The Brynthwaite Boys: Season Two - Part One

by Farmer, Merry

  It was his luck that Jason was out in the garden with Flossie, who was ordering new members of the hotel’s staff around as they set up tables.

  “Isn’t it a bit chilly to have your party in the garden?” he asked as he approached his friend, trying his best to sound as normal as possible.

  He could tell in an instant from the look in Jason’s eyes that he’d failed. “What’s wrong?” Jason asked. He nodded to Flossie, then stepped away from her, rushing to greet Lawrence.

  Jason’s eagerness to help, even before he knew what was wrong, settled Lawrence’s soul. “I just had the strangest encounter with a band of Romani down by the lake,” he said.

  “He tried to sell me to the gypsies,” Willy said. The fear of the moment was already fading into awe over everything that had happened.

  “How much were they willing to buy you for?” Jason asked without skipping a beat.

  Lawrence’s fondness for his friend grew by leaps and bounds. “They said he wasn’t bad enough, that they would only take him if he continued to pick pockets and disrespect his elders.”

  “I said I’d be good,” Willy rushed to add. “I don’t want to go with the gypsies. I want to stay here.”

  Jason glanced to Lawrence, one eyebrow raised.

  “Palmer won’t take him back at the school because he was causing trouble,” he said. “And now Crimpley is after me, because Willy tried to pick his pocket.”

  “But I won’t do it never again,” Willy promised.

  “You won’t do it ever again,” Jason corrected him.

  “That’s what I said.” Willy frowned.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Jason told him with a blend of adult scolding and childish gloating. “Honestly, Willy, if you want to make your way in the world, you have to learn to speak and act like you’re better than you are. Believe me, I know.”

  Willy snapped straighter, his eyes going wide. He gazed up at Jason with the same look of admiration he’d worn at Marshall and Alexandra’s wedding feast.

  An idea popped into Lawrence’s head, and before he could second-guess it, he said, “Do you have any idea what we can do with him, since the school won’t take him and the gypsies won’t buy him?”

  “What do you mean?” Jason asked, glancing from Willy to Lawrence and back again.

  “I can’t give him work at the forge,” Lawrence went on. “It’s too dangerous. He can’t wander around on his own all the time either. He won’t learn anything that way. And he drives poor Matty to distraction. She has enough on her plate already, what with the baby coming and minding this one.” He nodded to Elsie, who was peeking at Jason over her shoulder.

  “That one looks like she’s latched on to you for good,” Jason said, winking at Elsie. Of all things, Elsie giggled before hiding her face against Lawrence’s shoulder again. Damn, but Jason was good with children. Probably because he was still more or less one himself.

  “Any ideas?” Lawrence went on.

  “Flossie,” Jason called over his shoulder.

  Flossie glanced up from whatever instructions she was giving to a group of porters. She gave them one final charge, then marched over to stand by Jason’s side. “Good morning, Mr. Smith, Willy, Elsie,” she said with a broad, friendly smile.

  “Flossie, do we have any positions at the hotel that a nine-year-old boy could fill?” Jason asked.

  Flossie’s mouth fell open. She studied Willy for a moment before glancing to Lawrence. One look, and Lawrence was certain Flossie knew everything there was to know about Willy, Connie, Elsie, and every bit of his and Matty’s business. Flossie seemed to know everything. She turned to Jason, “Are you sure the hotel is the right place for a boy with Willy’s…challenges?” she asked with a tense smile.

  The look Jason gave her in return could have melted butter in January. “The school doesn’t want him and the gypsies won’t buy him. Surely there must be something we could do for him.”

  Flossie pursed her lips, staring daggers at Jason. Jason stared right back at her with a look that defied her to turn poor Willy away. The love between the two of them was palpable. Whatever nonsense Jason was up to with Lady E, clearly he and Flossie had one soul.

  At last, Flossie let out a breath and turned to Lawrence. “We could always use a runner.”

  “What’s that?” Willy asked.

