HE HAS TO HAVE HERDespite his vow to remain a bachelor and sire no children, Octavius Rupert Henry Mayne, eighth earl of Lexden, wed Eleanor Dryden. Their physical connection was explosive—and brief. Regretting the marriage almost before the vow left his lips, Lex banished his new wife to the country. Now, six years later, she must come back. Lex needs her like he needs a backfiring musket: her fiery temper, her flashing green eyes, the elemental attraction he's never been able to shake...and her desire to talk.Yet a charade must play out if he is to avenge himself and his father. For that, Eleanor must be silent and compliant. She must not bring "their" son. Above all, she must not pry into his past or his family's tragic secrets and besiege the desperate fortress around his heart. Otherwise he will be beholden to her, and love, so long denied, shall return.