I came for the title at Ashford Manor, but Oliver's sharp wit and yielding silence in the library made every document a temptation I could not ignore. The afternoon light fell across the open ledgers, yet it was the small birthmark at the base of his throat that held my attention as his fingers brushed mine over the paper.

When my hand closed around his wrist beside the registry, he turned his palm upward in silent surrender. Footsteps echoed closer in the corridor, but neither of us moved. My scarred leg protested the stance while my mind raced with the price of claiming him in secret.

I had protected everything else in my life, yet this man threatened to expose the one thing I could not afford to lose.