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

“What did Mr Stephenson decide?” Arabella encouraged after a few moments.


“Hmm? Oh, she pleaded not to be left behind, and so he took her with him. However, the journey across the Mediterranean—although perhaps it was the Atlantic Ocean. Oh, dear, I can never recall. Whichever it was, the seas were so violent she lost the babe. And then once they finally arrived, he realised she could tolerate neither the climate nor the natives, and so he had to make arrangements to send her home again almost at once.”


“A little thing like the climate wouldn’t have kept mefrom the side of the man I loved!” Arabella declared roundly.


“You are more robust than poor Mrs Stephenson was, this is true, but there are some places that just aren’t suitable for a woman of quality, no matter how robust her constitution. I seem to recall George telling me that afterward, she was never quite the same, always in frail health.”


Chapter 51