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

“Geo?” I rose from my chair. He was alone, so it was safe for me to exclaim, “Oh, my dear—” His limp was so pronounced I feared his leg would give out from under him.


“What is the meaning of this, sir?”


“This!” He waved a paper in my face, and I shied back, almost toppling my chair over backward.


“I’m aware of that!” He shook it open and began to read. “I know it’s some days till your next visit, but would you do me the favour of driving down to Fayerweather at your earliest convenience? I’ve news of some import to relay to you!“


“Well, yes, but truly I didn’t expect you to arrive the same day you received it.”


“The woman you’ll take as a bride.”


“Oh, come, sir! Why else would you have written this?”


“I needed to ask you to examine some papers.”


He grew very still. “Let me see if I have this correct. You sent for me to look at a paper.” His voice rose with each succeeding word.


Chapter 104