Renner Morgan Read Online Free Page A

made from every shade of green on the planet.
    “It shares a bathroom with the bedroom next door, which is my room.” McBride pointed to a doorway that was near the foot of the bed. “If you want privacy, simply lock the door. I’ll try to remember to knock before I enter the bathroom, but sometimes I’m not all the way awake.” McBride’s sky-blue gaze traveled down Quintus’s body, coming to rest on his leg. “But with that injury, I don’t think you’re going to be getting out of bed on your own for a while.”
    Quintus was now thoroughly confused. The fact that McBride had put him in a room near his implied certain things, especially since they would be sharing a bathroom. That said intimacy without saying a word. But then again, McBride could only be wanting to keep Quintus close so he could assist him if he needed help. Confused about the entire situation, Quintus decided he would just have to wait and see what happened. The last thing he wanted to do was assume McBride wanted him and then look like a fool when he didn’t. Also, there was that curious attraction to the slammer who’d given him comfort. Maybe his injury was just making him a little desperate for a protector.
    “I’ve brought some bandages.” The man who had offered out his lap for Quintus was back with a basket full of items.
    McBride nodded and then looked down at Quintus. “This might be easier without your pants on.”
    For a moment, Quintus thought McBride was going to bend over and help him remove his pants, but he turned and went into the bathroom. After a moment, he was back with a crimson towel.
    “To protect the bed.” McBride slid that under his leg and then assisted him in sliding his trousers down.
    Quintus felt oddly vulnerable to be wearing his ripped shirt and clinging underwear in front of two men he really didn’t know. The only saving grace was that his underwear wasn’t all tattered like everything else he was wearing. When he looked up, he discovered that both McBride and the slammer were looking at him, but there was a marked difference in how they were looking at him. McBride was staring intently at the wound, his gaze seeming to assess it, while the slammer—damn that he didn’t know his name—was considering the wound, but he was also darting surreptitious glances along Quintus’s entire body.
    Feeling oddly vindicated that the slammer’s interest in him went beyond merely tending to his injuries, Quintus acknowledged a perverse kind of reciprocated interest. The slammer was tall and very strong. His black hair was short and shiny, his brown eyes wide and somehow innocent. Something about him interested Quintus, but he wasn’t certain exactly what. He was handsome, there was that, but there was something beyond the outer display. Something inside, a hidden element, that was calling to him in far stronger terms. Their little verbal tussle in the back of the cart came back to Quintus. The slammer had bristled at Quintus’s comments about the situation with his brother and Jonas. What Quintus hadn’t explained was that he wasn’t shocked about a landed gentryman selecting a slammer as a mate. Not at all. Even before the world changed so drastically, Quintus imagined there were plenty of gentrymen who had inappropriate relations with their slammers. What had surprised Quintus was that McBride had not only condoned the relationship but helped the wayward lovers be together by offering them the protection of his name and his home.
    “Go ahead, Renner.” McBride nodded to Quintus’s leg.
    Renner . Quintus echoed the name in his mind. It was a good name. Powerful and fitting to the strength the man possessed. It matched his dark good looks yet also seemed to work with that vulnerable sweetness in the man’s gaze. Quintus realized he was staring at him, so he dropped his attention to his leg. After a very brief look at the bloody mess, he looked away. Even as a child he’d been squeamish about his own