Read Online Rite of Summer: Treading the Boards, Book 1 by Tess Bowery - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Tess Bowery
Ads: Link
and his clean shirt stiff against his skin, Joshua sank into bed for the third time that night. He should have been exhausted, his body sated, but his mind whirled at much the same pace as before.
He was hell bound. That much had been assured since his first hesitant, adolescent explorations in the hayloft, the lines of Thomas’s slim, brown body as new and exciting as discovering his own. How much more could covetousness possibly add to his tally of sins? At least there was one thing in his favor—it was nothing more than infatuation. And that, given time and distance, would inevitably fade.
After this torturous summer he would move on, forget Stephen Ashbrook, and they would all be the better for it.
Sleep circled, dubious, outside his reach. When he closed his eyes, all Joshua could see was a pair of green-flecked eyes and slim fingers playing a waltz upon another man’s skin.
Chapter Five
Guests were not expected for breakfast at any particular hour, thank goodness. Stephen rose late, the soft bed pulling him back down into hazy dreams every time he began to wake. He lay there for a while, even with his eyes open, feeling the warmth surrounding him, the way the pillow sank down beneath his head, the delicious ache in his body from the previous night.
He should get up, take some time to practice before eating. He needed some pretense at a respectable schedule if he was not to drift entirely into indolence and excess.
The lushly appointed conservatory looked different in the bright light of morning, the dark, sultry night replaced with clear sunshine and a gentle breeze. He amused himself by sitting in the armchair they had defiled the night before, to run his scales. It gave him a clear view of the open door as well, which triggered its own memories.
Beaufort. How long had he been watching, and how much had he seen? Enough, obviously. If Stephen had noticed him earlier, could he have been convinced to join them? He and Evander coupling would make a gorgeous picture. (Because of course it had been Evander who drew his gaze. Evander would settle for nothing less.)
The fingertips on his left hand ached with the delicious soreness of use after two days of nothing, and the heady smell of rosin lingered in his nose. His stomach churned and growled, demanding attention. Breakfast first. The rest would have to wait.
The earl was already in the hall when Stephen came down the stairs. He was dressed for riding and pulling on a pair of leather gloves. “Good morning!” Coventry greeted him effusively. “I trust you found your accommodations to your liking?”
That, he could answer in absolute truth, given his silk and feathered nest. Imagine what it would be like to have that as one’s normal state of being! It was no wonder the rich preferred to stay at home and have guests come to them.
“I’ve never known better,” Stephen replied, and Coventry’s smile grew wider. “Your house does you great credit.”
“And my cook does me more so!” Coventry patted his girth with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m riding out now—my physician is after me to improve my exercise, and the weather is fine. We shall have a little hunting to begin the day. Horlock and Cade are already at the stables. Feed yourself and join us.”
There was his first dilemma of the morning. Should he accept and spend the morning riding in the sunshine—which would also include listening to Coventry wax on to his friend about his properties and cottages, taking the occasional potshot at some poor defenseless grouse, and watching Evander at his most sycophantic in front of two earls—or demur and risk spending the morning with no one around but a gaggle of giggling girls and their mother hens?
There was always the conservatory.
“With your permission, sir, perhaps tomorrow?” Coventry’s ebullient smile began to fall toward a frown, and Stephen hastened to explain. “Two days on the road did not lend itself to practice time. I should
He was hell bound. That much had been assured since his first hesitant, adolescent explorations in the hayloft, the lines of Thomas’s slim, brown body as new and exciting as discovering his own. How much more could covetousness possibly add to his tally of sins? At least there was one thing in his favor—it was nothing more than infatuation. And that, given time and distance, would inevitably fade.
After this torturous summer he would move on, forget Stephen Ashbrook, and they would all be the better for it.
Sleep circled, dubious, outside his reach. When he closed his eyes, all Joshua could see was a pair of green-flecked eyes and slim fingers playing a waltz upon another man’s skin.
Chapter Five
Guests were not expected for breakfast at any particular hour, thank goodness. Stephen rose late, the soft bed pulling him back down into hazy dreams every time he began to wake. He lay there for a while, even with his eyes open, feeling the warmth surrounding him, the way the pillow sank down beneath his head, the delicious ache in his body from the previous night.
He should get up, take some time to practice before eating. He needed some pretense at a respectable schedule if he was not to drift entirely into indolence and excess.
The lushly appointed conservatory looked different in the bright light of morning, the dark, sultry night replaced with clear sunshine and a gentle breeze. He amused himself by sitting in the armchair they had defiled the night before, to run his scales. It gave him a clear view of the open door as well, which triggered its own memories.
Beaufort. How long had he been watching, and how much had he seen? Enough, obviously. If Stephen had noticed him earlier, could he have been convinced to join them? He and Evander coupling would make a gorgeous picture. (Because of course it had been Evander who drew his gaze. Evander would settle for nothing less.)
The fingertips on his left hand ached with the delicious soreness of use after two days of nothing, and the heady smell of rosin lingered in his nose. His stomach churned and growled, demanding attention. Breakfast first. The rest would have to wait.
The earl was already in the hall when Stephen came down the stairs. He was dressed for riding and pulling on a pair of leather gloves. “Good morning!” Coventry greeted him effusively. “I trust you found your accommodations to your liking?”
That, he could answer in absolute truth, given his silk and feathered nest. Imagine what it would be like to have that as one’s normal state of being! It was no wonder the rich preferred to stay at home and have guests come to them.
“I’ve never known better,” Stephen replied, and Coventry’s smile grew wider. “Your house does you great credit.”
“And my cook does me more so!” Coventry patted his girth with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m riding out now—my physician is after me to improve my exercise, and the weather is fine. We shall have a little hunting to begin the day. Horlock and Cade are already at the stables. Feed yourself and join us.”
There was his first dilemma of the morning. Should he accept and spend the morning riding in the sunshine—which would also include listening to Coventry wax on to his friend about his properties and cottages, taking the occasional potshot at some poor defenseless grouse, and watching Evander at his most sycophantic in front of two earls—or demur and risk spending the morning with no one around but a gaggle of giggling girls and their mother hens?
There was always the conservatory.
“With your permission, sir, perhaps tomorrow?” Coventry’s ebullient smile began to fall toward a frown, and Stephen hastened to explain. “Two days on the road did not lend itself to practice time. I should
Similar Books
