Lessons in Discovery (26 page)
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Lessons in Discovery
“I boxed his ears. And when that didn’t cool his ardour I—I
hardly like to say—I kicked him.”
“Where?”
“In between those two little forsythia bushes. I rather suspect
it was a contributory factor to his leaving.” Miss Peters began to laugh, her deep manly laugh bubbling up and driving away her
distress.
“Beatrice. Rosalind. Fair Rosaline. You’re a match for any
of them.” Jonty rose, gave his hostess a hearty kiss on the cheek.
“If you suggest a cottage, I’d better take heed.”
“Well, as and when you’re ready to proceed, don’t forget my
offer of help will stand open. As long as you don’t think that I’m being a busybody.” Miss Peters returned the kiss.
“I’d never think that.”
“In which case there’s no more to be said. Will you take
some more cake?”
“Dr. Stewart. Do you have a moment?” Orlando’s formal
tones, always adopted when they were out in the college together, rang across the court.
“Of course, but not for cake and tea. I’m rather replete on
that front.”
“A small sherry could be managed, I suppose?” Orlando
grinned.
“There’s always room for one of those.” They wandered
over to his set, Jonty being quickly settled into a chair, sherry glass in hand.
“I’ve been thinking about that house up the Madingley
Road.” Orlando stopped, shook his head. “Now what did you
want to go and do that for? Your trousers already look like
they’ve had a good soaking. What have you been up to?”
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Charlie Cochrane
“Only taking tea with Miss Peters and she gave me just the
sort of shock that you did. I spilled the best part of a cup in my lap, although thank goodness nothing vital was affected. Haven’t had a chance to change and now my nethers have received a
libation of Amontillado.”
“Shall I mop them better?”
“Think you’ve got your wires crossed there, Orlando. Mop
them dry or kiss them better? Which did you mean?” Jonty
grinned like an imp, a grin which implied that if he didn’t have time for more cake, he had time to ‘do his duty’.
Orlando ignored the look, for the moment. “What could
Miss Peters have said that was so shocking it made you do that?”
“Talked about us getting a house, of course. See, it’s made
you spill your sherry, too. Not just that, Orlando, she made an
offer to find us a housekeeper who’d be the model of discretion.”
Orlando groaned. “Are we that obvious? Does the whole
SCR know?”
“Not according to our friend Ariadne. The last thing she said
was to reassure me that she’s probably the only person in Bride’s aware that we are more than friends. And I think she’s right, it would probably take either a woman or someone of similar
inclination to ourselves to read anything into our relationship. So, as my old nanny used to say, dinna fash yoursel.” They sat in
silence for a long moment. “What made you think of this house,
now?”
“I’ve been reflecting on the time in Sussex. The bliss of the
double bed.”
“Oh, so a carnal motive.” Jonty grinned.
“Not at all, merely a logistical one.” Orlando began a
mumbled explanation.
“Speak up, Orlando.”
“That single bed of mine seems far too large and empty
when I’m on my own, yet when you’re in it I hardly have any
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Lessons in Discovery
room to turn over.” He picked miniscule flecks of fluff from his trousers.
Jonty resisted all the temptation he felt to make rude remarks
about turning over in bed as he could recognise that his lover was in deadly earnest and was making a heartfelt plea the only way he knew how, relying on some strange variety of logic. “I’ll make
enquiries tomorrow. The sooner we can buy somewhere the
better, eh?”
Orlando nodded and drew him into his arms, letting him
bury his little snubbed nose on his shoulder. He felt Jonty’s hands worm themselves under his jacket, caress the silk at the back of his waistcoat, insinuate themselves under there too and begin to wriggle across the cloth of his shirt. Perhaps it was the prelude to something much nicer than sherry.
There was a sudden sharp snap of elastic springing back into
place.
“Ow!”
Jonty gave a huge, deeply satisfied sigh. “I do love it when
you wear braces, Orlando.”
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About the Author
Charlie Cochrane’s ideal day would be a morning walking
along a beach, an afternoon spent watching rugby, and a church
service in the evening, with her husband and daughters tagging
along, naturally. She loves reading, theatre, good food and
watching sport, especially rugby. She started writing relatively late in life but draws on all the experiences she’s hoarded up to try to give a depth and richness to her stories.
To learn more about Charlie Cochrane, please visit her
website
www.charliecochrane.co.uk
. Send an email to Charlie at
[email protected] or joi
n in the fun with other readers and writers of gay historical romance at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpeakItsName.
Look for these titles by Charlie
Cochrane
Now Available:
Cambridge Fellows Mystery
Lessons in Desire
Lessons in Love
Trilogy No. 111: Speak Its Name
Coming Soon:
Cambridge Fellows Mystery
Lessons in Power
Lessons in Temptation
Lessons in Seduction
Lessons in Trust
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Love might cast out fear, if only Orlando would let it
Lessons in Desire
© 2009 Charlie Cochrane
A
Cambridge Fellows Mystery
book
After solving a series of college murders, Jonty Stewart
needs a break. A holiday on the beautiful Channel Island of Jersey seems ideal, if only he can persuade Orlando Coppersmith to
leave the security of St Bride’s college and come with him.
Orlando is a quiet man who prefers academic life to
venturing out into the world. Within the confines of their rooms at the university, it’s easy to hide the fact that he and Jonty are far more than friends. But the desire to spend more time alone with
the man he loves is an impossible lure to resist.
When a brutal murder occurs at the hotel where they’re
staying, the two young men are once more drawn into an
investigation. The race to catch the killer gets complicated by the victim’s son, Ainslie, who seems to find Orlando too attractive to resist. Can Jonty and Orlando keep Ainslie at bay, keep their
affair clandestine, and solve the crime?
