Cassius appeared glum the entire ride back to Pinewood Castle, and Merrick wondered how closely his sullenness matched his own. He felt Cassius’s eyes on him as he walked Lady Penelope to her door. She offered him her hand in farewell, and he politely bent to kiss her fingers. She was beautiful and kind, and he could tell she was interested in him, but for the life of him he did not understand why, unless it was merely for his status, which was wholly plausible.

He’d tried to be present, attentive, become more familiar with Lady Penelope this evening, but he could barely focus with Cassius only inches away all night. To feel his thigh resting so closely to his in the theater, to absorb the tremors that had wracked him during the performance for Lord only knew what reason.

To know that he could reach out and place his hand on Cassius’s knee or intertwine their fingers if only they’d been alone, nearly killed him. But he’d do well to remember the words that passed between them only the day before. How Merrick assured him his job was not in jeopardy because of his actions and how Cassius seemed relieved but still held his jaw as if in anger or distress.

As Cassius trudged up the grand staircase behind Merrick, the house was quiet, as most had retired to bed, and his valet’s steps sounded like dull thuds in his ears. They had gotten through another day together, and he hoped the tightness in his chest would eventually ease.

When they entered his chamber, Merrick almost dismissed his valet, but he was too drained, too bombarded with emotions to think clearly. He slouched against the chest of drawers as Cassius helped remove his bow tie, and he was grateful for his effort.

“Would you like me to draw you a bath?” Cassius asked, concern in his gaze.

He nearly shook his head, except the idea of soaking his weary muscles felt too inviting. “Yes, I’d like that.”

They went through the motions of stripping him of his shirt and trousers, leaving him in his undergarments. Cassius entered his bathroom to turn the nozzle and line up the soap and sponge on the ledge near the claw-foot tub. He also poured Merrick a brandy from his private-collection drawer, which he placed within reach as if he knew Merrick would need it.

“That’s perfect, Cassius,” Merrick said as his valet bowed his head and left the room to sort his clothing for either the laundry or the closet.

Once Merrick discarded his undershirt and drawers, he stepped into the hot bath and breathed a sigh of relief. It felt warm and relaxing. He reached for his glass of spirits and sipped it gratefully.

He heard Cassius enter the room behind him. “I’ve laid your night clothes on the bed, Your Highness.”

Without turning around, he nodded, then said in barely a whisper, “Thank you.”

He expected Cassius to leave the room, to hear the door to his chamber shut behind him. Instead, he felt Cassius’s substantial presence as if he reflected about something. He didn’t dare turn to look, not when so much heaviness hung between them. He prayed Cassius would not offer his notice tonight and that his sour mood all evening was not his deliberation about taking such action.

Though that might be for the best. Merrick obviously was having great difficulty disconnecting his emotions and fantasies from the man.

He heard the valet pad gently across the tiled floor. He watched as Cassius’s trembling fingers reached for the sponge, then dipped it into the steaming water before creating a lather with the soap, which smelled faintly of eucalyptus. He listened to his soft pants just as he felt the sponge glide across his shoulders. He held completely still as Cassius made circular motions down his back.

“What are you doing?” Merrick pushed the words past his parched throat. “If this is some sort of peace offering, it is not necessary. I cannot handle—”

“How long have you known?” Cassius asked, interrupting Merrick’s train of thought. When he sputtered, unable to understand the direction this was headed, Cassius clarified. “How long have you known that you also fancy men?”

Merrick’s breath hitched as he dropped his head, panting heavily as the sponge stroked across his nape. He attempted to get his jumbled thoughts in order. Was this Cassius’s attempt to understand him? To form an amicable connection with him?

“Not also,” he replied. “Only. I only fancy men.”

For of that he was certain, and saying it out loud made it ring even clearer in his head. “I’ve known for as long as I can remember. When Marjorie played with her dolls, I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my chest as she pretended the male was courting the female. I would change the script in my head and…and have the gentleman court another gentleman.”

