“Why are you sitting here looking morose and frowning so blackly you are scaring away all the single gentlemen who might have given a thought to approaching you?”
Lucius turned his scowl on Maxim Armitage, the Duke of Lancaster, as the other man came to stand where Lucius sat alone in one of the comfortable armchairs in a quiet area of the club. The other man had long been a friend as well as being another of the four founding members of The Apollo Club. “It does not seem to have deterred you from doing so.”
Maxim grinned as he dropped down into the armchair opposite Lucius’s. “That is because I have no interest in sharing a bed with you, tonight or any other night.”
Lucius chuckled. “We would probably kill each other fighting for dominance over the other.”
“I have no doubt we would.” The elegant Duke of Lancaster snapped his fingers in the direction of the young waiter passing by. “Care for another?” He indicated Lucius’s empty glass.
“No.” Lucius did not intend staying much longer, having realized his mistake in coming here tonight from the moment he walked in the door.
Usually the elegant salons, the dining room, and bar of this club acted as a balm to the role Lucius was forced to play in public. It had become a necessary relief from what so many others expected of him. Here, he could look at another man with lust in his eyes. Could take things further if the man returned that interest. Or he could just as easily spend an hour or two of relaxation from the strains of his everyday life, chatting with friends and enjoying several glasses of a decent brandy in the knowledge none here would judge him.
Lucius was not in the right frame of mind to do any of those things tonight.
He was too tense from his earlier conversation with Toby to relax or enjoy a leisurely drink, alone or with friends.
As for the lust… There had to be thirty gentleman here this evening, many of them exactly the type that usually appealed to Lucius. And yet he felt no interest in pursuing any of them.
Why not?
Because none of them had a head of unruly golden curls, huge green-and-gold eyes in a delicately lovely face, lips of pouting red, and a lithe body Lucius wished to bend over the nearest hard surface and fuck hard, deep, and for a very long time.
“Who is he?”
Lucius’s frowning gaze focused once again on Lancaster. “Who is who?”
The other man gave him a shrewd glance. “The man who has you so aroused, it is a wonder your evening breeches do not burst their buttons from the strain of holding that monstrous erection inside.”
Lucius released a heavy sigh after glancing at the visible proof of that “monstrous erection,” knowing the other man would not relent until he knew at least some of the details. “He is not a member here.”
“Should he be?”
“No!” Lucius immediately drew in a long and controlling breath after hearing his own vehemence. “No, he should not,” he said more calmly.
“He is not attracted to men?”
“Yes, he is. It is only…He is not old enough to even enter this establishment,” he admitted gruffly.
The other man’s brows rose. “He is under the age of one and twenty?”
The four gentleman who had opened and were responsible for the patrons of The Apollo Club had all agreed that the men must be over the age of one and twenty to even to be considered for membership. There were several other rules, but that one was sacrosanct.
A nerve pulsed in Lucius’s jaw. “You see how unacceptable this attraction is.”
“Does he return your interest?”
Lucius relaxed slightly, a small smile curving his lips as he recalled his earlier conversation with Toby. “On the contrary, he believes me to be a condescending bastard and to disapprove of his sexual preference.”
“You have not revealed that your own sexual preference is the same as his own?”
The smile faded. “No.”
“Why not, if you like him?”
“I do not like him! I do not recall saying I like him,” he amended in a calmer voice when Lancaster gave him a knowing glance. “He can be willful. Outspoken. Annoying. Intensely annoying.” Toby could also be kind, the sort of innate kindness he had shown to the members of his deceased father’s household. He was also intelligent, with a deep curiosity about life.
Lucius was aware that some of his own impatient anger was due to the guilt he felt, which had beset him the moment his carriage drew away from Sheffield House earlier this evening. Because his absence had left Toby alone with his own company, in a strange household, and only days after his father’s funeral.
He should have had more compassion, more understanding—
“Did he really dare to call you a condescending bastard to your face?” Lancaster was obviously amused at the thought.
Lucius also smiled at the memory. “He did, yes.”
“When?”
“Earlier this evening.”
“Why?”
“Possibly because I am a condescending bastard,” he allowed dryly. “But also,” he added reluctantly, “because I have become the figure of authority in his life that all young men under the age of twenty enjoy antagonizing and challenging.”
“Good God…” The other man sat up straighter in his chair. “You are talking about your ward, Tobias Bishop, the new Earl of Chelmsford?”
Lucius’s nostrils flared. “I did tell you this was a ridiculous situation.”
“Why is it?” Lancaster frowned. “I cannot think of anything more perfect. The two of you already reside under the same roof, so there would be no gossip about the arrangement.”
“Because there is no arrangement,” Lucius insisted irritably. “Nor will there be,” he added with a frown. “We have known each other only a matter of days.” And Lucius had surprised himself with the depth of the desire he had come to feel for Toby in that short time. To a degree the young man was rarely out of his thoughts. “I am over eighteen years his senior,” he continued firmly. “He has just suffered a grievous personal loss. He is no doubt at home right now either sobbing into his silk handkerchief or reading a book in front of the fireplace like the innocent he is. He does not need to know that his guardian not only shares his sexual inclination but is also attracted to him.”
