OF DREAMS AND CEREMONIES (13 page)

"I don't know." Nicholas was pale again, though he didn't seem spooked so much as unsettled. "I don't know. Let's head back down and make a pot of tea."

Dave guffawed a little. "That's your answer to everything. You're so English!"

"And you love me for it."

He laughed again, fondly. "Seems that way!"

On the way back down the slope towards the cottage, Nicholas asked a bit edgily, "Are we going to go for a boat trip at least?"

"Not without consulting Margaret Widgery first," Dave said very firmly indeed. "Did you hear that about cash only? Doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

And Nicholas visibly relaxed. "Sometimes," he said - "just sometimes, mind you - I think you're an even better answer than a cup of tea, David Taylor."

Dave grinned at the man, for whether he agreed with it or not, he knew a man's truth when he heard it.

ten

They walked into Lizard the following morning, and headed for the grocery store. Margaret Widgery was there; her mother Joan was sitting in what must be her usual place, and this time Maeve was sitting by her, reading a book, with a white rosebud tucked into her thick red hair. While Dave explained his qualms to Margaret and asked her opinion, Nicholas browsed the postcards.

"Bert knows the sea and the peninsula as well as anyone," Margaret said in response. "He wouldn't take any risks with the tides or the weather. However, he's not an official tour operator. You'd be trusting him as an individual. An acquaintance."

"Do you know if his boat is licensed?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, but I should think so. He takes better care of the
Fortune Teller
than of himself. But he may not be fully insured for passengers, and so on." She caught her lower lip between her teeth, obviously unwilling to either recommend they take the trip or be unfair to Bert.

"I don't care so much about insurance," said Dave, "as about nothing bad happening in the first place."

"Well, there are always risks in taking a boat out to sea. But then there are risks in driving a car along the road - probably more! It becomes about what you're used to." Margaret sighed. "If you'd trust me to drive you to Penzance in my car, say, then you can trust Bert to take you out in his boat for a couple of hours. I suppose that's what it comes down to."

Joan put in, "Bert will bring you safe home again, no need to worry about that. He sails these waters by sun and by moon and by the stars."

"Thank you," Dave said to them both, nodding his appreciation.

"You'll let us know when you go out, though?" Margaret asked. "And let me know once you're safely back."

"Yeah - if we go. I'll have to think about it some more."

Margaret smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll make the right decision."

"And I think I finally have, too," said Nicholas, coming over to the counter with ten or twelve postcards and a pen, which he bought along with stamps. "This will surprise everyone! They'll wonder how we found the time, what with us being on our honeymoon and all."

Dave huffed a laugh, and turned away before he could blush again.

They headed for the same pub to have lunch, and sat outside again, in the sunshine close to the wall so they were out of the wind. There was a wood-burning brazier near them, which helped provide a little warmth and a lot of atmosphere.

Nicholas started writing out his postcards with fluent ease. Apparently he could be just as charming in writing as he was in person. "Take a couple," he encouraged Dave. "I bought plenty. I thought you'd like to send them to Denise and Charlie. They'll be home again by now, won't they?"

"All right," Dave grudgingly agreed, sifting through the remaining pile to pick out the two he found most appealing. However, there was only one pen, so for now he was excused from having to come up with actual words. He hadn't had much practice in the writing of postcards.

The barkeep came out with menus, made a point of welcoming them back, and then took their orders for both drinks and food. As he headed back inside, Dave glimpsed Bert hovering in the shadows just inside the doorway, peering out at them anxiously. When he realised Dave had seen him, Bert withdrew a little further - but it was obvious he was still there. Dave said to Nicholas, "I think Bert wants to come and say hello again."

Nicholas looked around, and waved cheerily - though he turned back to Dave and muttered, "I'm sorry if this bothers you. Rotten timing and all that, given that we just got hitched. But I'm afraid he seems to have taken a bit of a shine to me …"

Dave just stared at Nicholas for a long moment before guffawing. "Are you serious?
Everyone
falls for you, Nicholas. It's a wonder I had any chance at all."

"Oh," said Nicholas, apparently rather nonplussed.

"You just don't get to do anything about it any more. Not with anyone but me. All right?"

