There were just a few hours to go. David’s blood was singing, muscles tight with readiness.
He really needed to get the tension out. He had his own role to play, that of the loyal, faceless servant. He could not afford to look as he felt—like a predator poised to spring.
Heavy feet on the stairs. He was still and waiting as Richard entered looking somewhat ruffled.
“Did it go well?” David asked as Richard bolted the door.
“You requested Maltravers angry and confused, and that is what you shall have. He is very angry indeed. I should tell you, I asked him to stop, to let the whole sorry business alone. I know how much work you have done, and I hope that did not threaten it, but I felt as though I were luring him down a path to destruction. I had to give the damned fellow a chance to step off.”
David would have been astonished if Richard had not made some such effort. “It didn’t work, I take it?”
“Not at all, but I salved my conscience somewhat. I am a little nervous, David.”
“Only a little?”
Richard gave a short laugh. “Very well, if you prefer: I am very apprehensive indeed. This is not a battleground on which I feel comfortable fighting.”
David reached up and put a hand to Richard’s jaw. “Trust me?”
Richard’s hand met his, interlacing their fingers. “Entirely. I am not concerned with your scheming, merely my ability to carry it out. I don’t want to let you down.”
“You won’t.”
Richard pulled, sliding David’s palm across to his own mouth, kissing the sensitive skin. “Not if I can help it. Never again.” The movement of his lips was a caress. “I love you, my fox, and whatever happens today, or afterward, I could not be more grateful that you came back to me.”
“I don’t want your gratitude,” David said, and felt Richard’s lips curve against his palm.
“I recall saying the same to you. I should like to give you a great deal more than gratitude, but—”
“You ought to. You owe me a debt, remember?”
“I owe—?” Richard began, and then his eyes widened. “Now?”
David pressed closer, against Richard’s powerful frame. “You owe me,” he repeated. “And we have an hour before you should be in White’s. And”—he let his hand slide downward—“I want it.”
Richard’s breath had grown faster, heavier on David’s hand. David pushed against his hips, rubbing like a cat, chasing his own pleasure as much as Richard’s. “I want it. I want you to fuck me on the floor, right here, and then face the greatest gentlemen in the land with my scent in your nose and my taste in your mouth, and not one of them will suspect you were pleasuring your valet a bare hour past. They wouldn’t dream of it. But you’ll know.”
He could feel Richard’s arousal against him now, see the expanded pupils. He grinned savagely. “Fuck me, my lord. Here, now, hard.”
Richard grabbed for David’s coat, wrenching it back off his shoulders and down his arms. David ground against him, relishing the friction of cloth and flesh. “Show me how strong you are. How big.”
“Christ, David.” Richard’s hands were at David’s waistband. He tipped his head back, baring his throat, felt Richard’s mouth on his skin. “If you want that—”
“All of it.”
Richard had his thumbs inside David’s clothing, shoving breeches and drawers down. “Then get on the floor. Oh, damnation. Is there oil?”
“Mantel.” David had put the discreet bottle there earlier. It was his job to think of everything, after all.
He got to hands and knees. Richard made it back to him with the bottle in two long strides and was settling behind him a moment later, clothing shoved out of the way rather than off. David shut his eyes, feeling his blood thump, the quiver of anticipation and nerves, as Richard’s hands closed over his arse, thumbs skimming his skin. “You know, I always imagined I would do this with such care the first time. Gentle and tender, on clean sheets. Looking after you.” One thumb nudging. David shifted his legs apart. “I must have been mad. You want fucking, my fox?”
David sucked in a breath, feeling Richard’s substantial prick pushing at him, seeking entrance. “God, yes. Just a— Yes, now. Now.”
Richard exhaled, a harsh sound. “Dear heaven. David.” He was pushing slowly and as gently as possible, taking David with care, whatever he might have said, but there was a lot of him. David set his jaw against the burn. There was a heavy hand gripping his shoulder, another arm coming around his waist. David locked his elbows to take the weight.