The Lady Tamed by Heather Boyd

Fortune hunters and fools. Those are the gentlemen Fanny Rivers has endured since her husband’s passing. Men who believe women too feeble-brained to manage a fortune, much less help it grow. So for her sister’s upcoming wedding festivities, she’s combined her business acumen with her habit of collecting strays—hiring an actor to play her besotted beau. And it’s working marvelously. Too marvelously. Before long, her attraction to Jeremy makes it difficult to discern fact from fiction, and Fanny herself is in danger of falling for her own scheme.

Jeremy Dawes can scarcely believe his luck when Fanny Rivers agrees to be his patroness. Despite learning he’s the latest in a long line of charity cases, he willingly takes on the most complicated role of his fledgling career—that of a proper gentleman. She’ll never need know of his unsavory beginnings, though the closer they become, the more Jeremy wishes he could be what she deserves. It’s only after a thrilling moment of intimacy—and a regrettable decision by Fanny—that Jeremy finds unexpected allies in the negotiation for his savvy lady’s heart.