Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll

[MaineWriter]

In honor of post 8500, the famous pass from Chapter 22:

“Look, Ennis, you are a sweet and dear man, and it gets my blood up when I look at you, okay? But I made a promise and maybe its time ta make that promise about suggestive remarks.”

“No, it’s ok,” he said, his mumble deepening. “As long as .... as long as there ain’t no one else around.”

Ellery tilted his chin and looked into his eyes. “You mean that?”

Ennis nodded, not trusting his voice, his fingers still kneading the spasm that was now slowly responding to his hard fingers, relaxing his back, and Ellery was able to straighten a bit more.

“Feels better.” Ellery slid his hand up Ennis’s arm to the elbow and then looked at him once more. “Thank you, Ennis.”

Ennis moved, then, the handful of inches between his face and Ellery’s, until he could feel the warmth of Ellery’s breath against his cheek, shifted slightly until their cheeks brushed, and his hand slid down the outside of Ellery’s shirt, seeking his hand, finding it half open against his knee, and grasped it, clamping his own hand hard and pulling it, as though testing the willingness of the man who owned it, to come to him, pulling it into the hard lump now straining against his fly.

“I do... want it,” Ennis said, his voice a harsh, barely heard whisper.

And in answer, Ellery moved his lips against his cheek and toward his ear. “All right. Not here. We’ll go ta my house.” Ennis nodded, wordless now, the die cast, his willingness to fight against himself unwound by the whispered pact of their new intimacy. Ellery brushed his knuckles meaningfully against Ennis’s trapped erection and then pulled back, untangling his hand from that hard grip, letting his lips brush once more against Ennis’s cheek before he spoke, somewhat more audibly. “Let’s make sure we finish lookin here before we give up. Then we got all night. Got to put in a night’s work. The big picture.”

“Right,” Ennis said aloud, his voice a trembling sigh, and he spread his hands out on his knees to try to catch his breath, not daring to look up now that he had spoken his desire to a man in the light of day.

Ellery gave him a soft smile. “It’s alright. Come on.” He got up, testing his back with tentative fingers, and then began a bit more cautiously, to search the room with his flashlight.


L

[louisev]

whoo WEE.  That got MY blood up!  The infamous hand/cock grab a la Jack!

[Kazza]

whoo WEE.  That got MY blood up!  The infamous hand/cock grab a la Jack!

You know, I never made the connection to Jack's first move on Ennis before now.

Dur! *slaps forehead*

Karen

[yb]

Leslie, your choice in honour of the 8500 posts is just fitting.  This is a very precious chapter to me, I don't know how to express it in English, but I nearly melted reading the following section:

Feels better.” Ellery slid his hand up Ennis’s arm to the elbow and then looked at him once more. “Thank you, Ennis.”

Ennis moved, then, the handful of inches between his face and Ellery’s, until he could feel the warmth of Ellery’s breath against his cheek, shifted slightly until their cheeks brushed, and his hand slid down the outside of Ellery’s shirt, seeking his hand, finding it half open against his knee, and grasped it, clamping his own hand hard and pulling it, as though testing the willingness of the man who owned it, to come to him, pulling it into the hard lump now straining against his fly.

“I do... want it,” Ennis said, his voice a harsh, barely heard whisper.

And in answer, Ellery moved his lips against his cheek and toward his ear. “All right. Not here. We’ll go ta my house.”

[MaineWriter]

From Chapter 23:

He followed Ellery out of the Lincoln suite, eyes registering little but the long shock of black hair under the deeper black of his hat, the lean back, which he was now favoring slightly, and atypically, took the stairs one at a time going down. Ennis kept his distance, hovering near the painting he favored most, one of the Bighorns that looked passably close to his mountain – their mountain – and his hand reached up to pat the pocket that held his treasure, one of two treasures that proved to him that his love was real, that he had once loved, and therefore had reason once again to hope that something – someone – could once again quench that raw need that had been fulfilled by only one. He looked up from his reverie to see Ellery tipping his hat with that easy smile, and this time, no pang of jealous irritation assailed him, and he knew why this time: because he had said the words. I want it.

L

[MaineWriter]

And we discover a place called Glenfiddle, wherever the hell that is, in Chapter 23:

“Somethin tells me we’d be neck an neck for the prize on who’s more scared right now Ennis,” he said conversationally, taking a gulp of his shot. Ennis matched him, gasping down the flaming liquid, pretending he did not hear him.

“Good shit,” he gasped.

“Fifteen years old, it better be good.”

Ennis blinked at him in surprise. “You drink fifteen year old whiskey?”

“This here is single malt scotch from an unmentionable little place my ancestors come from, Glenfiddich, Scotland.”

“Man, Ellery.”

“Yep, all man. Wanna see?” He grinned a bit lopsided and winked, but did not move closer. “So... how ya wanna do this, Ennis? Turn out all the lights and see what happens?”

“Uh...” Ennis was stupefied by his directness. “I dunno. Been a long time.”

