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He sent Theo a flirtatious look, even fluttering his eyelashes at the man.
“I suppose not,” Theo said, an excited sparkle in his eyes and a fetching flush across his cheeks. “But with your nature, I cannot imagine you abstaining from all…activities indefinitely.”
“Oh, no,” Giles said with mock seriousness. “I would most certainly need an outlet for my excess of high spirits. Likely on a daily basis. It would most definitely require a reliable partner to share my bed.”
“Wherever will you find such a man?” Theo asked, going even pinker, his eyes sparkling even more.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Giles said with exaggerated sarcasm as they climbed the club’s front stairs.
They were let into the club, and within a few steps, Mr. Potts and Mr. Black stepped out of one of the parlors.
“You’ve returned,” Mr. Black said, his expression full of surprise.
“Was the mission a success?” Mr. Potts asked, then quickly added, “What has happened to your head?”
Giles touched the spot of drying blood on his temple. With everything else going on, he’d forgotten his wounds entirely. No wonder so many people had stared at him and Theo in alarm as they’d made their way back to Perdition.
“My father attempted to beat me with a fire iron,” Giles said. “It isn’t as bad as it looks.”
“Sparrow!” Mr. Potts called out all the same. When Sparrow appeared at the top of the stairs—and gasped at the sight of Giles—he continued with, “Fetch a clean, wet cloth and a plaster for Giles’s head.”
“A plaster is too much,” Giles said. “But I could use the cloth.”
“The mission was a success, in a manner of speaking,” Theo answered Mr. Potts’s original question. When both men looked at him, he cleared his throat and said, “Pennyroyal was arrested. The evidence against him is astounding and irrefutable.”
“My father will most definitely spend the rest of his days in prison,” Giles added with glee. His delight dropped a bit as he went on with, “Now I am concerned for my sisters and their care and wellbeing.”
“Why are you not with them right now?” Mr. Potts asked. “We do not require your services at the club for now. Jasper, Simon, and I have discussed it, and we’ve decided we do not require your services at all, unless and until you feel ready to return.” He glanced briefly to Theo.
“That is something I must discuss with you,” Giles said, “but not until many other things have been resolved.”
“Such as?” Mr. White asked.
Giles set out to rub his temples, but stopped when he accidentally touched the cut on his head and started it bleeding again. “Blast,” he hissed, wincing. “Could we perhaps save this discussion until a later hour?”
“Giles may be responsible for whatever portion of his father’s business dealings and property the crown does not end up confiscating,” Theo explained for him, resting a protective arm around Giles’s back. “He will also need to protect and provide for his sisters. His oldest sister, Rebecca—” He checked with Giles to make certain he’d given the correct name, and when Giles nodded, he continued. “Rebecca is capable of caring for the younger ones’ needs for now, but Giles will need to take charge soon.”
“Please accept whatever assistance your family may need from us,” Mr. Black said with genuine caring. “Not that a gaming hell is the sort of place you would want to bring your young sisters to.”
Giles managed to laugh in spite of the annoying pain in his head and his arm. “I do so love this place,” he said, “but I would not want my sisters to become a part of that.”
“That does not mean we could not all become their benefactors in some way,” Mr. Potts said. Giles knew the man well enough to tell from his cunning grin that he was already plotting something for his sisters.
In truth, knowing what Giles knew of Mr. Potts’s higher connections, he was excited for whatever scheme the man was concocting. It was entirely plausible that Rebecca, Constance, and Eliza had just stumbled into an astounding bit of good fortune.
But those things would have to wait for another time. As soon as Sparrow returned with a wet cloth and several bandages, Theo took charge.
“Gentlemen, please allow me to tend to our hero,” he said, nudging Giles toward the stairs. “He has made great sacrifices to ensure that all has ended well, and now he deserves to be cared for.”
“Yes, of course,” Mr. Potts said, a wicked smile lighting his face.
“You do not have to care for me,” Giles laughed lightly as he and Theo headed up to his bedchamber. “And you do not have to say those sorts of nice things about me.”
“I most certainly do,” Theo said, almost sounding offended, as they made their way down the hall to Giles’s room. “You may have a mountain of responsibilities on your beautiful shoulders, as you say, but you are now and always will be my responsibility.”
Giles grinned and blushed, feeling happy from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. Other things in the middle parts of him experienced an entirely different sort of swell, of emotion and otherwise.
As soon as they were secluded in Giles’s bedchamber, Giles turned to Theo and pressed himself against his bear. “I will take care of you in every way possible if you will take care of me,” he said, his voice a suggestive purr.
