I Know You Read online

  Three years ago the man I wished to marry was sent away from his home by his half-brother following the death of their father. He was granted the opportunity to finish his education, but after that he disappeared into service. He has not contacted his family since then and I do not believe he wishes to be found.

  That however does not sit well with me. I wish to know what became of him before I marry. I don’t harbor any beliefs that he would wish to marry me still, but if I am to marry you, I wish this to be off my conscience.

  I believe you may be of assistance because he finished his education at Cambridge under the name Geoffrey Rockford. As you yourself are an Alumnus of Cambridge I believe you perfectly situated in discovering his whereabouts. Please.

  Your Bethrothed,

  Miss Anne Edwards

  His hands shook as he absorbed the words before him. It was worse than he’d believed. Oh, she was more than willing to enter into the betrothal, and even eventually marry him. But she would never really be able to love him. Her heart belonged to another, and the knowledge of this made his heart freeze even further in his chest.

  She was a starry eyed miss who had once dreamed of love, but now knew that her future was to be dictated by the men who held more power over her. And he was about to join their ranks.

  David looked one last time at the name she’d written with such care. Geoffrey Rockford. He only knew one Geoffrey, though the surname didn’t match. However, if it was the same man, then he was about to destroy the last bit of hope left to her.

  He was simply that selfish.

  “My lord? You have a need for my service?” Geoffrey MacAuley didn’t often question his employer’s whims, but calling for him at two o’clock in the morning and then sitting there staring at the fire was a bit off putting. The Marquess of Ridgely was not usually so blasé about his use of the servants. “My lord?” David?”

  The use of his given name broke through whatever spell was binding the Marquess’s attention to the fire. With eerie slowness the large man turned his body and fixed his haunted stare on Geoff. There was no expression on his face, which made Geoff take a quick step in retreat before thinking better of it. The Marquess would not take kindly to any shows of fear in these instances.

  “My lord? What has happened?” Geoff moved slowly to the side of the chair and knelt down. He’d seen this before on more than one occasion. Something would trigger a manic episode and then his employer would shut down emotionally. The question was, though, had the episode already occurred, or was this the calm before the storm?

  The Marquess reached for Geoff’s hand, moving his eyes to their twined fingers rather than meeting his valet’s concerned gaze. This was a gray area within their relationship. For the most part, the Marquess did not like to be touched, but there were rare moments in which the clouds would seem to clear away from his mind and he desired human companionship.

  “My lord…”

  “David,” he rasped. His voice was raw, indicative of being overly used. Possibly he’d been screaming. Yet, Geoff had heard nothing.

  “My…”

  “You called me David.” It was a simple statement, yet it spoke volumes. His eyes had not left their hands, but there was a command in the tone that brooked no refusal.

  “David,” he tried the name on his lips yet again. It felt comfortable, so he used it again. “David, what has happened?”

  “Nothing.” David brought his other hand to join their mingled digits.

  Nothing, my foot.

  “My…David, something has happened.” Braving the anger of his overly large employer, Geoff reached for David’s chin and lifted his face gently to meet his eyes. “What has caused you concern?”

  His eyes fixed on Geoff’s chin for a moment, but Geoff refused to back down. He could be patient. He could wait all night for David to feel comfortable enough to trust him. It was a heady thing to know that you were one of only a few people who had earned the trust of a broken man, so Geoff was not about to toss it aside.

  Finally, the ice colored eyes met his in an explosion of pain and fear. “I…no…nothing.”

  “Oh, David…”

  “No!” Instantly the bear of a man was on his feet, pacing the room furiously, and answering Geoff’s earlier question. It was the calm.

  “My lord,” Geoff intoned, removing himself to a distant persona again. “You must not…”

  David turned and faced Geoff with a furious growl. “Don’t you dare tell me what I must do! You have no idea the horrors I see every time…” His voice broke and his figure started to crumble. “You have no idea.”

  “My lord,” he tried again. “I never…”

  “David! Dammit, I told you to call me David!” More quickly than Geoff could guard himself for, David lunged for him. However, it wasn’t an attack of the violent kind. David grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him forward.

  “David,” Geoff lowered his voice in a placating gesture. “Please. You are tired and confused and…”

  His employer pushed him back and roared. “Even when you do as I ask you still defy me. I know what I am. I know what I need. That’s the problem.”

  Deciding that keeping quiet might be the better strategy at this point, Geoff surveyed the room, looking for external explanations as to why his employer had settled into this muddle. The room had been largely untouched since David had left for dinner at the Duke’s residence earlier in the evening. The bed was still turned down, the dressing gown still folded on the end.

  With the exception of the removal of his jacket and boots, David despised being undressed by another person, so Geoff’s primary function in that task was to collect garments that were placed in the dressing room the next morning.

  Following David’s pacing, Geoff observed that his employer was avoiding his bedside table. A quick eyeball in that direction gave Geoff the first clue of the evening. Lying open on the tabletop was a letter on fine vellum written in a flourishing hand. A lady’s hand.

  With a bit more confidence, Geoff approached David once more. “David.” The name was a whisper now. “Whom did you speak with tonight?”