"Right," Nicholas agreed, promptly though a little vaguely. "Well, can he come and say hello, at least?"

"Of course." Dave laughed. "It's all right, I'm not the jealous type. But I'm loyal, remember? We're going to be loyal, aren't we?"

Nicholas nodded. "Of course we are. That's what I want, too." And after a moment in which they acknowledged this fundamental agreement, Nicholas turned around again and beckoned for Bert to come and join them.

Bert shambled over and stood there looking a bit shyly at Nicholas. "Hello," he said.

"Hello, Bert," Nicholas replied. "We're still thinking about the boat trip, I'm sorry. I'm sure we'll make up our minds soon, though. It's not like we're here for very long. Hardly more than two weeks, really."

"That's all right," said Bert. Then after a brief pause, he blurted, "But you don't go up to the stone circle at night, do you?"

"No," said Nicholas with a frown. He glanced at Dave before asking, "Why? Why do you keep saying that?"

"It's not safe, it's not good."

Nicholas seemed spooked, but also intrigued. "Why, though? Does something happen up there? Some kind of ceremony, maybe?"

"No, that's not it. That's not it."

"But - "

"Bert! Are you bothering these fellows again?" It was slim, sinuous Vincent who'd come out of the pub to lay a restraining hand on Bert's arm. He seemed just a little too familiar with Bert, as if he knew he could presume. "Remember we got told not to bother these good fellows … ?"

Bert remained silent, but was alternately glancing at Vincent and looking rather imploringly at Nicholas.

"It's all right," said Dave, puzzled by the whole thing. "He's not bothering us."

"Nah, come inside, Bert," Vincent insisted. "You don't believe his tall tales, do you?" he asked Dave and Nicholas even as he tugged at Bert's arm.

"You were telling us tales about the standing stones as well," Nicholas pointed out.

"Fairy stories. Nothing but rubbish."

"Right …" Nicholas sounded sceptical, as well he might. If it was all rubbish, then why did Bert seem so unsettled?

"Come
on
, Bert," said Vincent - and after another tug at his arm, Bert followed Vincent back inside the pub, casting one last longing glance back at Nicholas.

Dave and Nicholas looked at each other. "What the hell?" said Dave quite rhetorically.

After a moment, Nicholas ventured, "It's like … there's something Bert isn't saying. Something he's trying to tell us about."

"Something he wants from us?"

"Maybe." Nicholas cast a worried look into the pub. Not that they could see anything inside, given the relative brightness of the day.

"D'you think he's trying to ask for your help?"

Nicholas guffawed, but answered, "Maybe. And maybe Vincent doesn't want him to. But then, why wouldn't Bert ask you? You're the heroic one, David."

Dave smiled despite himself. It was sweet that Nicholas thought so, though Dave himself had to disagree. "No, I'm not."

At least this new topic successfully distracted Nicholas from fretting over Bert and the mystery of the stone circle. "I've told you before: you're the hero of my story," Nicholas insisted.

"And there I was, thinking that you're the hero of mine …"

They gazed at each other with amused fondness - or maybe it was fond amusement - until their lunch arrived.

It had been on Dave's mind that Nicholas had asked Dave to fuck him while they were on their honeymoon, and he hadn't yet done anything about it - so as they made love that afternoon, as they stretched tall and pressed close and kissed wild, Dave let his hand slip down Nicholas's long backbone, his fingertips trailing down each knob and dint, until at last he touched the man somewhere he'd never touched anyone before. Nicholas shuddered in reaction - and, remembering as vividly as if he were touching himself, Dave shivered, too. It was a strange dark glorious kind of intimacy that Nicholas had introduced Dave to. It was certainly more than time to repay the favour.

As Dave teased his fingertips back and forth across that tender pucker of flesh, Nicholas pushed further into Dave's embrace, he moaned and his kisses became ragged with hunger, his thigh slid up higher so that he was more exposed … That all seemed promising. Dave settled in, and slowed his pace to something more deliberate. He rubbed a fingerpad against Nicholas, and pushed gently, feeling the tension and the slight give, remembering that he himself had never really had a problem with this. Not physically. He suspected Nicholas might find the act a little more problematic, but it was Nicholas who wanted it … It was Nicholas who wanted to be fucked. They'd take it slow, that was all. They'd take it steady.

