“Mmpf,” Bobby mumbles, tightening his arms. “Curtains,” he adds, and James can hear the pout in his voice.
Without thinking about it, James rolls in Bobby’s arms, grasping the duvet to pull it over their heads, plunging them into brown-tinged shade. Bobby blinks blearily at him, smiling.
“Love you,” he says.
James feels it catch in his chest, warmth suffusing him down to his toes. “Love you too,” he whispers.
Bobby tugs James in, capturing James’ bottom lip between both of his own in a stale yet exultant kiss. Bobby’s thigh presses up as they move together and James sighs into Bobby’s mouth. He could get used to waking up like this—someone else to alleviate the morning pressure, someone to kiss, someone to love every morning for the rest of his—
“Oi, we’re going to miss the bloody ferry!”
They jolt, James’ forehead knocking into Bobby’s cheek. They both groan. Gwen pounds on their door a few times andthen they can hear her speaking to Albert, both of them way too loud for the quiet, lovely morning he and Bobby were working up to.
“I don’t hear movement!” Gwen calls.
Bobby grunts, shifting to steal one last kiss. “More tonight,” he promises.
“I’ll hold you to that,” James says, smiling as Bobby grits his teeth, throwing back the duvet.
It’s a harried few minutes as they dress, searching the room for their various discarded pieces of clothing, exchanging knowing smirks. Bobby does up James’ tie, his fingers lingering at James’ throat, and James is about to arch into a kiss when the door clicks open.
They cleave apart, but it’s only Gwen, who takes one look at them, red-cheeked and flustered, and cackles. She leaves the door open and they can hear her storming across the hall to Albert and Meredith’s room.
“You owe me twenty quid,” she calls into the room.
Bobby chuckles while James flushes. He lets Bobby lead him out into the hall, where Beth is already loitering in her gray travel cloak and gown, a frilly bonnet in her hands. She smiles at them far too knowingly. Gwen leans back out of Albert and Meredith’s room and eyes them with glee.
“Here.” James watches in mortification as Bobby passes Gwen twenty quid from his pocket. “Easier this way,” he says, catching James’ expression. “Not like we paid for the room.”
That only makes James more embarrassed, and then a thought overtakes him that sends all that blood straight out of his face in horror.
“James?” Gwen prompts, stepping toward him, Beth right behind her.
Bobby turns, reaching out for him.
All James can mutter is “We should have asked your father first.”
He didn’t ask Lord Havenfort if he could marry his daughter, much less marry her so he can really marry his nephew.
Meredith steps out of her room with Albert in tow. “Ask Lord Havenfort what?” she asks.
But James’ inaudible response is drowned out by the sound of Beth squealing and launching herself at Bobby, who catches her and spins her around, both of them laughing. Even his latent horror can’t compete with that, and James watches them with what he’s sure is a sappy, adoring smile.
He jolts as Gwen leans down and kisses his cheek. “My father will more than approve. And he won’t have been expecting you to talk to him anyway, since I am my own woman and make my own choices.” James slowly turns to meet her eyes, his shoulders drooping in relief. “Though, it would have been nice if you’d actually bothered to askme,” she says, eyebrow arched.
“It would have been nice if you would have told us you were trying to trap us into marriage!” James exclaims.
Gwen merely laughs and wraps him in a hug. He stiffens automatically, and then forces himself to relax and embrace her back. “I absolutely don’t apologize,” she whispers.
“No, of course not,” he agrees, laughing as she giggles.
“Would someone care to let us in on the celebration?” Meredith asks.
Gwen pulls back and takes James’ arm, turning them to face Albert and Meredith. Oh, shit, should he have asked Albert’s permission for Bobby? Not that there’s a protocol to ask a man if he can proxy-marry his brother through his cousin.
“Oh, we’re going to be married, me and James, and Beth and Bobby, didn’t you hear?” Gwen says with nonchalance.
Albert gapes while Meredith laughs delightedly. Albert turns to his wife, takes one look at her face, and gasps. “Did you know about this?”
