Martin’s Reviews > Heart of Stone > Status Update

“He wants a man that will love him,” Henry said softly. “He wants for a romance the likes of which he could experience with a young woman.”
“You can’t give him that?”
“I, a corpse? No.”

“He is,” Henry agreed. “I thought Marcellus might be more to your taste.”
“It seems to me as of late you are throwing all manner of gentlemen at my feet,” said Theophilus quietly, and Henry hesitated, feeling an uncomfortable twist within his belly, a jump within his lungs.
“I do not mean to offend you,” Henry said quietly. “Merely that I… I should like to see you happy.”

“Mr Essex—”
“Theophilus,” he corrected, almost impulsively, and Mr Coffey’s mouth fell open.

Wow, first name basis. OMG now THAT is intimacy.

What had he thought, so naively? That such an admission would prompt Mr Coffey to declare that if Theophilus held such inclinations, they ought become lovers themselves, and live as some suit-clad Patroclus and Achilles? Could he really have hoped so desperately, that Mr Coffey might embrace him with his lips instead of his teeth, and that they might fall together into Theophilus’ bed, and some blissful future?

“Over forty years I have lived in this house,” Henry murmurs. “I have been doing my publishing work for nearly twenty years, now – my friends are, of course, very polite, but a gentleman unageing can only cite certain creams and powders for such a time before his compatriots become suspicious.”

What a gorgeous story. This is already one of my favorites.

Now I want to see them in bed, in the throes of passion. I can picture it clearly.
"Mr Essex."
"Mr Coffey."

LOL

Would Essex be like this, if Henry took him into his bed?
Would he arch like this beneath Henry’s mouth even with his teeth unbared, would he make such delectable sounds as this, would he cry out, would he want to hold Henry’s hand as he was now?
It was painful, to draw back from Essex’s neck.

Ooh, now I understand why Mr Coffey is a vampire. The sexual aspect of a vampire's bite.

“Mr Essex, you will do no such thing.”
“Why not, sir?”
“This is a holiday, Essex, and I would not draw you from your friends or family to read through essays with me.”
“I do not recall you drawing me in one direction or another, Mr Coffey,” Theophilus said. “I have drawn myself thus, and shall remain here.”
“I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?”
“I do.”

Sigh, they are in love.