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I am in urgent need of a wife …the words echoed in Julian’s head as he watched Maxwell digest his unusual request.

A lengthy pause hung over them and Julian forced himself not to retract his words.

It galled him to no end to have to even ask a favor, not to mention reveal his own inability to take care of matters himself.

However, he had pondered this matter excessively over the month spent in London attempting to find a bride and had come to the unpalatable conclusion that he would need to seek the help of his oldest, and some might say only, friend.

It was clearly a sign of the level of his desperation. And failure.

"Let me see if I have this right," Maxwell said. "You are asking me for ... Help. You, the almighty Julian Ashford, Earl of Strathmore, have found a task at which you are unable to succeed without assistance?"

Julian glared with his one viable eye and clenched his jaw.

Yes, it had come to this. Due to his grandfather's foolish notion that he ought to have a bride, Julian had been forced to do the one thing he hated above all else, ask for help.

Need other people. It made the contents of his stomach roil just to think about it.

He ought to have known better than to reveal a vulnerability to Maxwell. He had not a serious bone in his entire body, yet he was the only one in whom Julian felt secure confiding.

Though he now questioned the wisdom of that decision as well.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Julian replied, tersely.

"And what, pray tell, has caused the grouchy and acerbic Lord Ashford to decide to curse some poor young lady with being shackled to him for life?"

"Never mind," Julian said. He gathered his things and stood. "I ought to have known better than to engage you in this endeavor. You are nothing but a clunch."

"No, no, no. I apologize. Truly I do." Maxwell stood and blocked Julian's path. "Please, sit back down. Settle your nerves and tell me what is going on. I thought you were opposed to matrimony, particularly after the debacle with Lady Edna Horsely."

Julian resumed his seat, but his jaw tightened. He regretted that he had shared with Darlington his intentions to propose to Lady Edna, though at the time, he had been most enthused and possibly in love.

"Oh, I see that is still a sore spot. My apologies." Maxwell did appear to be contrite and thank God he did not look upon Julian with pity. Anything but pity.

A waiter came by and set two tankards in front of them and Julian nodded his thanks. He was parched for certain, despite consuming brandy moments before.

"I have no great desire to take a wife," Julian said. "However, my grandfather has other plans."

A smile lit up Maxwell's face. "Ah, Lord Ebersole. How is the old codger?"

"He's cantankerous as ever," Julian said with a grimace. He took a long pull on his drink and set the tankard on the table before continuing. "He has decided he will not sign the mine over to me until I have a bride."

"But I thought he had promised the mine to you," Maxwell said.

"He has changed his mind. He says on his seventieth birthday, which will happen in less than a month, he is divesting himself of the mine and it will either go to me, provided I have married by then, or to my cousin, Lord Leonard Tinnitus, who is married and has four children who are holy terrors, having acquired their winning personalities from their father.

However, he has sons who can run the mine in the future…

into the ground in my opinion…but my grandfather wishes it to stay in the family into perpetuity. "

For once, Maxwell had no quip in reply.

"Buggar," he finally whispered, finishing off his tankard of ale. "And if it goes to your cousin with all the children, what about you? Where will you live? What about all your work on the mine?"

Julian pinched the bridge of his nose before responding. "He says I can continue to live at Hazelden and provide counsel to my worthless cousin. I have sufficient funds to support myself, but the notion of Tinnitus taking over the mine, and surely laying waste to all my work, is abhorrent to me."

Maxwell shook his head from side to side. "Tiny Tinnitus," he said. "Is he still a sneaky scoundrel?"

"Worse," Julian said.

Julian drank more from the tankard. "Additionally, Grandfather refuses to provide a proper dowry for Penny, unless I marry."

"Ah, the lovely Lady Penelope. How is sweet Penny, the copper heiress?"

"Too damn sweet for you, so stop sniffing around," Julian retorted.

He knew he was overly protective of his younger sister.

Had she not told him so repeatedly of late?

He hated the idea of his sister not having a proper Season in order to meet a man of good character to protect and care for her.

