “I took the stage.”

“Ah,”
Staines
shifted to stand before Nathan. “I’m curious now, indeed. Where did you meet Arrow, Nate? You’ve never patronized the Hunt Club’s whores before to my knowledge.”

As he came closer, Nathan moved back. “He presented himself to me here.”

Staines
leaned closer and pressed his lips to Nathan’s. The kiss, an intimacy they hadn’t shared in years, surprised him. “Liar,”
Staines
whispered against Nathan’s lips. “You hired him in
London
. I remember you telling me over drinks at the club. It appears to me your loyalties have shifted, Nate.”

Nathan’s heart pounded. “They have.”

The duke’s smile was bittersweet, the bright light dimmed from his eyes.

He turned to his servant. “Tossed aside again,
Redding
. Come, let’s drag my world-weary heart back to
London
. Perhaps some new diversion will present itself.”

With that, the Duke of Staines left the chamber. Only Lewes remained.

Lewes, however, appeared uncertain for the first time since Nathan had known him. He licked his lips, tossed back his shoulders, and approached. “I want to find Archer. Will you help me?”

Henry’s hand grew clammy in Nathan’s and he tightened his grip on his steward. “From what I’ve heard, what you want from this Archer is so bad he fled from you. Why should we help?”

Lewes raked his hand through his hair, and tugged. “I know you’ll never believe me, not after my recent behavior, but I must have him back. I . . . I need him. I’ll die without him.”

Behind Nathan’s back, Henry hissed, “He’ll die by your own hands if he comes back to you.”

Nathan pulled Henry close behind his back, standing bodily between Lewes’ temper and his lover.

Lewes raked his fingers through his short cropped hair. “A mistake I will never make again. I promise you, Arrow. Where is he?”

“Hiding from you. You won’t find him. And he won’t come back to you of his own free will.”

Lewes’ expression grew pained. “Dammit, can you get word to him?”

“Perhaps,” Henry conceded.

Lewes’ jaw clenched, then bit out, “Can you send something to him?”

“Perhaps.”

Lewes fussed with his clothes and withdrew a small key. His hand shook as he passed it to Nathan. “The key belongs in my
London
residence. Will you give that to Archer?’

Nathan snorted. “You’re giving him a house key.”

Lewes, however, gulped as the key passed into Henry’s safekeeping. “No, it doesn’t open the house, but it does open something more valuable to him. Tell him I give it of my own free will. He will know to what you refer.”

Lewes swallowed nervously, nodded his head and departed. Behind him, Henry let out a relieved breath and bent his head to Nathan’s shoulder.

Nathan pressed his head against Henry’s. “Any ideas what the key is for?”

“Perhaps.”

Nathan spun. “You know, I’m starting to dislike that word on your lips. You say it too damn much. You do know where this Archer is, don’t you?”

“My apologies, Your Grace. Is there something else I should be saying?”

Nathan threw his hands up in despair. “Well of course there is. I’ve unburdened myself to you, and to my oldest acquaintances just now. Surely I am not alone with my feelings.”

Henry grinned suddenly, stepped forward into the circle of Nathan’s arms. “I heard you, Nate. But, I’ve heard those words spoken too often in my life to place much store in their value. You would be amazed at how often men boast of love during their pleasure. But if the sun stopped shining tomorrow, and you were gone from my life, I don’t think I would continue living without you.”

Nathan blinked. In the face of such a statement, words of love were meaningless. He’d have Henry in his life until his dying breath. But just because Henry couldn’t say the words, didn’t mean Nathan couldn’t repeat them often. With time, and persistence, Henry would come to believe them as a truth.

He cupped his lover’s skull. “I love you, Henry or Arrow, or whatever the hell your name is. You’ll never get free of me, but if it should happen that I leave you first I will wait for you to catch up.”

With that, Nathan pulled his servant into his arms and squeezed. Henry’s soft chuckle skimmed his ear and Nathan claimed his mouth hungrily, impatient for the privacy of the night to come.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Barely a Master

Copyright 2011 by
Heather Boyd

LLD Press

Cover Design by
Heather Boyd

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without written permission.

For more information visit:
www.heather-boyd.com

The trappings of wealth and power give Aiden Banks, Duke of Lewes, little joy and certainly no pleasure. Tormented by grave mistakes he made with a past lover, he's determined to end it all and has a pistol ready and waiting especially for the occasion. All he needs is patience and time to educate his young heir to take his place. Once he's free, he'll end his lonely existence and escape the pain of Archer's disappearance.