The Lord's Tale by Sue Brown

AUTHOR: Sue Brown

TITLE: The Lord’s Tale

GENRE: M/M contemporary

PUBLISHER: Silver

PURCHASE: Here

FORMAT: e-book


BLURB:
Surrounded by the tragedy of his family's history, the last thing Phil expects is to be picked up by a gorgeous guy twenty feet up a climbing wall. What scares him even more is the way Lee fits into his life, the final piece to break the Fitzwarren curse.

EXCERPT:

From a book written in 1899

--The History of Steeple Westford by the Rev. Horace Simpkins--

So in the autumn of the year 1644, Jonathan Curtess cursed Belvedere Fitzwarren, saying, "I curse you and your children's children, that you shall all live out your allotted years, and that those years shall be filled with grief and loss and betrayal, even as you have betrayed and bereaved me."

***

Phil held two pints up high as he negotiated the crowd in the bar of the Red Lion. He handed one over to his brother, Charlie, who took the full glass gratefully.

"God, I'm glad that's over," Charlie said, wiping his top lip.

"Hell yes," Phil agreed, loosening his tie. "Do you think we can get out of this get-up now?" He waved vaguely at their suits.

"Probably not," Charlie told him. "Is Di out of her meringue yet?"

Phil peered around the bar to where the bride and groom were sitting, Di's feet in Will's lap. "Not yet, but her shoes are off. Isn't that enough?"

Charlie just gave him a look, and Phil sighed. There wasn't a hope in hell Diana would agree to them losing the monkey suits. The couple hadn't had enough money for a formal "do", but she was going to make the men suffer as long as she could. He smiled as he thought of his tomboy sister, dressed like a lady for the whole day.

"Anyway, I promised Carol I'd come in the suit," Charlie said, pulling a face. "She wanted to feel part of the proceedings even if she couldn't be here."

 

"You'd better stop knocking that back then," Phil said, indicating the pint of beer that Charlie was already half-way through.

Charlie held up his glass, regarding the dark amber liquid mournfully. "Doesn't seem right somehow. I can't remember the last time I stayed sober at a wedding." He paused for a minute. "I can't remember the last time I went to a wedding."

"Yours probably. Just be thankful you don't have to make a speech, big brother." Phil grinned at the shudder that ran though his painfully shy older brother at the thought of trying to speak in public, even in front of friends and family. There really wasn't anyone here that he didn't know. Di, like her brothers, tended to socialise in the village.

"I told Di that if she wanted speeches she could make you do it. She said if there was anything to say, she could say it herself."

Phil laughed, the laughter tailing off as he caught sight of Daniel and Sean vanishing into the snug with that psychic and his boyfriend. There was something going on there. Those four were getting very cosy all of a sudden. Charlie followed his gaze.

"I wonder what that's all about," his brother mused.

"I have no idea. Don't you think since Mark came on the scene our little curse has got a lot more crowded?" Phil asked, aware he sounded waspish.

Waving at the barman for another round, Charlie looked at him. "Another?" At Phil's nod, he held up two fingers and then said, "What do you mean?"

Phil waited until they both had drinks before he carried on. "Well, one minute it's just the Fitzwarrens' curse, and the three of us knowing everything is going to go tits up, and the next some stranger waltzes in claiming to be a psychic and a descendent of Curtesses, saying he's broken the first part of the curse. Then Psycho gets pally with Sean, and the next thing we know another bit of the story is slotting into place."

There was such a long pause before Charlie answered that Phil looked up. "What bothers you most? Mark's revelations or Sean and Daniel hooking up?"

"You think I'm jealous?" Phil asked incredulously.

"You're not? Just a little? Sean has been your best friend for years, and now that he's hooked up with Daniel, he hasn't been around as much."

Damn, his brother was too shrewd.

***
To find out more about Sue Brown and her writing, visit her BLOG.

Also, be sure to check out her author interview.