He wouldn’t betray the trust of the men he’d worked beside for a decade. Whatever it took, Adam would find a way to get the land back and return.

He had no choice but to go home, but he’d be damned if he would stay. If he weren’t so angry, Adam might admit that it was cleverly done. Even his passage back to London had been paid in advance through a third party. All of the profits he’d accumulated were trapped in the family accounts, and he was banned from accessing them. By the time it arrived, all of the accounts and lines of credit had been frozen. Adam’s letter hadn’t been the only one his father had sent, just the last one. After the first year, when he’d fallen in love with the land and having a purpose, it had become the truth. He was in the Carolina holdings to manage the family interests. Adam looked over to realize he’d gained the attention of two female passengers posted farther down the railing. The marquess might as well have disowned him for all the help Adam had received since being banished to the colonies, and now he claimed the right to once again order Adam about like a pawn on a chessboard? The tittering of female laughter floated toward him on the breeze. Five words that ruined everything Adam had spent the last ten years building. Not even when he was turning his son’s entire life upside down. They’d never had much to say to each other-especially not since he’d sent Adam away in exile-and the Marquess of Clairborne didn’t mince words. Crumpled in his fist was the letter he’d received from his father. Adam hadn’t enjoyed the bustle and noise of a city for years now, but-once they’d sailed far enough out to give a view of the labyrinth of inlets and islands he’d come to love-he’d come up to the deck to say good-bye. He hadn’t bothered when they were leaving port. The Carolina coastline grew more and more distant as Adam watched from the ship’s railing.

A Ballroom Temptation by Kimberly Bell