A Regency Tale 12
Jan. 14th, 2007 01:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismeninGood morning, my dears! The sun is shining here after a dismal week - so that is very nice! It is cold, but I enjoy the winter sun.
I hope you all enjoy this part of the tale - which contains Dom N Lij nibbling each other, cos I did! :D
Thanks as always to Lady Sunrope for beta.
Part 12 - Finding Love
They had to stop kissing to breathe. Dom was panting, and Elijah was pressed to Dom's chest as if his legs would no longer hold him upright.
"Come to bed," Dom murmured, and Elijah wound one arm around Dom's neck, and nodded into his shoulder.
"Should I... undress first? I..."
Without answering, Dom unbelted the dressing robe, and unbuttoned the breeches, pulling down Elijah's underdrawers with them.
Elijah was not embarrassed because Dom was looking into his eyes with such an expression of desire and love on his face that it was scarcely bearable. He had often wondered what it would be like to make love with a man whom he loved and desired above all else. Now he was about to find out.
Dom had quickly shed his drawers, and, taking Elijah's hand, led him to the bed. Neither man had taken his eyes from the other's face, but each man was aroused almost beyond bearing.
They lay on the bed, side by side, facing each other, and continued looking.
Dom knew he had to leave it to Elijah to make the first move; he was still afraid of frightening him away by doing something he would not like.
Elijah put out a hand, and ran it down Dom's arm, amazed at the texture and warmth of his skin. Elijah had never touched another man's body like this - his schoolboy fumblings had not contained anything that could approach this. It had been fast and furious, with no time for exploration or any sensation except racing towards a mutual climax. Elijah was fascinated by Dom's body. He had well defined muscles - the body of an athlete, but was well-toned. Slim, but taut. His skin was not pale, but held the golden glow of those who had spent some time in the sun.
Dom sighed and turned onto his back. Elijah allowed himself the luxury of examining the body laid before him both with his hands and his eyes. He noticed that Dom had closed his eyes, so allowed himself to explore at will.
He was pleased his hands were no longer trembling; his anticipation seemed to have won over his apprehension. He glanced quickly down and saw Dom's erection jutting from his body. Elijah longed to touch it - to experience for himself what another man felt like. In truth there was little he could compare it with. He had only ever touched one other man - a boy, scarcely a man - and he could not remember the last time he had touched his own body there.
He saw to his surprise, that Dom's nipples were standing up and after some observation Elijah decided to start there. He touched them, and licked them, and again bit the one that had before tempted him. He was pleased when Dom growled low in his chest, his head tossing from side to side.
He saw the still red scar of the wound on Dom's shoulder, and kissed it gently. "If it were not for this we should not be here, now," he murmured softly, as Dom placed his hands on Elijah's back and caressed him gently.
Elijah kissed and mouthed and licked Dom from his neck to his waist, and found it a very pleasurable experience. Dom raised his arms above his head, almost as an offering to Elijah's exploring hands and mouth, and Elijah saw the pale, tender skin underneath the arm. Moving closer, so that his body was pressed against Dom's side, he began nibbling the pale flesh.
Dom groaned again. "Please..." he said.
Elijah raised his head from this new-found and most enjoyable task. "Please what, Dom? What should I do?"
"Anything you wish," came the strangled reply, so Elijah bit into the fleshy, white skin, and Dom jerked, and moaned, "God!" and bent to kiss Elijah again, unable to stop himself.
He had thought that he could allow Elijah to explore his body and contain his emotions whilst he did so. But he found he could not. Elijah's ministrations were driving him insane - he needed him. He would not be able to wait. He would come to climax and Elijah would be disappointed in his first experience of love.
Elijah was inexperienced, but not shy. He moved down Dom's body until he could smell the inviting scent of Dom's arousal. "Open your legs," he breathed against the skin of Dom's thigh, and Dom, with a groan, did so.
Elijah ran his hands up to the join of Dom's groin, and stopped, entranced as he saw the skin covering Dom's balls contract and rise. He touched them, gently rolling each one between his fingers and bent to take each one in turn into his mouth.
Dom was making the most pleasurable noises in the back of his throat so Elijah realised he must be happy with his explorations.
The temptation of Dom's cock was too much to ignore. Elijah touched it with his lips and smiled as it jerked against his tongue. He had never before thought of taking such a thing in his mouth - his daydreams on the coach having been filled with hands and touching - but he could not resist. Dom's must exploded against his tongue and it was now Elijah who was making low sounds in his throat as his tongue travelled over the hard flesh.
