American heiress Eliza Dove was resigned to a polite marriage of convenience...until she spent one wicked night with the Duke. All hopeless romantic Eliza Dove asked for was one night of adventure. One glorious evening of freedom to explore the dark corners of London with a mysterious stranger before a lifetime trapped in a quiet, respectable marriage of convenience. Except now she wants more. Now she wants him .   Simon Cavell is no gentleman. Known only as ‘the Duke,’ Whitechapel’s prize boxer is one fight away from achieving his goal: to safeguard his late sister’s only treasure and leave the streets for good. He cannot allow some pretty young heiress to spill his secrets, no matter how tempting she might be. In return for her silence, Simon will give Eliza a taste of the darkness…and hope he doesn’t lose his heart in the process. But one night together could never be enough. And now Eliza has a new plan—an even more scandalous bargain that will either land the heiress her duke or ruin them both. Praise for Harper St. George "A glittering ballroom romance bursting with the industry and wealth that so define Gilded Age heiresses."— Entertainment Weekly on The Heiress Gets a Duke " This swoony and tender marriage of convenience has all the wit, emotions, and chemistry I love about Harper St George's writing."—Evie Dunmore, USA Today bestselling author on The Stranger I Wed "Prepare to be dazzled! Scintillating and deeply romantic, The Stranger I Wed is another winner from Harper St. George."—India Holton, international bestselling author of The Secret Service of Tea and Treason “Gilded Age New York meets Victorian London in Harper St. George’s dazzling new series. The Stranger I Wed is strong, feminist, and scorchingly sexy. This is historical marriage-of-convenience romance at its swooniest. I couldn’t put it down.”—Mimi Matthews, USA Today bestselling author “Harper St. George never misses! The Stranger I Wed delivers everything I love about historical romance”—Liana De la Rosa, USA Today bestselling author “ The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George is a delicious start to a new series, with all of my favorite things—a marriage of convenience, scandalous family secrets, and feisty American heroines who bring too-handsome aristocrats to their knees. A fantastic, fast-paced read by one of the best historical writers around!”—Joanna Shupe, USA Today bestselling author “A deliciously simmering romance. … Harper St. George is one of my must-read historical romance authors.”—Adriana Herrera, USA Today bestselling author on The Stranger I Wed “A captivating and passionate romance between a pair who are completely besotted with each other.”— Kirkus, s tarred review “St. George ( The Stranger I Wed , 2024) returns with another perfectly polished addition to her Victorian-set Doves of New York series that deftly illustrates her gift for creating memorable characters and her flair for turning steamy sexual chemistry into boldly sensual love scenes.”— Booklist Harper St. George grew up in the rural backwoods of Alabama and the northwest Florida coast, where her love of history began. She now makes her home in the Atlanta area writing historical fiction romance set in various time periods, from the Viking Era to the Gilded Age. Her novels have been translated into ten languages. Chapter One Bloomsbury, London Late Spring 1878 A young woman in search of a husband should not go wandering the halls of Montague Club. This was particularly true if the young woman in question was only pretending to be a gently bred American heiress. Any hint of scandal could not easily be absorbed by a centuries-long family lineage that didn’t exist. Eliza Dove knew that. She knew it in her bones. The problem was that, sometimes, once an idea took hold, she had trouble reining it in. Her bad angel always seemed to be more persuasive than her good angel. This is how she found herself searching for the nearly imperceptible crease where the hidden door that would lead her to the club met the wall. The door was covered in wallpaper and made to look like part of the corridor. She wouldn’t have noticed it at all except she’d seen a man in livery pass through it only moments ago. Her fingertips slid over the wall, fingernails trailing over the scarlet-and-gold wallpaper in search of the break in texture. She found it right at the edge of a section of molding, exactly where she thought it would be. There had to be a way to open it. Aha! Her thumb brushed against a gilded latch that was disguised in a section of gold pattern on the wallpaper. She very gently gave it a tug and the door swung toward her. Victory pumped through her veins, along with a fair amount of wine from dinner. She paused to make certain no one saw her and to give fate a moment to catch up and intervene. No one happened by, and the twinge of guilt that made itself known was so puny it might not have existed at all. C