  “It’s someone who runs errands for other members of staff, taking notes around the hotel, letting Cook know what’s needed for supper and fetching things for guests who ask,” Flossie explained.

  “I can do that.” Willy brightened.

  “No stealing,” Jason said with a sudden volume that had Willy jumping and taking a step back. “If I catch word of you stealing anything from anyone, I’ll stand you on a table in the dining room, yank down your trousers, and beat your backside with a fire iron until it’s purple. Do you understand?” He nearly shouted his threats, his expression as ferocious as the dragon that gave the inn its name.

  “Jason,” Flossie scolded him, shaking her head.

  “I mean it,” Jason went on, bending to stare Willy in the eye. “Do you really want your cock hanging out in front of all the grand ladies who come to stay at my hotel while your backside is smacked like a baby?”

  “Goddess help us,” Lawrence sighed, shaking his head.

  “No,” Willy answered, dead earnestness in his eyes, cupping his hands over his crotch.

  “Then no stealing,” Jason repeated, poking him in the chest with each word.

  “I’d never,” Willy promised, voice hoarse with awe.

  Jason straightened. “All right. He can come up to the hotel when the rest of the children go to school, starting tomorrow.”

  Lawrence shook his head, no idea whether to laugh or groan. Turning Willy over to Jason’s care was like asking a man with two peg legs to lead a blind man around. “Provided Matty agrees, he’ll be here bright and early tomorrow,” he said with sigh.

  “Perfect.” Jason smiled. He glanced to Flossie, who was still shaking her head, then back to Lawrence. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to get back to work on this moronic engagement party or Lady E will have me up on a table while she smacks my ass raw.”

  “Jason, you can’t say that in front of children,” Flossie scolded him, shaking her head, her face in her hands. “And anyhow, I’d be the one doing the smacking.”

  The excited look Jason sent Flossie was Lawrence’s cue to leave. “Whatever you do, don’t get me involved,” he said, resting a hand on Willy’s shoulder and turning him away. “And thanks.”

  He pushed Willy on and marched as quickly as he could away from Jason and Flossie before the children learned lessons in things they shouldn’t know about until much later in life. But as he reached the street, he broke into laughter.

  “I think I’ll like working for Mr. Throckmorton,” Willy said, starting to skip as they continued down the road. “I like him.”

  “So do I,” Lawrence said. Although Jason had always had a way of leading them all into more disaster than they could handle.

  Jason

  The image of Flossie smacking his backside was exactly what Jason didn’t need if he had any hope of getting the mountain of work for the party done in time, but once it grabbed hold of his imagination, it wouldn’t let go. His trousers grew uncommonly tight. He’d never liked that kind of play before, but with Flossie in charge of the discipline….

  “Don’t you even think of it,” she told him, voice firm, eyes full of fire, shaking a finger at him. “There isn’t time.”

  “Think of what?” he asked with false innocence, his face heating and his cock aching.

  Flossie replied with a humorless laugh and turned to head back to the porters. “I really will smack you at this rate, but not until after this party.”

  “Yes, please,” he said, a rake’s grin flitting across his lips.

  She was right, though. There wasn’t time. On top of the party that evening, he had several telegrams regarding busines
s at his other hotels that he had to see to in a timely manner. He left the garden, marching through the lobby with wide strides, and heading into the office. His new hotel in York had run into problem after problem since construction had finished. The one in Winchester was coming along smoothly, but that blasted sycophant, Samuel—who had been the concierge at The Dragon’s Head until his attitude toward Flossie had necessitated his transfer—felt as though he needed to inform Jason of every tiny thing that went on. Those hiccups didn’t even take into consideration the day-to-day problems his London hotels had.

  “Somebody needs to invent a better system of communication,” he grumbled to himself as he plunked down at the desk to begin the task of sorting things out.

  “What sort of system?”

  Jason snapped his head up at the sound of Lady E’s question. His stomach twisted, as it seemed to do of late when his fiancée walked into the room. “Elisabeth. What brings you here?” he asked, hoping the curt question would convince her not to bother him.

