Hidden Lover: Regency Men In Love 1

by C. A. Mortimer

  “Lucius?”

  He breathed deeply as he forced himself to calm, sure that he must look like a wild and feral animal right now. Yes, he wanted to do all those things to Barford, but currently, Toby needed him to be strong for him. Vengeance could wait a little longer. “Why did you not tell your father what Barford tried to do to you? If not immediately, because he was away fighting, but when he came home on leave? You must know that Daniel would have killed the man for daring to touch you.”

  “And gone to prison because of it. Besides, that man is also married to my father’s sister.”

  “That would not have troubled your father in the slightest,” Lucius stated without a single doubt.

  “I could not be sure… My father and I spent a great deal of time together when I was still in the nursery, but once I went away to boarding school, it could sometimes be as much as six months or more until we saw each other again. Until the last six months of his life, when I remained constantly at his side, our closeness had suffered because of his long absences.”

  “He loved you very much, was so very proud of the man you have become.”

  Toby’s smile was shaky. “He told me that time and time again those last few months we spent together. But I could not reveal to him then, when there was nothing he could do and he was too weak from illness, what had happened six years previously. All I could ask, and did, was that he not leave me to the Barfords’ guardianship.”

  “I can understand that.” Lucius nodded, rage on Toby’s behalf still churning and burning inside him. “In Daniel’s absence, you should have gone to your aunt and told her of her husband’s unacceptable behavior.”

  Toby’s gaze avoided meeting his. “It would not have helped.”

  Lucius instantly stilled. “Why not?”

  Toby still refused to look at him as he swallowed before answering. “Because my aunt knew—knows of her husband’s liking for much younger men, and chooses to turn a blind eye to it.”

  “And you know this because…?”

  Toby lifted his chin. “She came to my bedchamber in response to my screams for help, but left again the moment she saw what her husband was about to do,” he related flatly. “She later warned me that she would deny all knowledge of the assault if I attempted to tell my father or anyone else about it, but rather would claim that I had tried to seduce her husband and been suitably chastised and rebuffed.”

  “She…? Fucking hell!” Lucius’s fury was now such he could barely contain it. “Barford did not succeed in—in his assault after she left you?” Lucius couldn’t bring himself to say that other word.

  But he did intend to make sure Barford suffered for this.

  Toby had been a child, damn it. A defenseless child placed in the care of his aunt and uncle. An aunt and uncle who had betrayed that trust in the worst way possible.

  Toby shook his head. “I believe my screams and his wife’s intrusion, along with the curious servants outside in the hallway, must have dampened his ardor, because he left my bedchamber only seconds later. I packed and left their house the moment I was alone.”

  “I need to know exactly what he did to you, Toby,” Lucius pressed.

  If anything, Toby’s face became paler still. “He—he threw me on top of the bed and pinned me down by placing his weight on top of me. It is the reason I cannot lie on my stomach or face away from you when you make love to me. It reminds me too much of how helpless I felt when he held me down and tried to—he tried to—”

  “I will kill the pair of them!” Lucius ranted as he released Toby and began to pace the small confines of the room. “They deserve to be cast out. Refused a presence in decent company. Damn it, I will happily dismember them both myself—”

  “You believe me?”

  Lucius stared at him as if he had just developed two heads. “Of course I believe you. You are beyond blame. No one could possibly believe you ever encouraged the advances of that utter blaggard. I intend to make him suffer.” He resumed pacing. “I shall see him cast into the bowels of hell for what he tried to do to you. He will rue the day he laid a finger on you—”

  “Lucius.” It was impossible for Toby to prevent the bubble of laughter building inside him. Lucius, the proud, arrogant, and haughty Duke of Sheffield, looked anything but those things right now. His gaze was wild, his expression one of fierce anger, his wonderful muscular body shaking with that same fury.

  Lucius seemed to gather himself with effort until his expression looked less out of control, at least. The fierce glitter of his eyes told a different story. “I shall be going to London later today—”

  “Then I shall come with you.”

  “No—”

  “Yes,” Toby insisted, stepping so close to Lucius, he could feel the heat of their bodies as they almost touched. “I am coming with you, Lucius.” His fingers ran lightly down the front of his lover’s waistcoat before dipping inside the waistband of Lucius’s pantaloons. His fingers stroked down the length of that hard cock before cupping Lucius’s balls. “I am coming with you,” he repeated as he began to roll Lucius’s ball sac in his palm.

  The other man groaned his pleasure. “You will not win every argument by making love to me.”

  “No?”

  “Well…perhaps,” Lucius allowed huskily as one of Toby’s fingers stroked and pressed against the sensitive flesh behind his balls.

  “Let’s go back to your bedchamber.”

  “Our bedchamber,” Lucius corrected huskily.

  “Our bedchamber,” Toby repeated obediently as he kissed the sensitive flesh behind Lucius’s ear. “This has waited six years. It can wait a day or so longer.”

  “Just allow me five minutes to write and send a letter to my own solicitor in London informing him of this situation, and I shall be yours for the rest of the day,” Lucius promised.

  Toby’s hand tightened. “Only today?”