  That stilled the big man. “What?”

  Sometimes all it took was a bit of logic to bring David around, and tonight was Geoff’s lucky night. “Your mood is not for nothing. Whom did you speak with?”

  “My father.” An understandable reason, then. The Duke of Marshbane understood his oldest living son about as well as he did a German philosopher. However that answer was too pat. After all, he’d dined at his father’s house. Hadn’t he expected a conversation?

  “And you spoke about…” The leading statement was meant to help compose David’s thoughts, but Geoff saw his mistake almost instantly. David keened a blood-curdling howl that would have been likely to bring an army of footmen to the door if they didn’t know better than to approach their master’s bedchamber after he’d retired. Nighttime was Geoff’s domain.

  He saw the fist twitch a moment before it was pulled back, so Geoff was ready to counter David’s rage. He jumped into action and clasped his employer’s arms behind his back before pushing him to the bed and pinning him in a prone position. He knew that if David chose to fight he’d be no match, but most of the time the Marquess would be rattled out of his rage from the pinning.

  Again, tonight was Geoff’s lucky night. David lay still, breathing heavily. Suddenly a sob forced its way out of his throat. This was new. He’d never heard his giant of an employer cry before.

  With great care, Geoff sat up and rubbed David’s still shaking back. “What’s got you so spooked?”

  Now that he was closer to the bedside table, Geoff snuck a peek at the letter that seemed to have caused so much misery to the man. The writing was neat and tidy, but still hard to decipher from the distance that he sat. However, one word was clear enough.

  Betrothed.

  Suddenly everything made sense. David’s father was forcing him to take a wife. And Geoff was pretty sure he
knew exactly why David objected to this manipulation.

  David had come back from the Continent a broken man. He’d been third born, however a youthful accident had made him the Spare to his oldest brother. Still, his brother had been a spry and healthy young buck in his prime. There had been no reason to believe that David’s position as younger son was going to change at all. Yet, upon David’s return to London, wounded in the mind, if not the body, he witnessed the most horrifying scene imaginable - one that left him the heir. It had cracked something inside of him and he’d been removed to an asylum until the doctor could secure more suitable care for him.

  His father had sought help from the best physicians in the world and had ensured his new heir’s eminent recovery. However, that hadn’t made him understand the frail emotional state of the larger than life David. Thus, insisting that his son do his duty for the Dukedom made all the sense in the world, at the same time as being the stupidest move known to man.

  “Who is she?”

  David’s shoulders jerked at the question. For a moment Geoff wondered if that was all of the answer he was going to get. But with a slow roll David moved onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.

  “It doesn’t matter.” His voice was dead again. He was officially out of his episode. Now he was a shell. “She is a debutante. A fresh faced girl whose spirit I will eventually crush.”

  Geoff fought the rolling of his eyes. That statement, coming from anyone else would have been seen as a cry for pity. But he knew David meant it. His employer was genuinely worried about harming others during his manias.

  Instinctively, Geoff placed his hand on David’s stomach. He didn’t know why, but the move felt right. It was meant for comfort, but he wondered how David would see it. As a gesture of a concerned friend, or an intimate overstep of a servant.

  After what felt like forever David’s eyes flicked to Geoff’s. He rose slowly onto his elbows, never averting his eyes, nor changing his expression. There was no confusion. No understanding. No thoughtful acquiescence. He simply stared into Geoff’s eyes, guarding every thought that might be running through his mind.

  “You are not a monster.” It wasn’t said as a reassurance regarding his betrothal. Instead it was said as a reminder for David not to react violently to Geoff’s current touch. “You are the master.”

  Master of himself. Master of his surroundings. Master of his servants. Master of Geoff.

  There was a flicker in his eyes. A slight shift in his demeanor that told Geoff that David was acknowledging his words. He was in control now. His next move was going to be deliberate.

  And it was.

  David’s hand rose from the bed and stretched out to touch the side of Geoff’s face. It was such an intimate gesture that Geoff didn’t know if he wanted to feel comfortable with it. Was there a reason he should turn away? If he did, was it really what he wanted to do?

  His indecision went unnoticed by David, who began to strum gentle circles across his cheek. David’s eyes were gentling little by little, allowing Geoff to see the turmoil begin to fall away. Geoff felt himself relaxing as he closed his eyes and leaned in to David’s touch.

  The bed shifted slightly underneath him, announcing that David was angling for a closer perch. What would he see if he opened his eyes?

  Before he could find out, the answer was proved not as interesting as the feeling of David’s lips descending on his own. His heart nearly stopped. Was this really happening?

  The idea of being with a man was not wholly unpleasant. While he’d never entertained thoughts in that direction before, he couldn’t deny that he had appreciated David’s figure a time or two. The man was massive, all muscle and tanned skin, earned from the hours he spent shirtless in the stables when he needed to escape the world.

  As if on cue his cock began to respond. The tingling of arousal confirmed his line of thought, that his body was going to enjoy this encounter whether or not his brain was ready for it. And his brain wasn’t complaining.

