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But the ere now over Along with his colleagues, Jack had retired fro up the reins of civilian life The previous October, he and his six colleagues, all gentlemen blessed with title, wealth, and the consequent responsibilities, and therefore all sorely in need of wives, had banded together to forainst the matchmakers of the ton, their castle froons, and secure the fair maid he required

That, at least, had been their plan Matters, however, hadn’t fallen out quite as they’d supposed

Tristan We the refurbishment of the house that was now the Bastion Club Shortly after, Tony Blake had evenwith a dead body Charles St Austell, fleeing the capital and his too-helpful fe his ancestral ho the capital, too, but not because of female relatives

The rattle of carriage wheels reached hie bowling along the road froe crossed the junction with the Tetbury lane dohich Jack was descending, and continued west toward Nailsworth

Jack wondered who the carriage belonged to, but he’d been away so long he had no idea whowhom these days

On returning perland, he’d had to decide which of his responsibilities to attend t

o first He was an only child; his father’s death had set Avening in his lap with no one else to watch over it, but he knew the estate froreen valley on the northwest slope of the Cotswolds Avening had been in sound hands; he trusted Griggs as his father had Much rips with the varied invest properties he’d entirely unexpectedly inherited froreat-aunt Sophia

His randson of a duke; an eccentric spinster, Great-aunt Sophia had been a twig somewhere on his paternal fah Jack could only recall o, Great-aunt Sophia had willed a sizable portion of her amassed wealth to him

By the tiland, various decisions associated with that inheritance had grown urgent; learning about his new holdings and investments had been i to return to Avening—to reassure himself it was all as he remembered, that after all his years away, after all he’d had to do, witness, and endure, his home was still there, as he remembered it—and instead had devoted the last sixthe whole into one workable estate

Although he noned nu was still the centerpiece, the place that was home, the place that held his heart

That hy he was there, slowly a his jaded senses absorb the achingly fa them soothe his abraded temper, his less-than-contented mood, and the dull but persistent ache in his head