Page 3 of Vanquished By A Viscount
The trouble was, if the world discovered his true nature, it would likely turn everything upside down for Barbara. His sister’s chances of a happy marriage to a man of title and fortunewho would give her everything she deserved, not to mention her chances of finding a place in society, would vanish if it became known her brother preferred to bury his cock in the arse of a comely lad and that he would rather pass his title to his cousin Michael than find himself between a woman’s legs. Some men of his inclination could do it, could marry a woman and do what was necessary to produce an heir, but not him. If someone like Comstock, or Gray himself, spilled the truth and if he became the subject of London gossip, Barbara would suffer twice as much as he would.
He was pulled from his troubled thoughts by Gray throwing open the bedroom door and walking out stark naked and still erect.
“Has the bad man gone away?” Gray asked cheekily, his expression beguiling and his blue eyes flashing with lust.
“As you can see,” Charlie said tightly, nodding to the door.
“Good,” Gray said, moving to stand in front of him at the table, trapping Charlie in place. “Because I was in the middle of something.”
He leaned in, clasping Charlie’s face and slanting his mouth over Charlie’s. Charlie caught his breath, desire and longing shooting through his body like lightning in his veins. He wanted to reach for Gray and tug him close. He wanted to wrap his hand around Grayson’s beautiful cock and work it until Gray spilled. The sight of Gray coming was breathtaking, since the man threw himself into everything with such abandon.
It wasn’t just sex, though. Charlie had never loved anyone so much in his life, except Barbara. He and Gray didn’t just share their bodies, they shared their aristocratic backgrounds, their fascination with locomotion and modern transportation, and their desire to achieve more with their lives than was expected of them.
Grayson Hawthorne was the only person Charlie could imagine spending the rest of his life with, but to do so would almost certainly spell Barbara’s ruin someday.
“Now, where were we?” Gray asked as he ended their kiss, wickedness shining from him.
Gray took a half step back and began to drop to his knees, but Charlie stopped him.
“We cannot,” he said, having to force out the words that he knew would cut them both to the quick.
Gray paused, confused for a moment, then slipped a hand between the folds of Charlie’s robe to grasp his cock. “Oh, I think we can,” he said with a wink.
Heart breaking, Charlie shifted to the side and away from Gray’s touch, then pushed off of the table. He strode across the room, only turning to Gray when he’d put enough distance between them, then said, “I think you should go.”
Gray was still smiling as he turned, like they were playing a game. “Go?” he asked. “I would rather come.”
“No, you must go at once,” Charlie said, hardly able to look at him. “And…and I think it best if you do not come back.”
Grayson started to move toward him but stopped. His impish expression began to crack. “What do you mean?” he asked, a new thread of tension in his voice.
Charlie forced himself to drag his eyes up to meet his lover’s. It would be better for all of them if he ended things quickly and definitively. “I think it would be best if we cut ties,” he said.
He couldn’t maintain eye contact with Gray.
“Cut ties?” Gray said, his voice suddenly thin and vulnerable and his expression turning young and hurt. He took a few, tentative steps toward Charlie and asked, “What did Comstock say to you?”
“Nothing,” Charlie insisted, dodging away from Gray and marching into the bedroom. “He came to deliver a letter that was misdirected to his dormitory.”
“A letter?” Gray followed him into the bedroom. “What did the letter contain?” The concern in Gray’s voice hurt Charlie even more.
“It was just a letter from my sister,” Charlie said, moving around the bed to take up Gray’s clothing from where it had been draped over a chair when it had been thrown off the night before. “You’d better dress and leave before people fill the streets, making their way to church.”
“And when should I come back?” Gray asked, brittle and stiff.
Charlie forced himself to meet his beloved’s eyes. “You…you cannot.”
“Charlie,” Gray said, falling swiftly into desperation. “You cannot be…you wouldn’t possibly…I refuse to believe that this is the end.”
Charlie swallowed sickly. “I’m afraid it is,” he said.
Panic pinched Gray’s face. “Why? What has happened? We were so happy just moments ago. It was something Comstock said, or…or something in Barbara’s letter.”
Gray reached for him, but Charlie dodged. “It was none of that,” he lied. He gulped, then latched onto the falsehood he knew would push Gray away and keep all of them, him, Barbara, and ultimately Gray as well, safe from the cruelty of society and from the law. “I am simply done with you.”
“You cannot mean that,” Gray said, rocking back, his face going pale. “I love you, Charlie, and you love me.”
“I do not love you,” Charlie lied. It was the most egregious lie of his life. “I…I never have. I merely pretended…I…because you were so eager…and…because…you were so willing.”
