"You see, this is why I prefer you keep to your secret appointments," Nikolaas shot back at the teasing, his stare pointed but his mouth not particularly stern. This was to be life with his cousin; had he the choice, he would much rather this than someone like his stodgy and self-important uncle ...

Rast was a gregarious sort. There seemed to be nothing that Nikolaas could say to him that could not be so gleefully dismissed, no matter the topic. The false face might have chafed but for the keen understanding of it being necessary — Or believed so, at the least — in such a staunchly English ...

Rafael's mouth was warm, and the man himself easy to kiss despite Nikolaas' initial jerking exhalation as their lips met. The Spaniard's mouth tasted dark with coffee, and his fingers were firm at the nape of Nik's neck, pressing with a gentle firmness Nikolaas might have freed himself from at any ...

They made shit coffee in this house.

Of all the many faults and foibles Nikolaas could have called upon to besmirch the reportedly good name of Rochdale, to his Dutch mind, this was by far the most egregious. English tea was bitter and terrible, and thus they presumed their coffee must be as well ...

[ Continued from here ]

"It is perhaps a Dutch trait," Nikolaas replied with a faint lift of one shoulder. Rafael's laugh tugged a faint smile across his lips. "The English do not always find it so charming, even when the topic is less scandalous." They were nearly all shocked by the notion of ...