A moment later, Aaron eased into the parlor from the dining room. His dark body was outlined with broad shoulders and a lean waist grown impossibly broader and leaner, respectively, since they last saw one another. Jackson was the overly tall one with the strength of a bull and the stomach of a goat, since he could and had eaten whatever food was put in front of him. At least he had when they were boys. Who knew what either man’s habits were now?
When Lucas saw that both men came alone, he squatted down and lit the fire. The coals caught quickly because he had prepared them beforehand, and then he waited as the flames grew and lit his face such that his friends would know him.
Or he hoped they would know him.
Jackson reacted first, his breath expelling on a low growl. “Is that one of your sister’s ghosts?”
“Don’t think so,” Aaron responded. “Unless ghosts smell like the sewer.”
Lucas stiffened. “I do not smell like the sewer. I smell like your kitchen waste. Your window stuck as I was trying to gain entry, and I fell. Don’t you know that muck will attract rats?”
Aaron lit an oil lamp and brought it forward. His eyes were narrowed, and his brows drew down in confusion, but he was no less intimidating as he loomed close. “By God, Lucas, is that you?”
He raised his hands in a shrug. “Seems so.”
“Seems so!” Jackson snapped as he rushed forward to grab Lucas’s elbow and spin him until they were face to face. “Seems so? We thought you dead!” He gripped Lucas’s shoulders and hauled him into a warm embrace.
Lucas tensed. No one had dared touch him like this in years. And he certainly hadn’t been slapped on the back as he if it had been a few months instead of twelve years since they’d last seen each other. But this was Jackson, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his friend until he was already in the man’s embrace.
“Leave off, Sayres,” Aaron said, using Jackson’s courtesy title. “Let me see him.” He set down the lamp and stood there studying Lucas from head to toe. Lucas had been inspected hundreds of times before. The army was filled with superior officers who had taken his measure with a long heavy stare. He had endured them all, but this was different. This was Aaron, and his insides twitched as he waited to see his friend’s reaction.
But as the minutes wore on, Lucas had to say something to break the tension. “Have you gone blind, old man?” Aaron was the oldest of them by seven months.
“Not blind,” he said slowly. “Just damned emotional.”
The man didn’t appear emotional at all. His jaw was set, his gaze was steady, and even his hands were still. But his feet twitched as he shifted slightly forward, then slightly back. Not enough for anyone but his best friend to notice.
“I’m alive,” Lucas said gently.
“Thank God,” Aaron breathed out. Then the two of them collapsed together, hugging each other as they hadn’t for twelve years.
“Call for some brandy, Aaron,” Jackson said. “The finest you’ve got.”
Aaron released Lucas and shot the man a dark look. “You’re always so free with my brandy.”
“Lucas back from the dead deserves—”
“I didn’t say you were wrong. Just that you’re free with my drink.” That was true. Aaron always had the best drink; Jackson had the most charm. And together, they let Lucas devise schemes that entertained them all. And often got them deep in someone’s ill graces.
They broke apart, Aaron to tug the bellpull, Jackson to open the sideboard and bring out a half-filled bottle, and Lucas to stand awkwardly by the fire, wondering how to broach the topic of what he wanted. Didn’t need to. Aaron knew how things were with him. Always had.
“Here’s how it’s going to go,” he said sternly. “First, you’re going to tell us where you’ve been for the last decade, then you can ask us what you want.” He frowned. “Where’s Binner?”
“Out to dinner?” Jackson echoed back.
“Binner, your butler?”
“Yes. And come to think of it, where’s my sister? She should be home.”
“I got her an invite to a séance. It’s all very safe, and I knew she’d want to go—”
“What!” Aaron exclaimed. “The devil you say.”
“Relax. As I said, it’s all very harmless. Should take another couple hours.” Aaron’s sister, Clara, had a fascination with the occult. And since Lucas had needed her out of the house, this was the safest, easiest way.
“You should not encourage her in that nonsense.”
Lucas shook his head. “She’s an intelligent woman. Do try to trust in her good sense.”
