A Regency Tale 11

[ismenin]

Hello, my dears! It is Sunday so I'm posting this before I go to bed. How good is that? Giggles. And I'm putting up BOTH of dear Prim's excellent manips of our bois! I do hope you all find this episode satisfactory! ;D Hugs flist! xxx






Grateful thanks to LSR for beta and a wonderful image that comes at the end of the chapter. Hugs her, too!


Regency 11 - On Board



Dom sat opposite Elijah on the boat as it travelled out to the yawl, and watched with a gentle smile, the excitement shining in the bright blue eyes.

To him, the yawl was a means of getting to one place from another speedily and with a minimum of disturbance. He did not think of it as an adventure, as it obviously was to Elijah.

As the ladder was let down over the side, Elijah bounded up it and onto the deck, leaning over to give Dom a hand. Dom was glad of it - the wound in his shoulder had healed, but it was still stiff, and hurt a little on exertion.

The captain came forward to greet them. "Welcome aboard, my Lord." he said with a salute and a brisk smile.

"Thank you, Captain Perkins. This is Mr Retford, come to travel with us."

The captain saluted again. "Welcome, sir. I trust our journey will be free from incident."

"Get on with it now, man - Mr Retford and I wish to be in Ireland before nightfall tomorrow, if possible," Dom remarked in a pointed tone.

The captain shook his head. "Not sure about that, m'Lord. There have been heavy squalls reported in the channel, and you know we have to sail around the island to get close to Feonhanagh.

Dom saw on Elijah's face an expression which clearly said that he did not mind how long it took to reach their destination, so thrilled was he with their mode of travel.

He stood on the deck looking around him with bright-eyed eagerness, and Dom felt a pull in his chest that spoke of feelings not yet explored.

He took Elijah below and showed him his cabin. "Mine is next-door, should you... need anything... feel unwell, um... or..." Dom floundered.

Elijah didn't notice Dom's confusion. He looked around the cabin with approval. It was beautifully appointed, the walls lined with fine aromatic wood, the bunk narrow, but comfortable.

"I hope I shall not need you, Dom. I am never sick whilst travelling, although I freely admit that I have never before been on a boat."

Dom laughed. "Do not let Captain Perkins hear you call her a "boat" Elijah, I beg you. He is as proud of the Ariadne as he is of his own daughter."

"Well, she is a fine... vessel, and so I shall tell him. May we go back on deck? I saw the men were hoisting the sails, and I would like to see how this is to be accomplished."

Dom sat on a deck chair and watched Elijah make friends with his crew. At first they were inclined to be monosyllabic in their answers to him, but he soon broke down their resistance, mainly because, Dom thought, he showed he was truly interested in what they were doing.

Elijah had to be dragged away to dinner, as the helmsman was just explaining to him the finer points of steering by the stars, and as they went below, he admitted to being hungry.

"The sea air certainly whets one's appetite, Dom. I declare I haven't been this hungry since I was a lad!" Elijah remarked, as he carved himself a second portion of duck.

He chatted on brightly through the meal, and Dom, enjoying the prospect of several days with this animated personality - so far removed from the stiff Duke he had met those few months ago - was determined not to miss a moment of it.

After dinner, when the light had gone, Elijah, instead of being tired by all the activity of the day, stated that he would like to go once more on deck, and look at the stars.

Dom hinted in a gentle tone that it was difficult to steer at night, and Elijah nodded. "You need not fear I will interfere with the men's work in any way. I merely wish to see how the boa... vessel... operates at night, and to look at the stars."

They sat side by side on a narrow bench fixed to the planking, and watched the silent movements of the men going about their tasks. Elijah looked up, and saw that it was a fine, clear night, and spent a little while identifying stars that he recognised.

With the dark had come a colder breeze, and Dom saw Elijah shiver. "Do you wish to go below, Elijah? It is getting cold." but Elijah said, shaking his head emphatically, that he was enjoying a treat of the highest order, and would go below when it was time to retire.

Dom stood and walked a few paces to where there was a wooden chest, also fastened safely to the deck, and got out from it the single boat cloak that rested within. He returned to the seat, and putting one half around his shoulders, reached out to place the other around Elijah.

His arm stopped of its own volition, resting gently across Elijah shoulders as if it was meant to be there. Dom hesitated for a moment, thinking that Elijah might not wish for this more intimate contact, but he was astonished when Elijah moved closer to him, and settled against his side.

The night was quiet, and Dom was afraid to speak in case he broke the sweetness of the spell that seemed to have settled about them - for Elijah sat happily pressed against him, and it was wonderful.

"Dom," came a quiet voice from his side. "Tell me about Arthur, would you? I knew you cared very much for him. Who was he?"

