Speak Its Name: A Trilogy by Charlie Cochrane & Lee Rowan & Erastes

Author:Charlie Cochrane & Lee Rowan & Erastes [Cochrane, Charlie & Rowan, Lee & Erastes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Source: Amazon, M/M Anthologies
ISBN: 9780979777363
Amazon: 0979777364
Publisher: Cheyenne Publishing
Published: 2009-10-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

June, 1919

London

It was a gentleman’s club like so many others in the better part of London—deep leather chairs, well-cooked meals, discreet servants who came and went on silent feet—a reserve of men, ladies permitted only in the Visitors Room and, on certain days, the dining room.

As Lord Robert Scoville threw in his hand and bade his card-playing companions good night, he caught the attention of a pair of older gentlemen sitting near the fireplace in the front parlour. Glancing up, he said, “Colonel,” sketched a salute, and continued on his way.

“Wasn’t that Scoville?” asked the other gentleman.

“Yes, the younger son. Good man. Under my command in India—if it hadn’t been for him I’d not be here today. And he pulled his weight in the late unpleasantness as well. He must be nearly sixty now, but you’d never guess it to look at him.”

“Hm. My wife carries a mild grudge against that gent. She thought he’d be just the husband for our Penelope, but nothing ever came of it.”

“Your Penny? Happy enough with Cooper, isn’t she?”

“I’ve heard no complaints. They’re starting my grandson at Eton next term. It surprises me a bit that Scoville never married. No shortage of pretty girls thrown his way, but he’s just holed up with his gardens, his manservant, and that pack of Springer Spaniels.”

“Well, lucky him,” said the Colonel. “He’s bred some steady gun dogs—and they won’t turn him old before his time. Did you hear what Phyffington’s boy got up to last week? Ran his motor off the road, drunk as a lord, with a girl in the car—they’re both in hospital, the girl’s parents are fit to kill—Scoville’s well out of all that, and that man of his keeps the place running well enough.”

“Pity his lordship can’t just marry the fellow,” said his friend, probably grudging the lost connection to the Scoville fortune.

The Colonel frowned. “None of that, now. Darling’s been with him through two wars, and I know for a fact you once tried to hire him away.” He chuckled. “Half this club has tried—I did myself. Never been told off so politely. No, Lord Robert’s an honest man.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “See here, if he’d married your girl you’d have no chance to brag about your grandchildren. Scoville took a bullet at Maiwand...” he shrugged expressively. “Darling got him to the medic, but I never was certain the doctor did him any favours keeping him alive.”

His companion winced. “Christ. Funny, though. You’d never know it to look at him.”

“He’s a brave man,” the Colonel said sternly. “And you keep it to yourself, Carstairs, or I’ll know where the whispers started.”

Carstairs was suitably chastened. “God, yes. The poor bastard!”

In the vestibule just off the parlour, out of sight but not out of hearing, Jack Darling grinned and gave the Colonel a mental tip of the hat. He had long since discarded his jealousy of Robin’s former lovers. Most of them were decent men, after all, and the Colonel, one of the few who knew their secret, was a positive angel.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.