May the Best Rake Win

Sir Kenneth Fraser has a name as London's most outrageous rake, built on charm, scandal and a long record of ruined reputations. He also has a cover story, and at the Standish Ball it nearly falls apart. To draw Society's eyes elsewhere, he proposes a wager: seduce the city's shyest wallflower.

Miss Barbara Fokette is not what he expected. She prefers artifacts to admirers and has cultivated a reputation as a recluse, which lets her rest her twisted foot and spend her days among her antiquities. Her wit is sharp, her hobbies are odd, and her family is truly unusual.

Her private library of antiquities may hold the key to Kenneth's latest assignment for the Crown. So he keeps coming back, and conversations about Egyptian funerary goods slide into whispered, wicked promises. Barbara begins to think adventure and romance could be within reach for her.

The book sits fifth in The Rake Review, Season Two, a series written by several authors. It is a hot historical rom-com with a comic tone, and one chaise longue gets very improper use. Kenneth is courting her for the wrong reasons, and the wager sits between them.