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

“That is all I have to say. Colling?”


“Yes, sir. Return to your tasks, everyone.” They quickly dispersed. “Was there anything else, Sir Ashton?”


He bowed, and I was left alone in the room.


My stomach rumbled, reminding me I’d had no breakfast. I rubbed my palm over it, relieved there was no one to hear the inelegant sound.


“Thank you, Ashton.” The sound of Geo’s voice caused me to startle. He was standing in the doorway, an air of faint surprise about him. How long had he been there?


“Why are you thanking me?” I expected rather that he’d be taking me to task for not meeting him as he’d requested.


“No one has ever defended my honour before.”


“I did no such thing. And surely you’re mistaken. Your friends—”


“Are buried in nameless graves throughout the Empire.”


Nameless? How odd. And how sad. “Well, it was no more than any would have done,” I said briskly.


Chapter 62