Chapter 10

From Billy’s suddenly closed expression, Wulf sensed that somewhere in this last part of their conversation, he had said or done something to cause this uncharacteristic reaction in the younger man.

He just had no idea what that something could be.

Nor did he like Billy’s withdrawal, much preferring the younger man’s outspokenness on any subject, be it good or bad.

Perhaps Wulf liked the attention too, good or bad?

He knew that he did, if that attention came from the man standing in front of him.

“Billy—” He broke off as, having lifted his hand with the intention of caressing the younger man’s cheek, Billy stepped back and away from him. Wulf’s hand dropped back to his side. “What is wrong?”

“Nothin’.”

He winced at Billy’s surly reply and sudden inability to meet his gaze. “Do you regret what happened between us earlier?”

Much as it would pain him to do so, if Billy were to admit to having those feelings of regret, then Wulf would have no choice but to accept his rejection.

Not without fully discussing why Billy felt that way, but Wulf was not a man who would ever force his emotions or attention upon anyone.

“No, I don’t regret any of that,” Billy denied.

To which Wulf breathed an inward and heartfelt sigh of relief.

“I’m just feeling out of sorts is all. It ain’t every day I get accused of murdering someone,” Billy reminded.

Wulf’s jaw tightened. “I have every faith in Stonyhurst’s ability to track down the name of the person accusing you. After which, you and I will talk to them regarding how mistaken they are in making the accusation in the first place.”

“How will you do that?”

“We have our methods,” Wulf dismissed.

The two men had hunted, found, and interrogated many French spies during the years of war against Napoleon. Finding a single witness and informant, moreover one who was lying, shouldn’t prove difficult at all. Nor should persuading them to tell the authorities the truth.

Billy said he had not murdered Moreland, and Wulf believed him.

“I appreciate the earl putting himself to the trouble for someone he barely knows.”

“It is enough for Stonyhurst that he knows I wish him to assist you.”

“You— Where are you going?” Billy demanded as Wulf began to ascend what transpired to be a rather rickety ladder into the attic space.

He glanced down from where he stood on the fourth rung up. “I am retrieving your red jacket.”

“I don’t want it,” Billy snapped. “I borrowed this brown jacket from the clothes Jamieson left in his wardrobe. It is far more suitable attire for your temporary secretary to wear.”

Wulf wanted to hit something, or someone, for having taken the small pleasure of wearing the gaudy red jacket away from Billy. A young man whose circumstances meant he probably hadn’t received many such treats during his young life.

“I want you to have it,” Wulf insisted.

“Back to being that bloody arrogant duke again, hm?” Billy accused.

“Have you ever known me not to be that arrogant bloody duke?” he mocked dryly before completing his ascent into the shadows of the attic.

The shaky ladder Billy had been using to get up here was bad enough, but the conditions in the attic itself were deplorable.

It was obvious from the broom leaning against a couple of boxes that Billy had tried to sweep and clean his living quarters of spiderwebs, at least. But that effort could not hide the barrenness of the space. Or that the only light came in through a round window lacking curtains at the top of the front gable and an almost burned down candle sitting on the floor beside a dirty mattress on which a neatly folded single blanket lay.

No wonder Billy had complained of being cold.

Wulf wanted to visit the mortuary where Moreland’s body was laid out and kill the bastard all over again!

The discarded red jacket stood out bright as a flame at the bottom of the bare mattress.

Wulf snatched it up before returning to the top of the ladder. He threw the jacket impatiently through the hatch.

“Oy,” came the immediate protest from below.

Even the sight of Billy, the red-and-gold jacket having fallen on his head, wasn’t enough to bring a smile to Wulf’s lips. Instead, he began his descent down the shaky ladder.

“Did you know you have a very fine arse, Your Grace?”

A stepladder Wulf almost slid the rest of the way down after hearing Billy voice this overfamiliar remark!

He glanced down to see a grinning Billy looking back up at him. “You little bastard,” he said affectionately as he easily took the last three steps down into the narrow hallway. He turned to crowd Billy up against the wall by placing his hands on the wall either side of the younger man’s head. “So I have a fine arse, do I?” he challenged softly.

