I'm so glad you all enjoyed the chapter! It was fun to write.
Changing the succession would be almost unheard of, unless they could prove that Freddie was mentally incompetent. Think about the mentality of that era, where birth was still a pre-eminent parameter. Freddie is the heir by right, not because the Earl chose him to be the heir. It's the same way the Earl acquired the title himself. To suggest that an older son could be displaced for a younger son sounds logical, but in fact in challenges the doctrine of primogeniture, and thus the whole system on which the aristocratic society had been built.
I think two women going at it is pretty hot too. ;-) Changing the succession would be a tough go, and it would be unlikely he would try it. I'll write more about that in the forum.
That's an interesting thought. I'll bet the old Earl looked as his daughter-in-law with a whole new level of respect after that. I suspect he figured she'd fall right in line after he "forbade" her to pursue the matter.
I posted Chapter 24 as soon as it came out of final editing, since I didn't want to leave you all the whole week with a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoy it.
January 23, 1797
“It is hard to be in bed with you and talk,” Kerry said flirtatiously. Granger merely looked at him; he was too keyed up to think of anything other than what might be happening in London.
“Is everyone alright?” Granger asked, exposing his fears, his horror that something might have happened to Caroline or the children. He’d already had that nightmare once, when he’d found that Michel, the young French boy they’d adopted, had died.
I think we have an idealized view of condom use in the gay community. While Will and Tony certainly don't have an ideal relationship, they do trust each other. They were both tested, and are both "clean", unless one of them is lying. I'm thinking that for guys that age, that's pretty responsible.
This story is really about both of these guys (Gathan and Will) developing and maturing. With Gathan, we have a tortured individual who's finally found some peace due to therapy, and love. With Will, you've got a guy struggling to match his emotional maturity to his physical maturity.
It's kind of like in Millennium, where there were fans of both Brad and Robbie. No matter what happened, someone was pissed off. If there's too much Will, the Gathanites bitch, and vice-versa. It all works out in the end.
Yeah, I feel bad about that cliffie, because I usually don't throw chapters out there unless I have the one with the resolution close at hand. I don't.