The silence was nearly deafening in the room, the only sounds their harsh breaths and the water dripping off the sponge.

“And you?” Merrick asked, clearing his throat.

“It’s taken me a bit longer to know…to understand. I thought something was wrong with me, or that perhaps I was a late bloomer. My life has always been about my family…not about friends, nor anyone I ever fancied. When I finally took time to look inside myself, to allow myself pleasure, women had never figured into the equation.”

Merrick inhaled heavily through his nose. To speak openly about this with someone was like a great release of endorphins. He momentarily worried that his words would be twisted and that Cassius would use them against him. To tell his secret, or perhaps to blackmail him. But that thought quickly fled his brain when Cassius stepped to the side of the tub and dropped to his knees to fully face him.

His gaze was soft, sympathetic, as he ran the sponge down his arm. “I understand now how hard this must be for you. How much is at stake.”

As their gazes clashed, Merrick felt the stinging of tears behind his eyes. He wasn’t sure why he was so moved by Cassius’s acknowledgment, except that he felt like he finally had someone in his corner. Other than his sister, of course.

Cassius took a deep breath, the cloth pausing on his collarbone. “And now you feel the pressure to court someone like Lady Penelope because…”

“Because I cannot publicly court someone better suited for me. Perhaps someone like you,” Merrick replied, and he heard Cassius inhale sharply.

“Me? Even if it were possible… I am nothing more than a simple—”

“No, Cassius. You are not simple.” Merrick shut his eyes, his lips trembling, his chest loosening in blissful relief as he let the words flow out of him. “You are pure and real and complicated. To someone like me, you might simply be everything.”

He felt Cassius move closer, but he kept his lids closed, held his breath.

“I do not…” Cassius began but trailed off. “I long for this…for one moment that is only for me.”

Cassius’s breath ghosted against his lips; his fingertip traced his jaw, his cheek, his eyebrow as his heart thundered in his ears. When Cassius’s lips brushed against his own, he opened his eyes and noticed how Cassius watched him, his gaze filled with wonder.

Their lips met a second time, gentle, tentative at first before Cassius increased the pressure. Merrick’s fingers rose to connect with Cassius’s neck as he pressed their lips together, a whimper escaping his mouth.

“You flatter me, my prince,” Cassius murmured, and Merrick nearly melted at the tender tenor of his voice. “I… I want… Please show me…”

“Show you what?” Merrick asked, feathering his lips along his chin.

“Show me everything.”

Cassius groaned as Merrick took his lips again in a stinging kiss, his tongue sweeping inside Cassius’s mouth, his fingers gathering Cassius’s face in his hands as he kept their lips and tongues connected in a fierce and possessive way, sharing the same sliver of air for seconds or minutes or possibly days.

Merrick’s lips glided to the strong column of Cassius’s throat, where he felt the urge to mar his soft and supple skin before sweeping to his ear and sucking the lobe, enjoying the noises Cassius couldn’t quite help contain.

Cassius pulled back to catch his breath as his gaze roamed all over Merrick’s features, from his eyes down to his mouth and then finally lower to his chest and groin. Merrick’s nipples pebbled at once, and his length stiffened even further at the admiration in Cassius’s eyes.

“Please,” Merrick rasped. “Let me look my fill as well.”

Cassius’s gaze slid lazily to his, his mouth swollen like he’d been stung, and he nodded. Standing upright, he backed away several steps. He removed his waistcoat and hastily cast it to the floor before working on his tie and the buttons of his shirt. When his lean, smooth chest was exposed, Merrick gasped. His nipples were luscious brown discs he longed to lick and suck.

Cassius trembled as he pushed his trousers down, along with his drawers. His prick sprang free, tall and stiff against his stomach. The foreskin was slightly pushed back as some of his seed leaked from his tip.

“So lush and lovely, Cassius,” he remarked in a rough voice as his cock throbbed against his thigh.

