Page 15 of Their Master

“Even though I met Jake on one of my nighttime forays, in one of the usual places, he was different.”

Luke had only ever shared mutual jerks with the men he sought out in dark alleys, but Jake had stunned Luke by sinking to his knees, opening Luke’s trousers, and swallowing his prick.

It had been the most erotic experience of Luke’s young life—far more satisfying than the few sucks he’d had from street whores.

Luke looked up from his old memories to find Smith waiting patiently.

“What stunned me even more than what Jake had done was that he invited me out for a pint afterward. “

Smith smiled. “Your first male lover who was also a friend.”

Luke nodded.

That night had opened the door to a whole new world. The pub they’d gone to had been filled with men like them—men who enjoyed both fish and fowl, as Jake had quaintly termed it.

“A bloke like you could earn a great deal of brass, if he had the mind to,” Jake had told Luke several months after their first meeting, which they’d repeated with dangerous, careless regularity. “I’ve got a mate who works in a house behind Piccadilly—in the posh part, too. He’s just a footman there, but he’s told me plenty about the place. A brothel for toffs who’re bent, if you know what I mean.” Jake had winked.

As a matter of fact, Luke hadn’t had a clue what Jake meant, but he’d been far too embarrassed by his own ignorance to ask. But over the months that had followed he’d learned quite a bit from Jake. And everything he’d learned had made him realize he couldn’t go on with the life he’d been living.

“So, what did you do?” Smith asked.

“I’d always known that my… urges would have appalled Katie if she’d found out about them. But I’d believed I could control them. Perhaps if I’d never met Jake I could have gone on with that life. But once I had”—he shrugged. “Well, there was no un-ringing that bell, as the saying goes. So, I did the worst thing a man could do—at least in my family’s eyes.” He snorted softly. “I became a jilt.”

And he couldn’t tell anyonewhyhe’d ended the betrothal because there hadn’t been a reason he could give that wouldn’t either earn him more derision or land him in prison.

He met Smith’s dark gaze. “My father and mother never forgave me, but my brothers relented over time. If you can believe it, the only person who wasn’t angry, was Katie. She said that she didn’t want us to marry if I wasn’t happy.”

“She sounds like a lovely person,” Smith said.

“She is. And she married a fine man and has a boy and a girl.” Children that might have been Luke’s if he’d taken a different fork in the road. But he didn’t say that. He’d maundered on long enough.

He saw that his master’s glass was almost empty and stood to fetch the bottle.

But when he went to top up his wine, Mr. Smith put a hand over his and took the bottle. He set it aside and took Luke’s hand, pulling him down on the settee.

“You are a good man, Luke.” Smith pulled the sash on Luke’s dressing gown and spread open the flaps, exposing Luke’s nude body. He pushed Luke onto his back, his hands and gaze moving to his erect cock.

Luke hissed and arched his back when Smith’s strong fingers closed around his shaft.

“You did the right thing, rather than the easy—or selfish—thing. It is painful to give up somebody you love, but sometimes… it is the best thing you can do for them.”

As Smith lowered his mouth over him, Luke couldn’t help wondering if the other man was speaking from experience or issuing a subtle warning.

Chapter 5

Smith surveyed the two dozen young men currently at work in the new, well-lighted, and warm furniture making shop and turned to his business partner, Edward Fanshawe.

“This is promising, Edward.Verypromising.”

Edward’s harsh features shifted into a rare smile and he patted Smith’s shoulder with one huge paw. “Is that a tear I see in your eye, Smith?”

Smith snorted and shrugged off his hand. “This was an excellent idea.” He wasn’t just talking about the furniture shop, but the entire school, which they’d started a few years earlier to help London’s poor and homeless young men.

It had been Edward’s idea initially and Smith had just donated money because the other man had asked. But it hadn’t taken long before he’d begun to support the charitable endeavor for its own sake.

Smith’s three business associates had all spent time in orphanages and workhouses as children and assumed the same had been true for him. He’d never bothered to set them straight because he never told anyone about his past. Ever. Although he’d never spent time in an institution, he’d lived on the streets for years—and had been forced to do questionable, repugnant things to survive—so he knew how hard life was for poor and homeless children.

Over the past few years Smith had come to care for this school a great deal and found that he enjoyed spending time with young men who were eager to better their lives. He liked it so much that he was making plans to convert the rambling ducal estate he’d acquired in Scotland into a similar institution.

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