Page 13 of Seduced by a Scoundrel (Tales from the Brotherhood #1)

Thirteen

T he sun above was smiling down on a balmy, May day, music rang throughout the cheery village, and Derrek was dancing. It was probably the most ridiculously pastoral scene Derrek had ever been a part of, but as unlike the man he’d become in the last few years as it was, he was happy.

The dance ended with a flourish and a round of cheers and applause from those who had been watching. Martin whooped in triumph and sent a smile Derrek’s way before he bowed ostentatiously to everyone. Derrek shook his head at his new friend, then did exactly the same.

There was really only one man he cared about impressing in the entire village. He rose from his bow with a broad, mischievous smile for Jeremy and was exceedingly pleased to find his dove laughing and shaking his head at him. That was what those sorts of village festivities were all about, after all.

“If I had not witnessed it for myself I am not certain I would have believed it,” Jeremy said once the dancers went their own ways and Derrek was able to approach him.

Miss Jones stood by Jeremy’s side with an expectant look. The way she glanced between them, biting her lip, made Derrek wonder if the woman wanted them to kiss and embrace like lovers right there in the middle of the festive crowd. It would have been madness, of course, but that didn’t stop every fiber of Derrek’s being from wanting to pull Jeremy into another alley so that he could kiss them both breathless.

It was clear Jeremy had the same impulse. The two of them stood feet apart from each other, eyes locked, saying nothing for a moment as the noise of the festivities faded into the background. Once again, Derrek found himself imagining a life with Jeremy right there in the country, surrounded by tranquility and the beauty of nature, not a soul bothering either of them. They could claim the cottage for their own, he might grow a vegetable garden, and Jeremy could work with Miss Jones, if that struck his fancy.

His imagination’s journey was cut short as a beefy man who was already half in his cups at barely midday bumped into him from behind.

“Sorry, mate,” the man mumbled, then walked on.

The moment served its purpose, and Derrek shook himself out of his fanciful thoughts. “I’ve always been a fine dancer,” he said, searching to pick up the thread of what he and Jeremy had been saying before the world had narrowed down into a point that contained only the two of them. “Dancing is a skill that even the most refined gentlemen possess.”

“I have never been much for dancing myself,” Jeremy said, shifting his stance to something more relaxed and glancing at Miss Jones as well. “Not that I have not tried. It is only that I cannot keep the steps straight in my head.”

“There will be plenty of chances for you to try one dance or another today,” Miss Jones said, also letting the moment that could have been more go. “Some of the circle dances are simple enough that I’m certain even you could learn.”

“Perhaps,” Jeremy said, peeking at Derrek as if to see whether he thought so.

“I shall teach you,” Derrek said. “That is, if the dances here in Kent are the same as they are in Wiltshire. But for now,” he rushed on, “I could eat a horse.”

“There’s more than enough to eat,” Miss Jones said, taking a half step back from them. “Why do the two of you not go and explore everything on offer. I’ve a few things to check on at the shop.”

Derrek knew when he was being pushed off to spend time with someone. He found it admirable of Miss Jones to give up her friend so that he and Jeremy could enjoy the May Day festivities together.

“Shall we?” Derrek asked once Miss Jones left, sending Jeremy a pointed look over her shoulder as she walked away.

“Yes,” Jeremy answered with a smile. “I’ve been eager to see everything, do everything, and taste everything the village has to offer today.”

It took every effort of will that Derrek had not to grasp Jeremy’s hand and walk around the village as if Jeremy were his beau. Jeremy was his beau, but despite the kindness they’d found so far, he had no wish to risk the two of them getting into trouble.

That did not mean they could not enjoy the festivities. Miss Jones was right, there was enough food to feed half of London, and most of the villagers were selling it at generous prices. That was a good thing, as the money Derrek had brought from London was beginning to run out and Jeremy had said nothing about whether Miss Jones was paying him for his time and work in her shop or not.

None of that mattered on a day as beautiful as that, though.

“You cannot find pies as good as these in London,” Jeremy said as the two of them gobbled down crisp, flaky, savory pies while wandering along a row of carts selling everything from ribbons to brass candleholders. “Country air is the best seasoning I could ever imagine.”

“It is indeed,” Derrek said.

He laughed as he watched Jeremy attempting to rescue a bit of pie that broke off from the bite he had in his mouth, then push the crumbs past his lips so that he didn’t waste any of it. Focusing on the sight of Jeremy’s lips filled him with heat and longing.

“This is the life,” Derrek said before he had fully formed the thoughts born of the emotions that pulsed through him. “Can you not see the two of us living like this? Good food, good company, and some sort of good living out here in the beauty of nature?”

Jeremy finished chewing his bite as they neared a cart selling beer put out by one of the pubs. He swallowed, then laughed and said, “I can see the two of us making perpetual fools of ourselves as we attempt to adopt country ways.”

He nodded to Derrek’s calves. Derrek glanced down to see that he’d never removed the bells from his Morris dancing costume. He laughed, glanced around for the nearest bench, then moved to sit there so that he could bend to remove them.

