Secrets of a Gentleman Escort by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2014-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Financial security was a damnable thing, Nicholas thought once he’d had twenty-four–hours’ distance to assess what he’d committed to. The enormity of it was beginning to swamp him. Annorah had left for the village with some last-minute errands. He had Hartshaven and all his thoughts to himself for the afternoon. He’d rather not have. Those thoughts were daunting.

For the first time in years, he could afford to contemplate the future, only to find that financial security had opened up other insecurities. Annorah had insisted on settling a large sum on him for his role as her fiancé and he had to take it—logistics required it. Logistics also created other consequences: he need not work again when this was done. That was the polite way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it was that he could never work again. His days as Nick the Prick were very likely at an end.

Nick strolled the veranda idly, letting his mind wander over the idea. Channing would be surprised. Channing had always predicted he’d go out with a bang, exiled over a hot-headed duel. No one, not even himself, had thought he’d quietly disappear into the respectability of a financially stable gentleman. On the surface that’s what it would look like. He was engaged and he would be for a year. He could go back to London but he certainly couldn’t pick up where he’d left off. Affianced men didn’t work as paid escorts.

And London would know, too. In fact the whole city would know in another day. The engagement announcement would be printed in The Times for all to see. It was all part of making the engagement look legitimate. For all purposes, the engagement would be legal, it had to be in order to pass muster. Only he and Annorah would know the temporary intentions of that engagement. What they had invented in the garden paths the previous afternoon might be a fiction, but the implications would be real.

Nick supposed he could go back to work after his year was up, but he wouldn’t need to. Annorah had made it possible for him to never need to work like that again. It wasn’t the loss of the thrill of bedding women that bothered him. In truth, that had begun to pale before Annorah. There was no challenge in it. The nights all began with the same foregone conclusion. It was the loss of the identity that worried him. Who was he if he wasn’t Nick the Prick? Who would he become? He had a chance to refashion himself and the thought was frightening.

Being a gentleman escort had always been his excuse for not going home. Now there would be none. He could go home and mend his fences and become a sheep farmer in truth if that was what he wanted. He could face his mother, his brother, his past. Would he? Or would he play the coward?

It was a lot to take in and that was only half of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.