There is nothing Matthias Deverell, illegitimate son of a marquis, wants more than to remove the murmurs of treason that haunt his father’s name. He is determined to do just that, even if it means completing the nearly impossible task of reassembling the globe his father used as a safe. With pieces spread all over London, it will take all of Matthias’ considerable skill at intimidation to retrieve them. Nicholas Rexford, young Viscount Leighton, wants only to be able to provide a comfortable life for himself and his three sisters. After being left in near-poverty thanks to their father’s spending and gambling, Nick is desperate to find a business venture he can invest in to turn their fortunes around. Sadly, he has no head for business, preferring to spend his time engrossed in horrid novels. When Matthias finds Nick in possession of a piece of the globe, he believes the handsome young man to be in on the scheme, and decides to keep a closer eye on him. But when Nick meets Matthias, he is enthralled by the “dark and dangerous bastard” who could have stepped out of one of his novels. Despite his suspicions, Matthias is drawn to Nick, but will his suspicions destroy what is developing between them and cost Matthias a chance at happiness?

The Bastard's World

“Well, I’ll not do it. Charlotte suggested it as well, but at least she doesn’t know—” Nick sat up again and this time threw back the covers. “How could I marry some poor girl, knowing I could never truly want her that way? And to do so only for her fortune?” Nick sounded outraged as he got off the bed. “My father married my mother for her fortune and never loved her. He made her miserable, throwing it in her face that he’d only married her to shore up the title and taking up with other women. Then he squandered her fortune and shot himself, leaving her humiliated and us destitute. Do you think I would ever do that to some poor, unsuspecting woman?”


Chapter 40