His Royal Favorite Read Online Free PDF Page B

tax situation. He promised to give her a copy of his lease. Even his parents’ deaths had to be discussed, though at least Ms. Tseng didn’t force him to go into too much detail.
    “No arrests?”
    “I had a few speeding tickets back in Illinois, when I was in college. And once I threw a party that violated noise ordinances, and the police shut it down. But law enforcement should have nothing else with my name on it.”
    “Good,” Ms. Tseng said, the first hint of approval she’d given through this process—which was now entering its third hour. “One more question, and this is critical, so think it through: Is there anyone in your past whom you believe would be likely to cause trouble after this news goes public? I’m not asking about
your
actions, here. I’m talking about
their
attitude. An embittered ex or disgruntled former coworker knows enough truth to make his lies very believable. So is there anyone who would try to attack you and the Prince Regent?”
    Ben hadn’t even considered this before. Slowly he said, “One. Warner Clifton. The lover I told you about, from Germany and then Thailand. He’s—ah, he’s never stopped trying to manipulate me. E-mailed me for the last time just a few days ago, actually.”
    “Can you send me that correspondence?”
    “No. There’s no ‘correspondence’—he sent me a couple of e-mails over the past few months. I didn’t reply to either of them, deleted them both.”
    “How likely do you think it is that Mr. Clifton would try to cause trouble?”
    Ben knew the answer instantly. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized this long ago, from the first moment he’d decided to remain at James’s side. “One hundred percent. Warner will try something. He won’t be able to stand it.”
    “Then I need to know more about Mr. Clifton,” Ms. Tseng said. “Expand on your history with him a bit. What sort of man is he?”
    Fucking hell.
“Are we allowed to drink during this process?”
    “No. After we’re done, you should certainly feel free to indulge. I myself am thinking longingly of the mojitos at the pub nearest my flat. For now, however, focus is key.”
    It occurred to Ben that Kimberley Tseng was just about the only person he could have gone through this with. Rather than say so, however, he did the courtesy of focusing like she’d asked. Not that this made it easy to talk about Warner.
    But slowly, haltingly, the words came. “Warner was my first lover. He’s eighteen years older than I am; I was barely sixteen when we met. You do the math. Anyway. He was charming, and attractive, and so self-assured. He—he made me understand that being gay was normal, and that’s the one good thing I can fairly credit him with. Warner had no doubts about who he was, and maybe I needed someone like that in my life back then, when I was first coming to terms with my sexuality.”
    He sounded as though he were blubbing his feelings out on a therapist’s couch. How disgustingly sentimental. Yet Ben had gone so long without trying to explain Warner to anyone besides himself. He didn’t have a script, or well-rehearsed stock phrases to fall back on. The raw truth kept flowing out like blood from a reopened wound.
    “He wasn’t a pedophile—or, no, what’s the right word for someone who fixates on adolescents? Hebephile? Something like that. Anyway, that isn’t Warner’s thing. He’s more interested in a mind he can shape than in a young body. That’s why we wound up together again in Thailand, his mind games—he made me feel like he was my destiny, my fate. That he was the only person I could ever have that kind of connection with. Which he was! And thank God, because it’s a terrible connection. Manipulative and exploitative. I mean, shit, I didn’t even know his real name until after he’d taken me to bed for the first time.” After a moment, Ben hastily added, “Of course I have a connection with James as well. But a different one. A much better