Page 51 of Milo
I give him a look of incomprehension. “Oz, this is me. When would I ever use loud words and shout?”
He shakes his head. “All the time around Niall. He brings it out in you.”
I sigh and lie back against the sofa, grabbing a throw and winding it around my shoulders. “That’s not very good, is it?”
“Yes, it is,” he says simply, moving in next to me so he can share the throw.
I look around in an attempt to distract. “I need to turn the heater on up here.” He doesn’t take the bait, so I give in with a sigh and look back at him. “Why is it good?”
“Because it shows you’re alive.” He shudders and twists the throw closer. “Although I’m beginning to doubt that if you’re staying in this temperature. Milo, it’s like a meat freezer up here.”
“I never notice it.”
“That’s because for the last week you’ve been wrapped around the handsome estate manager.” He pauses before saying with a tone of delighted revelation, “Oh my God, it’s likeLady Chatterley’s Lover. Oh, please make Niall develop an accent like Sean Bean. It’d make him so attractive.”
“Well, if he wants tips on doing accents, he could ask for them from my brother who is staying with him at the moment.”
“What?”
I nod and close my eyes. “Yep. Gideon is down there. I’d say he hasn’t wasted any time replacing me but that would be ridiculous because I was always in Gideon’s place. Keeping it warm for the real owner.”
“What utter bollocks.”
My eyes fly open. “What?”
“You heard. That’s such a load of crap.”
“You do know that they’ve been sleeping together since they were at secondary school?”
“I do now,” he says primly. “Silas had to spill the beans.”
“How did you get him to tell you that?”
He twists his lips. “I have my ways.”
I shake my head. “I’m sure you have. Don’t tell me because you might scar me for life.”
Amusement flares in his eyes but it vanishes quickly and he twists to face me. “I knew Niall had a good mate that he was fucking for years. I didn’t know it was your brother and I had no idea he also happened to be a very well-known actor famed for his voice and acting ability.”
I sigh. “I know. Now can you see why I was just a bed warmer.”
“No.”
I stare at him and the abrupt way he said it. “What?”
He grimaces. “Niall’s been fucking him for years, but I’ll tell you right now he has never been emotionally attached to him. Silas says he never fell for him.”
“He’s closer to Gideon than anyone other than Silas.”
“He might be. Doesn’t mean that he fell for him. I tell you now, I know how Niall looks when he’s interested. I wonder that you can’t tell the difference.”
“Why would I be able to?”
“Because the person he looks at like that is you.”
“It is not,” I scoff, feeling my heart begin to beat fast. “You’ve been reading too many Catherine Cooksons.”
“While it’s true that Mrs. Cookson does prepare you for any eventuality to do with badly behaved men, I don’t need her to see the truth about Niall. I just need a workable pair of eyes. Even Silas has noticed.”
