Chapter Six

Rogan bored into him. Drew's lips trembled like his body. He thought he'd die from the pleasurable/painful assault. He clasped the bed linens in his hand and squeezed, the need to annihilate the past between them overriding rationale thought. If only their primitive need—this animalistic hunger—could accomplish such a feat.

His body melted under Rogan's weight. The drift of the man's hot breath at his nape, his hard shaft plunging deep, sucked the breath from Drew's lungs. Rogan's cock filled him completely; the intense sensation numbed his mind. Powerful thrusts brought him to a thrashing frenzy. Time and again, Rogan nudged his most sensitive nerve endings in only the way Rogan could, drove into him like a savage until Drew's body convulsed shamelessly. Only Rogan could elicit such a response, and the man knew the power he wielded, had always known.

Rogan fucked him and he arched his hips back, whimpering like a wild cat in heat. Drew lost control of his body as Rogan's skillful thrusts pitched him into unimaginable heights of pleasure.

Did he mean to punish him for marrying Claudia? Had it been his intention all along to make him beg while buried deep inside him? Drew would beg, if need be, for he could no longer distinguish daylight from dark, resentment from love.

And Drew no longer cared.

He recognized one thing, the indescribable need to feel Rogan plunder him until his soul splintered.

In his ecstatic delirium, his body thrashed back to meet Rogan's, every muscle and sinew strung tighter than a fiddle string. Mindlessly, his body screamed for release.

A low, animal-like noise from Rogan mingled with Drew's hoarse panting, sending his heart into a triumphant thud. Rogan wanted him. The man clasped his hips and held him immobile, moved with agonizing slowness until Drew felt every inch of Rogan's cock against his insides. Unable to keep silent under the assault, Drew whimpered his name.

Bursting lights danced behind Drew's closed eyes, white, pale blue and brilliant silver. His toes curled and the climax claimed him, so powerful and intense his body went rigid. He left his soul and traveled to some distant plane, so harmonious he had no desire to return to earth.

In the dark recesses of his mind, he felt Rogan's body convulse, heard a deep groan rumble up from his chest. Together, they shuddered through a wrenching release that seemed to come from another place and time.

"Ah, Drew." Rogan fell forward, crushing him in a strong embrace.

Drew waffled between confusion and bliss. He'd always been drawn to Rogan, longed for his touch, his attentions, but nothing had prepared Drew for the raw jolts of pleasure surging through him.

Even now.

Good God, a master at seduction, the consummate lover, words didn't begin to describe the man. His touch had been like a whip flaying his flesh, searing every nerve ending, every cell in his body. He'd whispered no words of love, and his invasion was anything but gentle. Drew swallowed back bitter laughter. What had he expected from the notorious libertine? Tender passion? Anger and frustration choked him until he was forced to roll away to hide his emotions.

"Oh, no you don't," Rogan said, pulling him back into his arms. "You accused me of a most grievous crime and now you will explain."

An agonizing image rose, one Drew had fought back for too many years. He couldn't bring himself to speak of it.

"Drew, you said, 'I saw you with him.' Damn it, tell me, who is this phantom lover you speak of?"

Emotion clogged Drew's throat. He looked away and shook his head. "I've said enough."

Rogan cupped Drew's chin and turned his face toward him. "At the very least, you owe me a name."

Drew spat the name. "James McCaffrey."

A flash of lightning rent the sky, illuminating Rogan's expression of disbelief. "You accuse me falsely. I've never so much as spoken to the man except in passing."

The vision of a sneering devil rose and splayed Drew's heart. "So I'm not only blind, but a liar to boot?"

"And most definitely disloyal," Rogan added with dry humor. "Whatever you believe you saw, you did not, and what's more, don't you think it quite drastic to cut me from your life and marry another without affording me the opportunity to defend the charge?"

Drew rose to a sitting position, his voice bitter. "You're not going to turn this on me. I saw you kissing him, groping him."

"Where for Christ sakes? When?"

"At the Governor's Yuletide ball, two days before-before I told Fallon to refuse you when you called on me."

"'Tis a lie, I tell you. It never happened, and what's more, it's preposterous to even think I would look at another man when I was so besotted with you."

Their gazes met beneath the luminous moon. Rogan slapped a hand to his forehead, the ironic laughter from his throat unsettling. "Rory!"

"Pardon?"

"You saw my twin, Rory."

Drew swallowed in an attempt to rise above the ensuing panic. He didn't want to hear any more. What type of fool would sit here and listen to such drivel? Yet, unmistakable regret rang in Rogan's voice. And an enormous amount of pain. It wasn't possible. It had to be a horrible, sick type of prank. Rogan reached out, caught Drew's wrist and yanked him back when he tried to flee from the bed.

"Let me go, Rogan; stop lying to me!"

"You listen to me," Rogan said, his voice taut with anger. "Do you have any idea what you've done? All these years. You married, slept with a woman. Did you fuck her senseless? Christ, the irony!"

Drew shook his head, the pain in his heart a living, breathing entity. "You'd mentioned a brother, but never a twin."

"A faux pas, an oversight!" Rogan yanked Drew toward him, so hard his neck cracked. "Jesus! Night after night I imagined you riding her, her thighs wrapped around the body I craved, wanted so badly I could barely breathe. How I hated you for leaving me and marrying her."

The blank look of defeat masked Rogan's eyes, and the torment in his voice cut Drew to the quick.

"Hate me still, Rogan," he whispered and forced himself to look away. If only he could go back in time. Thunder rolled outside, competing with the hysteria rising in his throat.