Dom reached down and pulled Elijah up his body. "If you do not stop, I will come, and the night will be very short!" he smiled into Elijah's mouth, tasting himself on the nimble tongue.
Elijah, lying on top of Dom, had no complaints to make. He was more aroused than he had ever been, for he had not, in the past, allowed himself to ponder on acts of a sexual nature. He had seen no possibility in ever participating in any, so had refrained, with his usual strength of will, from touching himself.
Now he gazed at Dom, sweating and aroused beneath him, and understood what it was that he had missed in all these years. Communion with another like-minded soul. He kissed Dom, and his soft lips parted with a sigh of pleasure.
Elijah had to stop to breathe, panting against Dom's shoulder. In truth he did not know what should come next - he knew he should have asked Barney, but what was the point in dreaming over what he thought would never be?
"Dom?" he asked in a hesitant tone.
Dom opened his eyes, and looked at Elijah, poised above him, and saw that he was blushing.
"What is it, my love?" Dom whispered, not wanting to break the mood.
"I...I...do not know..."
Dom realised at once what Elijah meant. "What would you like me to do to you?"
"I don't know, Dom. Just...touch me..."
Dom grabbed Elijah and turned him onto his back. Now Dom pressed into him and it was so beautiful to Elijah - to feel such love, such comfort in human contact.
It was Dom's turn, now. He did to Elijah all those things that Elijah had done to him, and when he finally took him into his mouth he heard the most gratifying noises issuing from Elijah as he urged Dom not to stop...never to stop...
Elijah came with a white-hot scream, and Dom hardly needed to touch himself to follow him, so aroused was he by the sounds issuing from the man bucking in ecstasy under him.
They lay in each others arms, comforted by pleasure, almost drowning in satiety. Elijah was not sure he understood what had happened to him. All he did know was that this was something, now he had found it, he would never give up. The man murmuring love-words into his neck had taken him beyond the stultifying confines of his usual sphere, to a place where there was comfort, desire, satisfaction and unity. He would never give it up - never.
Elijah felt like weeping, so strong was the emotion that he now felt - but men did not weep, so he satisfied himself by kissing Dom, and touching the damp skin that now yielded so deliciously between his fingers.
"I do not know what to say to you, Dom. I...am so happy."
Dom smiled, and returned the kisses. "Later we will do more - but I think that now we should sleep, Lij. It has been a tiring day."
"It has indeed," Elijah began, then pulled himself up sharply as Dom's words penetrated his foggy brain.
"There is more?. What is there more we can do than we have just had? I do not understand!"
Dom raised himself on his elbow and stared into Elijah's puzzled countenance.
He knew he should tread carefully here. To tell Elijah in a bald fashion what else they could do together might not be wise.
"Lij, I do not wish to tell you, I want to showyou. Sleep now..."
...and, indeed, Elijah was very tired, so he contented himself by snuggling close to Dom and dropping off to sleep as sweetly as did a child - a thing that had not happened to him since nursery days.
Dom watched him fall into slumber, and kissed him tenderly on his brow. There was time enough for more. Lij must be totally aroused before I take him on the ultimate journey, Dom thought as he too, drifted into sleep.
*****
They were woken the next morning by a sharp rap on the door. "Master Dominic - there is hot water for you both outside the door. Breakfast is waiting for you...it is past eleven o'clock!"
Elijah leapt to his feet and stood naked and tousled, staring at Dom with a shocked expression on his countenance.
"What will she think? What should we...?"
Dom rose and grinned at Elijah. "Did I not tell you Matty has been with me since I was a young child? There is nothing about me that she does not know, Lij. If you were not in your own bed, it stands to reason you were in mine. Matty is no fool, and Ben must surely have told her you had come here last night!"
Elijah opened the door slightly and peered out. Finding the corridor empty he brought in the two jugs, and laughed a little at his own foolishness.
"Shall I wash you, Dom? I would like that very much!" Elijah asked, a merry twinkle in his eye.
Dom took one of the ewers and poured it into the bowl on the washstand. "Yes, and I would enjoy it, Lij - but I think neither of us would then be in any fit state to eat breakfast - do you? We shall leave that for another time, I think."
It was with some trepidation that Elijah approached the breakfast room, but Matty and Ben behaved just as they had the night before and Elijah was satisfied that the couple found nothing amiss in their behaviour.
