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“Either from the gossamer clouds of Heaven or from the heaving, libidinous loins of Hell, if the things that have been moaned in a fit of pleasure to me are to be believed,” Giles said with a coy look.
Theo gaped at him, his face and neck growing progressively redder. He snapped his mouth shut and straightened a moment later, then said, “I would believe it. But you’ve no business being here.”
“Whyever not?” Giles said, sliding forward and starting in on the buttons of Theo’s coat. “Do you not want my business?” He glanced teasingly up at Theo.
Theo sputtered sounds that didn’t quite form themselves into words at first, then managed, “The girl said you had a private engagement.”
“And so I do,” Giles said, finishing with Theo’s buttons and pushing his coat from his shoulders. “This is private, and we are very much engaged.”
Heat flared in Theo’s eyes, but it was eclipsed by disbelief. The disbelief was followed all too swiftly by Theo pushing Giles gently away from him so he could stride across the room, eyes wide. He removed his coat as he went and tossed it over a chair near the room’s single window.
Only then did Giles pause to take in the details of the room. To say it was shabby was a compliment. Everything within the small space was plain and brown. The narrow bed—which hardly seemed large enough for Theo’s impressive frame—was draped with a plain, brown quilt. The small table to one side of the room held nothing but a cracked washbasin and pitcher. The room’s tiny fireplace was grey and brown with the remnants of a fire that had clearly burned out from lack of fuel. The wardrobe that held Theo’s clothing was missing one door.
Giles’s throat squeezed as he realized his earlier speculation that Theo could not afford him was very much true. From the look of things, he wasn’t certain that Theo could afford his next meal. Which made very little sense, considering Bow Street Runners were reputedly paid well.
“Why have you followed me?” Theo demanded as Giles glanced around the room. His voice had lost the energy of his first few questions, and when Giles looked at him, he could see shame hunching Theo’s broad shoulders.
“For much the same reason that you have been following me,” Giles said.
Theo frowned. “In an attempt to extract vital information about criminal activities from me?” he asked, some of his lost determination coming back to him.
Giles smiled, loving the way a bit of irritation made Theo square his shoulders and tower over him. “Yes,” he said, playing along and sidling closer to Theo. He pressed his palms against Theo’s jacket, feeling the pounding of his heart underneath. “I intend to extract quite a bit from you, and with all due haste.”
He worked open the buttons of Theo’s jacket and a few of his waistcoat before Theo raised his hands to stop him. “What are you doing?”
Giles grinned up at him. “You ask a great many unnecessary questions,” he said. “If you would only allow me to proceed, you would discover your answers.”
Theo frowned at him. Paradoxically, that frown made Giles shiver inside and made his cock take notice. It would be the loveliest thing in the world if this big, bear of a man was to bend and twist him to his will.
But Theo let go. “I cannot,” he said, stepping away and turning so that Giles couldn’t look directly at him. “I…I cannot pay you, and I cannot risk losing my place.”
As vague as they were, those words shot straight to Giles’s heart. Theo didn’t need to specify what his place might be or what price he was unable to pay. Giles knew the man meant more than money and position. So much so that his very soul sang with lament, and he considered doing something he had vowed never to do.
“Why not strike a bargain?” he asked with a sly smile, even though his heart was more earnest than it had ever been. “If you give me what I want, I will give you everything you need.”
Theo twisted to face him again, eyes going wide. “You would…you would do that?”
“Oh, yes,” Giles said, moving right up against Theo and sliding his fingers into Theo’s thick hair. “I will give you everything if you give me what I have wanted from the moment we first laid eyes on each other.”
Theo’s brow knit as though he could not believe the position he found himself in. “And what it is that you want?” he asked with genuine confusion.
Giles smiled with utterly feigned innocence. “I want you,” he said, then lifted to the very tips of his toes and pulled Theo’s head down for a searing kiss.
ChapterThree
All thought blasted out of Theo’s head as Giles kissed him. It wasn’t an ordinary kiss either. For all his slight stature and angelic appearance, Giles kissed like a fiend. He was so much shorter than Theo that he had to stand on his toes and pull Theo down to him, but that didn’t stop the imp from claiming Theo’s mouth as though it were succulent, forbidden fruit.
Without being fully aware of what he was doing, Theo lifted Giles into his arms so that he could kiss the wily young man back with all the passion he had felt since first laying eyes on him. That passion flared a hundredfold as Giles wrapped his arms and legs around him and hummed along with his kisses.
“I like a man who I feel could crush me,” Giles said in a hoarse but somehow still angelic tone. “My legs almost fail to reach all the way around you.”
Theo jerked his head back to scowl at his little minx. He wasn’t fat, if that was what Giles meant, just…large. His stocky build was mostly muscle, but if Giles was implying—
That thought vanished as Giles wriggled against Theo in a way that snapped his attention to the rod of iron in Giles’s breeches. With a rough sigh, he clamped a hand over Giles’s perfect, round bum and slanted his mouth over Giles’s once more.
Again, almost miraculously, considering the way the young man clung to him like a monkey, Giles took charge of their kiss. He slipped his tongue into Theo’s mouth, exploring him as though looking for hidden treasures. Theo doubted he’d find any, since the only treasure he had ever cared about was the one in his arms now. Giles knew how to kiss him with a force that made him feel possessed and special, even though he was an oak and Giles was a sapling willow.
“Take me to bed, my glorious bear,” Giles sighed between kisses, working Theo’s neckcloth loose, then starting on the buttons of his shirt. “Take me to your bed and claim me as I know you’ve wanted to for months.”
