Ashton Laytham was a happy little boy until, at the age of seven, he lost his parents. Sent to Fayerweather to be brought up by his uncle and his uncle’s wife, he was perceived to be an unhappy, unlovable child. Shunned by family and servants and permitted no friends to visit, he grows to adulthood alone and aloof, with only an occasional illicit rendezvous to lighten his days. When his uncle dies, leaving the estate virtually bankrupt, it’s left to Ashton to make good on his uncle’s gaming debts and save Fayerweather. But how? The family talisman, worth thousands of pounds, has been stolen and the suspects vanished in the night, leaving Ashton to face the loss of the home he’s come to love. Geo Stephenson, who works in His Majesty’s civil service, has ghosts of his own. The product of a marriage of convenience, Geo has known all his life his father never loved his mother, and he vows that will never happen to him. Marked by a physical scar earned in battle, none of his previous lovers could bear looking at it without shuddering; his mental scars are due to the many friends lost in useless battles. Geo arrives with a fistful of Sir Eustace Laytham’s IOUs and a solution: Ashton accommodating him in bed, thereby paying off the debt. Attracted to Geo in spite of himself and desperate for any human kindness, Ashton agrees ... never expecting to lose his heart to a man who has sworn he’ll never give his. Can these two men find a measure of happiness together?

Bless Us With Content

The sounds of a carriage pulling up in the courtyard had me pelting down the stairs, but I drew up at the bottom and walked decorously to the entryway, waiting until they entered the Hall.


The two older Scarlett boys were almost the same height, a few inches taller than I in spite of the fact we were of an age, while the youngest was a few inches shorter. Their hair varied from shades of light brown to raven’s-wing black, nothing like the blond of my own hair, but their eyes were all the same bright, startling blue.


“How do you do?” I shyly offered my hand to the brothers. “I’m Ashton Laytham.”


Neither of the two older boys made an effort to shake my hand, and when the youngest attempted to, William stopped him.


“You’re Awful Ashton. We’ve heard of you.”


I felt myself turn pale and dropped my hand. I had never heard that appellation before. “What? How—?”


Chapter 4