“I believe I said a very fine one, Your Grace,” Billy corrected fearlessly.

Wulf looked at him in wonder. “My God, Billy, what did I do for humor and happiness before you came into my life,” he murmured appreciatively.

Billy looked flustered by the compliment. “I’m sure you managed.”

“No, I can state with all honesty that I had not known any of this warmth of humor or depth of happiness before I met you,” Wulf assured before he lowered his head and claimed Billy’s pillowy soft lips with his own.

* * *

Billy flung his arms up about Wulf’s shoulders and kissed him back with the same fierceness, totally lost in the wonder of having the older man’s lips claim and then devour his.

Wulf had to feel something more for Billy, when he kissed him with such single-minded passion, than he had for that other man he’d briefly kept in Curzon Street.

Didn’t he?

The hard swell of Wulf’s cock pressing against Billy’s abdomen was testament to the fact that he aroused the duke as much as Wulf aroused him.

Billy wasn’t experienced enough in such matters, emotionally or physically, to know whether or not that signified a singular attraction or was simply a purely physical response.

For the moment, it didn’t matter which it was, the pleasure of being kissed, and kissing the man he desired beyond reason, was more than enough.

They were both breathing hard by the time Wulf ended the kiss to rest the heat of his forehead gently against Billy’s.

“You will dine with me this evening?—”

“You could try asking instead of telling!”

“Dine with me this evening, please, Billy—Jamieson did so when I was at home for the evening and not entertaining guests,” the duke defended before Billy could voice another protest. “Which, as you know, I never do.”

“Why not?” Billy prompted curiously.

“If I must meet with people, I prefer to entertain them at my club— Not the Apollo,” he rebuked gently when Billy frowned. “I was referring to my gentleman’s club in St. James’s.”

“White’s.”

“Exactly. If I need to discuss business or government matters with other gentlemen, then that is where I meet with them.”

“What about ladies?”

Wulf’s mouth thinned. “I never dine with women, be they ladies or otherwise.”

“Why not?”

“It would give them and their families the false hope that I am interested in taking a wife.” He lifted Billy’s chin and held his gaze captive with his much darker one. “As I have told you, I will never take a duchess.” It sounded like a vow.

“Won’t you be needing an heir?”

Wulf huffed a laugh. “My cock has no interest in womanly curves, and therefore does not respond to them.” He pressed that engorged cock against Billy as evidence that he had that required effect on him. “I am sure they will be able to find some distant relative of mine to inherit the title after my death. My darling Billy,” he cajoled when Billy felt himself flinch. “We all must die sometime.”

“Maybe so, but there’s no need to talk about it so long before the event might occur,” he snapped, not at all happy with the subject.

He had never been that close to his father because of his many years of absence away at sea. But he had been devastated when his mother died.

How much more heartbreaking would it be to lose Wulf?

Not that he’d ever had him, and possibly never would, but Billy couldn’t bear the thought of this handsome and imposing gentleman departing this world.

He realized he didn’t want to live in a world where Wulf no longer existed.

“Possibly not,” Wulf allowed softly.

Billy swallowed. “I thought— For a while, when I first came to live and work here, I thought that you and Jamieson were… I thought the two of you might be lovers,” he admitted with a self-conscious wince.

“Never.”

He nodded. “I realized that when the groom told me about the young man you kept in Curzon Street. I doubted you could be servicing both of them.”

“I wish to God I’d never set eyes upon the man who resided so briefly in Curzon Street!” Wulf snapped before eyeing Billy curiously. “Were you alluding to my age just now when you doubted my ability to satisfy two lovers?”

Billy grinned. “Of course I was.”

“You are an absolute wretch,” Wulf said affectionately. “And ‘servicing’ a lover sounds far too perfunctory to me.” His top lip curled back. “It is certainly not relatable to the passion you incite in me simply by breathing.”

Billy blinked, not used to receiving compliments at all, let alone ones as passionate as the ones the duke had been making to him these past two days.

“Do my comments embarrass you?” Wulf teased.

Billy lifted his chin. “Not if you mean them.”

“Every word,” the other man confirmed gruffly.