“Why not?”
“Because I will not share a house with him and have him observing me with suspicious or apprehensive eyes.”
“You are now being ridiculous, Lucius,” Lancaster snapped. “You prefer to explore and make love with other men, but that does not make you a predator of innocent boys.”
“He is an innocent.”
“But not a boy,” Lancaster insisted, much the same as Daniel had a week ago. “You do not have to make an issue of telling him of your sexual preference if you do not wish to do so. You could bring him here instead, as your guest, where the realization would come to him gradually throughout the evening.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Tobias—”
“Toby,” Lucius corrected distractedly. “He is insistent he prefers to be called Toby.”
The other man smiled. “I am liking him more and more.”
“You will keep your dominant hands off him! I mean it, Maxim,” he warned harshly as the other man gave a mocking grin. “I suggested spanking his arse earlier this evening, and he went so pale, I thought he was going to faint. One glimpse of your restraints and a flogger and he is sure to do so.”
Lancaster stared at him. “You threatened to spank his arse?”
Lucius gave a flustered scowl. “For being rude and disrespectful to me, not with any idea of giving him pleasure.”
“What about your own pleasure?” Lancaster gave a pointed glance to the bulge in Lucius’s pantaloons that had grown longer merely from discussing spanking Toby.
“Fuck off,” he muttered.
“I— Thank you.” Lancaster bestowed a smile on the young man who had brought him a fresh glass of brandy before turning back to Lucius. “I do not use restraints or a flogger. I prefer my physical dominance to be of a far more…delicate nature. Verbal, mainly. But occasionally a blindfold. Or perhaps silk scarves about the wrists and ankles to secure my lover to the bed. After all these years of knowing me, Lucius, I am surprised you have not realized that already.” He sipped his brandy.
“Not being present at the time, I have no idea what you choose to do in the bedchamber,” he drawled.
“Well, it is not that,” Lancaster stated firmly. “But your little ward might enjoy wearing a blindfold and being tied to the bed before being fucked into unconsciousness. I really think you should bring him here, Lucius. Nowhere in the rules does it say a guest of the founding members has to be over the age of one and twenty.”
Lucius rose to his feet. “My little ward is off-limits, to you or anyone else in this club.”
The other man chuckled. “I have never seen you react in this jealous way before tonight.”
His hands clenched at his sides. “I am not jealous, damn it!”
Maxim continued to smile. “No?”
Lucius released a shuddering breath. “Perhaps,” he allowed grudgingly. “A little.”
“He likes you too.”
He huffed. “I somehow doubt that.”
“Well, if he talks to you in that way, he certainly is not in awe of you, as so many men at this club are, which means there is the possibility he might come to like you if he does not already.”
“I am too old for him,” Lucius maintained stubbornly.
Lancaster rolled his eyes. “You are perfect for him. Good God, I wish I’d had a handsome, experienced older gentleman to introduce me to all the pleasures of the flesh when I was his age. Besides, have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately?” the other man challenged. “You have always been too handsome for your own or any other man’s good, but those touches of silver at your temples only add to those distinguished looks. Your little Toby probably falls asleep exhausted in his bed every night after masturbating to images of you in his head.”
His Toby?
That phrase stayed in Lucius’s mind long after Lancaster had excused himself and Lucius decided to drive back to Sheffield House. Lancaster’s comment that Toby might return the attraction Lucius felt toward him also remained with him.
If Toby did like Lucius in that way, then what was Lucius going to do about it?
If anything.
“Where in hell have you been till this time of night?”
As soon as Toby heard the deep timbre of Sheffield’s voice behind him, he realized his inebriated effort to enter Sheffield House and silently cross the entrance hall to the wide staircase before hurrying up to his bedchamber undetected, had been unsuccessful.
The duke had obviously been lying in wait for him.
Toby drew in a deep breath before turning. He frowned as he stared across the darkness of the entrance hall to where the glowing tip of a cigar was the only indication of where Sheffield stood in the shadows. “You are home early, Your Grace.” It was only a little after one o’clock in the morning.
“Obviously earlier than you.” Lucius had entered the house just after eleven o’clock, to be informed by his butler that “the young master” had gone out for the evening, leaving Lucius to spend the next two hours wondering exactly where Toby was and what he was doing, and with whom.
So much for his earlier prediction his ward was at home either sobbing into his silk handkerchief or reading a book!
“Were none of the ladies at the club attractive enough for you to want to fuck them?” that young man now taunted.
Lucius’s jaw tightened. “As you have obviously imbibed too much alcohol tonight, I suggest you go to your room and we will talk of this again in the morning.”
“Man’s entitled to a drink or two on his birthday,” Toby muttered.
Birthday? Dear God! Daniel had mention Toby had an upcoming birthday during their last conversation together. Could this be the reason Toby had asked to accompany Lucius this evening, because he wished for company on his birthday? And Lucius had refused him.
He drew himself up stiffly. “I apologize for my oversight in not knowing it was your birthday today.” Only three days as the boy’s guardian and he had already blundered.