Dom looked about the deck but there was no one near. He sighed. "Arthur was my lover, Elijah. I suppose I spoke of him in my fever. There were times that I believed he was there, at my side - but it must have been you. I am sorry if I said or did anything to ...displease you."

Dom felt Elijah shake his head. "You did nothing to displease me, Dom. I felt sorry for your evident distress... If you would like to tell me of him, I will gladly listen."

"We met in Wellesley's quarters during a briefing." Dom said in a voice hardly louder than a whisper. "We dined together, all of us, and then the rest of the officers decided to go whoring. We went with them into the town, although I had little inclination for such sport that night. I have lain with women, Elijah, but I prefer men to my bed. Still, we went, and I could see Arthur was as little inclined to the exercise as was I. We sat and drank with our companions until they all disappeared upstairs with the women, and then we went out and wandered the streets together."

"From that evening there existed between us an understanding that we were like-minded men, but it is not such a thing as one can rush. It was many weeks before he pressed me against the wall of a cottage in a small French village, and kissed me."

"But this was war, and there was no time, either, for finer feelings. We needed each other - the comfort, the release. And we needed companionship.

"We were together for nearly three years, until Badajos..."

Elijah could feel Dom trembling against him, and put his hand on Dom's free one, lying loosely on Dom's shaking knee. "Do not tell me if it is too painful, Dom. I understand."

"Badajos...it was three days in the deepest pits of hell, Elijah," Dom continued as if Elijah had not spoken, although he tightly grasped the small hand holding his.

"The men went mad after the battle - mad, as you will have heard. One in eight of our men were killed during the assault - sixty of our officers and seven hundred men. The enlisted men were running amok about the town, looting, and raping any woman they could find. We - the remaining officers - could not hold them in check."

"Arthur, as always, was in the front of the final skirmish, and saw a group of his own men ripping the clothes from a woman who was trying to protect her young daughter from the men. I was already arguing with some looters further down the street, when I saw him charge into the men single-handed, trying to stop them."

"But they were in a frenzy of blood and lust, and would not be denied. One of them shot him - his own man! The others, terrified at what their companion had done, hauled up their clothing and ran off. By the time I got there, Arthur was lying in the woman's arms, half dead, a ball lodged in his chest.

"One of the sergeants who had come with me recognised the men, and there was no mercy for them. They were all hanged the next day - another five deaths added to the tally. The one surgeon we had left alive was a distance away, tending a badly wounded Lord Graham, and could not be got to Arthur until the next day."

"I tried - God knows I tried - to get that ball out of him, but it was in too deep. He died in my arms an hour before the surgeon came. His last words to me were, "chin up, Monaghan. Not done for, yet!" But he was...he was! He could say no more to me for there were men by, but I saw his lips move before he breathed his last."

Elijah put his head on Dom's shoulder, and silently waited.

" ‘I love you, Dom,’ he said, and I knew that he did love me. It was in his face as he died. It - love - had been a thing never mentioned between us. I knew I was not in love with him although I dearly cherished him and his company. Therefore, watching him die with love for me blazing in his eyes, I determined that if ever love came to me, I would tell my love of it ...tell..."

"...I have not been with any man since Arthur. I have restricted myself to women - whores or married women of my own class, who know how to play the game..."

Dom stopped as he realised that Elijah was gently breathing against his neck. It was the most exquisite feeling, and he did not wish to spoil the moment by continuing that particular discussion. "I am sorry, Elijah. I did not mean..."

Elijah's breath fell softly against Dom's skin. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Dom - and I wish you will call me Lij, as do my closest friends. It is I who feel sorry - sorry that you had lost something that had become precious to you. I have never had such an experience so I cannot tell the measure of what you have lost - but I can feel it in you, now."

Dom turned slightly towards him, but Elijah's head did not move from its resting place. "Have you never...?" he began, slightly nervous of asking the question.

Dom could feel Elijah's smile. "All my experiences consist of hurried trysts behind the carriage house at college. As do many schoolboys, I had a brief liaison with a fellow scholar, which consisted of trembling hands touching each other in a furtive manner, the main object of the exercise being to see who could come first. I have kissed no-one, lain with no-one - not even a woman - I am truly untutored in the arts of love."

Elijah was happy when he heard Dom chuckle.

"Poor man! There is much joy to be had in bed..." Dom stopped, for he did not wish to frighten Elijah away, and he was happy in that moment, the warm body touching his.

They sat in silence for a little while longer, until Dom realised that Elijah ...Lij...was asleep. He disentangled them from the boat cloak, and put his arm around Elijah's waist, and helped him below deck.

