LoveBetrayed Read Online Free

seem rather sure about what I should and shouldn’t
know,” Daniel said with amusement. “What I do know is that we will both be in
camp, and cannot avoid seeing one another.”
    “Quit being so obtuse,” Harry snapped.
    “The youngling knows some big words,” Daniel mocked.
    “I also know obfuscate,” Harry said, forcing himself to be
calm. “And oblivious. And I can tell you that they all apply to you.”
    “Ob…viously,” Daniel said, laughing at his own joke.
    Harry grabbed his arm and swung him around so they faced one
another. For a brief moment Daniel looked furious, and then a mask of
disinterest fell into place. “Yes?”
    “I want to see you again. Alone. I want to be alone with
you.” Harry spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child. “Do you
understand?”
    “I understand English perfectly,” Daniel said, shaking his
hand loose. “You, on the other hand, do not seem to understand that I am
through with you. You have served your purpose. Say goodbye and walk off with
your dignity intact.”
    “My dignity is just fine,” Harry said, jerking his buttoned
waistcoat down to smooth the wrinkles out. “Your attempted dismissal has not
even bruised it. Now, when can I see you again?”
    “If by see you mean fuck, the answer is never.” Daniel’s
reply was flat and succinct.
    “Liar.” Harry refused to believe Daniel, or show how angry
he was at his rude behavior. He knew that Daniel had felt the same way he had
during their amazing encounter. There was no possible way he didn’t want to
have that again.
    Daniel threw his hands up in the air. “Have it your way,
lieutenant. Hold on to your delusion that I wish a repeat performance. I will
attribute your stubbornness to a lack of intimacy with my acquaintance. You do
not know me well enough to know that I mean what I say. I do not speak without
conviction. When I say that we will never be together again, I mean it.” He
spun on his heel and stomped off.
    “You may mean it now,” Harry said quietly to his retreating
back, “but you’ll feel differently when you need me again. And I’m going to be
right there waiting for you. I can be just as stubborn as you.”
     
    “Why are you being so stubborn?” Simon Gantry, another War
Department agent and probably Daniel’s best friend—if he admitted to such
things—sat on a campstool by Daniel’s side, drinking wine and observing the
camp with him. They were having decidedly unseasonal warm weather lately,
though it had been accompanied by excessive rain. What dismal weather for a man
stuck in an army encampment. Directly across from them, on the other side of
the center clearing, sat young Lieutenant Ashbury, smoking his pipe and
observing Daniel. He wasn’t even being discreet about it. He’d stopped being
discreet days ago. And he didn’t look the least ridiculous smoking that damn
pipe.
    “What do you mean?” Daniel asked, feigning ignorance. “I’ve
done nothing to warrant that accusation.”
    “Oh, come on,” Simon said mildly. “You can play the ingénue
with James. I know what’s going on between you and the lieutenant. And it’s
obvious he wants you again in the worst way.” Simon took a drink and looked
contemplatively between Daniel and the lieutenant. “Honestly, I seem to be the
only one who has ever fucked you and walked away willingly. Your charms enslave
mere mortals.”
    Daniel snorted. “Indeed. I seem to recall you crawling back
into my bedroll several times after our first skirmish. It wasn’t until you
discovered there were other like-minded men about that you turned your back on
my charms and sought greener pastures.”
    “Exactly. For God’s sake, man, he’s in the Fourteenth. You
can’t spit without hitting a man who’ll bugger you around here. Greener
pastures abound and yet he stalks you like a starving beggar.”
    “Hardly starving,” Daniel replied coolly. “He looks well fed
and complacent and smug.”
    “Ha,” Simon said, as if