Captain Charles Hawkins has returned from the Napoleonic wars desperate for solitude. When the man who saved his life asks a favour, he feels honour bound to agree, but the request fills him with horror.<br><br>Sebastian Farrah knows the only useful thing he can do with his life is join Wellington’s army. He has tried everything else and failed. He agrees to his brother’s ridiculous request to spend a month in the country because it is the only way his brother will agree to purchase him a commission.<br><br>Charles and Sebastian clash but quickly form a bond that deepens into much more. However, they are running out of time. Charles begs Sebastian to stay, but Sebastian knows to do so he will be forced to reveal what it is that stopped him from succeeding in everything. The shameful secret he carries from the schoolroom.

Promises

He shrugged lightly, determined not to let this become maudlin. “Why not be a farmer?”


“A farmer?” Farrah gave him a blank look.


Farrah laughed. “Have you any notion of what my father might say if I said I wanted to become a farmer? My entire family are successful men in their own right. They all went to university and graduated with honours. All have busy lives doing things that gentlemen do. Largely being idle. A farmer?” He shook his head and laughed again. “Besides. To become a farmer, one must have a farm. It might be marginally more acceptable if I were a landowner, but to be a landowner one requires funds and to be frank, I’ve pockets to let.”


Charles felt his lips twitch as he regarded him. “I refer you to our previous conversation.”


Farrah frowned for a moment and then grinned. “Make my own money?”


Chapter 13