Once Upon a Time in Bath by Cheryl Bolen

Lord Appleton may be a bit of a rake but he’s never been one to lose his head at the gaming tables. Yet he loses everything on a night of which he has no memory. How will he dower his sisters? Where will they live when the vile man who bought his debts forces them from their house in Bath? Lord Appleton will do anything to reclaim their house and avoid hurting his family—even if it means having to marry a peculiar heiress.

When Miss Dorothea Pankhurst arrives in Bath with her ailing father—and the four cats she’s never without—she is ignorant of the ways of Society, having never left her father’s significant estate in remote Lincolnshire. Then the kindly Lord Appleton and his gracious sister take her under their wing. She is immediately smitten with the handsome viscount and thrilled beyond measure when he asks for her hand in marriage.

After the murder of a young dealer at the gambling house where Appleton played, Dot and Appleton grow closer as they work together to find the killer. But they’re not fully aware of the sinister forces trying to pull them apart . . .