Jeremy joined him on the bench, looking out at the activity of the village as he did. “I never thought I would have enjoyed any of this,” he said, an introspective look tightening his expression. “Country life is so far from anything I know. I’ve always been given to believe that country folk are simple and uninformed, even a bit brutish. And while that may be true for some, while the topics of conversation I’ve engaged in of late are quite different to those in London, I have been pleasantly surprised.”

The words were lovely, but there was something pinched and distant in Jeremy’s expression. He fell into his thoughts, staring out at the world around them, and to his surprise, Derrek did not feel as though he was a part of them or privy to them.

He didn’t like the sudden feeling of distance between them. It wasn’t just the tranquility of the country that had won Derrek’s heart in the last month. The closeness he’d come to feel with Jeremy had grown precious to him. The only thing he’d ever had that was anything like that closeness was what he’d shared with Joseph. Even that, as wonderful as it had been, was unlike the need to be a part of Jeremy’s life.

“Jeremy, do you think you might ever want to stay?—”

Before Derrek could finish his question, a shift of movement from the other end of the street caught his eye. A man had rounded the buildings at the end of the street and stepped into the Three Bells. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have meant anything to him, but most of the activity of the village was out of doors at the moment. The other curiosity was the clothing that the man wore. Derrek only caught the barest glimpse of the man’s back, but he knew enough to know the cloth that the man’s jacket was made from was too fine for an ordinary villager.

“Is something the matter?” Jeremy asked, noticing Derrek’s distraction.

“Perhaps,” Derrek said slowly, standing. “Stay here for a moment. I need to investigate something.”

He handed his bells over to Jeremy, then strode away, his heart beating harder as suspicions niggled at him. Only noblemen wore the sort of clothing he’d seen on the man who walked into the pub, and there were not very many noblemen who belonged in that part of the country. The ones who did belong there were the very last people Derrek wanted to see.

He made it to the Three Bells without being waylaid, but when he stepped inside, the pub was more crowded than he expected it to be. A few of the men waved and called out to him, and as he made his way to the back to see if the gentleman he’d spotted had retreated to one of the back rooms, he was stopped and congratulated for his dancing several times over.

The investigation took longer than he wanted it to, and in the end he found nothing. The unease of seeing someone who was out of place at a country May Day festival stayed with him as he left the pub and headed back to where he’d left Jeremy.

Only when he got there, Jeremy was gone.

“Bloody hell,” Derrek cursed, looking this way and that, immediately imagining the worst. He’d left his dove for only a handful of minutes and Conroy, or more likely his accomplice, Lord Albert, had swept in and stolen him. “Jeremy?” he called out, twisting to see where his beloved could have gone.

All at once, the smiling, celebrating faces of the villagers around him didn’t seem so friendly or benign as they had been. Any one of the people who wandered the streets, eating celebratory treats, laughing with their neighbors, or enjoying the music and shows that echoed all around them could have been the one to tell Lord Albert precisely where Jeremy was. Anyone could have betrayed him.

“Jeremy?” he called out again, searching as he strode through the revelers on his way back to the center of the village. So help him, if anything had happened to his beloved, he would?—

“Derrek!”

Jeremy’s call from off to the side as Derrek stormed past a row of shops was like a blow to his gut that relieved immense pressure instead of leaving a bruise. He turned and found Jeremy in front of Miss Jones’s shop, helping her with a display of aprons and bonnets.

“I was called away from the spot where you left me by Miss Budde,” Jeremy said, his expression completely innocent, as if he had no idea how terrified Derrek had been. “She wanted my opinion about?—”

Derrek did not wait to see what sort of opinions Miss Budde had. He marched right up to Jeremy and without caring what anyone might say or do, he threw his arms around him.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured against Jeremy’s ear as he hugged the man tightly.

Jeremy laughed and squeezed him in return, then rocked back, looking this way and that. “I was right here the entire time. Almost,” Jeremy said. He had a glint of mischief in his eyes but also a hint of understanding about why Derrek had been so worried. “Did you find what you were searching for?” he asked.

Derrek shook his head, unable to form words for a moment, his emotions ran so high. “I may have imagined things.”

He had not imagined anything, but that was beside the point now that he had Jeremy with him once more.

“There’s a dance starting up in the green at the edge of the village,” Jeremy said, the sparkle still in his eyes. “Would you like to teach me everything you know now?”

“Yes,” Derrek answered, that one syllable saying everything.

The two of them left the front of the shop and headed across the village to where a large group of people had already begun dancing. Derrek and Jeremy joined them, and through the course of watching Jeremy learn the steps of the simple, circle dance far quicker than he’d intimated that he would, Derrek’s anxiety gradually began to wane.

That did not stop him from looking around for the rest of the day as he and Jeremy enjoyed the dances, food, and entertainments on offer. He had seen someone, and whether it was Lord Albert or not, seeing someone out of place reminded him that there was a whole world and a mountain of troubles awaiting them back in London.

