SonsChapter 6
After dinner, Miles and I found a torch and roamed the house, exploring as much as we could. There were five bedrooms on the second story and two large rooms on the third floor. Upstairs, only my room and the one occupied by Miles had any furniture in them. The ground level had the large foyer, a library, the dining room, the kitchen, servant’s quarters and a large sitting room with French doors that led out onto a stone porch with stairs down to the gardens.
We built a fire in the library fireplace and sat in the only two chairs, finishing off the wine. The library was still stocked with books and there was a large painting of my mother over the mantle.
Before she had gone to bed, Mrs. Sellers had taken us into the library to show us the portrait.
“Isn’t she lovely?” Mrs. Sellers asked.
“Yes, very.” I replied.
“I can see a little of thee in her, Stephen,” Miles said.
“Yes, you definitely have her lovely coloring,” Mrs. Sellers said.
In the painting my mother is outdoors wearing a riding outfit and is standing next to a roan mare. She is wearing a riding hat and her blond hair is pulled back. She is holding gloves and a riding crop in her hands. Her gaze follows you around the room. Her eyes are blue and piercing and she has a lovely half smile that suggests secret knowledge and sadness.
As the fire crackled and warmed the room, I could not keep my eyes off the painting as she stared down at me. Miles got up from his chair and lay down on the rug in front of the hearth. He turned on his side, facing me with his back to the fire.
“She’s lovely, Stevie.”
“I know. I can’t stop staring at her.”
“I noticed. Yer a lucky man.”
“Am I?”
“Look at this place. Sure it needs work, but for a while at least thee has a roof over yer head.”
“I wonder if it was hard for her to leave me in Germany?”
“Those kinda thoughts’ll drive thee crazy.” He took a drink from his wine. “Come here.”
I looked down at the beautiful man lying on the carpet in front of me. His eyes registered love and acceptance. Miles had changed into his civilian clothes for the first time since I’d met him. He wore brown corduroy trousers and a dark blue cambric shirt. His hair covered his forehead and he brushed it back with his hand. He patted the carpet as I took the last drink of my wine and set the glass on the floor next to my chair. I stood and walked over to where he lay. I knelt down next to him as he rolled over onto his back.
The light from the fire illuminated his skin and his blue eyes flickered orange with the firelight. His loveliness took my breath away as I leaned over, kissing him on the mouth. His tongue darted into my mouth and I fought back with mine. We battled for a moment and then I relinquished my advances and lay down next to him on the carpet.
“I don’t think I can make love in this room.”
“Why, because of the portrait?” he asked and I nodded. He put his arms around me, holding me as the fire crackled and spit.
In the morning I woke confused and bewildered, wondering where I was. I was alone in the bed as I slowly remembered moving up the stairs from the library and making love to Miles. It all came back to me as I stretched, remembering the night before.
Miles had been so gentle, so loving. We made love for what seemed like hours with Miles taking his time when he entered me, slowly driving me insane with lust. We fell asleep, naked in one another’s arms. He must have returned to his room sometime before the dawn.
I climbed out of bed, shivering with the cold. I grabbed the spread from the bed, threw it around my shoulders and walked into the bathroom off my new bedroom. The room appeared to have been remodeled sometime in the twenties with a tile floor. There was a separate room for the commode with a pull chain on a tank hanging on the wall. I pissed and flushed. The bath was a large cast iron porcelain claw foot tub under a window that looked out onto the gardens. I walked over and turned on the hot water. It took a lifetime to heat up and eventually the tub was full of steaming hot water.
While the tub filled I clutched the blanket around me and looked out onto the gardens and the porch below. The day was bright and clear and the trees swayed with a gentle breeze. There was a rose garden within a boxwood maze that was overgrown, sadly in need of trimming and pruning. In the center of the maze stood a large raised fountain covered in moss and algae. In the center another fountain rose out of the water and dripped slowly into the pool below. Directly ahead, the garden ended at a tall hedge and I could see the tops of trees from the forest beyond. A large lawn to the left of the garden sloped down, with stone terraces ending at a gate with more hedges and forest. Everywhere there were imposing old oak trees that dotted the edge of the lawn and surrounded the house.
