Too late to back out now, he reminded himself, taking one more look around at the varying shades of black and gray that surrounded him. It was a cloudy night and even the closest objects were featureless shapes.

Taking a deep breath, Florian moved carefully forward along the west side of the mansion where a small ground-level window should allow him entry. It did and Florian climbed gracelessly through the tight opening, finding himself in a small guest room that Ray had assured him was the most appallingly decorated room he'd ever see.

The dark prevented him from seeing any details of the room so he set aside his curiosity and hurried to the door, listening for a long minute before easing it open and slipping into the hall.

It was the second Tuesday of the month, a free day for most of the household servants and the best time for liberating the famed "Grand Lady" jewels, a matching set of tiara, necklace, earrings and bracelet that the owner had supposedly won in a crooked game of cards.

Ray's London informant had alerted him to the Grand Lady's change in ownership and subsequent move to a villa just outside of Paris. The thief had been practically giddy at the thought of obtaining the jewels.

"It's his own fault," Florian muttered as he moved cautiously up the servants stairs, clutching the ridiculous black cloak close to his body so he wouldn't knock anything over or trip on the dratted thing. "I must look even more foolish than I feel."

It simply wasn't fair of Ray to blame him for Ray's own carelessness. Florian told him about the raised nail on the stairs twice, and he'd asked Jameson to fix the thing. How could it be Florian's fault that Ray had caught his heel on the damned thing? It certainly wasn't his fault that Ray had tried to catch himself by grabbing Florian's shoulders and caused them both to fall. Ray was lucky he only sprained his ankle. It was Florian himself who suffered the worst of the bruises when Ray landed on him.

So why was he the one skulking around this unfamiliar house planning to steal the Grand Lady?

A sound startled Florian and he froze, pressed hard against the wall and trying not to breathe. Long minutes passed and he could feel the sweat trickling down his back. He hated this.

Another sound, this one louder and more pronounced and Florian relaxed a bit. He'd never been so happy to hear someone snore.

Moving slowly, he confirmed that the sounds were coming from the second room on the right and used that as reference to count his way down the hall to the proper door. According to Ray's research, the Grand Lady would be secured behind a painting of the current owner's poodle in what Ray had called the study.

Florian looked around, bewildered and wondered if he'd miscounted doors. He was used to Ray's book-lined sanctuary, and his memories of his father's darkly paneled room. Even in the late night gloom he could tell that this was unlike any study he'd ever seen. For one thing, there were no books. There were, however, poodles. Miniature replicas of fluffy white dogs rendered in china and glass stared out from every surface. Florian shuddered and tried to ignore the feeling of being watched by hundreds of tiny eyes.

The portrait was on the left wall over a low display case housing even more of the little dogs. Florian firmed his jaw, tied the ends of the dratted cape in a knot around his waist and reached up to swing the portrait aside. He repeated the numbers Ray made him memorize (3-2-1), and used them to open the safe. It worked. Really, this person didn't deserve to own the Grand Lady jewels.

Florian heard sound, like soft breathing and pulled back nervously, almost upsetting several of the little figurines. He glanced around the room and realized that the large poodle in the doll bed might not be a stuffed toy after all.

Swallowing hard, he reached into the safe and grabbed everything shoving all half-dozen cases of varying sizes into the cloth sack he wore angled across his body. He closed the door carefully, wincing at the click it made as he turned the dial to make sure it was locked. The portrait made another click as it swung back into place. Florian glanced over at the poodle but it didn't appear to have moved.

Holding his breath, he crossed the room on tiptoes and hurried as quickly and quietly as he could down the stairs and into the guest room where he made an ungraceful exit. It wasn't until he turned to slide the window closed that he saw the glitter of small dog eyes watching him. Unable to hold back a gasp, he closed the window and raced away as if poodles were nipping at his heels.

Ray was laughing too hard to respond. The array of jewel cases scattered across the bed shifted and some threatened to fall.