  “Every day,” he corrected as Toby used the pre-cum escaping the top of his cock to lubricate the steady stroke of his fingers up and down that responsive shaft. “And every night.” He encouraged Toby to keep up that intense pressure.

  Toby fully intended to keep Lucius to that promise.

  * * *

  As it turned out, they did not travel to London until the following day, and it then took another overnight stay at Sheffield House to arrange a time for the two solicitors and the Barfords to meet to discuss the problem.

  At least, that was how Lucius’s solicitors had worded their request. As far as Lucius was concerned, the only problem would be in stopping himself from strangling Barford until after they had all heard the other man’s confession. At which time, Lucius would allow Toby to decide on his attempted rapist’s fate. His own idea of killing Barford, even slowly, meant the other man’s punishment would be over far too quickly. No, Toby should be the one to decide what happened to the man who had tried to rob him of his innocence.

  Lucius almost forgot that resolve when he saw the expression of sneering triumph on Barford’s face when he, his wife, and their solicitor entered the offices of Lucius’s legal representative. Two burly gentlemen, employed by Lucius’s solicitors, stood like sentinels either side of the closed door.

  It took every effort on Lucius part to turn his disgusted gaze on Sondra Barford. That lady’s face became paler and paler the longer Lucius looked down the length of his nose at her with utter contempt. She was every bit as contemptuous as her husband, in Lucius’s eyes. It was his opinion the woman should be down on her knees begging Toby and God for forgiveness for having chosen to ignore her young nephew’s cries for help.

  The pleasantries between the two solicitors over, the six of them seated themselves on couches and chairs either side of a dark mahogany table. The Barfords sat together on one couch, their solicitor in a chair. Lucius’s solicitor was in another chair. Lucius and Toby were seated side by side on the second couch, thighs not quite touching.

  “Ready to come home with us where you belong, little
Toby?” Barford taunted.

  Toby eyed the older man coolly. “I would sooner take up residence in the Rookery.” He named the most notorious area of London in regard to the criminals who lived there. “Rather sell my body there for a few pennies a night than ever again reside under the same roof as you and your wife.”

  Barford looked taken aback by the attack for several seconds before that sneer returned to his face. “I really would not advise that you take that attitude with me, Toby,” the other man scoffed.

  “He is the Earl of Chelmsford,” Lucius interceded with haughty disdain. “As you are of inferior rank, I suggest you address him by either his title or as your lordship.”

  The other man snorted. “I shall do no such thing since he is my wife’s nephew and I have known him since he was a snot-nosed whelp.”

  “You will if you intend being able to walk out of here at the end of this conversation,” Lucius warned in a soft and chilling voice. His pride in Toby, in the younger man’s composure now he was face-to-face with the man who had attacked and almost violated him, demanded that Lucius also remain in control.

  Barford remained unimpressed. “I must insist that he return to living with his paternal aunt and myself.”

  “So that, as well as stealing from him, you are free to violate him any time you choose?” Lucius’s challenged. “And your wife,” his gaze shifted to the now pale-faced Sondra Barford, “can sit back and let it happen?”

  Barford’s solicitor gasped. “I really should caution about making these heinous accusations in regard to my clients.”

  “I think, Gerald, you will find it in your best interest to remain silent,” Lucius’s own solicitor drawled confidently, his expression hardening as he placed a buff-colored folder down on the coffee table. “In here I have a list of young men, Lord Chelmsford amongst them, and statements from a dozen others, all of whom were abused by Barford. All while being employed within his household and then being dismissed after the crime. The first happened as long as fifteen years ago.”

  Toby turned to look at Lucius, knowing he was responsible for this investigation. No doubt Lucius had included the instruction in the letter he had sent to his solicitor two days ago. Because Lucius, along with Toby, now that he considered the matter, had realized Toby was probably not the first young man Clifford Barford had attacked and attempted to rape.

  It sickened Toby to now know for how long and how many other young men Barford had attacked before and no doubt after him. And these were only the ones they had been able to find in the last twenty-four hours. There could be many more.

  Perhaps, instead of trying to bury the memory, Toby should have told his father what had happened. If he had, then—

  Lucius placed his hand on Toby’s as it moved restlessly on top of his thigh. “You are not to blame in any way for any of this.”

  “Good God, look at the two of them!” Barford rose inelegantly to his feet to stare at their touching hands. “And you dare to accuse me of perversions! I will ensure you are the one who is excluded from Society for your unnatural desires, Sheffield. You and your slut both—” His words broke off in a gurgle the moment Lucius, having risen quickly to his feet, clamped his hand about the other man’s throat.

  He used his momentum and that hand about Barford’s throat to continue across the room before pinning the bastard to one of the wood-paneled walls. Barford’s toes barely touched the floor, his face a florid red and becoming more so by the second as he sent looks of entreaty to his wife and solicitor. They both appeared too stunned to move. Lucius’s man knew better than to attempt to alienate such an important client, and the Barfords’ solicitor looked as if he might faint at the first sign of aggression shown toward him.

  Lucius thrust his face close to Barford’s. “I believe I instructed you to address him by his title or my lord. If you cannot do that, then I suggest you do not call him anything at all. Do you understand?”