Ellery nodded, setting down his glass and pouring again. “Or we can jes get drunk and see who gives in first. Shall we?” he waved a hand at the sofa facing the bookcases, inviting Ennis to sit. “We got plenty a whiskey to get us totally blasted, we won’t know what hit us.”

“That sounds good,” Ennis said, and despite the fear making him tremble like kitten, he grinned at Ellery, the fire of the scotch burning all the way from his lips to the bottom of his belly, scorching him, and they sat down together, side by side.

Ellery leaned forward a bit and touched the rim of his glass to Ennis’s. “To extreme drunkenness,” and tossed his hat onto the table.

Ennis reached for his own hat and set it down, and it cocked against the black hat. “To ... Glenfiddle Scotland,” he said. “Wherever the hell it is.”

[MaineWriter]

For my 3500th post, one of my favorite lines. I put it in bold. From Chapter 24:

“How about we start small?” Ellery said, his voice pitched low, the sound of it making the hair stand up all over Ennis’s back, and he gulped as Ellery turned and leaned toward him, gradually, slowly, his cheek brushing Ennis’s shirt collar before his mouth connected with Ennis’s neck, touching it softly, making a soft sound as he kissed the throbbing pulse beneath his ear. Ennis stopped breathing, and Ellery pulled back. “Well?”

Ennis nodded, not trusting himself to speech, and he tried once more, this time moving in slightly closer, brushing his lips against Ennis’s jaw, and spoke. “How does a grown man have such a soft face?” he asked, nibbling up the edge of his jaw to find his lips, then breathed against Ennis’s mouth, his own lips just barely touching, and he opened his eyes, gazing into Ennis’s, letting out a slight gasp as Ennis’s arms came around him suddenly, crushing him in a near-violent embrace as his mouth bore down in a desperate kiss.


I am melting here...

L

[MaineWriter]

Another wonderful passage, with some classic Ellery-speak at the end. Chapter 25:

“Twenty years, Ellery. Sneakin aroun, camping here an there, an always every time thinkin someone’ll find out, someone is gonna go after em. An one day, I guess they did.”

“Too bad you weren’t in Laramie. I coulda found the assholes that done it.”

“Wife said it was a accident with a tire.”

“You don’t think so.”

“No I sure as hell don’t. Ellery I sure am sorry.”

“Ennis.”

“Huh?”

“Do you know how many cumulative hours and words have been consumed by my bitching about, bitching to, being bitched at and doing bullshit crap for my ex boyfriend Bill? Do you have any conception?”

“Uh... .well, a lot.”

“Don’t you think its fair you got to talk about yours?”

Ennis blew out a breath. “Yer right. I guess... I guess its time. I didn’t want ta tell ya. I knew you was innerested. Didn’t want ta scare ya off.”

“Ennis I would have zero interest in you if you could walk away from a man you cared about for half a your whole life and hop inta bed with me without a second thought. Did that occur ta you? Everything about you says you had some great tragedy hangin over you. I been a police detective for almost 15 years already and if it’s one thing I understand is people. I was ready to wait it out, have some scotches, exchange phone numbers, meet up, shoot some pool or fish till you finally dug it out, see if you might make a go of it again, but its you jumped the gun. I ain’t sorry yer grievin him. Makes you a damn sight more human than... well ... the aforementioned people I keep aforementioning.”

Leslie

[MaineWriter]

Some more from Chapter 25:

“You mattered a whole lot, Ennis,” Ellery said, his voice a bare whisper in his ear as he set the book down on the nightstand. “And you mattered for a good long time, too.” Ellery raised the hand that was looped around Ennis’s chest, caressing the muscular shoulder, dipping down to press his lips against the nape where his short blond curls thinned to fine down.

“Yeah,” Ennis said, taking a deeper drag on the cigar. “I guess I did.”

“You matter ta me, too Ennis. With or without the sex. Just lying here holdin you is more lovin than I ever thought I would see again.”

“Thank you,” Ennis murmured, embarrassed once more, turning his head slightly to look at Ellery, catching a glance at the side of his face, the grey eyes glittering, not with mischief but with some unnamed emotion which made Ennis’s heart ache.

Ellery grinned, getting up onto an elbow to look into his face. “You and your little please and thank yous. Do you have any idea how sexy and endearing that is? Like yer grandma raised ya ta be all proper or ya went to one a them Catholic schools.”

“Nope, just easy to do an makes everyone a sight more pleasant is all.”

L

[merrobot]

And we discover a place called Glenfiddle, wherever the hell that is, in Chapter 23:

Ennis reached for his own hat and set it down, and it cocked against the black hat. “To ... Glenfiddle Scotland,” he said. “Wherever the hell it is.”

Umm...someone's been yanking Ellery's chain  - there is no place called Glenfiddich, it's distilled in Dufftown near Elgin in the North East of Scotland.  I have it on good authority that is is pretty good stuff though   Cantrell isn't a Scottish name either, it's apparently Anglo-Norman but possibly Ellery has Scottish roots from another side of his family.  Who knows??