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

She shuddered delicately, her bow-shaped mouth tipped down in a moue. “I was reminded of Mrs Shelley’s novel.”


“I should never have permitted that horrid book in the house, and Arthur should never have given you it to read. You had nightmares for weeks after.”


“Please don’t mention that name in my presence, Aunt Cecy.” Arabella gave a sniff, then gushed on. “Mr Stephenson is truly everything that is gentlemanly. It quite makes one overlook the fact he hasn’t a country estate.”


“How kind of you,” I remarked dryly. Of course it helped that Geo was plump in the pocket. “Anything else?”


“Well…” Arabella worried her lower lip.


“Well, truthfully, Aunt Cecy, I fear seeing the injury that caused his limp will quite put me off on our wedding night.”


The thought of her with mylover…I couldn’t help myself. “Don’t be common, Arabella!”


Her eyes widened. “Oooh! I am notcommon! You wouldn’t say that to me if Arthur was here.”


Chapter 50