Page 46 of Vanquished By A Viscount
It would have been better if the ghost from Gray’s past that had come to call had been someone inconsequential or hopelessly foreign. The fact that it was Howard, in all his confident, commanding glory, existing in the world as though it had been ordered especially for him, and the fact that Gray was still very much susceptible to the older man’s charms, made it infinitely awkward.
“And what do you think of this railroad business, Mr. Hawthorne?” Howard turned around and asked in the middle of Gray’s increasingly panicked thoughts. “You have as much of a stake in any business dealings of Hawthorne House, I would imagine, as any son of the family.”
The man’s question was simple enough, but the way he asked it and the expression flashing in his eyes asked, “Would you care to drop your trousers and bend over that fallen tree just there so that I might bugger you into a deeper understanding of the pleasures of the celestial spheres?”
“The decision is Robert’s and Robert’s alone,” Gray said shuffling like a schoolboy called before the headmaster to account for why he’d been caught diddling with another boy behind the shed in the schoolyard. “I am but the indigent second son in the family whose purpose is to do little more than look presentable and entertain our guests.”
He laughed nervously, feeling as if his collar and trousers had grown too tight. What a ridiculous and embarrassing thing to say!
But Howard merely replied, “You fulfill your position admirably,” with a sly arch of one eyebrow.
Gray wasn’t certain whether he wanted to sink into the ground or to drop to his knees and do whatever he could to please the man.
Worse still, Charlie noticed everything.
“If you will excuse me,” Charlie said in a tight voice that Gray guessed he was trying to keep from sounding peevish. “I must return to the house to see how my sister is getting on. She has been out of sorts these last few days and has found it a struggle to fulfill her duties as hostess.”
“Ah,” Howard said, nodding in understanding. “She is a newlywed?”
“It is not that,” Robert answered, some of the frustration he’d been boiling himself in for the last few days showing through his attempts to impress. “I believe she has found it more challenging to take the helm of a country house party.”
“I see,” Howard said, as gracious as ever. “When we have finished our business, we must endeavor to do what we can to assist her in her entertainments.”
Charlie made a sound that Gray took to be annoyance. If his interpretation of the pinched expression Charlie wore was anything to go by, it was annoyance that Howard was proving to be so amenable and helpful.
Gray knew the feeling. There would have been no trouble at all if Howard had been anyone other than…Howard.
“If you will excuse me,” Charlie said with a bow, shaking Gray out of his contemplations of the wrong man yet again, before turning to go.
All three of them watched him walk away for a moment before Howard turned to Robert with a smile and said, “I rather like Lord Broxbourne. He seems like a sensible fellow with an eye toward the future.”
“He is, he is,” Robert assured him, as if he, too were captivated by Howard, even though Gray was certain his brother’s inclinations rested exclusively with women. “I am as happy to have Lord Broxbourne as a member of my extended family as I am to have married his sister.”
“I am eager to meet Lady Felcourt,” Howard said as the three of them continued along the path. “She seems like an intriguing woman. Is my assessment correct, Mr. Hawthorne?”
Gray was forced to pick up his pace so that he could walk by Howard’s side as they continued down the path as it wound toward a small stream. “Er, yes, she is quite lovely,” Gray answered him. “You will find her quite lively and amicable.”
“I am certain I will,” Howard said. “Any person who you recommend to me, I am certain I will adore.”
The statement was meant for him and not Barbara, Gray was certain of it.
And on any other day, during any other summer, he would have lapped up the attention Howard showed him.
“Do you know,” Gray said a mere five minutes later, as they rounded a bend and Howard attempted to walk close enough to him that he might take Gray’s hand, “I should be returning to the house as well. I promised Miss Martin and her chaperone that I would organize another round of archery for the guests if the day proved sunny enough for it.”
“Did you?” Robert asked, frowning slightly. “I do not remember.”
“Is there something I can help with?” Howard asked.
The question was most definitely one that asked whether he had said or done something wrong and if he needed to makeamends. Damn Howard for being so caring and considerate. He’d always been the epitome of care and concern when he had Gray bent double over and panting with?—
No. No, he could not allow his memories to wander down those not-so-old paths when he felt that Charlie was licking his wounds somewhere nearby. He wanted Charlie, not Howard. He always had.
“We will speak later,” he told Howard, then turned and hurried off before the intoxicating man could draw him back into his sphere.
He muttered to himself the entire way back to the house, lambasting himself for being so susceptible to Howard’s charms. A rock would not be able to resist the man, but that was beside the point. He had only just repaired things with Charlie. Their new bond was as tender as a sapling, and he had no wish to do anything to damage it.
Although if Howard asked for both of them to accompany him in a game of hide the sausage?—