Let them, thought Florian. I hope Ray tries to pick them up, falls out of bed and sprains something else. To his disappointment, Ray snatched up the items most in danger of falling and then retrieved the others, placing them all on his bedside table, lids open and contents mocking Florian.

An array of gold, silver and jewel-encrusted poodles all stared at him. If he wasn't so annoyed at Ray, he'd be rather disturbed by the display.

"Afraid of little dogs, are we?" Ray mocked. He picked up the largest of the canine miniatures, wagging it at Florian. "Careful, he bites."

Florian narrowed his eyes at the younger man. "You knew. You gave me some sad story about the Grand Lady jewels but you knew they'd already been sold to buy these little… dog… things!"

"Dog things?" Ray repeated, his amusement increasing as the blond neared the explosion point. It was a rare event to have Florian agitated to the point of incoherence and Ray intended to prolong it, and enjoy the resulting fireworks.

"Close those things!" Florian stomped around the bed to the table and started snapping cases closed. He swatted Ray's hands away and gathered all the closed cases, shoving them back into the sack. "You've got to give these back."

"Back? Why would I do that? It's not like I'm the one who stole them."

Florian made a strangled noise and all but threw the sack into Ray's top dresser drawer. He slammed the drawer closed and leaned back against it, his face flushed red. "I'm not talking to you."

"You said that."

"I mean it."

"Not if you're still talking, you don't."

"You're impossible!"

"I learned from you."

"I'm not talking to you!"

Florian crossed his arms and dropped into the chair next to Ray's bed. He glared.

"At least take my cloak off. You're wrinkling it."

Florian stood, unfastened the thing and threw it onto the bed. "Take it. It was a nuisance."

"Only because it's too big. You'll need one of your own now that you're a thief."

"I am not! I'm never doing anything like that again. Those creepy little dogs were everywhere."

"Everywhere?" Ray tossed the cloak off the bed and reached out, catching Florian's wrist. He tugged gently and Florian obeyed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"They were everywhere. All those little eyes." He blinked at the corner of the blanket Ray had raised in invitation. It was late and his annoyance was losing the battle with fatigue. A moment of indecision and fatigue won; the creepy dogs would still be there tomorrow.

Casting off everything but his undergarments he climbed into the warm and familiar space at Ray's side. Ray pulled him closer and gave him a kiss. "Tired?"

Florian nodded, his eyes closing as the warm comfort surrounded him. Part of him wanted to respond to Ray's obvious interest, but he was too tired, and annoyed. He'd sleep now and wake Ray up extra early - something Ray hated – to make up for it.
 

"Woof." Florian did a very bad imitation of a bark and trotted the jewel-encrusted dog across Ray's bare chest. Some very naughty person had been busy apparently.

"If the dog undid my shirt, I'm going to be very disappointed."

"Woof." Florian replied, letting the dog fall to the side as he leaned down to use his tongue to lap at Ray's smooth chest.

"Someone's awake." Ray grinned as Florian moved lower, licking a trail downward. "And in a much better mood."

"Don't remind me about last night or you're going to be very unlucky today."

"Oh? And if I don't remind you, I'm going to be lucky?"

Florian lifted his head and gave him a devil smile before shifting lower and lowering his head again, tongue extended.

Ray grabbed the little jeweled dog and tossed it onto the nightstand before leaning back and enjoying the moment. He made little growling sounds in his throat and pawed at Florian's back.

The growls turned to panting as Florian switched from licking to nipping at Ray's most sensitive areas. Just as Ray was nearing the point of no return, Florian gave him a hard nip and pulled back, lifting up on all fours and grinning.

Ray howled in protest.

Florian flailed as Ray tackled him, and laughed as they wrestled, making a mess of the bedding. He ended up pinned under a very eager Ray who was licking Florian's neck. Ray reared back, bared his teeth, then moved down to nibble on his favorite toy. This earned him a pat on the head.

"Good dog."