As I stood there waiting for the tub to fill, surveying the estate, Miles walked out onto the porch below and stopped at the top of the stairs down to the garden. He placed his hands on his hips and stood tall, pushing out his chest. He stood there for a moment and then turned, looking back at the house. His gaze eventually made its way to the second floor where he saw me looking out the window at him. He waved and seemed somewhat embarrassed. I waved back at him as he walked back towards the house.
I dropped the blanket that covered me and climbed into the tub, easing myself slowly into the hot water. The heat began to caress every inch of my body as I slowly began to relax, slipping into a calm sense of well-being as my pores opened and I began to sweat. There was a bar of old soap in a brass holder on the edge of the tub. After some effort I worked the bar into a lather and began to wash my body. I used the soap to wash my hair and face and then slipped under the water to rinse myself off. I took a deep breath and stayed under the water for a moment, enjoying the luxury of a bath after so long. As I held my breath, listening to the sound of my heartbeat, I heard the sound of footsteps on the tile floor. I shot up out of the bathwater, catching my breath and opening my eyes, I saw Miles standing above me looking down with a smile.
“Looks like his Ladyship is startin’ the day out right. Mind if I join thee?” He removed his clothes and was soon slipping into the hot water at the opposite end of the tub. “Ahh,” he sighed as his feet slipped past my hips and my feet rested near his crotch. I brought my right foot up to his chest, massaging him with the sole of my foot. He took my foot in his hand and began to suck on my toes. I squirmed in the water.
“It tickles,” I protested. He held my foot as I tried to slip away and was soon licking the bottom of my foot. I relaxed, enjoying the sensations. With my other foot I rubbed his hardening cock until it poked its head out of the surface of the water. Miles took the bar of soap and began cleaning my feet; first one and then the other as I relaxed at the end of the tub. He was forced to sit upright and away from the faucet at his back.
Miles replaced the bar and I picked it up from the holder, “Turn around and let me wash your back,” I said. He threw his legs over the edge of the tub and switched positions, sliding back between my legs. I massaged his neck and shoulders with the soap.
“Stand up,” I commanded. He stood with his backside facing me and I lathered his strong buttocks and the backs of his muscled legs. I moved back up his legs, venturing into his crack. He jumped a little.
“Careful, that’s virgin territory,” he laughed.
I rubbed the soap into his crack and slowly he relaxed, arching his back a little as he let out a small moan. He turned around to face me, his rigid cock in my face.
“Thou art not done yet.” I lathered the soap in my hands, set it back in the holder and soaped up his cock and balls. He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. I stroked him for awhile and then took water from the tub to rinse off the soap. I grabbed his cock with my right hand and drew him closer to me, taking him into my mouth. As the moment approached he pulled out.
“Not yet,” he whispered breathlessly.
He sat back down between my legs and slid down to the end of the tub and lay down with his head on my stomach to rinse himself off. He sat back up and pressed himself against my hard cock. He moved around as he pressed his backside up against me. I reached around to his chest and massaged him with the soap and pinched his nipples.
“Well, let me at least wash your hair then,” I said. He lay back, getting his hair wet between my legs and sat up again. I took the soap, lathering his head with it. His hair was thick and full. When I had finished shampooing his hair and massaging his scalp, I stood up and climbed out of the tub. “You can have the tub to yourself now to relax and rinse the soap out of your hair.” I grabbed a large towel that was folded on a shelf and began to dry myself off as I watched him lie back in the water, rinsing his beautiful black hair. His cock had gone down somewhat, bobbing on the surface as he lay there in the water. I crossed over to the sink to shave. I could see him in the mirror.
“Thou art truly beautiful, Miles Sheffington,” I said as I watched him clean his feet.
“Listen to thee, I’ll have thee talking like a North Country boy soon enough,” he laughed.