Page 15 of Rogue Royal
“You can’t force someone to go if they don’t want to.”
“I know!”
Freddie was quiet for a beat. “Why do you think it would be good for him?”
Douglas winced and faced his brother, readying himself to be berated for his actions. “When I was massaging the pressure points in his head, he was extremely responsive. As I moved to his hand, I couldn’t help but trace my fingers along his palm. His reactions were…”perfect, “significant.”
“Have you asked him?”
“He’s made it clear he didn’t think the club was his ‘kind of thing.’ I don’t want to go on about it.”
“I mean, have you asked him since then?”
Douglas threw a hand in the air. “How can I? What would I say? ‘Sorry I touched you while you weren’t aware, but I think you’d do well in the sensation area at the club?’ Do you honestly think it would do me any favours?”
Freddie’s mouth quirked up. “Well, I wouldn’t start with those words, no.” He rubbed his forefinger across his lips, which he did when he was thinking. “Instead of taking him to the club, why not bring the club to him?”
His mind churned a mile a minute when Freddie finished speaking. Could he do it? He’d have to get Maverick’s permission, but they could start with something slow, hands or arms possibly. Getting Maverick to agree would be the issue. Douglas said as much to his brother.
“That I can’t help you with. You know him much better than I do. If he agrees, treat it as you would if you were at the club. Same rules apply, and if you need me there for any reason, let me know.”
Douglas sat opposite him again. “Thanks. I’ll try to figure it out.”
They spoke about the club for a few minutes, and Freddie turned the conversation to Douglas’s calendar.
“If you could do or be anything, what would it be?”
The question surprised Douglas, and he gave it some thought. He’d always had a rote reply for questions such as these, but that was for the media, not his brother. “Something to do with archaeology or history. You know I loved it when I did it at Oxford. It was always going to be put on the back burner, wasn’t it?”
Freddie nodded. “What if we could find something to benefityouas well as stay within the role you need to play?”
Douglas leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “What do you mean?”
“Something you enjoy doing so it won’t seem like a chore.”
Douglas narrowed his gaze. “Have you been talking to Maverick because he said a similar thing earlier?”
“I might’ve asked him to investigate some things, yes.”
“Then, yes. If we could find something more interesting for me to do, I’d be all in.”
“Good. I’m going to hold you to it.”
Douglas chuckled. “You always do.”
“Who’s checking your schedule since you sent Maverick home for two days?”
Douglas’s eyes widened. “Shit! I have no idea!”
Freddie laughed and shook his head. “You need to think before you act.”
Douglas threw a cushion at him.
****
Douglas sat on his bed with his laptop open in front of him and a paper and pen to his right. As snobby as it could sound, it had been a long time since he’d done any kind of research—since his time at Oxford, in all honesty. He refused to allow Maverick to do all the work for him when he had the time to do it himself; therefore, he pulled up the internet and set to work finding charities and anything else he might be interested in helping that he could get his parents to agree on.
There were a surprising number of charities who worked within archaeology: campaigns to help protect the rural areas of the country, helping to open archaeology to everyone, helping small historical towns, conservation and much more.