"Damn you. God damn you." Rogan pushed Drew onto his back and loomed over him.

Drew wanted to explain, but Rogan covered his parted lips with a searing kiss. He inhaled his scent, breathed him in deeply as if to sear his essence into his soul. Rogan slid down Drew's body, kissed the hollow spot at the base of his throat, went lower still and took a nipple into his mouth, suckling it like a thirst-starved beast.

Drew's world tilted, yet suffering under exhaustion from their recent joining, he could do nothing but surrender to the rapture. Rogan moved with languid grace down his body. A series of half-gasps-half-moans fell from Drew's lips as he took his hard cock into his mouth.

Rogan grasped Drew's knees, opened them wide, and plunged two fingers into his already slick hole. A shudder claimed him, and then a plaintive moan. He cried out and lifted his hips to meet Rogan's wicked invasion.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Drew heard the rain lash against the windows jumped when claps of thunder shook the walls. The Devil's Heel rose and fell with the monstrous tides in perfect sync with his splintering body.

He needed to feel Rogan inside him again, wanted him to drive into him deeply, make him forget the despair of their separation, the cruelty of fate. With a groan of anguish, he grabbed hold of him and pulled him up, kissing him with a fervor that had been foreign to him until now.

Rogan returned those kisses and spoke against Drew's lips. "Open your eyes. I want to see them while I fuck you."

Drew held Rogan close, wrapped his legs about his waist, imploring him to plunder him brutally, praying this base act could wipe out Rogan's rage and his guilt. Whatever angst the man had demonstrated moments ago dissipated. Rogan fucked him with methodical patience, wringing a string of whimpers and cries from Drew's lips. He writhed and strained, and God help him, begged for more. How could a man possibly demonstrate such control? Only when the tremors of his climax shook him to the core did Rogan release his seed and pull out.

After their lovemaking, Drew couldn't stand the silence. If only Rogan would say something, anything. He released a long sigh of regret. "You should have told me you had an identical twin."

The interminable silence tore through him. He felt Rogan turn toward him and wondered how he’d look at that magnificent face without crumbling into a pool of pudding.

"In retrospect, I should have. How was I to know revealing such a thing would save so much heartache?"

"Would it help to know it was always you, even…." He swallowed hard. Good Lord, did Rogan want him to plead? "During every day of my marriage to Claudia."

"The mere thought of you married only exacerbates my anger tenfold."

In that moment, Drew realized the gravity of his impetuosity and the price he'd pay for leaping to conclusions, for not giving Rogan a chance to explain. "Your anger and your revulsion for me."

"I do not hold revulsion for you, Drew, but it's difficult to believe you married her and loved me."

"I did," he said imploringly. "I know how this must seem but allow me to tell you about dear, sweet Claudia.”

“Pray tell, why do I want to know about the woman you married?”

“For one, the marriage was never consummated.”

“Ha!” Rogan tipped his head back and snorted. “And spiders are toads and toads elephants.”

“Rogan, please stop laughing long enough to hear me out. She held no interest for me in that regard, or any other man, for that matter.”

Rogan cocked his head and rolled his eyes.

“I swear on my parents’ souls.” Drew crossed his heart. “Have you ever heard of Sappho, the poetess? I don’t imagine you’ve read any of her works, for little exists today, except for one complete poem, the Ode to Aphrodite. Claudia adored her writing, knew Ode to Aphrodite by heart.

Rogan tumbled a finger, a gesture Drew interpreted to mean continue. “Beyond Sappho’s lyrical poetry, she is well known as a symbol of love and desire between women, the English words sapphic and lesbian being derived from her own name and the name of Sappho’s island home in Greece.”

“Your scholarly genius amazes me, but if I interpret this correctly, are you telling me Claudia loved women?”

“Precisely.”

Rogan shot him a skeptical glare.

“Is it so difficult to believe a woman could love another woman?”

“It’s not difficult to believe. It’s just…just that Claudia was so beautiful with a plethora of suitors falling at her feet.”

“Yes, and not one stole her heart.”

“She had a lover, then, a woman?”

Drew nodded. “One day I shall reveal her name. It is of no significance now, other than to tell you, she was madly in love. And while I reveled in her happiness, I drowned in my own misery. She understood my despair and provided a soft shoulder to cry on.”

“And then you saw me in an amorous situation, or thought you saw me?”

Drew placed his fingers to his temples to gather his thoughts. "When I came upon the scene, I couldn't think straight. Blinded by jealousy and rage, I meant to punish you, jilt you before you dismissed me for another."

Rogan rose from the bed, fastened his trousers and scooped his shirt from the floor. "Well, in that you succeeded.” He shook his head. “I believe I've been sufficiently punished."

"You’re leaving. You have nothing more to say?”

"I need a drink, perhaps three, and I need to digest everything you’ve divulged. I intend to seek the company of those I trust, my crew."

"What will happen between us now?" Drew had to know. If Rogan wanted him to beg, he would. He couldn't imagine living without him now.

Rogan shrugged. "I don't know, but I'll be gone for a day or two. Perhaps it's best we're apart for the time being. Will give us both time to think on the future."

"Gone? Where are you going?"

"I received a message from Spottswood's man and I must rendezvous with him."

Drew took comfort in the fact Rogan indicated he'd only be away for a short time. Drowning in a cesspool of dread and anguish, he could do nothing but watch Rogan walk through the door and out of his life.

For now.