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

“Do you mean to tell me you two gentlemen didn’t discuss this?”


“Precisely, Aunt. I mean, it’s hardly likely Geo would talk about something like that with me. We…we’re barely acquainted.” I couldn’t possibly tell her injury or no, his performance with me was more than adequate!


“And yet you seem to have become quite fond of him.”


My cheeks heated. “He’s a good man, Aunt. Didn’t you think so yourself? Don’tyou think so?”


“Yes.” She brought her cup to her lips. “I beg your pardon, Ashton. It just came as such a shock…I shouldn’t have become angry with you. It isn’t not your fault.”


“No, it isn’t. How has Arabella taken it?”


I could imagine it, all too well, and I was relieved I hadn’t been present to witness it.


“She ran up to her room in tears, poor child. Fortunately, Flowers and Daisy will see to her.”


I felt the blood drain from my cheeks. “Arabella will reveal all this to them.”


Chapter 61