A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall Club, #1)

by J.A. Rock

He could not have back the childhood he missed. And going forward, he did not know what, precisely, he desired. He only knew there was a sudden ache in the pit of his stomach that felt like hunger, and a fear that his heart would always be wanting.

“I did not say you do not belong to me. I said I do not belong to you.” Hartwell had not realised his misspeak. “Is there any difference?” he asked hoarsely.

“Be careful,” Becca chided her. “Do not kill anyone.” “It was one time,” Charlotte protested. “And I didn’t kill Lord Thickbeard. Merely frightened him.” “Charlotte!” their mother hissed. “We do not name gentlemen according to the thickness of their facial hair.”

“I cannot make up my mind whether I am more vexed with you for not going at once to put things right with my sister or for sitting there”—his voice began shaking, though not with fear—“staring at me as though you have never wanted anything more in the world and yet remaining silent.”