Page 27 of To Tempt a Troubled Earl
Angel’s mouth widened with mirth around Lando’s, and then he broke off. “Call me Kit, please,” he panted. “Everyone else who knows me does, and our friendship has sailed well beyond pleasantries and polite terms of address; I hope you agree.”
Mr Ange—Kit’sdetermined fingers brushed against Lando’s swollen prick as they picked at the buttons on the front fall of his breeches. Never mind pleasantries; Lando had sailed beyond rational thought.
“Tell me how I should address you, my lord,” breathed Kit, licking and sucking on Lando’s parted lips. “‘Your lordship’ is so terribly formal, is it not?” He paused in his lapping to shoot Lando a wicked grin. “Especially when my hand rests here.”
A cool palm curled around Lando’s member, startling a gasp from his throat.
“Lando,” he sighed, pushing up into Kit’s touch. “Address me as Lando. Almostno oneelse does.”
At first, Kit did nothing but hold him, feeling the heft, while his scalding lips discovered new places to tease. Such as Lando’s earlobe and the sensitive, shallow depression behind it. He paid a visit to the ribbon of flesh above Lando’s high collar, too, before forging a new path along the blade of Lando’s jaw. As if sampling every needy inch of him. “Lando.” He breathed the wonderful sound of it against Lando’s neck, drawing it out. “Much better. Henry Orlando Fitzwilliam Albert Duchamps-Avery is such a mouthful, is it not?” Sharp teeth nibbled tender skin as Lando let out a giggle. “When there are so many other things that I could be filling my mouth with?”
Gadzooks, the man was good. Lando let his head fall back, the line of his throat wide open to his new lover’s touch. Kit’s hand on his shaft closed more tightly, and he let out a whimper.
“Lando.” Kit repeated it as he pressed kisses into Lando’s quivering flesh before once more sealing his lips against Lando’s mouth. How gloriously intimate. And how gloriously Lando felt his constrained, rigid composure melt under Kit’s touch. As his breath quickened, Kit deepened the kiss. His member throbbed, hard as iron, against Lando’s thigh as the slide of his palm up and down the length of Lando’s satiny shaft intensified.
With an urgent whimper, Lando spread wider, arching into Kit’s touch, swelling impossibly more in Kit’s hand. Clutching at his behind, he drew Kit in further, hoisting his leg around his waist, as if by squeezing him close enough, he could climb inside.
Lando’s chest rose and fell. His breath grew ragged, his kisses open and panting. His spine tingled with pleasure.
“I’m…yes…oh gosh, yes.” With a cry smothered against Kit’s mouth, his hot spend flooded Kit’s hand.
“Kit. I’m…”
Whatever he was, Kit would never find out; the sentence remained unfinished. Limply, Lando dropped his head to his shoulder. Kit’s arms came around his back, and he cradled Lando, pressing his lips to his hair.
When Lando finally stirred, Kit lifted his chin, smiling into his eyes still blurred with lust. Heat flushed his cheeks, and he let out a shy laugh. “I’m…thank you,” he managed at last. “I ought to return the favour.”
“No favour. The pleasure was all mine.”
Kit planted a kiss at the end of Lando’s nose, which he wrinkled. His hands dropped to Lando’s behind and stayed there, stroking him. Kit kissed his nose again. “Lando,” he said again. Lando didn’t imagine he would ever tire of hearing it. “The name suits you.”
“Your uncle Charles was one of the few people who have ever used it,” Lando confessed. “Since our father passed, even my own sister addresses me as ‘Rossingley.’”
“Then I shall use it freely,” declared Kit, and he dropped a final kiss on Lando’s nose. “And Uncle Charles had excellent taste in men. You,Lando, were extraordinary this evening.”
“Only if Gartside plays along. Otherwise, all this will be to no end.”
“I’ll wager he will.”
Lando gave a rueful smile. “I’m of the same accord. Which means I’m going to thoroughly ruin him, aren’t I? Does that make me cruel?”
Kit shook his head. “He’s going to thoroughly ruin himself one way or another. Like you said, you are merely nudging him along so fewer innocent souls suffer along the way. He’s already devastated several other people’s lives, perhaps it’s time he tasted his own medicine. The only fly in the ointment is if your wealthy American friend persists in outbidding him or tries to bribe me too.”
Lando fondled Kit’s firm, high buttocks. “That…ah…won’t happen. Our American will do as he’s told.”
Kit huffed. “I wouldn’t be so sure. My, admittedly limited, impression of people from that nation is that they are a law unto themselves.”
Lando arched an amused brow. “Not this one.” He laughed softly. “I’ll let you into another secret. When Mr Arthur Hamilton of South Carolina isn’t imbibing my excellent port and winding Lord Cobham into a stew, he may be found treading the boards at Drury Lane and expanding his gambling hell empire. When he is not occupied with either of those, he is discreetly and expertly pleasuring rich widows in exchange for considerable sums of money, which he uses to fund the aforementioned expansion of his gambling empire.”
Kit’s jaw dropped. “Yet again, you have the capacity to astound me. Where on earth did you find him?”
Lando flushed. “Tommy Squire and I—for that is his true name—are old friends. I helped him out of a hole a long time ago, earning his undivided loyalty. And…and even in the depths of my mourning for your uncle Charles, I occasionally experienced some…base needs.” He threw Kit a defiant look. “I’m not a monk. And Tommy is steadfast and…trustworthy.”
“He’s in love with you, that’s what he is.” Annoyance coloured Kit’s tone. “Any fool can see that.” He paused a beat. “Any fool of our persuasion, anyhow. I doubt your other dinner guests picked up on it. Your Tommy Squire would like nothing more than to be standing where I am now.”
“He would,” conceded Lando. “But he isn’t. And although he has a deep affection for me, as I do for him, his heart most definitely lies elsewhere. Don’t be cross that he deceived you. He makes a very convincing liar, as many have discovered to their cost. He will be well remunerated for his time and efforts.”
“But not like this,” insisted Kit.