Elijah said as much to Dom over the excellent devilled kidneys he was eating with relish.
"And why should they, indeed?" Dom replied, his blue-grey eyes alight with laughter. "They are used to my ways, and if they do not like them, they need not stay. They know I would give them a house and an excellent pension if they wished to retire. They have been most faithful servants, and stay with me because they wish to, Lij - although I cannot say that of all my people. That is why I did not bring my man - and asked you not to bring yours. With Matty and Ben we are safe."
After breakfast Dom suggested a ride in the countryside, and Elijah was eager to see more of the view that he had barely glimpsed when they arrived.
Now it was full daylight Elijah could see there were no other houses in the vicinity, and the bright crisp spring morning beckoned to his caged spirit.
They talked as they rode along narrow lanes and over fields, and Elijah told Dom how trammelled his life had been up until now.
"I have never before been anywhere, Dom, without a servant at my elbow," Elijah confided as they left the horses tied to a stile and walked over green fields towards a lake of water. "My father insisted that a duke's son did not behave as did other men, and I was tutored so strictly that I wished, when I was a lad, that I would contract some dreadful disease and die of it, so miserable I was."
Dom looked at Elijah, staring into the blue water, but the man was not looking at him, and Dom realised how difficult it must be for such a private man to reveal this to anyone - even his lover.
They sat beside the water, and Dom unpacked some refreshments they had been given, and nibbled a leg of chicken as he listened.
"I suppose I looked sickly, for my grandmother took her son to task - the only person on earth who would be permitted to do such a thing - and said I would be the better for being sent to a good school. And so I was. It is true there were servants sent with me, but even they relaxed a little out of my father's stern eye."
As if it needed some explanation, Elijah added, "my mother never was interested in any of us, Dom. I never even saw her until I was five - dressed for a ball, in all her finery. We were sitting on the stairs above the Great Hall as she came through, and I asked my nurse who was the beautiful lady in gold silk."
"That is your mother," she said. It seemed to me she had contracted an epidemic chill, for suddenly she pulled her handkerchief from her sleeve and blew her nose. Then she took me back to the nursery and gave me a treat of a toasted muffin before bed. She had never before done so, so I wondered why this should be - but I ate it gladly. I am very fond of muffins."
Dom put down the chicken leg and pulling Elijah towards him, kissed him soundly. "I shall ask Matty to make muffins for you to eat every night, Lij - and anything else you would wish."
Elijah picked up some chicken and ate it thoughtfully. "I think there is, indeed something I would prefer even to muffins, Dom - you!"
Dom nearly dropped his chicken.
Elijah continued without a discernable pause. "I never could have guessed there was so much pleasure to be had in bed, Dom. I hope you do not mind me adverting to the subject? I am most anxious for guidance, you see."
Dom took a deep breath and thought swiftly. Too much telling now and all might be ruined. "What do you wish to know, Lij?"
Elijah's brow wrinkled thoughtfully. "Do all men do as we did last night, Dom? I told you I am woefully informed in the ways of love."
Dom hid a smile. "How may I answer that, Lij? I have not been with all men.
It is not only men who do so, Lij. Women do it as well, only, not perhaps, to their husbands. I do not think it is a thing I shall expect of my wife when I marry!"
Elijah sighed deeply. "Of course, I understand we must both marry. My estate is now entailed on my cousin Harry, there being no sons after me. If the name and line is to go on, it is vital that I get sons. But whom I could find to take on such a man as I am, I do not know."
Dom stared in amazement at his companion. The man was truly unaware of his many charms. If he unbent a little he would have women flocking at his feet. and men, Dom thought, but banished the half formed idea from his mind.
"Lij, you will have no trouble finding a wife when you set yourself to look for one."
Elijah took Dom's hand and pressed it between his own. "But I do not want a wife, Dom - I want you. I need not think of a wife for a few years yet - perhaps when I am thirty and all the matchmaking mamas have given me up as a hopeless case!"
Dom bowed his head. "I am thirty, Lij, and it was time I thought of it. I have delayed too long. I scarcely dare visit my mother these days without her presenting half a dozen eligible girls for my perusal. It is most annoying."
Elijah giggled, dispelling in an instant Dom's gloomy mood. "You may always marry my sister, Hannah. She would be glad of such an elegant beau as you!"
