Beauty Tempts the Beast

Heath concludes her Sin for All Seasons series (after The Earl Takes a Fancy) with a true treat of a Victorian romance. Lady Althea Stanwick and her two older brothers are in dire straits after their land and titles are revoked in punishment for a treasonous act committed by their father. To make ends meet, Althea finds work as a barmaid at the Mermaid and the Unicorn in Whitechapel, an inn owned by the new Duchess Thornley, neé Trewlove, the heroine of When a Duke Loves a Woman. There Althea meets Benjamin “Beast” Trewlove, the duchess’s brother, who instantly recognizes Althea as a highborn lady. Beast has made it his mission to protect London’s prostitutes and help them to transition out of sex work, and he offers Althea a position teaching the women under his protection more refined skills in exchange for housing and a hefty sum. Althea agrees, gaining financial independence and the ability to support her brothers as they search for the truth behind their father’s betrayal. And when Althea asks Beast for lessons in seduction, their already simmering chemistry comes to a boil. Heath may have saved the best for last. (Oct.)