She Fell Asleep in the War Duke’s Bed—While 59 Women Waited Below

Chapter 2

Julian Blackwood had commanded men through cannon fire. He had watched horses fall, officers panic, and surgeons work by lantern light. He had trained himself to measure disaster quickly and act before emotion could interfere.

Nothing in his training prepared him for the sight of a sleeping woman in his bed.

He had escaped the ballroom at half past eleven, leaving his cousins to the mercy of his mother’s matchmaking. Sebastian had been captured by his wife within three steps of the staircase. Marcus had been cornered before he reached the second door. Julian climbed alone, the music falling away with each step, the tension in his jaw easing by degrees.

The private corridor was dim and still. The fire in his chamber had burned low. He crossed toward the side table, reaching for the brandy decanter, when the silence registered as wrong.

It was not empty.