Double Alchemy: Climax (16 page)

Quinn’s ears pricked up at Cade’s words. He hadn’t been aware of this plan.

“Scotland? Any idea when it might be planned for?”

Cade shook his head. “Not yet. It depends on funding and some other circumstances. Ambrose is working on it with Cooper.”

So Cooper would be going too? Quinn definitely didn’t like the sound of that plan. He wondered if he’d be asked to provide the funding. He’d have to think about that if so. He wasn’t paying for Cade to go on a nice long weekend with Cooper and no Quinn.

Are you going to stand for this young upstart to spirit your Cade away to a place of privacy, Quinn?

Taliesin’s sly words were not helping Quinn feel comfortable about the rather effusive Cooper.

“Cade is a wonderful teacher,” Cooper enthused. “He has a lot of patience and his knowledge is incredible. You should be very proud of him.”

“Oh, I am.” Quinn said silkily, drawing Cade closer to him possessively. “Extremely proud. I can safely say he’s taught me a lot.”

And he’s mine, you arsehole, so back off!

Cade poked him hard in the ribs and Quinn smiled at him innocently. “It looks like everyone is making their way to the tables. I suppose we’d better find ours.” He looked at Cade who nodded.

“Nice meeting you,
Coop
,” Quinn said lazily.

Cade glared at him. “We’ll go sit down for dinner. Cooper, we’ll see you there.”

Quinn took Cade’s elbow and steered him away toward the bar.

Cade shook his head. “You said you’d behave!”

“I
did
behave. I didn’t do anything untoward, did I?” Quinn grinned. “The man is still human and hasn’t been turned into a chicken or lost his hair. I did think about making him bald.”

Cade sighed in exasperation. “I know you. You have this way of charmingly brushing people off and making them feel that they should be glad they even had a minute to spend with you. You can insult people without them even knowing you’ve done it.”

“I can’t help my charm, it’s who I am. I was just born this way.” He ducked adroitly out of the way of Cade’s fierce punch to his ribcage and chuckled at the swear word he heard.

“Hell, you’re supposed to be a gentleman. Gentlemen don’t say rude words like that.” He leaned in and whispered in Cade’s ear. “Not unless they’re in the bedroom.”

“God, you can be such an arrogant tosser.” But Cade was smiling and Quinn knew he’d won him over.

They found their table and sat down whilst Quinn ordered more drinks. He was pleased that the crowd at the table were quite talkative and the time seemed to pass fairly quickly. Even Cooper had his moments of interest. Dinner was served, the drinks flowed and the conversation became animated. Quinn looked at his watch and nudged Cade on the shoulder.

“I’d better make my way to the front. Ambrose wanted me there at ten.”

Cade nodded as Quinn picked up his jacket and disappeared toward the stage at the front of the room. The gong sounded and the ballroom drew quiet. The stage lit up as the ballroom lights dimmed and Ambrose Tickler Brown appeared with a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. Firstly, can I say how pleased I am that everyone is here enjoying themselves? I am very gratified at such a huge turnout, and I must thank you all for coming, especially as I know you may have much better things to do on a Saturday night.” He cleared his throat.

“As you all know, the Institute for Anthropological Studies in Golders Green does a myriad of things. It teaches, it researches, it promotes studies of the subject to local youth groups and schools, and it tries to get the subject of our past across to people who might otherwise never have the opportunity to hear of what life used to be like before Blackberries, smartphones and the internet. Not to mention social networking.”

There was low laughter throughout the room.

“But we cannot do what we do without the benefit of organisations who graciously fund us, giving us the money to create such programmes and get our message over to the public. Grants allow us to send our researchers to find out more about our past, the people and cultures that inhabited it and put together undergraduate and graduate programmes for people to study and propagate the research. The company that helps us with our funding is generous to a fault and has been supporting us for over fifty years. QuinnCo was started by a man called Christopher Fairmont all that time ago, and today we are very privileged in having his son and the current patron of the Institute, Mr. Quinn Fairmont, with us to say a few words. Quinn, we’re very glad to have you with us tonight.”

Cade’s heart swelled with pride as Quinn appeared on the stage, the stage lights glinting on his tawny blond hair, looking very handsome in his tux. He saw more than a few avaricious stares at his man as he stood there, from men and women alike.