In Elijah's cabin he removed the coat and the boots, and hesitated over the breeches, but settled against removing them. Elijah was more than half asleep, and he might be ...startled... if Dom were to tug them off. He covered him with a blanket and went to his own cabin.

Dom sat on his bunk and thought of Arthur. When he had thought of his dead lover in recent times it had been with fond memories of the time they had spent together. Confiding in Elijah this evening had brought back to Dom all the horrors of Spain. He had not told Elijah that Arthur had screamed in agony all through the night, or that he had begged Dom to put an end to him before infection made his dying even more terrible and how Dom had struggled with such thoughts of mercy until he found he had no powder left to even grant that blessing.

Then Dom thought of the man lying fast sleep in the next cabin, and his heart lifted. Arthur would approve of his choice, because Arthur had been a generous man. He would not begrudge Dom the feelings Elijah had awakened in his heart - he would be glad of it.

"Good-bye, Arthur, my dear. Sweet rest!" Dom whispered, as he doused the lantern.


*******

When Elijah woke the next morning, he was surprised to find that he had been sleeping in his breeches. He vaguely remembered coming to bed, and someone - Dom - pulling off his boots. He had slept very well, far better than he had slept in a long time, and he woke now with a healthy appetite, thinking of his breakfast.

He slid out of the bunk, and found to his annoyance that he needed to change his underdrawers. He scrabbled around in his valise and was just setting a foot inside a clean pair when there was a tap at the door.

"Are you awake?" came Dom's voice from the other side of the door. "May I come in? I have brought you hot water."

"Just a moment!" Elijah cried hastily, not wishing to be seen by Dom without his drawers on. Why this should be when they had lived in close proximity to each other for weeks, and seen each other in many stages of undress, Elijah would have been hard put to explain.

He hastily dragged them on and called "please come in."

Dom carried the steaming jug in and put it on the nightstand. He turned to go. "Shall I bring you tea, or will you join me for breakfast as soon as you are finished?"

Elijah would have loved some tea, but the thought of Dom observing his naked body whilst he washed brought a quick blush to his cheek.

"I will not be long, I promise you. I will join you for breakfast very shortly. There is no need to trouble yourself to bring me tea."

Dom smiled at him as he left - a warm, intimate smile. Elijah splashed the warm water over his heated face, removed his drawers and scrubbed his traitorous body hard with a flannel.

*****

Elijah leaned over the side of the yawl and watched the seals disporting themselves in the water near the shore. The men were lowering the boat into the sea, which was calm. The promised storms had not arrived, and the journey had been uneventful.

The Duke was sorry there had not been any incident. He would have liked to have seen the boat ... vessel... tossing in the waves, and the men working expertly to bring her home safely. Still, he could always hope for some turbulent weather on the return journey.

As the rowing boat deposited the two men on the beach, Dom spoke in French under his breath. "We are Frenchmen now, El...Lij... come to stay with Lord Monaghan in the country. My agent ordered the carriage in the name of M. Dubois, and you will be, for the purposes of this journey, M. Lefebre. I do not wish my identity to be known in the vicinity, because I am anticipating a week or two spent in peace and quiet, and do not intend wasting my time receiving courtesy calls from the local gentry."

They spent the journey in the carriage chattering in an animated fashion, just as two Frenchmen would. Elijah much enjoyed the imposture - it was far different from the way he conducted himself in his ordinary daily life. He was almost sorry when they reached their destination, but he was tired, now, and ready to dine.

As the carriage drew up outside a fairly large house set amidst a grove of trees, Elijah was astonished to see a familiar figure standing at the door.

Dom murmured "wait until the carriage has left," and as it went bowling down the drive, Dom ran up the steps and hugged Matty tight.

"Give over, Master Dominic! What will Mr Retford think of such behaviour? "

He kissed her on one plump cheek, and she grinned at him, and kissed him back. Then she walked forward and curtsied to Elijah. "Welcome, sir. I hope you will be comfortable here. His Lordship left me a list pertaining to your comfort that's so long it has taken me a week to read it. Well, come you in!"

He smiled back at her, and thanked her, shyly, not realising that the difference in both his countenance and demeanour had amazed the woman, who for a moment was bereft of speech.

"Matty was used to be my nurse, Elijah, and my ally against the world since nursery days. There is just the two of them here to look after us, but I'm sure that will be enough."

Ben, who was struggling through the door with the valises paused to remark that surely his Lordship and Mr Retford were main hungry after their journey, and would be better for a decent meal. His wife, reminded of her duties, rushed off to tend to her dishes and Dom and Elijah sat in the green saloon, and talked together until dinner was served.