  Pale blue eyes almost bulged out of the other man’s head as the tightening of Lucius’s hand cut off his air supply.

  “I believe he is finding it difficult to confirm or deny the request with your hand about his throat,” Toby remarked pleasantly as he rose to his feet and strolled across the room to stand on the other side of the man currently dangling from Lucius’s hand.

  Lucius pressed his fingers deeper into Barford’s flesh rather than release him. “Vermin should be put down, not allowed to roam free.”

  “I agree.” Toby nodded. “But I am sure this particular vermin now knows better than to make so much as a squeak until after I have finished speaking.” He moved to stand in front of Barford. “You are a rapist of innocent young men, all while vilifying and deriding men who love each other. What you are makes you lower than any vermin. Lower than any other creature on this earth.” He turned to look at his aunt, who sat in silence. “You, madam, are his enabler.”

  She fluttered gloved hands. “I have tried to stop him—”

  “No, you have not,” Toby stated with certainty. “As such, the two of you must be made to pay for your crimes. You”—he turned back to Barford—“will either agree to be locked up in an asylum for the rest of your life or stand trial for multiple rapes and assaults, after which you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. You”—he looked at his aunt—“will retire to the country and remain there for the rest of your days. Alone. As for the young men you assaulted…” He looked coldly at the rapist. “There is nothing to be done now regarding what they suffered at your hands, but I believe a gift of one hundred pounds to each of them, given by your wife, may help them ease some of the burdens they now suffer in life.”

  “You will beggar me!” Barford managed to cry out. “Your aunt will be thrown out into the street.”

  “I do not give that”—Toby clicked his thumb and finger together in front of Barford’s face—“for anything you or your wife will now suffer.”

  “Choose.” Lucius shook the other man as if he were no more than a rabid dog.

  “I will not—”

  “Before there is no choice left to make,” Lucius warned him coldly. “You see, I am nowhere near as generous as Toby. For what you and your wife have done to him, to those other innocent boys, you both deserve to be flogged to the bone and then thrown to wild dogs to be ripped apart until there is nothing left to signify you ever existed at all.”

  Barford’s face had become paler and paler with each word spoken. “I will go to the asylum,” he finally managed to gasp.

  Lucius released him so suddenly, the other man slid down the wall and landed—painfully, Lucius hoped—on his arse. The two men standing guard at the door immediately stepped forward to grasp his arms and pull to his feet until he was held prisoner between them.

  “I believe this meeting is over.” Lucius wiped the touch of Barford from his fingers onto his pantaloons. “The file listing your crimes will be held by my solicitor and presented to the authorities if either of you ever think to change your fate.” His gaze, as it rested on each of the Barfords, promised that retribution. “Now, if you will excuse us?” He nodded and smiled at Toby. “I believe we have a harvest to finish?”

  Toby followed him from the room without so much as another glance at anyone else.

  Lucius was the man he loved.

  The man he would follow anywhere.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I was so proud of you today.” Lucius handed Toby one of the two glasses of brandy he had poured once they were alone together in the privacy of his study at Sheffield House. He sat beside Toby on the chaise in the bay window before taking one of his smaller hands into his. “I have never been so proud of anyone or anything.”

  Toby’s smile was rueful. “I could not have done any of it, especially standing up to Barford and my aunt, without you.”

  “Oh, I believe you could.” Lucius nodded. “You are an amazing man, Toby, and I am honored to have you as my…my friend.” He smiled encouragingly.

  Toby didn’
t want Lucius to feel honored, nor did he wish to be Lucius’s friend. At least, he did not wish to only be his friend.

  Lucius frowned at Toby’s sudden silence. “Are you angry with me because I did not warn you in advance of my solicitor’s findings?”

  “Not particularly.” Toby grimaced. “I would only have worried myself sick sooner about those other young men.”

  Lucius nodded, as if he had known that would be the case. “My solicitor will see that Barford is admitted to the asylum with no chance of release, and that the details of the agreement are carried out.”

  “And us?” Toby turned on the seat so that their thighs were almost touching. “What will happen to the two of us when the year of your guardianship is over? Do you expect me to simply move back to Bishop House then, as if nothing had happened between the two of us?”

  Lucius drew in a ragged breath, his chest feeling very tight. “Can we talk of this again in a year’s time?”

  “No.”

  He sighed. “Then I would hope you will not forget about me completely and the two of us might remain friends.”

  “No.” Toby bit out, placing his brandy glass on a side table before rising to his feet.

  Lucius’s heart sank at the thought of Toby disappearing completely from his life. “No?”

  Toby gave a firm shake of his head. “I told myself that I should accept and be grateful for whatever you choose to give me and for however long our…association continues to flourish.” He breathed out noisily. “But today, in your solicitor’s office, hearing of all the crimes Barford had committed, I realized that I no longer wish to accept having someone else choose what my fate should and will be.”

  Lucius frowned his puzzlement as he sat forward on the chaise. “I would never make any decision regarding your future without first consulting you.”

  Toby smiled. “You misunderstand me. It is I who wish to make some decisions concerning your future life.”