Dom grinned back, but shook his head. "We will have to find us very formal girls, reared in the strictest propriety, who will know how to turn a blind eye to our...indiscretions. For now I have found you, I can never give you up!"
Elijah, breathless, emerged from an embrace that threatened to crush him, and which severely disarranged his elegant cravat. "You cannot mean to tell me that we should inform our wives of our liaison, Dom? That would never do."
Dom laughed and attempted to straighten Elijah's mauled neckwear. "No, you zany - of course not! But I hope we can often spend time together like this, and a doting wife might enquire as to our whereabouts."
Elijah straightened his face and lifting his chin, stared down his nose at Dom. Immediately he became the cool, aloof, proud man that Dom had first encountered. "I do not think she will, Dom, for I intend being the most formal of husbands, I promise you!"
Dom, gazing at his Elijah, did not doubt for a moment that he meant it.
"But will you be able to be such cold father as was your own, Lij?"
Elijah's eyes blazed angrily into life. "Never!" he said through gritted teeth, "shall any child of my body be treated in a worse fashion than a prize gun-dog." His face softened. "I swore that over my brother's grave. If he had been able to go to my father with his troubles, he might still..."
Elijah stood abruptly, brushing the grass off his riding breeches. "It is getting cold, Dom. We should leave now."
It was late afternoon when they returned to the house, and the sun was setting red in the west, auguring another fine day for the morrow.
Dom had enlivened the journey back with some salty tales of his late father, which had Elijah giggling delightedly. "He sounds just the sort of father one would wish, Dom. How did he die?"
As they rode up the drive, Dom paused for a moment before answering. "He had a weak chest always, Lij, and contracted an inflammation of the lungs after visiting his...mistress in Dublin, and was caught in a heavy shower. I cannot say my mother was actually pleased at his death, but she came very near it."
*****
They spent a very convivial evening chatting by the fire, and as midnight approached, Elijah looked speculatively at Dom, and ventured a question.
"Will you show me tonight, Dom, the joys that still await me in your bed?"
Dom took his hand, and led him to the staircase. "Indeed I shall, my love." His voice was quiet, but vibrant with emotion.
Elijah shivered. He was to travel into an unknown country, but it could not be said that he was frightened. He was eager for discovery, and hot with desire.
Returning the grasp of Dom's elegant hand, together they ascended the stairs.
I hope you all enjoy this part of the tale - which contains Dom N Lij nibbling each other, cos I did! :D
Thanks as always to Lady Sunrope for beta.
Part 12 - Finding Love
They had to stop kissing to breathe. Dom was panting, and Elijah was pressed to Dom's chest as if his legs would no longer hold him upright.
"Come to bed," Dom murmured, and Elijah wound one arm around Dom's neck, and nodded into his shoulder.
"Should I... undress first? I..."
Without answering, Dom unbelted the dressing robe, and unbuttoned the breeches, pulling down Elijah's underdrawers with them.
Elijah was not embarrassed because Dom was looking into his eyes with such an expression of desire and love on his face that it was scarcely bearable. He had often wondered what it would be like to make love with a man whom he loved and desired above all else. Now he was about to find out.
Dom had quickly shed his drawers, and, taking Elijah's hand, led him to the bed. Neither man had taken his eyes from the other's face, but each man was aroused almost beyond bearing.
They lay on the bed, side by side, facing each other, and continued looking.
Dom knew he had to leave it to Elijah to make the first move; he was still afraid of frightening him away by doing something he would not like.
Elijah put out a hand, and ran it down Dom's arm, amazed at the texture and warmth of his skin. Elijah had never touched another man's body like this - his schoolboy fumblings had not contained anything that could approach this. It had been fast and furious, with no time for exploration or any sensation except racing towards a mutual climax. Elijah was fascinated by Dom's body. He had well defined muscles - the body of an athlete, but was well-toned. Slim, but taut. His skin was not pale, but held the golden glow of those who had spent some time in the sun.
Dom sighed and turned onto his back. Elijah allowed himself the luxury of examining the body laid before him both with his hands and his eyes. He noticed that Dom had closed his eyes, so allowed himself to explore at will.
He was pleased his hands were no longer trembling; his anticipation seemed to have won over his apprehension. He glanced quickly down and saw Dom's erection jutting from his body. Elijah longed to touch it - to experience for himself what another man felt like. In truth there was little he could compare it with. He had only ever touched one other man - a boy, scarcely a man - and he could not remember the last time he had touched his own body there.