Eat your heart out, you lot, he’s all mine
.

Quinn took the microphone as the room grew quiet. “Ladies and gentleman, it’s a pleasure to be here with you tonight. I promise I’ll keep it short as I know you’re all anxious to continue drinking that wonderful wine that’s on the table. Plus luckily for you all I’m not given to long-winded speech like I know Ambrose is prone to.”

There was a low buzz of laughter. Ambrose’s predilection to rambling discourses on occasion was well known.

“My father took over this company when his father died and like me, he believed in what it was trying to accomplish. By learning about our past and the cultures that came before us, we learn more about ourselves and where we came from. QuinnCo promotes racial and cultural tolerance through its work with organisations like the London Project, an outreach for gang members and various what we call ‘A-religious’ groups which seek to promote understanding of each other’s religions and beliefs, with an aim to accepting that whatever anyone believes in, there should be no stigma attached to it. We’ve even worked with Wiccan and other Neo-Pagan groups, as well as creationist and evolutionary organisations to try and promote cultural understanding.”

He looked around the room. “I know there are some here tonight that disagree with what we do, just as I know there are others who are totally devoted to it and want to make it work. Anthropology gives us the insight of our origins and allows us to look back at the mistakes we made in hopes we don’t repeat them. My father believed in this, as do I and this is why this Institute is so important to my company. It makes a difference and it’s what each and every one of us should try to do. Thank you for listening to me and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”

He smiled and handed the microphone back to Ambrose amidst loud applause. Cade was so proud of him and his confidence and passion. Cooper, seeing he was a little emotional, smiled and leaned over and laid a hand on his.

“He’s really good up there, isn’t he? He really believes in what he says.”

“You have no idea, Cooper. No idea.” Cade murmured, wishing for one crazy moment that everyone in the room could know who Quinn was and what he actually stood for. Knew even who and what Cade was and the strange, wonderful world they lived in together. In a million years, Cade had never dreamt of anything such as what he had now. He still pinched himself. He could only imagine how other people, non-magyck, would see it. He and Quinn would probably both end up in the loony bin.

Quinn appeared at Cade’s side with a smile that faded slowly as he saw Cooper’s hands covering his. Cade hastily moved them away and picked up his wine glass, toasting Quinn.

“You were wonderful up there, babe. To say you did that all from your head, you did well.”

Quinn smiled. “I’m glad.” He sat down and pulled Cade’s hand toward him as he kissed it possessively, glaring at a grinning Cooper. “It wasn’t too long, was it?”

Cade shook his head. “No, it was just right. You speak with such conviction and it’s really heartfelt.” He lowered his voice to murmur into Quinn’s ear. “I was just thinking that sometimes it would be nice for people to know exactly who you are, and why you can say you believe so much in what you do. With what you’ve experienced, people would have to believe you really know what you’re talking about.”

“Sometimes, I feel the same.” Quinn’s tone was wistful. “Sometimes I just want to invoke Taliesin and let him tell everyone about the death and destruction he’s seen in the name of religion and cultural differences. But I can’t. It would wreak complete and utter havoc. So we have to stay hidden away to do what we do.”

It was almost midnight when Quinn and Cade said their farewells and went up to bed. Quinn watched carefully as Cooper hugged Cade, not missing his sly, seemingly accidental caress of Cade’s arse. Words of magyck sprung into his mind, words he tried manfully to suppress. Fusing a man’s fingers together was not something one could get away with at an event like this. Cade also looked quite tipsy and in the lift, Quinn smiled at him in amusement as he regarded the flushed face.

“Had a little too much there? You have that rather dreamy look on your face that always tells me you might have over-imbibed.”

“Listen, handsome, I’m in a very happy place at the moment. It was a good evening, with great company, you by my side and from what I remember, you promised to be the naughty professor when we get upstairs, so this man has a lot to look to look forward to.” Cade yawned sleepily. “I’ll try and find my second wind by then, I promise.”

“Hmm. That Cooper is a little more forward than I’d like. He seems to have no boundaries.”

Cade waved an airy hand. “Coop is fine, just a little excitable. He’s not a threat, Quinn, honestly. No man can measure up to you.”

