A wicked widow who swore off marriage. A marquess desperate to prove he's nothing like his father. One house party, one scheming stepsister, and a secret affair that could ruin them both.

Lady Callista Langford buried a husband who blamed her for five childless years and left her feeling broken. She has no interest in replacing him. As a member of the Wicked Widows League, she answers to no one—until the Marquess of Deering arrives at Lady Fairfax's house party with a roguish grin and dimples that make her forget every rule she's made for herself. What begins as a stolen night in the library becomes an affair she can't walk away from. But Callie carries a wound no amount of desire can heal—the certainty that any man who needs an heir will eventually discard her the way Langford did.

Max Whitmore, Marquess of Deering, has spent his life outrunning his father's reputation. The late marquess was a gambler, a philanderer, and something far worse—and the ton has a long memory. Max keeps his affairs discreet and his heart locked, because wanting too much is how destruction begins. But Callie isn't a dalliance. She's sharp-tongued, fearless, and the only person who sees him for who he actually is—not his father's son, but a man worth loving.

Their secret would be scandal enough. But Callie's scheming stepsister has set her sights on Max's title and will stop at nothing to claim it. When Callie must choose between protecting herself and fighting for the man she loves, she discovers that the only thing more terrifying than risking her heart is losing him to a lie.

A steamy Regency where the widow who swore off love and the rogue who fears his own heart discover that the greatest risk isn't scandal—it's walking away from each other.

Tropes: Wicked Widow · House Party Romance · Secret Hook-Up · He Falls First · Reformed Rogue · Touch Her and Die · Scheming Rival · Surprise Baby (Epilogue)

Heat Level: Steamy/Explicit Tone: Bantery, Emotional, Witty Ending: HEA POV: Dual POV, Third Person Content Notes: On-page intimacy, infertility themes, scheming family members, reference to past predatory behavior (hero's father backstory) Comp Authors: Scarlett Scott, Tessa Dare, Eva Devon