“I enjoy it because each day can be as easy as we choose.Slow.”
All at once, every person in the room including Sage looked at Miss Thackeray to see if Wyndham’s guess was correct.She pressed her lips together to create unnecessary suspense before she nodded enthusiastically.Quick praise was offered to Wyndham by those who were playing along.
“Slowwhat?”Lady Anthea Fitzhugh wondered aloud, doubling everyone’s focus as they approached the final answer.
“Slowcrest,” Lady Imogen Fitzhugh tried.“No, that was in the riddle.Slowpeak?Slowhill?It sounds like a mountain or somewhere high.”
“Slowridge!”Mr.Thompson called out, even though he clearly knew it was incorrect.“Slowtip!”
Suddenly, Mr.Moore sat forward and clapped his hands.“Slowtop!”
Miss Thackeray nearly dropped her book as she leapt from her seat and pointed at him.“Yes!Slowtop is the answer.”The rest of the group clapped wildly for the man with a few cheers mixed in.Once the noise settled, Lady Imogen Fitzhugh gave a small pout.
“I daresay I haven’t a clue whatslowtopeven means.”
Mr.Moore chuckled.He had pulled one leg up and was resting his forearm on it, the other hand behind him on the floor again.“It gets tossed around the shipyard so casually.It’s another way to call someone stupid, or foolish.”Without warning, he turned and looked directly at Sage, their eyes locking across the room.“Half-witted,” he added with a small shrug, his grin never faltering.
By the time Sage recognized the reference to his own words, Mr.Moore had already turned back to the impressed onlookers.Sage forced his full attention to the fireplace to hide the heat that had blazed across his chest and up his neck after such a personal affront.But, again, how was he supposed to be angry?It was the kindest slight he’d ever been given.
Companionable.That was the word Mr.Moore had used for the second time when Sage woke to find he’d wrapped himself around the man far too intimately over the course of the night.There was no aggravation in his voice about it, which was just as well, because Sage felt it within himself enough for the both of them.The problem was that he did not know how to handle the situation without it.Companionable?Men who took him to bed never wanted anything of the sort, unless they’d had other things before it.Even then, it usually did not last very long, and certainly not until Sage woke on his own.
Sage had shared a bed with more men than he could remember, but what he said held true.Mr.Moore was the strangest he had ever met.
As Miss Thackeray prepared to read out another puzzle for everyone to solve, Sage slipped quietly out of the sitting room and went upstairs.He felt a small sense of relief when he looked at the bed.Without bothering to carry out his nighttime routine, he undressed and put the clothes where he’d instructed Mr.Moore to place his that morning.The old ones had been collected.A glance at the wardrobe told him they had not yet been returned.
Entirely unbidden, his next thought was to check in Mr.Moore’s bag under the bed just to make sure.Sage scowled at nothing as he pushed the thought away.Why did it matter where his clothes ended up?They were not expensive, or even of decent quality, only made worse by the way they’d been treated.Not to mention how uncouth it would be for him to go searching through someone else’s belongings without their knowledge.
Sage snatched the covers back on the bed and slid underneath them.There was no way to know how long Mr.Moore and the others would continue their silly game, but his plan was to be solidly asleep before he had to find out.
He’d been called many things in his life.Rakish.Spiteful.Covetous.To deny any of them would be a wasted effort on his part.But companionable?Perhaps Mr.Moore did not understand the meaning of the word.It was exactly what Torquil and Emrys had told him he needed to be more of: friendly, affectionate.Nice.
With a groan, Sage blew out his candle and reached for the extra pillow he had requested.He turned his back to the middle of the bed and wrapped both arms around the pillow, before he dragged his bent knee over it, as well.It was a comfort to know that the staff Wyndham and Roger kept could be trusted with quiet requests.The lavender soap was not quite as strong coming from the pillowcase as it was from the warmth of a person, but it would do.He pressed his face into the soft fabric and breathed it in until his lungs ached.
If being more friendly and sociable was what it would take to earn a place in Wyndham’s life again, then he would try.Admittedly, watching everyone else enjoying the game had been entertaining in its own way.But if he was going to change his behavior, then he wanted the others to see it for themselves, not by word of mouth from Mr.Moore.
An evening in the sitting room when he would’ve rather been somewhere else had been the first step.He supposed only time would tell if it’d been effective.He knew at leastoneperson had noticed his presence.
Sage buried his face deeper into the lavender pillow.
The second step was to give Mr.Moore less to talk about at breakfast.He could offer all the smiles and pleasant indifference that he cared to, but Sage was determined to not wake up for a third morning pressed hard against the man’s startlingly muscular thigh.He knew little about being friendly with someone, but he was certain that was not the best way to go about it.
Another round of laughter rolled its way up the stairs.Losing Wyndham had been the most difficult thing he had ever faced, but he was starting to wonder if getting him back might be even worse.
