“I’m not appalled by you. Startled, perhaps, and—very well, maybe a little appalled, but what else would I expect from Mr. Fox? It is not so, nor it was not so, but we’ll damned well make people believe it’s so. No, I was thinking of Julius’s enthusiasm for inventing scandal. I have rarely seen him enjoy himself more.”
“He does have a knack for it. Do you mind this?”
“You’re killing the pig,” Richard said. “And you could not do this to another man. Lord Maltravers’s character can only be blackened because he has stained it so badly himself. Do sit down. You’ve been on your feet all evening.” He waved at one of the armchairs by the fire. “Drink?”
David looked just slightly uncertain. He took the seat, correct and upright on the edge of the chair, then leaned back crossing his legs in a deliberate pose of relaxation.
Richard handed him a glass of brandy and stayed standing by the chair. “What else have you planned?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
“I can’t have that. You are doing extraordinary and unprincipled things for me, at my request. This is not like blacking my boots, a thing to be hidden from sight. I want to be with you in this. In all of what you do.”
“Well, thank you, but I meant that I don’t want you to know because I want some things to surprise you, for effect. You’re a good liar, but not a patch on Lord Gabriel or Mr. Norreys. You’ll find out,” he added, grin sharpening. “That should start tomorrow. You may not see Silas around for the next couple of days.”
“I feel a decided sense of apprehension. Do I want to know how much slander I should expect about myself?”
“I am playing fast and loose with your name to Lord Maltravers. It’s what will get me into his house. I don’t think you need fear scandal attaching permanently to you, if we can scotch this business of the letter, of course. Your reputation is its own shield. There is nothing for slander to stick to.”
“Well. Yes.” Richard sighed. “I rather wish I had not admitted illicit affections to my brother.”
“What?” David sat up, brandy splashing the sides of his glass. “You did what?”
“Not that. He thinks it is a lady I cannot marry and have enraged with my damn fool principles. I just—ah, I felt so tired of lying. I could not pretend to be a happily single gentleman any longer, and I have had all the conversations about marriage I can stomach. You have no idea how I envy you your mother.” To his own shock, his voice broke on the words. “If Philip—if I could just talk to him—”
David jerked as though he had started to get out of the chair and stopped himself. “I’m sorry.”
“It is absurd. I have been lying about my affections since I was old enough to have them. Why should it matter so much now?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do. It is because I wish I could tell him about you.”
“There is nothing to tell,” David said, but his eyes were wide and dark.
“Not true. And it will still not be true if you never touch me again. I should still like him to know that I have given my heart to someone who deserves it even if he does not want it.”
“Burn no bridges, my lord. Not on my account.”
“I shall do as I damned well see fit. Just as you will. David…” Richard extended his hand. “Why did you come back?”
“I told you. Silas and Mr. Norreys made me.”
“You did tell me that, but unfortunately for you, Julius’s version of events does not tally with yours. Try again.”
David narrowed his eyes. “Well then, if you will have it, pride. Half a dozen lords and gentlemen desperate for a valet’s help?” He lifted a mocking brow. “I could not resist the opportunity to show off my skills.”
“That is more plausible,” Richard agreed. “You certainly have Satan’s own pride. I don’t know why I never saw it before.”
“It’s marked well enough.” David tugged at a lock of red hair. “The devil’s hue.”
Richard reached down, not asking permission but slowly enough that David could move his head away if he wished. He didn’t, but Richard felt him stiffen as he ran his fingers through the straight, smooth hair. “I assume nothing, and I will not press you to anything. I hope you know that.”
“Yes.” David’s damned unreadable face was closed again, but he wasn’t quite looking at Richard, and there was tension in his jawline that would have been invisible to anyone who had not watched him for so long.
“I am also sure you would not put up with any such thing. You have, after all, walked away from me twice now, and I can hardly pretend that you’re in need of my protection when I am so much in need of yours.” Richard carefully hooked a few strands of hair behind David’s ear. “I cannot think of any better course than to tell you the truth and leave it in your hands.”