  Geoff shifted to bring his hand up and he felt David still. Was he worried that Geoff was going to protest? The minute that Geoff’s hand settled on the side of David’s neck, though, the tension ran out and David threw himself into the act with a mightier ken.

  Both hands were now cradling Geoff’s jaw, angling his face for a more intimate meeting. Geoff felt David’s mouth open and his tongue begin to probe the outside of Geoff’s lips, sending wisps of sensation down his legs and straight to his pulsing core. He responded in kind and heard a sigh of relief as his mouth was invaded.

  David’s tongue felt both foreign and familiar at the same time. His tongue probed Geoff’s mouth with a strength and knowledge that moved the earth in ways no one could imagine was possible. Never before had Geoff felt so much passion behind what was previously thought of as a simple act.

  As his brain unfroze, Geoff discovered that his hands had not been likewise encumbered. They were busy loosening buttons on David’s waistcoat and pulling his shirt from his breeches. He couldn’t believe his boldness, but he needed to feel David’s skin. Was it really as hot as it seemed through the layers of fabric?

  “Geoffrey.” His name sounded like it was torn from the back of David’s throat.

  He pulled his head back and looked into the eyes of the man who was showing him a world he’d never believed possible. The light blue-gray coloring had always startled Geoff whenever he’d manage to catch the eyes of his employer. Outside of the haunted look that David tended toward, his eyes were haunting all on their own.

  As those eyes stared at him now, however, Geoff was not put in mind of the chilly northern reaches that he’d visited in Scotland as a child. Instead he saw heat. Desire burning so brightly that it was likely to engulf both of them and likely take the whole damn city of London as well.

  Leaning in, Geoff tried to resubmerge in the river of lust that had swept them away, but David stopped him with a big hand to his shoulder.

  To say he was confused would have been an understatement. He had been sure that David had wanted this. Yet…

  “Are you sure this is what you want, Geoffrey?”

  “What?” How could there have been any question?

  “Though you were raised by an Earl, there is much about the Aristocracy that is unknown to you.” David swallowed, and then continued as if every word pained him. “If this is not something you want…I will not punish you. There will be no…”

  “Stop!” Geoff put his finger to David’s lips and held it there while he found the words to convey his feelings. “My father may have kept me in the country, but I still saw plenty of lords and ladies being entertained at house parties and such. I was an open secret to many of them: the bastard of an Earl living as his ward and raised along-side his rightful children. I know how the aristocracy treats the lesser population when the world isn’t looking on.”

  Though relief seemed to relax him marginally, there was still doubt in his eyes. “You did not answer my question?”

  To answer him fully, Geoff leaned forward yet again and took David’s mouth with far more force than David had taken his mere moments before. He pulled back only to smile and voice what should be obvious at this point. “I want this.”

  The tension seemed to physically unlock between both of them as they somehow came together in a tangle of limbs and flying clothing. Without even thinking about it Geoff had David out of his shirt before their lips parted for the first gasp of air. By the second break Geoff found himself without a shirt and very close to losing his breeches.

  He stared down at David’s hands as he fumbled with the buttons of Geoff’s breeches. He was mesmerized by both the motion of the long fingers and the very fact that once this barrier was breeched, nothing would ever be the same. With the kiss there had been a sense of safety, but this was dangerous…and intoxicating.

  As the buttons were loosed, Geoff closed his eyes and turned himself over to the wonder of it all. The feel of David’s fingers dancing down the o
utside of his thighs as he freed them both from the final boundary was beyond anything he had ever believed was possible. It was more than just breath-taking. It was life giving.

  His breeches fell to the floor, showing David exactly how hastily he’d dressed to reach this room once the summons had been heard. Not only did Geoff wear no stockings, he was also sans smalls. The catch in David’s breathing told Geoff just how much the other man appreciated the missing piece…and his obvious need.

  Geoff didn’t need to look down to know that his long girth was extended out far enough for David to take plenty of notice. Straining to meet the attention that it longed for in whatever form the Marquess was willing to provide.

  In the painful ecstasy of waiting for David to make his move, Geoff’s mind wandered to a time not so long ago that he’d felt equally pulled to passion. His love had been precious and trusting of him. Willing to allow him…

  No! He wouldn’t do that to himself tonight. This was about letting himself feel something that was out of his control. He would not bring the past into this room. He would not let his love get between him and the man who was even now crossing another line.

  David’s lips closed around the head of Geoff’s staff, pulling a groan from his own lips and causing his heart to nearly beat out of his chest. Nothing had ever felt like this before. He tried to focus on something more mundane to keep himself from coming apart, like the position of the furniture in the room, or how many shirts David had to replace the one he’d tossed aside earlier.

  All of those thoughts were for naught though the moment that David’s hand found its way to Geoff’s heavy sack. Between the play of David’s fingers and the sucking and licking along the head and shaft, Geoff felt the tension in his body start to rise.

  “My Lord!“

  “Don’t you dare,” David’s voice came in a quick reprimand before resuming his ministrations.

  “David!” The use of his Christian name garnered a groan from David and more powerful force that Geoff could not combat. “I…am…spent!”