He refused to let those concerns ruin the rest of his day, though. Especially as the day wore on, more beer and spirits were consumed, and the revels turned a touch ribald. Though he did not drink much himself and did not witness Jeremy drinking much at all, the two of them were still pulled into a kissing game with the ladies of the village.

It was ridiculous, really, to see Jeremy being handed around between the matrons of the village, all of whom wanted kisses before they would let him go from the gaols of their embraces once they’d caught him. Jeremy played the game with good humor, giving the ladies all the kisses they needed as everyone else looked on and laughed.

When the game took a turn and one of the ladies pushed Jeremy into Derrek’s arms, Derrek took the incredible risk of kissing him square on the lips in front of everyone.

Jeremy gasped, his eyes going wide. Fortunately for them, everyone watching roared with laughter, as if the whole thing were a game.

Of course, none of it was a game for Derrek. Kissing Jeremy with everyone watching was uniquely thrilling. It left him sparkling with the possibilities of what their life could be like together if they could somehow find themselves in a society that allowed them that sort of affection.

“I think I want to kiss you again,” Derrek said once the game was over, as the sun began to set and the festivities moved to where a bonfire had been built in a field beside the village. He and Jeremy were not in a position to act on impulse in any way, but that did not stop the fire in Derrek’s eyes as he gazed at his beloved. “I think I want to kiss you all over.”

Jeremy caught his breath and gazed back at Derrek with just as much heat. “I should like that very much,” he whispered. “I should like that and a great deal more.”

The world seemed to stop moving for a moment. Derrek blinked, then said, “Truly?”

Jeremy nodded, sincerity and desire in his eyes.

Derrek grasped his hand, despite whomever might have been watching. “Let’s go home,” he said.

The journey back to the cottage was one of the quickest they’d made since coming to stay there. Derrek felt as though his feet had wings as they rushed along the path that took them out of the village and through the fields. As soon as they were far enough away from the village to be out of sight of the revelers, Derrek pulled Jeremy into his arms and kissed him passionately in the twilight. It was a beautiful melding of lips and tongue and bodies, but it wasn’t even close to what Derrek really wanted, so he ended it swiftly and rushed on.

By the time they made it back to the cottage, they were both so overwrought with anticipation that they did not even bother to light the lamps or check on the fires as they burst through the front room of the cottage and straight on into the bedroom.

“I do not know sufficiently what I am doing,” Jeremy said in a shaky, breathless voice as the two of them tore at each other’s clothing, letting it fall where it may. “I know a bit, but….”

“There is no right or wrong in this,” Derrek reassured him, pulling Jeremy’s shirt off over his head, then dispensing with his own. “Only us.”

Only us. All Derrek needed was Jeremy. If he had his way, it would be the two of them, only us, forever.

Throwing off their clothing was easy. Tumbling into bed was simple as well. The way their bodies twined as they reached and grasped for each other, stroking across flesh and tasting each other, was beyond anything Derrek could have wished for. He was ordinarily a ferocious lover, taking what he wanted from men who were experienced in giving themselves over and who liked to be pounded hard.

Jeremy was so very different from all of them. Instead of pushing Jeremy to his stomach, yanking up his hips, and burying himself to the hilt inside him, Derrek took his time, kissing and licking his way across Jeremy’s neck and chest, and stroking his hands over Jeremy’s thighs and sides before reaching between them to take Jeremy’s cock in hand.

Jeremy let out a plaintive sound of enjoyment and pressed his hips into the sensation as Derrek teased him. “Derrek,” he gasped, threading his fingers through Derrek’s hair as Derrek rained kisses across his chest and belly.

Derrek was not ordinarily the sort to lavish his lover with attention, but he could not help himself with Jeremy. He shifted lower so that he could stroke his tongue up the length of Jeremy’s cock, then closed his mouth around the flared tip so that he could consume it with pleasure. Jeremy moaned and bucked with the sensations Derrek created in him, transported with the intimacy.

More than that, with a sudden, pitched cry, Jeremy’s body tensed, and before Derrek could draw him all the way into his mouth, he began to spend himself right to the back of Derrek’s throat. Derrek swallowed, proud of himself for bringing his lover off so fast, though in future, he would be more aware of how close Jeremy was to extend both of their pleasure.

Not that he needed more time for his own orgasm. He was so close already that all it took was kneeling up so that he could stroke himself vigorously while gazing down at Jeremy, sweating and panting in the wake of his climax, before he was shooting his seed over Jeremy’s belly and chest. The sight of marking his dove that way was so powerfully arousing that it would have made him come again if he hadn’t already exhausted himself.

“You are beautiful,” he gasped, balancing over Jeremy so that he could capture his mouth in a powerful kiss.

“Not as beautiful as you are,” Jeremy panted, gripping Derrek’s sides as they kissed, then sliding his arms around him to pull Derrek down by his side.

They kissed for a while longer, not minding the mess between them. All of it was bliss, even though there had been no penetration. There would be time for that later. For that moment, that night, all that mattered was that the two of them were together and that they were one.