The Lord Won't Mind (The Peter & Charlie Trilogy) by Gordon Merrick Read Free Book Online Page B

laughter burst from him. It was contagious, and C. B. joined in. After a breathless moment, Charlie did too.
    When Henry announced dinner, they all rose and C. B. moved in between them and took their arms. “I was going to say the Three Musketeers,” she said as they proceeded to the dining room. “But I suppose I’d have to be Porthos, and I’d really rather not.”
    Their talk ranged over a variety of subjects under C. B.’s guidance. They laughed a lot. Afterwards, once more on the veranda, Peter grew increasingly silent and withdrawn. Charlie tried to catch his eye repeatedly, but he avoided the contact. He wondered if he could have said anything to upset him. His longing to be alone with him made an agony of the necessity of sustaining the conversation with C. B. At last, she rose.
    “I must drag myself away. I’ve loved every minute of it. Thank God for the young. They keep the rest of us alive. I suppose I should stir myself and have some people in, but give me time. I’m selfish. I want you both all to myself at the beginning.”
    Charlie stood immediately, and Peter followed suit. “We might as well all go up,” Charlie said. “Peter’s had a long day.”
    Once more, they traversed the lower floor and mounted the stairs together. At the first landing, C. B. kissed them both and walked briskly off down the hall. They continued up the stairs. Peter took the last few steps at a run and, when Charlie reached the top, seized him and covered his face with kisses: eyes, cheeks, forehead, mouth. His arms tightened around Charlie’s neck and he held him in a tight embrace.
    “It’s been so horrible,” he breathed into his ear. “Not being able to touch you. Not even being able to look at you the way I wanted to. I don’t see how I’m going to stand it.”
    “Did you feel it, too?” Charlie gripped his waist. “I thought you were mad at me.”
    “Oh no, no. God, no. Never.” Peter’s mouth fluttered over Charlie’s face again.
    “You were going great guns at the beginning. I wouldn’t have known what to do if C. B. had been saying those things to me about you.”
    “Oh, that was easy. I was just saying the truth.”
    “Make sure you don’t ever say too much of the truth. I guess we’ll get used to it.”
    “There’s something else I’ve got to say.” He lowered his head and rested his forehead against Charlie’s shoulder. “Now. I must. I’m—I don’t know what you’re going to think, but I can’t help it.” His voice had dropped so low that the sound of his mouth forming the words was louder than the words themselves. “I’m—I’m in love with you. I didn’t know it could happen with two guys, but it has. There’s no doubt about it, no matter what you say. I’m just—completely madly in love with you.”
    Charlie had been through this with others and it had always intensely embarrassed him, but now he found that the declaration made his heart sing. He circled Peter’s waist with his arms and held him closer. “What if I’m in love with you too? There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    Peter lifted his head. The light rising from the stairwell shadowed it with anguished beauty. “Isn’t there? Doesn’t it prove what I said—that I’m a fairy or a queer or whatever they call it?”
    “Stop saying that,” Charlie replied savagely, but remembered to keep his voice down. “We’re friends, aren’t we? It’s perfectly natural.” He was sure there was a distinction to be made. The Greeks had made it. They recognized the passionate love that occurred between men as opposed to the serious everyday love of man and wife, based on childbearing and so forth. He lifted Peter’s chin and cupped it in his hands and said more gently, “Go get ready for bed and stop being silly. I’ll be waiting for you.”
    “What about the clothes?”
    “Keep them. C. B. knows I’ve given them to you. Go on.” He gave Peter a little push and turned toward his room. He took off his clothes