The rest of the evening passed pleasurably; Matilda was a notable cook, and the house well appointed and secluded. After dinner the two men went walking in the extensive grounds and although nothing much could be seen in the dark, Elijah had the impression of great natural beauty in the area surrounding the house, and he was looking forward with great anticipation to spending some time in this lovely region.

It was only later, in the privacy of his own bedroom, that he realised that if he had been here on his own, the place would not hold for him the enchantment that it did.

He had made up his mind. Here, he was plain Mr Retford, and would enjoy himself accordingly. He was still not sure what Dom required of him, but he was absolutely sure what he wanted of Dom. He needed to see him, but was very shy of knocking at Dom's door. Consequently, after he had donned his blue silk dressing gown, and found himself in the corridor outside Dom's room, he felt very nervous indeed.

He was saved by the appearance of Ben, carrying a tray with a bottle and glass on it.

"You need not scruple to leave it with me, Ben. I will give it to his Lordship."

Ben grinned and walked away, leaving Elijah standing there, holding the tray in trembling hands. He tapped at the door.

"Come in, Ben!" Dom's voice sounded from inside the room. Elijah, trying to balance the tray against his chest as he opened the door, almost stumbled, but managed to save himself and the contents of the tray.

He heard an indrawn breath, but he was searching for a table to put down the tray and so when he raised his eyes to Dom, he found the man standing next to the bed, dressed only in his underdrawers and a half buttoned shirt.

Elijah's eyes were wide with shock and he visibly paled.

Dom, acutely aware of his state of undress, saw Elijah's reaction to it, and burst hurriedly into speech.

"I am sorry... so sorry... I did not mean... I..."

He took a steadying breath, and began again. Elijah had stepped back and was now leaning against the door, an unfathomable expression on his face.

"I asked you here for my own reasons, Lij. I am selfish. I wanted you so much, I was even willing to lose you so that I could have you."

Elijah blinked, but said nothing. Dom continued, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"I told you I have had no man since Arthur, and I meant that. There has been no-one I wanted, until you."

He stood perfectly still, looking at Elijah, wishing he could delve into the man's mind and know what he was thinking at this moment, as he stood against the door, breathing heavily. Dom could not see what he was thinking, for his feelings did not appear on his face or in his outward demeanour.

"I...I thought if I asked you here... as a result of our wager... and you had promised to obey, that you would come, for I know you to be a man of honour."

For the first time he failed to meet Elijah's gaze. His eyes fell to the floor, unwilling to see the scorn that must surely now be apparent on his companion's face.

"I have been utterly selfish, and it is only now, in recent days, that I have come to realise that I have not considered your feelings at all. I have come to care for you more than you know, and because of this... I have changed my mind."

Elijah said evenly, “how so?”

"You have done everything that I've demanded of you without complaint. Where I directed, you have come, whether you would, or no. But it is now at an end. I have failed you miserably as a friend..." he said, his eyes still fixed on the carpet..." and I would have you know that I will demand no more of you. Our contract is now at an end. If you wish to leave in the morning, I will make the arrangements. Every move you make from now on shall be of your own free will. I... care too much for you to coerce you further."

Dom raised his eyes expecting to see Elijah leaving the room, but saw, to his astonishment, Elijah was walking slowly towards him. He said nothing, and his face still bore its normal impassive expression. Then Elijah reached him, and putting out a hand, undid the buttons of Dom's shirt.

Dom could not breathe - was afraid to breathe - in case he broke the spell.

Elijah, grasping the shirt, drew it off and threw it on the floor.

Dom closed his eyes as Elijah laid the palm of his hand in the middle of Dom's bare chest, near his heart, feeling the beat of it beneath his fingers.

And, slowly, Elijah moved his fingers to Dom's nipple, and scratched and played with it, rubbing it between his fingertips. The nipple rose under his ministrations, and Dom heard Elijah sigh.

Dom drew in another anguished breath, as Elijah stood against him, pressing his body close to Dom's, and with one fluid movement, bent his head, and, taking the nipple between his teeth, bit it.

Dom, who had been holding his breath, jerked as the most exquisite pang shot through his entire frame.

"Oh, God!" he breathed, trembling, as Elijah looked up at him, an expression of utter joy on his face, and smiled,

... then Dom lost every shred of the self command that he had been holding tight within himself over the past weeks, and, grasping Elijah within his shaking arms, drew him even closer and kissed him.

Comments

[verangel.livejournal.com]

I could read the ending of this chapter over and over...It makes you hold your breath and then whooooshh...that was so erotic and wonderful...just perfect. and of course, you left it for the ending so that we have to WAIT FOR the next part (with tongue almost hanging out).
hugs you (wicked thing)..xoxo v

[ismenin.livejournal.com]

These me are perfect together that's why they read so well, methinks! Hugs ya back! xxx