Free Temptation & Twilight by Charlotte Featherstone

doctor. He was barely a valet. But he was a hell of a villain, when Iain found himself in need of one.
    “Well, then,” the doctor muttered with a snap of his leather satchel. “I shall bid you good-night.”
    “You shouldn’t have ordered him away,” Black snarled as he all but dragged Iain up the carriage stairs. “Your injury is extensive. What if Sutherland can’t manage it?”
    “Then I should think that butler of yours,” he gasped as he fell onto the carriage bench, “would do nicely.”
    “Billings is at home with my wife, keeping her safe.
    I am not having him removed to tend you and your stupidity.”
    “Fine, then,” Iain said as he let his head fall back against the squabs. Dawn was slowly rising in the distance, and he closed his eyes as blood continued to pump from his shoulder. “Take me to Sussex House,” he said, his voice sounding distant to his ears.
    “Sussex House?” Black enquired. “What for? Patch yourself up first before we descend upon Sussex.”
    “Damn you, man!” Iain roared. “Honour a man’s dying wish. Take me to Sussex House, to Elizabeth,” he heard himself murmur. Thankfully, he passed out before he could hear Black’s response.
    BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012
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    12-01-31 4:03 PM

    CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE
    65
    ON THE EDGE OF Grantham Field, amongst the trees and the fog, stood a town coach with four gleaming black stallions. No one saw it, for he did not want them to. He was not ready for them yet. But soon… Soon the Brethren would be his.
    “Did you expect this?” his companion asked as she smoothed her delicate hand up the length of his thigh.
    Indeed, he had not. Alynwick was always the wild card in the troika that made up the Brethren Guardians.
    A hotheaded Scot, and a man who barely had any control over his base desires and his animal rage.
    He had thought the marquis would simply blow the earl away, but instead, Alynwick had been wounded.
    A measure of glee swam inside him. Alynwick was wounded—considerably so. It would make things that much easier with Alynwick out of the picture, even temporarily.
    Patience, he told himself as the placket of his trousers fell open, and he was gripped by a knowing, skilled hand.
    Patience always paid off in the end. He had waited a long, long time for this. And soon, he would be rewarded.
    Soon, the Brethren would belong to him—to Orpheus.
    “Take me,” she whispered, and he rapped his walking stick against the carriage, sending the vehicle lurch-ing forward.
    “Soon, pet,” he mumbled. “I have something to do first. A little surprise for His Grace.”
    “It’s not like you to be so kind,” she murmured as her lips worked their way down his neck.
    “I’m in the giving mood,” he mumbled, thinking of what he would do. “And Sussex will be the benefactor.” IN THE END, Black ignored his request, which was so typical of him. The bastard always did whatever he wanted.
    BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012
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    12-01-31 4:03 PM

    66
    TEMPTATION & TWILIGHT
    Instead of taking him to Sussex House, Black carried him, half-conscious, from the carriage and into Iain’s own town house, past his shocked butler, whose harsh, indrawn breath echoed off the fourteen-foot-high ceiling, and all the way up the ornately carved, curving staircase to Iain’s bedroom, where he dropped Iain onto the bed as though he were a sack of grain. Only then did Black rouse Sutherland.
    Shortly after, his valet stumbled into the room, wiping the sleep from his eyes. “And what scrape have ye gotten yourself into this time, my lord?”
    “What does it look like?” he growled. “I’m bleeding onto the sheets.”
    Sutherland grunted when he saw the extent of the wound he was expected to work on. “Won’t be a pretty sight after I’m done, my lord.”
    “He’s too pretty now,” Iain heard Black state in his characteristic sombre voice. “A little mark to remind him of his