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

“May I…May I spend the night with you?”


“Of course. You’re always welcome in my bed.” I could feel his prick against my knee.


“I went to Colonel Whittemore’s.”


“Why?” He didn’t sound too interested. He was busy pushing the hem of my nightshirt up over my thighs, following the material with his lips.


“You were there. I was going to drag you home if I had to.” I laughed, even as I spread my legs wider for him. “I burst into the Colonel’s bedchamber.”


“I imagine that didn’t go over very well.” He nibbled along the inside of my thigh.


“N-no. He…he had company.” My testicles were exposed now, and he licked a path over them to the rigid length of my shaft.


“Like warm velvet, lamb. What happened then?”


“I thought it was you, and I demanded he unhand you.”


“And when you realized it wasn’t me?”


“A duel?” He reared back. “Are you mad, sir?”


Chapter 90