Billy’s smile was a little shaky. “Then I’m not embarrassed.”

“Good.” Wulf nodded his satisfaction as he bent to kiss Billy lightly on the lips before straightening.

“I gave you a compliment a short time ago too,” Billy reminded with a grin.

Wulf gave an acknowledging nod of his head. “And it is now my intention to take this fine arse—very fine arse—to my bedchamber so that I might wash and change before the two of us dine together at eight o’clock in the small family dining room.”

“That sounds very precise, Your Grace.”

“I am a very precise man. One who is still in need of a valet,” he realized with a frown.

“The earl’s valet could not be persuaded into leaving his lordship’s employ, despite not having been paid for weeks, same as the other servants,” Billy explained. “The only other one as stayed in the earl’s employ was the nursemaid in the nursery. I knew you wouldn’t have any interest in employing her.”

“Good God, no.” Wulf visibly shuddered. “I do not suppose that you would consider acting as my valet until I am able to engage a new one…?”

Billy shook his head. “I’m happy to act as your secretary until Jamieson returns, but I refuse to be your valet too.”

“Why is that?” the older man prompted curiously.

“Because if I once assist you to undress, then I very much doubt I will be interested in helping you to redress,” Billy answered with complete honesty.

Wulf released a deep breath, his eyes dark and gleaming. “You are doing wonders for my ego.”

“Pfft.” Billy snorted. “Your ego don’t need any stroking— I was talking about your ego, Your Grace,” he admonished when Wulf was now the one to smile. “I’m going to me new bedchamber to freshen up before I have to join me employer for dinner, as instructed,” he added crossly when Wulf continued to grin.

Wulf pressed closer. “Am I only your employer?”

Billy released a shuddering breath. “You know you ain’t.”

Wulf touched the fullness of his lower lip, swollen slightly from their earlier kisses. “Do you need my assistance dressing for dinner?”

“I’ve been dressing meself since I was two!”

“You know that is not what I meant.”

“The answer is no. Thank you.”

Wulf chuckled, no doubt at how emphatic Billy had made his refusal.

Apart from when he’d shared a bedroom with his brothers, Billy had never undressed in front of another man. He knew without a doubt that his body was going to look positively puny when compared to that of the tall and muscular Wulfram Edmund Fitzherbert.

But maybe Wulf liked puny?

It was certainly to be hoped so, because Billy knew he wasn’t going to grow any taller. Nor, no matter what he did, had he ever been able to bulk up the slenderness of his body or swell the muscles in his arms and chest.

“You are perfection in my eyes,” Wulf assured huskily, obviously sensing some of Billy’s uncertainty and its reason.

Billy gave a cheeky grin. “Like ’em short and runtish, do ya?”

The duke sobered. “I like you. All of you.”

“I like all of you too.” There was no point in Billy denying it when he responded to Wulf’s every touch. Even the soft caress of the pad of the other man’s thumb against Billy’s bottom lip was enough to incite a fire deep inside him.

Wulf pressed his thumb more firmly against that lip before dropping his hand and stepping back. “I will leave the door between our two bedchambers unlocked from this moment on. That way, it will be your choice if or when you decide you wish to open that door and join me in my bed.”

Billy’s cheeks burned with the blaze of an inferno. “Couldn’t you just be your usual arrogant self and order me to join you or perhaps for you to join mein my bed?”

“No,” Wulf answered him seriously. “I do not, by word or deed, ever wish you to think I used coercion to entice you into sharing my bed.”

Billy snorted. “Enticement is coercion!”

Wulf smiled slightly. “Of the sensual kind rather than a bullying or demanding one.”

Billy lowered his gaze. “I’ll let Mrs. Peck know there will be two of us for dinner, and we can decide later who chooses to join whom in which bedchamber.”

“But you will share a bed with me tonight?”

Billy hated the edge of uncertainty he could hear in Wulf’s voice. An emotion he knew wasn’t a usual occurrence with this self-assured and arrogant duke. It seemed even more significant that he felt such uncertainty over someone as insignificant as Billy.

Billy lifted his chin so he could look Wulf steadily in the eye. “Yes, you and I will be sharing a bed tonight.”