“Yesterday now,” Toby dismissed.
“Yesterday,” Lucius echoed. “We will discuss that in the morning too.”
Toby squinted at him. “Discuss it how?”
“In the manner of you advising me as to a suitable birthday gift for you.”
“I don’t want a gift.”
“From me in particular or at all?”
The younger man gave the subject some concentrated thought. “From you, I think.”
A nerve pulsed in Lucius’s tightly clenched jaw. “And why is that?”
Narrow shoulders shrugged. “Nothing worse than receiving a gift from someone who really don’t want to give it. Several of my aunt and uncle’s birthday and Christmas gifts to me were thrown away for that very same reason.”
The Barfords again. The two of them really did need to have a conversation about Toby’s aunt and uncle. But not tonight, Lucius acknowledged as Toby swayed slightly on his booted feet. “I trust you will not dispose of any gift you receive from me in the same manner.”
“Depends what it is.”
“I—” Lucius broke off his protest as Toby swayed once again. “I believe for now, it would be best if you go upstairs and have a good night’s sleep.”
“I am not tired.”
“I am.”
Toby shrugged. “That ain’t surprising when you’re so much older than me. Stamina can’t be what it was.” He waved a dismissive, if elegant, hand. “No doubt at your age, it’s a choice between fucking a woman or being able to walk again for several hours afterward.”
That nerve continued to pulse in Lucius’s clenched jaw. “There is nothing wrong with my stamina.”
Nor his temper. A temper that had been simmering since Lucius entered Sheffield House to discover his young ward was not even in the house but had left shortly after he had, informing the butler only that he was going out with friends.
Now it seemed “the young master” had finally returned home more than a little inebriated.
Lucius watched him make his way unsteadily across the tiled entrance hall after pausing briefly to light one of the candles beside the door. In that candlelight, Lucius could see that Toby’s blond curls were in even more disarray than usual, and there was a white silk scarf thrown haphazardly about his neck, with several buttons on his waistcoat unfastened.
Toby looked debauched.
Or as if he had been debauched.
Lucius stubbed out his cigar in the nearby ashtray with more vehemence than was probably necessary. “As I said, we will discuss the matter of your drinking, late return home, and inappropriate comments to me in the morning.”
Toby turned. “I thought I was to receive a smacked arse if I forgot my manners again?”
Lucius stilled, barely breathing, his hands fisted at his sides. “Do you want a smacked arse?”
“Not sure.” Toby pulled a face, as if he was considering the matter. “Will I like it, do you think?”
“It would not be administered with the intention of being liked,” Lucius snapped, the situation not helped by his total awareness of the return of the stiffness of his cock inside his breeches. Merely from discussing spanking the arse that currently looked utterly delectable outlined against Toby’s evening breeches.
The young man gave an unconcerned smile. “That ain’t what I heard. Of course, that conversation was in regard to women.” His brow creased into an exaggerated frown.” But I see no reason why a man should not like it too. If it was administered by another gentleman with the same preferences, of course,” he added with obvious mockery.
Lucius’s throbbing cock was growing longer and thicker and his balls heavier with each word that left Toby’s pretty lips. Lips he instinctively knew would taste delicious or look beautiful stretched about the girth of Lucius’s cock as he fucked that length down this younger man’s throat.
Except Toby had obviously drunk too much this evening to be fully aware of what he was saying or inviting. “We will meet again at ten o’clock tomorrow morning in my study,” Lucius stated.
Again, there was that frown of deep and exaggerated concentration. “I thought the two of us were to eat breakfast together at ten o’clock?”
Good God, Toby made it sound like they were two lovers intending to break their fast together the morning after—after—
Fuck.
Bugger.
Damn.
Fuck.
“Go to bed, Toby,” he ordered in a gravelly voice.
The young man deflated slightly, shoulders slumping. “You ain’t any fun at all.”
“Oh, I can be fun, in the right circumstances,” Lucius assured him dryly.
“I ain’t seen any evidence of it.”
“Perhaps not, but that is because these are not the right circumstances. I also have the feeling that, of the two of us, you will be the one to most regret this conversation in the morning,” Lucius drawled.
Toby’s nose wrinkled. “I feel a certain amount of regret already.”
“Only a certain amount?” Lucius was finding it difficult not to be amused by how endearing a slightly drunk Toby could be.
Toby shrugged. “Best I show some regret now, ’cause I doubt I will remember the conversation at all in the morning.”
“In that case, I shall remind you,” Lucius promised.
“Had a feeling you might,” the younger man muttered.
“Make sure to blow out that candle before you fall sleep,” Lucius called out in warning as the younger man made his way up the staircase.
He could not be certain, but he thought he heard Toby murmur, “I would much rather be doing something or someone else before I fall asleep,” as he made his weaving way up the staircase before the lighted candle, and Toby, disappeared down the hallway to the left.
Lucius was still smiling as he returned to his study. Toby was proving to be highly entertaining without the need for any sexual interactions between the two of them.
Nevertheless, Lucius had every intention of taking care of his hard and leaking cock before it burst completely out the front of his breeches, as Lancaster had predicted it might.