He saw to his surprise, that Dom's nipples were standing up and after some observation Elijah decided to start there. He touched them, and licked them, and again bit the one that had before tempted him. He was pleased when Dom growled low in his chest, his head tossing from side to side.
He saw the still red scar of the wound on Dom's shoulder, and kissed it gently. "If it were not for this we should not be here, now," he murmured softly, as Dom placed his hands on Elijah's back and caressed him gently.
Elijah kissed and mouthed and licked Dom from his neck to his waist, and found it a very pleasurable experience. Dom raised his arms above his head, almost as an offering to Elijah's exploring hands and mouth, and Elijah saw the pale, tender skin underneath the arm. Moving closer, so that his body was pressed against Dom's side, he began nibbling the pale flesh.
Dom groaned again. "Please..." he said.
Elijah raised his head from this new-found and most enjoyable task. "Please what, Dom? What should I do?"
"Anything you wish," came the strangled reply, so Elijah bit into the fleshy, white skin, and Dom jerked, and moaned, "God!" and bent to kiss Elijah again, unable to stop himself.
He had thought that he could allow Elijah to explore his body and contain his emotions whilst he did so. But he found he could not. Elijah's ministrations were driving him insane - he needed him. He would not be able to wait. He would come to climax and Elijah would be disappointed in his first experience of love.
Elijah was inexperienced, but not shy. He moved down Dom's body until he could smell the inviting scent of Dom's arousal. "Open your legs," he breathed against the skin of Dom's thigh, and Dom, with a groan, did so.
Elijah ran his hands up to the join of Dom's groin, and stopped, entranced as he saw the skin covering Dom's balls contract and rise. He touched them, gently rolling each one between his fingers and bent to take each one in turn into his mouth.
Dom was making the most pleasurable noises in the back of his throat so Elijah realised he must be happy with his explorations.
The temptation of Dom's cock was too much to ignore. Elijah touched it with his lips and smiled as it jerked against his tongue. He had never before thought of taking such a thing in his mouth - his daydreams on the coach having been filled with hands and touching - but he could not resist. Dom's must exploded against his tongue and it was now Elijah who was making low sounds in his throat as his tongue travelled over the hard flesh.
Dom reached down and pulled Elijah up his body. "If you do not stop, I will come, and the night will be very short!" he smiled into Elijah's mouth, tasting himself on the nimble tongue.
Elijah, lying on top of Dom, had no complaints to make. He was more aroused than he had ever been, for he had not, in the past, allowed himself to ponder on acts of a sexual nature. He had seen no possibility in ever participating in any, so had refrained, with his usual strength of will, from touching himself.
Now he gazed at Dom, sweating and aroused beneath him, and understood what it was that he had missed in all these years. Communion with another like-minded soul. He kissed Dom, and his soft lips parted with a sigh of pleasure.
Elijah had to stop to breathe, panting against Dom's shoulder. In truth he did not know what should come next - he knew he should have asked Barney, but what was the point in dreaming over what he thought would never be?
"Dom?" he asked in a hesitant tone.
Dom opened his eyes, and looked at Elijah, poised above him, and saw that he was blushing.
"What is it, my love?" Dom whispered, not wanting to break the mood.
"I...I...do not know..."
Dom realised at once what Elijah meant. "What would you like me to do to you?"
"I don't know, Dom. Just...touch me..."
Dom grabbed Elijah and turned him onto his back. Now Dom pressed into him and it was so beautiful to Elijah - to feel such love, such comfort in human contact.
It was Dom's turn, now. He did to Elijah all those things that Elijah had done to him, and when he finally took him into his mouth he heard the most gratifying noises issuing from Elijah as he urged Dom not to stop...never to stop...
Elijah came with a white-hot scream, and Dom hardly needed to touch himself to follow him, so aroused was he by the sounds issuing from the man bucking in ecstasy under him.
They lay in each others arms, comforted by pleasure, almost drowning in satiety. Elijah was not sure he understood what had happened to him. All he did know was that this was something, now he had found it, he would never give up. The man murmuring love-words into his neck had taken him beyond the stultifying confines of his usual sphere, to a place where there was comfort, desire, satisfaction and unity. He would never give it up - never.
Elijah felt like weeping, so strong was the emotion that he now felt - but men did not weep, so he satisfied himself by kissing Dom, and touching the damp skin that now yielded so deliciously between his fingers.