  He was out of luck. Lady E laughed and swept into the room, the ever-present Polly right behind her. “I’m here to help you prepare for our engagement party, of course,” she said with a smile that reminded Jason more of a crocodile than anything else.

  “Flossie is in charge of the party,” he said, glancing down at the telegrams from London. “You know that.”

  “Flossie is in charge of the particulars,” Lady E said, swaying closer to the desk. “But you and I need to settle on a few generals.”

  She reached the desk and leaned forward to plant her hands on the mahogany surface. The gesture showed off her figure to perfection, giving Jason more of a peek down the front of her bodice than was appropriate. Why she was wearing a bodice cut that low in the middle of the day was a mystery. And why she seemed to be deliberately taunting him when she’d made abundantly clear that she didn’t enjoy the company of men was baffling. Worst of all, her gambit worked. His blood rushed to all the wrong places right on cue, whether he wanted it to or not.

  He cleared his throat and scooted closer to the desk to hide what his coat was probably already hiding. “Can this wait? I have business to attend to.”

  She snapped straight with a look of mock offense, resting a hand on her chest in a way that drew attention to what he’d just seen. “I’m hurt. How could you possibly be more interested in business than in your dear, darling, future wife?”

  Jason stared flatly at her. “Pretend with other people, Elisabeth, not with me.”

  Lady E’s coy grin dropped. A businesslike look took its place. She crossed her arms and stared at him. “I’ve invited several prominent friends and family members to this party,” she said. “So I expect absolute perfection on your part.”

  Jason sighed. “The staff has all been expertly trained. I’ve allowed Cook to hire two special assistants to make sure the food is above the bar. Flossie has outdone herself with the decorations and organization. It will be the event of the season.”

  “No,” Lady E said, her jaw stiff. “I expect perfection from you.”

  A deep uneasiness filled Jason. He fought it by sitting back in his chair and meeting her eyes with as much strength as he could face. “What do you want?”

  “This party will be the first time some of the most important people I know will see us together,” she said. “These people will carry their tales back to London. I want them to tell high society that Lady Elisabeth Dyson, soon to be Mrs. Jason Throckmorton, has achieved a coup.” She stepped closer to the desk, this time with a clear intent to intimidate instead of seduce. “I want them to say that she cleverly snatched up the most eligible bachelor in England. And I want them to report how besotted you are with me.”

  Jason steepled his hands as he considered her words. “What’s the point of telling London I adore you? You’re already marrying one of the wealthiest men in England. Isn’t that enough?”

  “No,” she said, a sly grin curling the corner of her mouth. “I don’t just want to be admired by the great and mighty, I want to be envied.”

  A wave of fear pulsed through Jason, making his hands numb. Worst still, it made his cock so hard it throbbed. It was the worst possible sign. He was out of control, his body’s worst instincts eclipsing any chance he had of thinking his way out of the situation. It was as bad as things had gotten in London, before he’d fled home to Brynthwaite. Sweat began to soak his shirt under the concealment of his coat, and the urge to claw his way out of his skin had his breaths coming in short gasps.

  But as he’d learned how to do during the worst of times in London, he kept his outward appearance one of perfect calm. “You’ll get what you want,” he said, keeping his voice low. “As long as I get what I want in return.”

  Lady E smiled, her playful air returning. “Yes, you most certainly will. In fact, you’ll get part of it sooner than you bargained for.”

  “I’m sorry?” He sat straighter, as worried as he was intrigued.

  “One of my special guests from London should be arriving for a short stay at your hotel at any moment,” she said.

  “Who?” Jason’s pulse raced.

  Lady E beamed as though absolutely triumphant. “Lord Merion.”

  Twin bursts of joy and horror brought Jason straight up out of his seat. “The same Lord Merion with connections to the high court?”

  “The very one,” Lady E said.

