Page 2 of Moaning Under the Mistletoe
He nodded to Heider, the club’s butler, as he walked inside. Perhaps it was best to discover how irrational Lady Lavinia’s thoughts were now rather than after they’d married. Maybe he’d inadvertently dodged a problem. It didn’t feel like it, but perhaps a stiff drink and a little titillation might help recentre him.
One of the staff opened the door to the main receiving room and Ambrose was hit by a wall of noise. The room was filled with people cheering. Oh hell and damnation. So much for a quiet drink while surrounded by people who also searched for desires outside the accepted bounds of society. He pushed through the crowd to see a group of performers dancing around a Christmas tree in various states of undress. Men were dressed as women, women dressed as men, and several men and women dressed in almost nothing bar a mask and some cleverly adhered tiny pieces of fabric.
“Isn’t this wonderful?” A very handsome man smiled up at him. He was shorter than Ambrose, just like most people were, and had brown skin, black hair, and dark round eyes that glinted as he grinned. The man reminded him of someone, but Ambrose shook his head as he couldn’t place him. The man was young, perhaps mid-twenties, and had the look of someone from the spice trail but he’d spoken in a London merchant’s accent. The man touched him on the elbow, barely a suggestion, but in this club, with that smile, Ambrose knew what it meant, and he decided on a whim to say yes. It was nice to be wanted after being so publicly rejected.
“Wonderful?” It had to be the strangest evening in Ambrose’s life, or perhaps an opportunity to pretend the earlier ... humiliation hadn’t occurred.
“Yes. I love Christmas.”
Ambrose hadn’t given the season much thought beyond getting his staff to organise his large extended family, so he nodded.
“The pageantry of it, the festivities. Look at this. People being themselves with such freedom. It’s so wonderful.”
“The most wonderful time of the year.” He held back a sigh.
“Your tone suggests you don’t agree.”
“It is merely the time when all of one’s relatives decide to impress their presence on me with visits and expectations.” He’d really hoped that Lady Lavinia would deal with all of that in the future, leaving him alone to focus on the Earldom and his hobbies. He enjoyed breeding racehorses and aimed to one day breed a Derby winner. It would be a life’s work, and he was grateful to his friend, the Duke of Edenwick who discussed pedigrees with him.
“Family can be complicated.” The man tapped him on the elbow again and Ambrose blinked. He’d drifted off, thinking about horses, rather than deal with his unfortunate incident tonight.
“Yes.” He had too much family and they all had opinions on his life. He’d assumed that in marrying, they’d all back off and leave him alone. Now his plan had been annihilated. Damn it, now he’d have to start again and find another woman worthy of being the next Countess of Bennington.
“You aren’t much of a talker, are you?”
“No.” He needed a drink ... or a silent fuck with someone as pretty as this man who kept talking to him. Could he shut him up with a kiss?
Chapter Two
Oscar wanted to knoweverything about the gruff handsome man whose gaze was filled with sadness. From the moment he’d walked into the room, Oscar had been drawn to the way he held himself. Distant, apart, aloof. Or perhaps it was just the fact that he was the most handsome man in the room and in the month that he’d owned The King’s Book Club, he hadn’t seen him here before. He definitely would’ve remembered this tall broadly built man with his dark brown hair and piercing gaze. If he had to hazard a guess, he’d say the man’s jacket wasn’t padded and his shoulders were as strong and broad as his buckskin clad thighs. Oscar had moved slowly through the room, smiling at his guests but grateful their attention was on the performers, until he stood in front of the man, close enough to see the gold flecks in his amber brown eyes.
“It’s Christmas. A time for enjoyment.” He repeated himself. Over the last month, he’d been able to let go of the walls he used to have, walls that had been his protection, but were now unnecessary. How his uncle knew that he was the one who needed The King’s Book Club—of all his siblings—he had no clue, because until a month ago he hadn’t known his uncle had existed.
“Enjoyment?” The man looked surprised as if having fun wasn’t something he’d ever tried.
“Yes. Look around you. People are smiling, people are ... dancing.” They were also fucking, but that was a type of dance too. When Oscar had received a letter from a lawyer a month ago informing him that he’d inherited The King’s Book Club from an uncle he didn’t know he had, his whole life had been upturned. But in the last month, he’d thrown himself into running a gentleman’s club and it all culminated into tonight’s Christmas party. The staff had been fantastic, especially the butler Otto Heider, who knew all the club members and basically ran the place without much guidance. Oscar had been able to learn quickly thanks to Otto’s competence, and the experience had been rather eye-opening. If he’d known clubs like this existed, he would’ve been a member himself, not that he would’ve been able to afford it on his meagre bank clerk wage.
