Waterborne Exile Read Online Free PDF Page B

commander of the city watch to have no dealings at all with local businessmen – after all, information could flow in both directions, wittingly or otherwise. Certain associations were only prudent. But for Rekhart to remonstrate with Jervin – the hitherto mild-mannered Rekhart – for him to risk alienating Jervin, who was famed for his short temper. Well, that troubled Drew.
    Jervin had a reputation to uphold, Drew understood that. Jervin’s dealings with Drew had always been considerate, affectionate when the two of them were alone. As Jervin’s live-in lover, Drew knew a side of his character few would have seen and certainly not his business associates. And yet…
    There had been that time, on his way to run an errand of some kind, Drew had passed the parlour door which stood open and seen Jervin in conversation with a number of strangers. Jervin had glanced up as Drew hesitated, nodded curtly to him and gestured to someone unseen who closed the door firmly, leaving Drew alone in the hallway, excluded. That had been the early days of course, while he had still been a relative stranger and Jervin had been cautious with him, but time had passed since then. Drew felt as natural and familiar with his lover as if he’d been family – more so, even than that. He helped with many matters of Jervin’s business, keeping accounts for his shops in the town. But here he was again, shut out of an important meeting in that room he’d never caught so much as a glimpse of.
    Downstairs, a door thudded. Voices in the hallway told him the meeting was over. As ever, they left the house by the back door. Drew eased his curtain aside with a fingertip. The night was still clear, no fog yet, and he could make out the figures as they crossed to the back gate. Two were tall men he didn’t recognise. The third was a short, stout man he’d taken a dislike to early on – from the snide remarks he’d made, Drew surmised the man to be a jilted lover of Jervin’s. The other was indeed Rekhart, who paused long enough by the lamp over the gate for Drew to be sure. Rekhart looked back at the door he’d only just left, as if he’d return to the house, but then with a gesture of frustration he spun on his heel and strode away, his shoulders hunched. Drew could picture the frown he most surely carried on his face. A footstep on the landing prompted Drew to drop the curtain and move away from the window, feeling as if he’d been caught out in some wrongdoing. This was becoming a habit.
    The door opened and Jervin stepped in. His face was not the usual unreadable mask, tonight there was a scarce-suppressed smile lighting his features.
    “Your meeting is over, then?” The words sounded more petulant than Drew had intended. But in truth they mirrored how he felt.
    “What’s the matter? Have I been gone too long for your liking?” Jervin was in a playful mood. His smile was assured as he approached Drew and raised one hand, sliding his fingertip down the front of Drew’s shirt, over his sternum, down to his stomach.
    Drew snatched in his breath, almost involuntarily, but stepped back. “Don’t tease. I’m not some child to be turned from my purpose so easily.”
    “You have a purpose, do you?” Jervin grinned, unbuttoning his own shirt. “So have I. But tell me about yours first. I like purpose in a man.”
    “Of course I have purpose. Why wouldn’t I? You always assume the least of me.”
    Jervin dropped his silk shirt on the floor. “If your purpose is to bore me you’re going the right way about it. Come now, we have better things to do than argue about nothing.”
    All Drew needed to do was summon a rational argument. But it always went like this. Jervin had a way of leaving his thoughts in disorder, just when he most wanted to express something he’d barely become aware of. And the sight of Jervin’s naked torso was too tempting a distraction. And he was right. Of late they’d had little enough time together, without