  Jason rubbed a hand over his face. The man who was their best chance of swaying the court in Marshall’s favor when the time for the hearing deciding custody of his girls would be at the hotel that evening. He could be there at any moment. Lady E had handed him a golden opportunity to impress the man and to make a friend of him months before the trial was set to take place. Who knew? If they played their cards right, they might make such a good impression that he could get Marshall’s girls back before the case had a chance to be heard.

  “Yes,” Lady E said, evidently seeing Jason’s thoughts in his expression. “I am good, aren’t I?”

  “More than good,” Jason said, breathless with possibility.

  “So all you have to do to impress Lord Merion and wheedle your way into his good graces is to treat me as though I am the sun and the stars combined.” She tilted her head up with a smile of utter triumph.

  “Believe me,” Jason said, coming out from behind the desk and ushering Lady E across the room. He spared a look for Polly as he went. “Everyone in Cumbria will believe you are adored after tonight.”

  “I don’t care about everyone in Cumbria,” she said, stopping as they reached the door. Her eyes were back to being hard once more. “I want you to be the one who adores me.” She poked a finger at his chest, causing more of a reaction than Jason wanted to have. “Which means that I don’t want anyone to catch you looking as though you adore someone else.” She arched a brow. “Do I make myself clear?”

  Prickles broke out along Jason’s skin. “Very clear,” he said, his stomach twisting all over again. She wanted him to ignore Flossie. She didn’t want any of her important friends to have a clue what existed between them. Jason wasn’t fool enough to think that it wasn’t blatantly obvious how much he and Flossie were in love every time they were in a room together. Lady E was demanding he find a way to tuck his heart away from his sleeve and pretend Flossie was nothing to him.

  “I’m glad we understand each other,” Lady E said, her eyes as dazzling and as cold as diamonds. “Don’t embarrass me, Jason.”

  “I won’t,” he assured her.

  “Everyone must think you are madly in love with me.”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Don’t bungle this.”

  “I won’t. I swear.”

  Her crocodile smile returned. “Good.”

  She nodded to the door, and Jason opened it. He needed to find Flossie as quickly as possible to explain the situation. If he were brutally honest with himself, he needed to see her up in their apartment for ten minutes in order to tame the ravening beast
of his sickness so that he could function for the rest of the afternoon.

  But the moment he stepped out of the office, Lady E was already floating across the lobby, Polly right behind her, toward a short, thin man in a Savile Row suit. “Ah, Lord Merion. How delightful for you to join us in Cumbria.”

  “Lady E,” Lord Merion greeted her as though she were a favorite niece. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

  “You’ve made me so happy, my lord. But let me introduce you to someone who has made me even happier,” Lady E went on, turning to smile at Jason as though she’d landed him in checkmate.

  Jason froze as Lord Merion turned to him with a curious, polite smile. Lady E had known. Somehow, she’d known Lord Merion was already at the hotel. She’d extracted her promise to pretend to adore her before he’d had a chance to consult with Flossie about the whole thing. His heart thumped with panic against his ribs and the sweat began dripping down his back once more. But he forced himself to put on as confident an expression as he could and to approach Lord Merion with a hand extended in greeting.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my lord,” he said, shaking the man’s hand with a deferential bow, which felt odd, considering he was nearly a foot taller.

  “The pleasure is all mine,” Lord Merion said. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

  “All good, I hope,” he said, glancing to Lady E with what he prayed appeared to be a look of devotion.

  “Oh, not from our darling Lady E,” Lord Merion laughed. “You have quite a reputation in some of the circles I run in.” The wink he sent Jason was ripe with blokeish innuendo.

  Memories poked at the corners of Jason’s frazzled mind. Memories of drunken nights of debauchery, of losing control of everything that he was or hoped to be. Ribald laughter seemed to fill his ears and the scent of perfume, liquor, and bodies his nose. With it came a level of self-loathing that he hadn’t experienced in months, that he’d hoped he’d left behind him forever. And just as it crested and threatened to break him, Flossie stepped into the lobby from the garden.

  “Those days are behind him,” Lady E said with a mercenary smile, sliding her arm through his and holding him like a vise. “Aren’t they, darling?”