Without a respectable dowry, her options would be limited, regardless of her innocent beauty and sunny demeanor.

Though he had inherited the Earldom of Strathmore upon his father’s demise, the assets had been depleted by his father’s profligate ways. Julian and Penny had moved in with their grandfather shortly after their mother’s death and contact with the erstwhile earl had been sporadic, at best.

Even if he sold all his interest in the mine, Julian did not have the resources to properly provide for his sister without full ownership of the mine and damn well his grandfather knew it. The old man had expertly found the one area of weakness for Julian and exploited it shamelessly.

He felt his jaw tighten at the thought. After all he'd given to the mine, including his blasted eye, this is how his grandfather repaid him. And he was using Julian’s affection for his younger sister as further inducement.

It was outrageous and unfair. He'd told the old man as much weeks ago when he'd broken the news to Julian. It still rankled.

Maxwell sat back and chuckled. "Bravo, Lord Ebersole," he said. "He has got you right where he wants you."

"You know I do not like to be dictated to," Julian said.

"No one does," Maxwell replied, holding back a grin. "All right, so you need to find a wife. Have you any prospects?"

Julian simply glared at Maxwell with his one good eye.

"Okay, fine." Maxwell said. "We're starting at the very beginning."

"You have four sisters," Julian said. "Surely one of them would have me."

Maxwell scoffed. "You are trying to use me to get to my sisters? You've got a lot of nerve, particularly after what you just said when I mentioned your sister."

"I would be a good husband. Whomever I marry shall have a fine home..."

"Out in the middle of mining country, far from London and society. What decent young lady would agree to such a thing? Even the indecent ones would balk at the idea."

"Well, you are likely an expert on the likes and dislikes of the indecent women of the ton ."

"My," Maxwell replied while glancing down his nose at Julian, "you are making it easy for me to refuse to help you."

Julian continued as though Maxwell had not spoken. "I would treat her with respect and she could do as she pleased so long as she remained in residence and put up a good front for my grandfather, at least until his birthday fête."

"Perhaps you ought to marry an actress," Maxwell suggested.

"And this," Julian said, looking about as though addressing the room, "is why I never ask for help."

Laurel stood outside the church staring as Richard was taken away in shackles. The rain had let up, but only slightly and she felt the weight of it on her veil and gown.

This cannot be happening, she told herself.

And yet, there was no mistaking the fact that her stepbrother was now surrounded by stern-faced constables while the guests at her wedding were hurrying to their own conveyances in order to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the shame of Richard’s arrest.

She could tell herself they were all in a rush due to the weather, but none of them left without taking a good long look at her criminal relative and then staring at her.

A few nodded in what she assumed was some half-hearted attempt at consolation while others simply sneered and took off as quickly as possible.

And her groom?

He and his father, as well as the rest of the Onslow family, had been amongst the first to absent themselves from the scene, as though Richard’s crimes might have been contagious.

Stunned, Laurel stood watching the scene before her as though seeing it from afar. Richard did not even look back as he was shoved into the paddy wagon. Was there no one who would even look her in the eye?

Despite the absolute horror and humiliation of the moment, Laurel could not deny the tiny thread of glee that coursed through her veins as she watched Richard, who had never had a kind word for her, carted off by the law like the common thug she knew him to be.

"Laurel?" Cassie, her steadfast friend, touched her arm and Laurel turned to look at her, blinking until the other young lady came into focus through the rain.

"Well, this is a fine mess your stepbrother has left you in, but no matter.

" Lady Katherine Winchester strode up to the two friends like a general on the battlefield.

Umbrella held high, she used it to shield Cassie and Laurel.

"Come along, girls." She gestured toward the Winchester family carriage which waited alone as all the others tore down the cobblestone street at a pace that resembled race day at Ascot.

Laurel took a step in that direction, one could hardly dare resist an order from Lady Katherine, but then she stopped.

"Thank you, my lady, but I cannot inflict my shame upon you and your family. Please, go on. I shall hire a carriage for the ride home." She glanced toward her family carriage which was surrounded by constables.