Boudreaux's Lady — Lauren Smith

Danger makes the heart grow fonder… Miss Philippa Wilson makes the best of a bad situation. Her lot in life isn't what she'd choose, but being an upstairs maid for a wealthy baron is better than living on the streets. Little does she know her lackluster days are about to become decidedly more interesting…and dangerous. When a madman wants Philippa dead, it's going to take more than the plan of her good-hearted employer to save her and find out why she's being targeted. It's going to take a hero…or maybe a rogue. Beauregard Boudreaux is a notorious rogue, living uneventful days and terribly scandalous nights with little thought to settling down. He needs nothing more than a strong drink, a beautiful mistress, and a spirited card game to be happy…When he intervenes to rescue a friend's upstairs maid from a killer, he's drawn into a game of cat and mouse with the maid used as bait to draw out the killer. But the more time Beau spends with Philippa as her protector, the more he has an irresistible attraction to this mysterious woman. He also can't shake the feeling that he's seen her somewhere before. But Beau has lost too much in life to risk being hurt again. He can't let himself fall in love, not even with the temptation Philippa presents to him. And bloody hell, she is oh-so tempting…