Mary Balogh - Slightly Married

Aidans Story

Like all the Bedwyn men, Colonel Lord Aidan Bedwyn has a reputation for cool arrogance. But he is also a man to whom honor is more important than any other personal attributeand it is this fierce loyalty that has brought him to Ringwood Manor to keep his promise to a dying fellow officer. He has sworn to protect the mans sister no matter whatand it is a promise he intends to keep even when he finds that Miss Eve Morris wants no part of his protection and will not admit to even needing it.

Finally, when Eve is about to be turned out of her home with all her friends and dependents, Aidan makes her an offer she cannot refuse. It is intended to be a simple, straightforward business arrangementa few days in each others company and then a lifetime of happy independence apart. But they have reckoned without two powerful factors that conspire to wreck their plansAidans elder brother, the Duke of Bewcastle, and their own unwilling attraction to each other.

And so days pass into weeks and take Aidan and Eve from Ringwood to London during the Seasonand back again. Soon they begin to wonder if perhaps it will someday be possible to be more than just slightly married