Dave reached a long arm for the bedside table and the lube.

"No, wait," said Nicholas, his voice husky with need.

Dave left the lube where it was, and met the man's heated gaze. "I was just gonna finger you," he carefully explained. "Nothing too serious. Not yet."

"No - No, I'll - " Nicholas was actually so far gone as to be having trouble with words. He was also, however, adamant. "
I'll
prep myself. Trust me?"

"Yes."

"I'll do that. I want our first time to be full on. I want it to be - " Nicholas groaned gutturally - "
elemental
."

At which unexpected word Dave groaned, too. And they had a fair go at 'elemental' right then and there, twisting and turning, holding and pinning, to rut hard against each other as if it were the natural order of things. Which Dave supposed it was.

Afterwards, as they lay there sprawled heavily in each other's embrace, even as they were still panting with the exertion, Nicholas commented, "If we can't go up to the standing stones at night, like Bert says, and we can't do it during the day cos anyone might walk past along the coastal path, then it'll have to be first thing in the morning. At dawn. That's appropriate."

Dave frowned over that for a moment, but had to ask, "We'll have to do what at dawn … ?"

Nicholas replied, as if it were perfectly obvious, "You fucking me for the first time."

"What - ?"

The matter-of-fact tones continued despite the outrageous notion. "I want to sacrifice my virginity to you on that altar stone."

Dave was kind of horrified. He shifted his head a little so he could stare at Nicholas. "You can't possibly be serious."

Nicholas blinked, but said "Maybe" in the way that meant he actually was. Then he added, "Aren't you man enough to do that for me?"

"Don't try to out-macho me," Dave grumbled. "You said you felt safe with me! And your father trusts me to take care of you. So you have to let me have a say in things like this. The last thing I want to do is hurt you!"

"Like I said, I'll prep myself. It'll be fine."

Dave let out a sigh. "Yeah, all right, I trust you to do
that.
But outside? On a
rock
? I dunno, Nicholas …"

"We did it outside at the waterhole. Any number of times!"

"That was Australia, out the back of beyond - and on a mattress, mostly. This is England, five minutes from the nearest town - not to mention the fact that it's almost winter!"

Nicholas hauled himself up onto his elbows so he could talk more directly to Dave. "I want it to be - primal. I want to - You said it once. You said you wanted to
feel
it. It hardly counts if it's too easy."

Dave considered the man. Lifted a hand to run a wary, curious finger down that long, determined face. "In the middle of a stone circle …" Dave said rather more quietly. "Don't you think that's just asking for trouble?"

"I thought you didn't believe in all that supernatural stuff."

"Supernatural or not, it seems a bit … risky to me. And did I mention the cold?"

Nicholas was reduced to using his imploring face.

Dave couldn't help but chuckle in response. Nicholas usually got what he wanted, Dave had found. But then even Simon had advised Dave to stand firm - or indeed, run away - when necessary, in his own interests or in Nicholas's. "Let me think about it," Dave eventually conceded. He assumed the answer would have to be no, but maybe he could come up with a half-decent alternative.

Nicholas immediately agreed, "All right," and there was a slight smugness to his smile, despite an attempt at demureness. It was perfectly obvious that Nicholas assumed the answer would end up being yes. Sharing his life with this man might prove to be even more of an adventure than Dave had realised!

During a lull in the cooking that night, Dave caught Nicholas gazing at him curiously. It was so plain that Nicholas had something he wanted to ask that Dave wondered why he couldn't already read the words spilling from those perfectly plump pink lips. Dave laughed, and prompted, "What?"

Nicholas's gaze slid away, and he turned bashful. Which was getting to be a rarity. These days Nicholas was too happy to be shy; confident in all the right ways. Dave took that as the best compliment he'd ever been paid.

"Come on," Dave insisted, unable to prevent himself grinning. "What's going on in that tricksy mind of yours?"

Another pink-cheeked hesitation dragged by until at last Nicholas said, "At lunch? You said that everyone falls for me…"

Dave guffawed. "Well, they do. Everybody
adores
you. Do you honestly not know that?"