Quinn stayed quiet and Cade looked at him. “Is everything all right? Normally you’d have some witty repartee for me by now about the length of your dick or something.”

“I’m fine,” Quinn murmured, feeling a little distracted by what he had planned. They reached the room and he slid the key card into the lock and opened the door, motioning Cade inside. Cade entered the room and gasped at what he saw. The room was decked out with some very ornate and very large red rose bouquets, scattered around the room, in front of which stood a magnum of champagne and two glasses. Cade turned and gazed at Quinn, his eyes wide.

“Wow. This is quite a display. Did the hotel do this for us then? Or the Institute perhaps?” He leaned over and smelled the roses, breathing in their delicate scent.

“No, Cade, I did.” Quinn reached over and pulled Cade closer to him, his hands encircling his waist as he looked deeply into silver—albeit slightly glazed—eyes. “I’m really not very good at this sort of thing, so bear with me.” He took a deep breath, feeling like the first night at his prom when he wanted to kiss a special girl and wasn’t sure how she’d respond.

“Cade, you know I love you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and meeting you on the heath that day was just meant to happen. I know that. But I don’t think I tell you enough just how much I love you. You’re my world.”

Cade looked up at him with eyes that drank him in, and Quinn swallowed.

“I love coming home to you and seeing you curled up in your chair with the cat, and your books, just looking as if you belong there. There’s no other sight I’d rather see. So I thought it was about time I made an honest man of you.”

Cade’s eyes widened and he swallowed, his full lips parting and Quinn wanted to kiss him so badly he had to look away. He reached behind the one bouquet of flowers and picked up the small box he’d hidden there earlier.

“Cade Mairston, will you marry me?” He took a deep breath and opened the box to reveal the ring he’d picked out of the safe earlier that evening.

Cade looked at him and Quinn saw the glint of tears in his eyes as he looked down at the ring. It was an eighteen-carat yellow gold wedding band, with three small diamond chips embedded on the top, simple but very elegant, like the man himself.

“It was my father’s ring,” Quinn said softly. “My father said the three diamonds symbolised the past, the present and the future, which is very apt considering who we are and where we’ve both come from. It’s been in the safe since Daniel gave it to me when I was eighteen.” He grinned slightly. “Dan said one day I’d put it to good use if some man was stupid enough to say yes, so I hope that’ll be you.”

Quinn watched Cade’s face anxiously, looking for his answer and found it when Cade reached up to him, eyes glinting with unshed tears and kissed him with a tenderness that made Quinn’s body ache with need.

“God, of course I’ll marry you,” Cade whispered. “I love you more than life itself, you know that. I don’t need or want anything else other than you.”

Cade’s lips found Quinn’s again and he melted into him, feeling Cade’s hard body against his, feeling the heat in his own body rising with the embrace. Finally they pulled apart reluctantly and Quinn took the ring out of the hardwood box and took his left hand, gently placing the ring on his finger. It fitted perfectly. Cade looked at it in awe and then looked back up at him with such adoration that Quinn’s chest surged with emotion.

“It’s the most beautiful ring ever. I love it, and the fact it was your dad’s makes it even more special.” Cade frowned. “I guess that means I need to get you one, then? Something special because I don’t have any family heirlooms to give you, unless there’s a safety deposit box I don’t know about somewhere and if there is, I haven’t found it yet—”

“Cade,” Quinn whispered with a wide smile, “You’re blathering, sweetheart. I need to shut you up.”

He reached over and cupped Cade’s face, kissing him deeply and Cade moaned and pressed himself against Quinn with a ferocity he hadn’t felt before.

“I should propose to you more often,” Quinn murmured as Cade’s hungry mouth travelled down his neck. “It seems to bring out the beast in you and definitely makes you ready for action.”

Cade’s tongue finished licking Quinn’s skin and with a sly smile, he knelt down before Quinn, pushing him back against the wall. Quinn lost his breath. Cade on his knees was a real treat. He cleared his throat as Cade’s fingers unzipped him and pulled his trousers down to his thighs. His very needy cock sprung up, and Cade nuzzled his cheek against it. Quinn nearly blew just from that alone.