Warning: Contains sensual m/m lovemaking and handsome
young men in (and out of) Edwardian bathing costumes.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Lessons in Desire:
“Do you still want
Jerusalem
at your funeral, Dr.
Coppersmith?” Jonty began to gently rub his friend’s back as the poor man clung to the ship’s rail, green to the gills and
desperately trying to fathom out whether he would feel better if he were sick again or not.
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“I no longer care, Dr. Stewart. I think that I would prefer to
die with the minimum of fuss, plus the maximum of expediency. I
have enjoyed these last nine months, though I’m greatly afraid
that I won’t survive the journey.” Orlando finished his speech
with dignity, then sped off to the toilet to vomit again.
Jonty smiled sympathetically. He’d admitted he felt a bit
guilty about bringing his friend on this trip, but how was he to have any idea that Coppersmith would suffer quite so much from
sea-sickness? Orlando hadn’t even known it himself, having been
on nothing more adventurous than the paddle steamer out of
Ramsgate. There were at least two hours of the voyage left before they could feel decent, solid ground under their feet again. Then there was the awful prospect of having to do the journey all over again, back to Southampton, in a fortnight’s time.
The nightmare of the crossing eventually ended, all the
passengers reaching terra firma with much thanks. Coppersmith
felt tempted to kneel down and kiss the very solid earth beneath his feet at the quay. Plenty of carriages were waiting for custom, so they were soon riding around the wide bay to St. Aubin’s, able at last to admire the innocuous looking waters which had
managed to wreak such havoc on a delicate digestive tract.
Orlando felt recovered enough to smile when he saw their
hotel. It was everything that the rather overblown brochure had
promised and more besides. Their bags were whisked away with
just the right amount of efficient deference, the reception clerk was welcoming without being unctuous. Even the suite, once
Coppersmith was entirely convinced that it was quite normal for
friends of the same sex to take sets of rooms together, was
pronounced to be above reproach.
They hadn’t long begun to unpack before Stewart suggested
that it was time to find a small sherry or some such before dinner.
He assured his friend it would be entirely the right medicine to enable Coppersmith to recover his appetite so that he could tackle www.lindenbayromance.com 189
at least some of the delights that they’d spied on the hotel menu.
Orlando was rather affronted, wanting everything to have found
its proper place before they ventured out, but Jonty insisted, so colors were struck. Coppersmith changed into his dinner jacket,
newly purchased on Stewart’s orders, as the old one looked more
suited to the stalls at the music hall. Properly attired, they went down to the bar.
The dining room was full, mainly married couples of various
ages, from the bashful newlyweds who sat in the corner blushing
at every remark that was made to them, to the elderly couple—all wrinkles and bright smiles—who sat at a table directly opposite
the two Cambridge fellows. They had taken a great shine to the
two young men as they’d chatted with them over pre-dinner
drinks, insisting that they reminded them of their sons at a similar age. They seemed greatly impressed with Stewart’s smile, his
obvious good breeding and Coppersmith’s gravity, beautiful
manners. They made up a four for bridge in the sun lounge after
dinner, proving excellent company, the lady in particular having an impish sense of humor. She chatted away to Jonty, the pair of them giggling like two schoolboys, despite her being old enough, just, to be his grandmother.
There were some families at dinner; two had brought their
grown up daughters with them. Both girls were exceedingly plain
and seemed rather smitten with the two young men, if blushes or
girlish sighs were anything to go by. The only other unmarried
couple present was a man perhaps three or four years older than
Stewart, accompanied by what could only have been his father,
given the strong family resemblance. The younger was a
handsome chap whose dark curly hair framed deep blue eyes. Not
that the two fellows of St. Bride’s had eyes for anyone else, but one couldn’t help noticing these things. They also couldn’t help noticing the palpable tension that existed between the two men,
shown in the strained politeness they showed to each other, the
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inability to keep eye contact between them. They had formed their own bridge four with another married couple, although they were
obviously not having half the enjoyment that Coppersmith and his friend were.
Jonty was fascinated. He kept a surreptitious eye on them all
evening, then bent Orlando’s ear, back in their suite, over what might be going on.
“That young man’s not happy to be here, Orlando. I think his
father has made him come, while he’d rather be at home with his
sweetheart, not entertaining a surly old curmudgeon.” He turned
to face the surly young curmudgeon who was struggling to
arrange, into some sort of acceptable order, the mass of items that Stewart had strewn everywhere in an attempt to unpack.
“Nothing to do with us, Jonty.” Coppersmith picked up the
tie he’d worn for the journey, finding somewhere to put it
carefully away.
“Aren’t you even a little bit curious? This is such an
opportunity of meeting new people, the sort of folk we might
never meet at college. Like that delightful old couple; she
certainly had the measure even of you at cards, Dr. Coppersmith.”
Stewart yawned, stretching like a great ginger cat. “This is going to be such a delightful holiday. The hotel is perfect, the food is excellent, I have great hopes for the company and you look less
green than you did this morning. Such a lovely color in your
cheeks now.” He drew his hand down his lover’s face, across his
lips. It was the first time they’d touched with any degree of
intimacy since they’d left St. Bride’s. The caress made Orlando
shudder afresh, as if they were touching for the first time. “We may have two bedrooms, Dr. Coppersmith, but do we really need
to use them both? It’d be easy enough to slip across before the
early morning tea arrives, if we set your alarm clock.”
Orlando looked up, determined to refuse. He was still feeling
exceedingly skittish about staying in a suite of rooms with his
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