Chapter 5
Maurice had never beeninside the quaint cottage on his estate.He’d never wondered much about where Wildgoose lived when he wasn’t with the horses, as if he didn’t exist when he wasn’t working, which was a rather problematic thought and one to contemplate later.He couldn’t believe that anyone could live in such a tiny space, although it was rather cosy with knitted blankets on the chairs and a little fire in the corner.Wildgoose pushed open one of the three doors on the far side of the room and he followed him into an even smaller space.The roof was sloped, so low that both Wildgoose and himself had to bow their heads.Wildgoose sat on the narrow bed, and damned, he looked exhausted.He couldn’t do this now.
“Wildgoose.Please let me...”He wasn’t sure what he was asking.
“Come.”Wildgoose patted the bed and so Maurice sat beside him, shoulders squashed together.He paused, oddly uncertain, but Wildgoose turned and kissed him again, and suddenly it didn’t matter where they were.Everything made sense.He adored this man, had admired his horsemanship and his intelligence and his kindness for years, and now he was here with him.Being thoroughly and enthusiastically kissed.Wildgoose didn’t taste like he imagined.It wasn’t sweat and stable block and dirt and horse.Instead, he tasted like a magical combination of Maurice’s favourite rose hip tea and something else that he couldn’t determine.Something he had craved forever and had never found until now.He wanted to take his time in undressing Wildgoose, in learning what he liked, but then Wildgoose’s eyes fluttered shut and he looked at peace.Maurice was an ass for not remembering that Wildgoose had been up all night with a colicky mare.The poor man didn’t need to be ravaged.He needed sleep.
“Wildgoose.”
“Yes.”
“Get in bed.”
Wildgoose swallowed.“Will you join me?”
Maurice flinched.Two grown men weren’t going to fit in that bed.They were of much the same size, neither of them small men, and Maurice was surprised Wildgoose had enough room to sleep here without falling out of the bed or having his limbs hang over the edges, but the expression of hope on Wildgoose’s face wasn’t one that Maurice could say no to.
“Yes.Shall we undress?”It would be faster.
Wildgoose raised one eyebrow.“Can a Duke undress himself?”
An odd bit of air caught in his throat.“Yes.”He set about proving it, although irritatingly his fingers fumbled on his buttons, and when he looked up from the task, Wildgoose had stripped down.Maurice couldn’t move, not even his mouth.With clothes, Wildgoose was one of the most attractive men Maurice had ever seen, and now without clothes, he was stunning.All that brown skin, darker in different areas from the sun, and hard muscles from working all day, Wildgoose was the ultimate specimen of a human, and Maurice was stuck.Staring.Helpless.
“Your Grace?”
Maurice blinked.“You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever set eyes upon.”
Wildgoose shook his head.“You mustn’t have seen many men then.”
Plenty, but he wasn’t going to admit that.Not now.“I’m not innocent.”
“I have heard rumours...”Wildgoose’s skin had broken out in gooseflesh.
“Bosh to rumours.You look cold.Get in bed.”He pulled back the blankets and waved his hand until Wildgoose sat on the bed and swung his legs in.
“Do you plan to join me?”
“Not today.You need sleep more than you need to be ravished.”
Wildgoose sighed, his brown eyes shuttered.“Does commanding come naturally with the title, or do you have to learn it?”
Maurice ignored the question and instead fussed about, tucking in Wildgoose until he growled.
“I’m not a child, your Grace.”
“No.”He most definitely was not, and Maurice couldn’t help raking his gaze over Wildgoose’s still naked chest.The rest was unfortunately tucked under blankets.“But you have shadows under your eyes and you’ve been up all night with a colicky mare.Let me care for you.”
“And later, we can get back to kissing?”Wildgoose’s hopeful tone washed over Maurice.God, he hoped so.He pulled the blanket up to Wildgoose’s throat and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
“I’ve waited years to kiss you, Wildgoose.I’m done with waiting and I want you rested so you have the energy to fuck me all night.”He didn’t care that the crass word sat uncomfortably on his tongue.Dukes didn’t say such things; at least not in public.He’d been trained for the role of Duke and it suited him, or at least he didn’t know where the title ended and he began.It didn’t matter.He’d always be the Duke of Edenwick and so he would never need to answer that question.
