Enter the world of the most notorious gambling den in London, where matches are made... unusually. Welcome to the world of THE LYON'S DEN: The Black Widow of Whitehall Connected World, where the underground of Regency London thrives... and loves.

A scarred duke. His bluestocking bride. Love that changes everything.

After a devastating fire burned half his body, the reclusive Hugh Westfield, the Duke of Somerset, has dedicated himself to raising his young sister. But he must have a wife to sponsor her in Society, so he approaches the infamous widow proprietress of the Lyon’s Den to find him a bride.

Miss Christiana Nightingale wants nothing more than to dedicate herself to her education, but when Mrs. Dove-Lyon calls in her father’s debts, she finds she is the one expected to pay them—with her hand in marriage. Furious, she vows to free herself from the arrangement, until she meets the mysterious, masked duke who promises her freedom.

Hugh knows his scars make him undesirable, and Christiana was her socialite mother’s greatest disappointment. Their plan is to separate once his sister married—but faced with scheming servants, a matchmaking sister, and unexpected desire, they discover marriage is not as merely convenient as they once thought.

To find happiness, they must accept they are worthy of love… But for Hugh and Christiana, nothing has ever felt more out of reach.

Tropes you'll love:

• Scarred hero
• Beauty and the beast
• Plain heroine
• Marriage of convenience
• Bluestocking heroine
• Arranged marriage
• Slow burn