Ellis Parker is a lucky man: he escaped his persecuting family, survived his tour of duty, and met Maxwell Clark in the city of New Amsterdam. Clark showed Ellis more than the ropes: Clark helped Ellis figure out who he is -- a gay submissive with a massive fixation on a beautiful, mysterious ballet dancer named Bryn Rothe. Ellis knows a Good Man when he sees one, and he wants nothing more than to score a first date with Bryn.<br><br>Little does Ellis know that Bryn has a violent past that is crawling out of shallow graves to haunt him. Even his hectic schedule and beloved stage aren’t enough to distract him. It’s impossible for Bryn to figure out how he feels about Ellis with his demons between them, but when Ellis saves Bryn not once but twice, Bryn is forced to admit that there’s something about Ellis that Bryn might not merely want but need.<br><br>Together, they journey to the scene of Bryn’s original crime -- Charles Towne, South Carolina. There they will dig up secrets that might explain Bryn’s tortured life but might also be his -- and Ellis’s -- undoing.

Earthquakes

“The family makes him attend a few functions a year, whether he likes it or not,” Clark interjected. “Show face, shake hands, the usual.”


“Exactly,” Daniel agreed. “And Lucian has a function he cannot miss.”


“For the Belmeade Center,” Daniel finished.


It took a moment to sink in. “You mean…?” Ellis started to ask.


“Bryn should be there,” Daniel confirmed.


Ballet Boy at a benefit. And Ellis there to see it. “And…and I’d be…?”


“There with Lucian, nominally,” Clark said. “It should, you know, get dear Bryn’s attention if nothing else.”


“Lucian will see to that,” Daniel muttered. “If the Prince had his way, the entire city would stop and hold its breath every time he drove down the street.”


“Now, now, dear,” Clark said mildly. “Your prejudices are showing.”


Ellis’s mouth worked without sound until he cleared his throat, drank some water, and found words. “Does, uh, Lucian know that I…Does he even…?”


Chapter 29