Page 34 of Adored
Him.
Up.
Poe was honest.
“I thought you were going to take one look at this monstrosity and run,” he admitted.
Poe obviously didn’t know him well enough.
“It’s an adventure, Poe. I’ve always loved one. That’s why I became a Marine. Well, that and because I didn’t have a chance at a real life. The Marines became my home, and now you are my home. I’ll work through it. I’m not the runner here.”
Poe laughed.
“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” he asked.
Gamble shook his head.
“Nope.”
Well, he deserved it.
Truth be told, he was thrilled. The man he loved wasn’t going to mock him or run from this spectacle. That was huge. Just a day ago, he’d planned on batting away the women who wanted to become the Duchess of Gordon. Now, he had a sexy man to play Duke with him.
“What are they doing?” Gamble asked as someone carried a table past them toward another space in the castle.
“That was for the title party afterward. It’s weird to me since I was never going to be the Duke. I’m the spare child, so to speak. Hemmingway was older by a few minutes, and this was going to be Hemmingway’s party. At some point, he was going to step in, and my father was going to be done.”
He sighed.
“We just didn’t think it would be like this, and that Hemmingway was going to die too. Now, it’s mine.”
Gamble held his hand.
“I don’t mind it. It’s kinda sexy how I’ll be shacked up with a Duke. Show me around. I want to see your castle.”
He laughed.
“Oh, no. It’s ours. You signed up for this nightmarish tour of duty by my side. I’m not letting you get away from it now. I need a partner in crime. This being the crime against humanity.”
Gamble winked at him.
“I’ve got your back,” he said, checking out Poe’s ass because he could.
Why the hell not?
The whole time he was being shown around, Gamble knew there were a million places that crypto key was likely hidden.
For all they knew, Poe’s father knew his son took it, and hid it for him.
Hemmingway could have mailed it back.
This was like finding a very pricey needle in an equally as pricey haystack.
As they encountered a group of people who clearly worked for Poe, he cleared his throat.
All of the staff glanced over at them, and Poe did the introductions.
So it began.
