“Already?” Evan said. “We’ve only just—oh. I see.”
Thomas glanced over to find that Felix had untucked his linen shirt and was using the hem to mop his brow, apparently unaware that his lean, toned stomach was on display. Leo was staring at it in much the same way a cat would stare at a twitching mouse’s tail—like he was just waiting for the chance to pounce.
“Yes,” Leo said, his voice strained. “I’ve just remembered I have something important to do back at the castle.”
He gave Felix a hungry look, his gaze raking over his husband’s bare skin.
Felix paused in his movements and looked down at himself, a slow, teasing smile spreading over his features. “Right. Yes.Thatimportant thing. I remember now,” he said, tracing a fingertip over the ridges on his stomach and easing the hem of his shirtup far enough that Thomas caught a glimpse of one tight brown nipple.
Maybe not completely unaware then.
Leo started off in the direction of the castle at a lazy gait, and Felix joined him. Given that they were exchanging glances hot enough to spark a bonfire, Thomas wondered if they’d actually make it as far as the castle or if they’d end up stopping at the secluded grove of trees after all.
Evan gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and mounted his horse with an easy grace. Thomas followed suit and they set off back the way they’d come, at an even slower pace than Leo and Felix. “Want to wager that the important thing Leo has to do back at the castle is Felix?” Evan asked.
“I’d be a fool if I did,” Thomas said with a laugh. “That’s a losing bet.”
“Shame,” Evan said with a sigh. “I was looking forward to claiming my prize.”
“I doubt there would be much of a prize. It’s not like I have anything to offer a duke.”
“Well,” Evan said, his voice low, “I was thinking of demanding a kiss.”
Thomas twisted sideways in his saddle to find Evan smirking at him. He drew his horse to a halt, his stomach fluttering with anticipation. But then Evan looked Thomas up and down, tilting his head to the side, and said, “But then again, perhaps not.”
That stab of disappointment had no right being as sharp and sudden as it was.
“No,” Evan said, a teasing smile creeping onto his face. “When I kiss you, I’d prefer it to be your choice, not a wager or an obligation. I like my lovers willing.”
And with that he rode off before Thomas had a chance to tell him that he wasquitewilling, thank you very much.
Judging by the wicked grin Evan flashed him before he rode away, he already knew.
Chapter Seven
Evan examined himself in the looking glass, adjusting the embroidered lace cuffs of his crimson shirt and polishing the toes of his shoes on the back of his stockings in a way that would have had his valet tutting, had he agreed to have one. As it was, he claimed that he didn’t come home at night half the time anyway and learning a new person’s name was far too much work when it was easier to dress himself, and the palace staff accepted his explanation at face value.
He would have been insulted at people thinking he was so addlepated he couldn’t learn a valet’s name, except he’d spent years convincing them it was true. It meant nobody ever questioned him too closely when unfortunate events occurred, because who, for example, was interested in hearing from a man who couldn’t even recall the name of the woman who had mysteriously choked while sitting across from him at dinner?
And if he happened to wander into the wrong bedroom while visiting a foreign palace? Well, his reputation for absent-mindedness preceded him. It never occurred to anyone that maybe he’d been in there deliberately, rifling through drawers and taking notes. If anything, people assumed he’d been looking for a quick shag.
Which was only true some of the time.
If Evan had ever told anyone the truth about that part of his profession, they would have been surprised to learn that a lot of the time when he supposedly took someone to bed, it was an illusion. He relied on plying them with good wine until they were falling-down drunk, then telling them in great detail the next day what a marvellous time they’d had. Most people were so embarrassed at not recalling what he assured them had been the best sex of their life that they never questioned it. Plus, people were so very chatty when they were drunk. The trick was striking the balance between ‘drunk enough that I will tell you my secrets and remember nothing tomorrow’ and ‘pissed as a newt, maudlin, crying, and no use to anybody’.
Someone knocked at his bedroom door. “Come in, Captain.”
The door handle turned and Thomas entered. “How did you know it was me?”
“I guessed you’d take the excuse of escorting me to tonight’s dinner to catch up on—” He broke off when he turned from the mirror and saw Thomas properly for the first time.
Oh, Evandidlove a man in uniform.
Thomas always looked good, but tonight he was particularly mouthwatering in his full dress regalia. He wore polished black boots that hugged his calves, form-fitting tan trousers, and a shirt and jacket that were stretched tight over the breadth of his barrel chest and thick biceps. Evan could practically hear the buttons creaking as they strained to contain all those muscles, and he desperately hoped they’d lose that particular battle.
He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him, and the corners of Thomas’s mouth tipped up in a hint of a smile when he asked, “Are you quite all right?”
Evan cleared his throat. “You look very…”
