Page 9 of Wear It Like a Crown

“Well spotted,” Joshua said. “Someone’s been paying attention in school.” It was an innocent statement that didn’t press for more, but it made the muscles in Leo’s stomach jump all the same. Joshua hadn’t recognised him from the time they’d shared the hallways of Eton—of course he hadn’t; Leo had been two years ahead of Joshua and moved in a different circle, had also looked like a twink—but Leo didn’t want to supply him with clues that might stir up Joshua’s curiosity and prompt him to dig deeper.

Not that Joshua would bother to look into the past of a guy who happened to run some errands for him. Jesus. Leo needed to calm his tits.

“Up until a certain point, yes,” he said, sounding more bitter than he’d intended. He squinted into the sun, pale through a thin sheen of clouds. “Anyway, I doubt you called to discuss political views. So, how may I help you?”

“Oh, right. Yes.” Joshua sounded almost surprised. “It’s about what you told me earlier. Do you think you could do that? Ask Nate to lookinto whether he finds a trace, or… something like that? I don’t exactly know how it would work, but please just make sure it won’t trigger a panic reaction? I’d rather not be caught without…” He snorted. “With my pants down, like,literally.”

To Leo’s surprise, he found himself grinning. “As you wish. We’ve got until tomorrow morning, then? And you won’t tell anyone,anyone, what we’re up to. It’ll be our little secret.”

A palpable moment of hesitation, then Joshua sighed. “I won’t. And you have my number now, so if there’s anything you need to know…”

“I’ll give you a call,” Leo finished for him. Wow, fuck, he had Joshua’s number. As a teenager, he’d have given his left arm for that—well, notquite, but maybe one of his kidneys. Living with one kidney was no problem, right? Also, embarrassing teenage infatuation aside… “How come you even have my number? Did you call James first?”

“I’m friends with Tristan Gleeson,” Joshua said, and Leo needed a moment to place the name. Right—fun guy and son to the Marquess of Waterford, the latter ticking just about every box in Leo’s book of prejudices. So Joshua was a friend of Tristan’s, which definitely spoke in his favour, and so did the fact that he’d actuallylistenedto Leo, had taken his input seriously enough to provide a time window for Nate to find out more. Not that it was a whole lot of time, but it wassomething.

“Tristan’s a good one. Tell him hi from me, will you?” Pushing away from the wall, Leo turned to head back inside while they said their goodbyes in a mildly awkward shuffle. Jesus, Leo was normally much smoother than this; his ability to adapt had landed him this job in the first place. He hated feeling like this, out of his element, like some starry-eyed teenager. Stupid princes. It was worth keeping in mind that just because Joshua said “please” and was willing to listen to someone like Leo, it didn’t mean he wasn’t a spoilt brat. He had yet to take a risk that wasn’t strictly necessary, after all.

Right. To work.

The first thing Leo did once back inside was pull James out of his meeting with Atkin—withGeorge, whatever—to fill him in. Then Leo barged into Nate’s office and told him to work his magic.

After which he steeled himself to call Joshua back and ask for a list of people who were aware of his sexuality. Stupid.Reallybloodystupid, fuck, Leo should have thought of that right away, should not have needed Nate to point that out.

It really hadn’t been fair of Joshua to call without an advance warning, to act all nice and almost, well,shy. Not fair, no. Leo had been just fine talking to Joshua this morning, but that he had mistaken Joshua for a street kid in need of help had put them on uneven footing right away. Really, it had been like a kick to the kneecap before the conversation had even started. As someone who had been through that experience, Leo considered it a fitting analogy.

Well, not this time. This time, Leo was prepared, and he would play his role as a professional like a professional. A professionally professional professional, to be precise.

He would do James proud.

TWO

Joshua had only just settled into Mo’s colossal sofa when his phone rang. Accepting a beer, he used his free hand to fumble the phone out of his trousers, surprised to see Leo’s name flash across the screen.

It had been a mere twenty minutes since they’d talked. Surely Nate hadn’t found anything quite this quickly? Oh God,hadthey found something? Was there a chance this nightmare was over before the sun set?

Tucking the beer between his thighs, Joshua picked up the phone and struggled to think of a casual opening, something that wouldn’t make him sound too desperate. “Miss me already?”

Oh, great. Now he’d come across as a different kind of desperate.

If anyone had the skill to make silence seem loudly unimpressed over the phone, Leo Graham was that person. Joshua cringed. Sure, Leo had been a bit of a judgmental prick throughout part of their meeting, so it wasn’t as though he could complaintoomuch about Joshua skirting the edges of appropriate behaviour, but—uh. Two wrongs didn’t make a right.

“Sorry,” Joshua mumbled when five seconds had passed and Leo had yet to utter a word. Mo flicked Joshua a curious glance as he dropped onto the sofa next to him,poking him with a foot.

“Ibelieve,”—Leo’s tone was as dry as the Sahara—“we’re still at a stage in our acquaintance where I can go ten minutes without talking to you. In addition, I’m a strong, independent woman, and while you may have the curly locks of Prince Charming, I have yet to see you ride a white stallion. This is not that fairy tale.”

“I’ve got a white mare,” Joshua told him, and really, he should stop and direct this conversation back onto normal territory. “Surely that counts? Otherwise, it would be sexist.”

To Joshua’s surprise, Leo gave a quick, curling laugh. “All right, Princeling. I’m sure you’re a fantastic rider. Far be it from me to question it. Them. Your, ah…”—a tiny pause—“riding skills.”

Had Leo just—really? How had they gotten caught up in a round of Innuendo Bingo? And how was Joshua supposed to think of a good retort when his brain was wiped blank, heat pooling low in his belly at the thought of straddling Leo’s hips, holding himself up above him and—stop. Joshua needed tostop. There was a good chance he was reading more into this than he should.

He’d likely been silent for too long, because Leo spoke again, tone brisker than before. “Your collection of horses aside, I’m actually calling with a question. Can you give us a list of people who know you’re gay?”

The way Leo said the words as though they meant nothing—you’re gay; the grass is green; look, it’s a rainy day in London, now there’s a surprise—settled strangely in Joshua’s chest. Leo made it sound so easy, sonatural, when there were nights Joshua had fallen asleep wishing he’d wake up normal, would meet a nice girl and fall in love, get married in a splendid ceremony at Westminster Abbey and live up to expectations.

No such luck, of course. And while puberty had been hard, he’d mostly come to accept what he couldn’t change. Hearing a near-stranger casually put it out there was new, though. Not necessarily in a bad way, just… new.

“Yes, of course.” Joshua sucked in a breath to counteract the tight clench of his chest. “Not many people know, so it will be a short list. Give me five minutes, and I’ll text it to you.”