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

“And you’re to come back and tell us his exact words as soon as may be.” Arabella’s order followed me down the hall.


I made my way to the opposite side of the house to the study. This was what I’d been dreading that day shortly after Sir Eustace’s death, that I must needs tell a gentleman old enough to be my father that I had to deny his suit, at least at this time. The family was still in first mourning, although Arabella had declared she couldn’t fathom why Aunt Cecily was required to remain in black bombazine for more than a year, while if the situation had been reversed, Sir Eustace would have left off after three months. Aunt Cecily had simply told her to hush, that was the way of society.


I entered the study. “Good evening, Mr Stephenson.”


Chapter 66