Percy shifted to shake Lionel’s hand. Lionel smiled at the man, though he seemed distracted by a man in a grey suit who had just risen from a table in the corner. The man nodded to him before heading out of the room.
“Gentlemen, if you will excuse me,” Lionel said, stepping away without another word.
David’s mouth hung open at the unusual rudeness of Lionel’s exit. Lionel never passed up an opportunity to bask in praise or to court artistic types, like Percy. “Sorry about him,” he told Percy. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him these days.”
“Perhaps it’s fatigue from your efforts to bring down that notorious child kidnapping ring,” Percy said, gesturing for David to join him at the table where Cristofori was set up. “News is all over London about your part in foiling the ring. Well done, man.” He thumped David on the back as he sat.
“The work isn’t done yet,” David said, nodding to Cristofori in greeting. “We still have to catch the men who spearheaded the whole vile endeavor.” Cristofori had been an integral part of the plot to attempt to capture those men in Yorkshire. Judging by the dark expression that came over his usually friendly face, he wanted them captured as badly as David did.
“You’ll do it, I’m sure,” Percy said, all smiles and encouragement.
“If Lionel and I can avoid murdering each other,” David added under his breath, glancing across the room to where Lionel and the man in the grey suit had fallen into conversation.
David would have given anything to know what the two were saying. A completely irrational part of him was convinced Lionel was arranging some sort of assignation with the man, in spite of the fact that they wore absolutely serious expressions. He cursed himself for even entertaining the possibility. What business was it of his anyhow? He needed to rein in his ridiculous emotions.
Far too late, he realized the table had gone silent and Percy and Cristofori were staring at him. He sighed, face heating with embarrassment at letting his feelings show, and turned away from Lionel.
“Forgive me, but that’s not the look of a man about to go to war with someone,” Percy said.
Cristofori chuckled. “Then you’re not seeing it correctly. David and Lionel have been at war for years now.”
David’s brow flew up in surprise. “Have we?”
Of course, they had, but he’d never dreamed their friends and acquaintances had witnessed the heat and tension between the two of them.
Cristofori set down the pen he’d been twirling between his fingers and sent David a frank look. “You don’t need eyes to see a conflagration like the one that exists between you and Lionel Mercer.”
For a split-second, David considered arguing the point and claiming he and Lionel were merely business partners. It would have been a pointless argument that only made him look foolish, though. He couldn’t afford to look foolish. Not when the majority of his clientele were men from The Brotherhood. He needed them to see him as an indomitable force, not a lovesick puppy.
“It doesn’t make a lick of difference,” he said. “Lionel isn’t interested in me, and even if he were, he’s taken a vow of celibacy.”
That seemed to surprise Percy, but Cristofori shrugged. “Celibacy is a convenient way to say you’re exhausted by maintaining a busy social life and are looking to settle down,” he said. His expression darkened by a hair before he added, “I know the feeling.”
David leaned back in his chair, taking that into consideration. He knew enough about Cristofori to know the man had never had anything close to Lionel’s sort of “social life”, though David recalled the man having a lover or two over the years.
“Perhaps your friend simply needs a little nudge,” Percy said, humor flashing in his dark eyes.
David laughed weakly. “Nobody nudges Lionel. He does whatever the hell he wants, whenever he wants. Or doesn’t do it,” he added as an afterthought. The idea brought far more melancholy to David than he thought it would.
“Why accept that as an answer?” Cristofori asked with a poorly concealed grin of amusement. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s almost as blatant as the way you look at him. You’re both dying for a fuck.”
David arched one eyebrow at Cristofori, trying to decide whether to feel irritated or sheepish, then peeked at Percy.
Percy was fighting a smile. “If you ask me, the two of you should break a few vows