Retired secret agent Ben Smith will do anything for his husband. So when Simon's brother calls from London to say he's being blackmailed, Ben and Simon pack up and head to the glittering world of English aristocratic younger sons and parties and incriminating photographs. The mission itself isn't complicated -- but it's a reminder of the past, even as Ben's been trying to move on.<br><br>Simon Ashley adores his husband, and loathes most of his family ... except for the older brother who once gave him a home. He's here because Stephen needs help, but being back in the family house stirs up too many memories, none of them pleasant.<br><br>In London, Ben and Simon will confront a blackmailer, face the past, and find comfort in each other ... with some leather and tea, of course.

Leather and Tea in London

Simon finished, “But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t awful. I honestly was. Seducing the dreadfully straight boys just to say I had, as if it were a game. The dramatic makeup, the dramatic outfits—not that there’s anything wrong with that, and you know I still like dressing up. But why I was doing it, then…that was wrong. The reasoning. The things I’d say just to provoke reactions. Flirting with, well, everyone. Licking coconut cream off a fingertip during formal hall dining hours. Getting all those eyes to look at me. Being everything I’d been thrown out of the house for being, and worse. Because I could, and I was angry. You didn’t know me, then.”


“I’d’ve loved you anyway,” Ben said, completely devoted, and making mental notes about coconut cream. “And, come on, everyone’s awful at fifteen, that’s a rite of passage or something, seriously. I stole a car. Four times. Well, the same car four times.”


Chapter 14