Cassius bowed his head, a tremor wracking his shoulders, his chest flushing as rosy as his neck and cheeks.

“You have lain with men before, Cassius?”

The valet’s cheeks darkened further. “I…yes.”

Merrick swallowed roughly, his chest tightening like a screw. “I am jealous of those men.”

“Your High—” Cassius paused, his eyes wide.

“Please, no titles, not when it is just us…” Merrick brushed his wrist over his eyes. “I am just a man who longs to touch your skin and breathe in your scent.”

“Merrick,” Cassius whispered. “I long for that as well.”

When Merrick held out his hand, Cassius reached for it to step inside the tub. Merrick motioned for Cassius to turn, the gorgeous line of his back and his smooth cheeks now on display before him. Heart pounding, Merrick trailed his fingers up the back of his thigh as Cassius quivered. He longed to part his cheeks using his tongue, fingers, or prick. “Exquisite.”

His fingers clutched Cassius’s waist as he urged him down into the warm water to sit between his legs. As he sponged his back and arms, he leaned forward to pepper kisses along the curve of his neck to his rounded shoulder blades, savoring the smell and taste of him.

Cassius leaned against Merrick and sighed. It felt too perfect, too right, and Merrick feared the tormenting aftermath of this spellbinding evening shared with a man he’d fantasized about almost nightly. “You feel like heaven, and I wish we could stay like this for days.”

When Cassius glanced back at him, Merrick took his mouth again in a bruising kiss. His fingers glided over Cassius’s chest to toy with his nipples as Cassius shuddered against him.

Merrick’s hand brushed over Cassius’s abdomen, and the valet moaned, burying his head against his shoulder. Merrick forked his fingers through the downy hair at his groin, his palm closing around the velvety skin of his cock, stroking the hardened shaft upward.

Cassius whimpered as his back bowed in what Merrick hoped was utter bliss. “I…have dreamed of this moment.”

Merrick groaned in his ear. “Tell me more of this dream.”

“Our mouths and hands joining, our sweat-soaked skin sliding together.” He jerked his head, sucking the underside of Merrick’s jaw as his fingers played over the top of Merrick’s on his own prick. “Please let me touch you as well.”

He urged Cassius to turn and face him, and then Merrick sprang to his knees as well. They moaned as their wet bodies connected from their shoulders to their groins, their pricks aligning perfectly together. As mouths and tongues joined, hands exploring flesh, fingertips grazing over necks and spines and buttocks, they became a gyrating mass of raw sensation.

Merrick took their pricks in hand, and they thrust in unison into his palm. “Yes, just like that.”

He seized Cassius’s lips and buried his tongue deep, absorbing his sounds as Cassius sobbed and shivered against him. “Merrick,” he called out as his seed spurted in ribbons across Merrick’s fist.

Merrick couldn’t stop the strangled noise bursting from his throat as his body tensed and dizzying pleasure ripped through his loins as he spent hard into his own hand.

They collapsed against each other, arms intertwined, gasping with muffled words as they got their senses about them.

When Marjorie’s singsong voice could be heard from the hall, they froze to listen until the sound faded. “I…I had better go,” Cassius warned, worming his arms free of Merrick’s.

As they hurriedly toweled off and Cassius clumsily stepped into his clothes while Merrick pulled on his robe, reality crashed down upon them, and Merrick prayed that Cassius had no regrets.

At the door, Merrick reached for Cassius’s hand. “Please stay with me…for only this night. I know I cannot offer anything more, but I do not want to let you go.”

“I…I cannot.” Cassius forcefully shook his head, fear lancing through his gaze. “I should leave.”

“One last kiss, then,” Merrick pleaded, fearing it might indeed be their last, and Cassius smiled dreamily before he obliged, their lips and tongues meeting in a desperate and clumsy dance.

Merrick licked at his lips, chasing Cassius’s taste until long after he left.