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love.”
     
    Nikolas tipped his head back, allowing Ben’s face to come alongside his and for Ben to plant a kiss on his smooth cheek. “You have the wrong person, Benjamin, if you are looking for love. I learnt my English the hard way, and I did not learn that word in any context you would want. I am sorry.”
     
    “I’ve never needed words, you know that. I don’t remember you saying two words to me that first weekend, and before I knew it, I was being fucked on green baize.”
     
    “That was not love.”
     
    “I know that. But this could be.” He turned Nikolas in his arms and kissed him deeply, keeping eye contact. The other man’s lips were cold and unresponsive. Ben bit lightly on the bottom one, easing his tongue against Nikolas’s lower teeth. He swore into the pleasure of the warmth of Nikolas’s mouth. He slid his hands into the short hair at the back of Nikolas’s neck, hitching him closer, but Nikolas pulled away and held him off with one hand, the other brushing over his own lips as if astonished at the intensity of Ben’s kiss.
     
    “If this is love for you, then you are in love with a ghost, with the illusion of a man. Is that enough for you?”
     
    “Would you let me have that? If you do, then I will find the man. I’ll breathe life back into the ghost.” Ben heard a soft expletive in Nikolas’s native language, and then he was being kissed back hungrily. Nikolas proved he could kiss just as well as Ben, his tongue finding welcome in Ben’s mouth. He spoke against Ben’s lips, something sensual sounding that Ben didn’t need translated. But then a small bleep sounded from Nikolas’s tailored suit pocket.
     
    Nikolas swore once more in English, and very effectively. “I have to go. I cannot be late for the PM.”
     
    “Yeah.” Ben allowed Nikolas to pull away slightly. “And I’ve got a date with two lesbians.”
     
    As he moved towards the door, Nikolas hesitated, his back to Ben. “Be careful, Benjamin. I would hate to have to work on a eulogy to read at your funeral.”
     
    “Shit, just say I was a dumb bastard with weird taste in men and leave it at that.”
     
    Nik nodded seriously. “That would work.”
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    When Ben arrived at the pub, he was fired up and in just the right mood to make friends, influence people, and then…betray them. He spotted the little group of protesters easily enough because they were grouped around some tables they’d pushed together and were painting “Save The Badger” signs and “Vaccination Not Vivisection” posters. Ben went to the bar and spoke quietly to the landlord. “I’m down with the DEFRA guys for the badgers. There gonna be a problem with me drinking here? I don’t want to cause a fight, I just want a pint.”
     
    “No problem with me, mate. Most of my customers are farmers. Those idiots over there buy half a lager and make it last all night. Far as I’m concerned, you can shoot all the damn badgers you want.”
     
    “Pour a round of beers and send it over to them, will you?”
     
    The man raised his brows but did as he was asked. At the last minute, Ben chucked on half a dozen packets of cheese and onion crisps as the tray went past him. He waited until the pleased surprise turned to disgust when the provenance of the round was discovered, and then went closer. “Peace offering. I’ve got no beef with these animals myself, I just really need this job, okay?”
     
    “You’re nothing more than a bloody murderer.” That was from an older man busy painting one of the signs.
     
    Julie Arthur lifted her face from a poster she was decorating with sketches of cute badger faces. She looked him over from head to toe, and Ben knew for certain she wasn’t as committed to the lesbian ideal as her bio had claimed. She winked at him then said to the old man, “Leave him be, Fred, he’s okay this one. Saved your missus today, he did.” Her pseudo-working-class accent was atrocious, but Ben forgave