A Wicked Wager — Adele Clee

Two lonely people discover that true love doesn't have to be perfect.

The gentleman makes a wager.

Devlin Drake is out for revenge. Since his brother's mysterious death, the cruel and devious Miss Bromfield has taken to spouting vicious lies, spreading vile gossip - and he vows to make her pay. How better to punish the lady than to make her his wife? A lifetime of misery is what she deserves. Knowing the lady would never accept him, Devlin devises a plan to get her to the altar - he'll win her hand in a bet.

In choosing to marry the spiteful lady, Devlin must accept he will never know true love. But his fortunes turn when he's offered another tempting option.

A surprise announcement.

Miss Juliet Duval, the illegitimate daughter of Baron Bromfield, was taken into the lord's house after the death of her mother. The baron finds her an embarrassment, and her half-sister's jealous tirades see Juliet banished to the role of servant. That is until her father makes a foolish wager and needs a daughter to satisfy his debt.

An unsuitable match.

Thrown together in an odd twist of fate, Devlin and Juliet are mismatched in every regard. He is a hulking figure of a man, powerful, commanding. She is dainty and petite, used to obeying her father, and despising of masterful men. Yet both quickly become what the other needs and together must battle against those determined to tear them apart.