A dutiful duke-in-waiting George Asquith knows exactly who he is. The future duke. The responsible heir. The man who will marry well and manage his estates with quiet competence. He has built his entire life on fulfilling his duty. Ever since one terrible mistake taught him the cost of reaching for what he really wants. Now he shoulders his responsibilities without complaint and keeps his impossible desires locked away. When George leaves his family estate to attend the lavish wedding of the man he once believed himself in love with, he is resigned to a few days of misery. But then Theo Caldwell turns up. Theo, who George desperately admired as a boy—and who only seemed to despise George in return. Theo, who betrayed him. A feckless pleasure-seeker As the younger son of a spendthrift aristocratic family, Theo Caldwell may have little fortune but at least he has his freedom. After a lengthy stint abroad, seizing whatever pleasures came his way, Theo has returned to England to claim an unexpected inheritance—an inheritance he plans to sell off before returning to the Continent as soon as possible. But when Theo reluctantly attends a society wedding, his plans are thrown into disarray when George Asquith innocently stumbles upon his deepest and most dangerous secret. The passionate encounter that follows should only have happened once—George resolved long ago to bury his desires, and Theo never beds the same man twice—but somehow Theo finds himself inviting George to go with him to the dilapidated estate he has inherited, and George finds himself accepting…