Page 18 of Vanquished By A Viscount
Charlie did the same, though his erection was well on its way to flagging out of sheer fright. Lord help him and Gray both if the servants got wind of their activities.
Then again, judging by the looks the footmen gave them and the way the one had spoken loudly outside the shed, there was as good a chance as any that they’d seen Charlie and Gray before stepping back and announcing their presence.
“Lady Felcourt wants these taken out so that her guests can shoot later this morning,” Gray spoke the obvious as he and Charlie slowly moved the first target toward the doorway. “She said you lot were too busy to come fetch them for her.”
“We, er, were busy earlier, my lord,” the second footman said, sending the first a sheepish look. “We finished up there and were sent down here.”
If that wasn’t proof that the two of them were in collusion with Barbara then Charlie did not know what was.
“We’ll just carry this out to the garden,” Gray mumbled, concentrating on moving the target instead of looking either at Charlie or either of the footmen.
“We can take the rest, my lord,” the first footman said. “If you please, my lord, breakfast is already being served.”
“We should attend that,” Gray said once they were out in the sunshine.
“I need to bathe first,” Charlie said.
Gray nodded. “Quite.”
They left the target where they were and headed back to the house as quickly as they could without looking suspicious. Charlie had the horrible feeling that they looked suspicious enough as they were, particularly as neither of them spoke asthey headed into the house, then up a secondary staircase to the first floor.
“Are you following me?” Gray snapped, sinking back into his antagonistic self as they turned the same corner once they were in the quiet hallway.
“No,” Charlie said with a frown. “My room is just this way.”
Gray’s expression darkened. “Myroom is this way,” he said. “This is the family wing.”
In an instant, Charlie saw what Barbara had done. “My sister has settled me on this hallway as well,” he said.
More than that, when he stopped at his door and grasped the handle, Gray had stopped at the door directly across from his.
They glanced up and locked eyes.
“With all due respect,” Gray said carefully, “your sister is a menace.”
This time, Charlie could only agree with him. He nodded shortly, then turned the handle and marched into his room, shutting the door behind him with more force than was necessary.
As soon as he was safely alone in his room, he sagged and made his way over to slump on the bed. His mouth still tingled with the feel of Grayson’s lips against his and his skin still felt hot where Gray had touched him. So much for keeping their distance from each other and avoiding each other for the remainder of the house party. That was never going to work.
Six
As soon as Gray shut his door, he leaned against it and tilted his head back, squeezing his eyes shut. What sort of madness did his new sister-in-law have in mind? Clearly, Barbara was not ignorant to the possibility of attachments between men. She would not behave as she was if she did not approve of such attachments either. And Robert had known about him and Charlie for years as well.
He wasn’t having any of it. With a huff, he pushed away from the door and reached for the hem of his damp shirt, pulling it off and tossing it aside for one of the footmen who occasionally served as his valet to collect later. He stomped toward the pitcher and washbasin that stood in the corner of his room and poured from one to the other a bit too enthusiastically, splashing water onto the table.
“I will not do it,” he grumbled as he tossed a round ball of soap into the basin, then toed off his shoes and fiddled with the fastenings of his trousers so he could push them down. “I will not be the butt of another’s joke, and I will not be a piece to be moved around on their game board.”
His words were bold and determined, but they felt hollow and weak as he stared down at his half-hard cock once he’dkicked his trousers aside. Of course that part of him would have a mind of its own where Charlie was concerned. It did not care about dignity and pride, it only remembered the scent of Charlie’s body and the tremulous feeling of hope that had come during the few moments when their conversation had been genuine.
He grabbed the sponge, dunked it in the soapy water, and began his ablutions. He had liked Charlie once. It hadn’t all been about pleasure and indulgence those many years ago. In Charlie, he thought he’d found a kindred soul, someone who shared the same interests and fascination with the advancements of the world they lived in. He’d once dreamed that he could travel and explore the world with Charlie at his side, that the two of them could form some sort of company to develop transportation advancements.
He would have adored having Charlie by his side on the Continent. He was not entirely certain whether he was hedonistic enough to have enjoyed the biddable young men of Spain or Italy with Charlie…but even as he wondered that, images came to his mind of the two of them sharing a nubile young man with tanned skin and a cheeky smile between them.
“Dammit,” he hissed, scrubbing under one arm with particular ferocity. It helped nothing that he was naked and damp with fragrant, soapy water as the fantasy played out in his mind.
He forced himself to continue with the utilitarian task of bathing, willed himself to banish any and all sensual images from his mind. But Charlie would not budge from his thoughts, and as he finished scrubbing his legs and moved on to sluicing water over his body to rinse away the soap, his cock grew ever more attentive.
With a growl, Gray gave up trying to resist his inconvenient inclinations. Once he was rinsed, he threw the sponge back intothe basin, turned to lean his back against the wardrobe near the washstand, and took himself in soapy hand. His earlier idea to quickly bring himself off as a way to relieve the pressure had been a wise one. He never should have gone out for a run, putting himself in the way of temptation.
