Page 30 of The Devil Himself (The Devil You Know #1)
Twenty-Eight
B y the time the magistrate came to take Arthur away and to hear the statements of everyone present, the doctor came and went to treat Gareth’s throat and Joe, who’d been shot in the shoulder, and they had dealt with the body of Arthur’s mistress, it was late in the evening.
Gareth had gone to bed in a guest chamber, stating he did not want to stay in his own room, and he had taken a tray of food in his room rather than joining them for their simple supper of cold meats, cheeses, and bread.
To be perfectly honest, Luc was more interested in the wine. His nerves were, if not completely overset, then at least frayed around the edges like a torn piece of cloth.
He and Rys sat in relatively companionable silence in the study, eschewing the more formal dining room, both of them having taken off their coats and waistcoats along with their boots.
He had to admit Rys looked something like a pirate, or perhaps the devil he was named for. His shirt open at the neck, and his feet bare, he was so unutterably beautiful that Luc had trouble looking at him sometimes, because he didn’t think his heart could hold any more of what he felt.
They switched from wine to brandy after the meal was done, Rys striding over to the decanter to pour them both a snifter. Luc looked at Rys curiously when he sat back down across from him, raising his eyebrows.
“So what now?” Luc asked it in all seriousness. And his question had at least a dozen meetings.
Rys swirled his brandy and the glass, warming the base of it with his palm and fingers.
“Well, Gareth will go back to school. I’m assuming they won’t hang Arthur.
I imagine they’ll take him to gaol, where he’ll disappear.
If he doesn’t, then I will pay for him to go to an asylum where he’ll never be let out again. ”
Rys’s grimace told him volumes about how Rys really felt about that. It had to hurt to see his family collapse over and over again.
“And what of you?” Luc worried over his next words because he didn’t wish to seem needy or desperate, but he also wanted Rys to know that he was right there, and that he didn’t want to be abandoned or to let Rys slip away.
“I’ll go back to London,” Rys said. “I have a club to run. I am the Devil Himself, after all. The Devil’s Playground wouldn’t be the same without me.”
Naturally, that sounded rather ominous, as if he didn’t factor into Rys’s plans at all. He wasn’t certain that worked for him. “And do I have a place in your life in London?” Luc finally made himself ask, staring intently at his lover.
A small smile worked at Rys’s lips. “I would like that, yes, if it suits you.”
Luc set his brandy aside and rose, moving over to where Rys sat in the chair opposite his.
He put his hands on Rys’s shoulders and straddled his thighs, kneeling on the chair above him.
“It suits me to the ground. I know we’ll have a great deal to discuss once we get back to London, but I want you to know that I intend to have that discussion, and that I have no desire to go back to my life the way it was before I brought all of this down on your head. ”
“Tired of your boring widower existence?” Rys teased, his hands coming up to clutch and squeeze at Luc’s arse.
“I would never have said that.” Luc gave it all the thought it deserved. “But I suppose it’s true. I’m not sure I’m up for this sort of adventure on a regular basis, but I absolutely intend to continue our association.”
One dark eyebrow winged up, Rys’s eyes glittering silver. “Our association.”
Luc kissed Rys on the lips lightly, teasing them both. “Our special friendship?”
“Ha! That’s for women who hire companions so that everyone in the Town will believe that they’re just winding wool and keeping cats together in the country. I don’t think that you could call what we have anything so tepid.” Rys stared him down as if daring him to argue.
That made him smile, and he rocked down against Rys, allowing their cloth-covered shafts to rub together. “And what would you call it?”
Rys reached up with both hands to frame his face so he couldn’t look away. “I would call it a love affair, my dear angel.”
His heart raced so hard that he thought he might black out from the sheer speed of it, the blood rushing through his veins far too quickly. “I see. And do you?”
Rys let the other eyebrow rise up to match the first. “Do I what?”
“Love me. Because I love you, Rys Grey. You make me feel things I thought long dead and cold inside my chest. I want to be with you. I want to make this all work somehow. In fact, I would say it’s a compulsion.
” He had never said those words to another adult.
His wife had never been a love match for him, and while he had a great fondness for her memory, he had never had a passion for her.
He only ever said I-love-you to his son, so he was feeling incredibly vulnerable as the words left his mouth.
But Rys’s smile was far more fallen angel than it was devil now, sweet and wondrous.
“I love you, as well. I never thought I would say it, but I do, and I can’t imagine going back to London and living as though I don’t love you.
I know it might be difficult especially when your son is home from school, but we will figure it out. ”
Luc took another kiss and then another. “We will. Of this, I have no doubt.”
Rys pulled him down, pushing off his clothing, the desire between them flaring higher and hotter than it had at any point thus far. Luc gave into it utterly, letting Rys have every part of him, body and soul.
This was something that he wanted for life, and he was going to set out to prove it to Rys every day. And hopefully, neither of them would be shot or stabbed ever again.