"I do not know what to say to you, Dom. I...am so happy."
Dom smiled, and returned the kisses. "Later we will do more - but I think that now we should sleep, Lij. It has been a tiring day."
"It has indeed," Elijah began, then pulled himself up sharply as Dom's words penetrated his foggy brain.
"There is more?. What is there more we can do than we have just had? I do not understand!"
Dom raised himself on his elbow and stared into Elijah's puzzled countenance.
He knew he should tread carefully here. To tell Elijah in a bald fashion what else they could do together might not be wise.
"Lij, I do not wish to tell you, I want to showyou. Sleep now..."
...and, indeed, Elijah was very tired, so he contented himself by snuggling close to Dom and dropping off to sleep as sweetly as did a child - a thing that had not happened to him since nursery days.
Dom watched him fall into slumber, and kissed him tenderly on his brow. There was time enough for more. Lij must be totally aroused before I take him on the ultimate journey, Dom thought as he too, drifted into sleep.
*****
They were woken the next morning by a sharp rap on the door. "Master Dominic - there is hot water for you both outside the door. Breakfast is waiting for you...it is past eleven o'clock!"
Elijah leapt to his feet and stood naked and tousled, staring at Dom with a shocked expression on his countenance.
"What will she think? What should we...?"
Dom rose and grinned at Elijah. "Did I not tell you Matty has been with me since I was a young child? There is nothing about me that she does not know, Lij. If you were not in your own bed, it stands to reason you were in mine. Matty is no fool, and Ben must surely have told her you had come here last night!"
Elijah opened the door slightly and peered out. Finding the corridor empty he brought in the two jugs, and laughed a little at his own foolishness.
"Shall I wash you, Dom? I would like that very much!" Elijah asked, a merry twinkle in his eye.
Dom took one of the ewers and poured it into the bowl on the washstand. "Yes, and I would enjoy it, Lij - but I think neither of us would then be in any fit state to eat breakfast - do you? We shall leave that for another time, I think."
It was with some trepidation that Elijah approached the breakfast room, but Matty and Ben behaved just as they had the night before and Elijah was satisfied that the couple found nothing amiss in their behaviour.
Elijah said as much to Dom over the excellent devilled kidneys he was eating with relish.
"And why should they, indeed?" Dom replied, his blue-grey eyes alight with laughter. "They are used to my ways, and if they do not like them, they need not stay. They know I would give them a house and an excellent pension if they wished to retire. They have been most faithful servants, and stay with me because they wish to, Lij - although I cannot say that of all my people. That is why I did not bring my man - and asked you not to bring yours. With Matty and Ben we are safe."
After breakfast Dom suggested a ride in the countryside, and Elijah was eager to see more of the view that he had barely glimpsed when they arrived.
Now it was full daylight Elijah could see there were no other houses in the vicinity, and the bright crisp spring morning beckoned to his caged spirit.
They talked as they rode along narrow lanes and over fields, and Elijah told Dom how trammelled his life had been up until now.
"I have never before been anywhere, Dom, without a servant at my elbow," Elijah confided as they left the horses tied to a stile and walked over green fields towards a lake of water. "My father insisted that a duke's son did not behave as did other men, and I was tutored so strictly that I wished, when I was a lad, that I would contract some dreadful disease and die of it, so miserable I was."
Dom looked at Elijah, staring into the blue water, but the man was not looking at him, and Dom realised how difficult it must be for such a private man to reveal this to anyone - even his lover.
They sat beside the water, and Dom unpacked some refreshments they had been given, and nibbled a leg of chicken as he listened.
"I suppose I looked sickly, for my grandmother took her son to task - the only person on earth who would be permitted to do such a thing - and said I would be the better for being sent to a good school. And so I was. It is true there were servants sent with me, but even they relaxed a little out of my father's stern eye."
As if it needed some explanation, Elijah added, "my mother never was interested in any of us, Dom. I never even saw her until I was five - dressed for a ball, in all her finery. We were sitting on the stairs above the Great Hall as she came through, and I asked my nurse who was the beautiful lady in gold silk."
"That is your mother," she said. It seemed to me she had contracted an epidemic chill, for suddenly she pulled her handkerchief from her sleeve and blew her nose. Then she took me back to the nursery and gave me a treat of a toasted muffin before bed. She had never before done so, so I wondered why this should be - but I ate it gladly. I am very fond of muffins."
