Tinnean

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

I studied his features for a moment, relaxed in sleep, so youthful and so without a care. He was like an enchanted prince from the fairy tale Mama had been wont to read me as a child.


“Goodnight, sweet prince,” I murmured, and leaned forward to lightly kiss his lips. I laughed quietly at my folly, for while Geo might indeed be considered a sleeping beauty, I, certainly, was no prince to awaken him with a kiss.


I blew out the candle, then with a sigh, removed my spectacles, climbed into bed, and pulled the covers up over us both.


It would have been bliss to sleep with him in my arms, but I knew I mustn’t be greedy, and I settled myself beside him.   14


Sometime during the early morning hours an arm was flung across my chest, and I came awake with a start to find I was not alone in my bed. Confused, I fumbled for my spectacles, needing them as a barrier, a shield. John hated when he fell asleep beside me, not that he did very often, and he’d be out of reason cross.


Chapter 56