Dom put down the chicken leg and pulling Elijah towards him, kissed him soundly. "I shall ask Matty to make muffins for you to eat every night, Lij - and anything else you would wish."
Elijah picked up some chicken and ate it thoughtfully. "I think there is, indeed something I would prefer even to muffins, Dom - you!"
Dom nearly dropped his chicken.
Elijah continued without a discernable pause. "I never could have guessed there was so much pleasure to be had in bed, Dom. I hope you do not mind me adverting to the subject? I am most anxious for guidance, you see."
Dom took a deep breath and thought swiftly. Too much telling now and all might be ruined. "What do you wish to know, Lij?"
Elijah's brow wrinkled thoughtfully. "Do all men do as we did last night, Dom? I told you I am woefully informed in the ways of love."
Dom hid a smile. "How may I answer that, Lij? I have not been with all men.
It is not only men who do so, Lij. Women do it as well, only, not perhaps, to their husbands. I do not think it is a thing I shall expect of my wife when I marry!"
Elijah sighed deeply. "Of course, I understand we must both marry. My estate is now entailed on my cousin Harry, there being no sons after me. If the name and line is to go on, it is vital that I get sons. But whom I could find to take on such a man as I am, I do not know."
Dom stared in amazement at his companion. The man was truly unaware of his many charms. If he unbent a little he would have women flocking at his feet. and men, Dom thought, but banished the half formed idea from his mind.
"Lij, you will have no trouble finding a wife when you set yourself to look for one."
Elijah took Dom's hand and pressed it between his own. "But I do not want a wife, Dom - I want you. I need not think of a wife for a few years yet - perhaps when I am thirty and all the matchmaking mamas have given me up as a hopeless case!"
Dom bowed his head. "I am thirty, Lij, and it was time I thought of it. I have delayed too long. I scarcely dare visit my mother these days without her presenting half a dozen eligible girls for my perusal. It is most annoying."
Elijah giggled, dispelling in an instant Dom's gloomy mood. "You may always marry my sister, Hannah. She would be glad of such an elegant beau as you!"
Dom grinned back, but shook his head. "We will have to find us very formal girls, reared in the strictest propriety, who will know how to turn a blind eye to our...indiscretions. For now I have found you, I can never give you up!"
Elijah, breathless, emerged from an embrace that threatened to crush him, and which severely disarranged his elegant cravat. "You cannot mean to tell me that we should inform our wives of our liaison, Dom? That would never do."
Dom laughed and attempted to straighten Elijah's mauled neckwear. "No, you zany - of course not! But I hope we can often spend time together like this, and a doting wife might enquire as to our whereabouts."
Elijah straightened his face and lifting his chin, stared down his nose at Dom. Immediately he became the cool, aloof, proud man that Dom had first encountered. "I do not think she will, Dom, for I intend being the most formal of husbands, I promise you!"
Dom, gazing at his Elijah, did not doubt for a moment that he meant it.
"But will you be able to be such cold father as was your own, Lij?"
Elijah's eyes blazed angrily into life. "Never!" he said through gritted teeth, "shall any child of my body be treated in a worse fashion than a prize gun-dog." His face softened. "I swore that over my brother's grave. If he had been able to go to my father with his troubles, he might still..."
Elijah stood abruptly, brushing the grass off his riding breeches. "It is getting cold, Dom. We should leave now."
It was late afternoon when they returned to the house, and the sun was setting red in the west, auguring another fine day for the morrow.
Dom had enlivened the journey back with some salty tales of his late father, which had Elijah giggling delightedly. "He sounds just the sort of father one would wish, Dom. How did he die?"
As they rode up the drive, Dom paused for a moment before answering. "He had a weak chest always, Lij, and contracted an inflammation of the lungs after visiting his...mistress in Dublin, and was caught in a heavy shower. I cannot say my mother was actually pleased at his death, but she came very near it."
*****
They spent a very convivial evening chatting by the fire, and as midnight approached, Elijah looked speculatively at Dom, and ventured a question.
"Will you show me tonight, Dom, the joys that still await me in your bed?"
Dom took his hand, and led him to the staircase. "Indeed I shall, my love." His voice was quiet, but vibrant with emotion.
Elijah shivered. He was to travel into an unknown country, but it could not be said that he was frightened. He was eager for discovery, and hot with desire.
Returning the grasp of Dom's elegant hand, together they ascended the stairs.
