博客來Can she play her cards right and win his heart?
Miss Ruthie Waitrose is tired of playing the dutiful daughter whose one role is take care of everyone other than herself. When her mother promises her to a rich, odious older man in an attempt to recoup the family’s fortune, Ruthie decides to finally act. Dressing up as a gentleman, she tries her luck making money the same way her father and brother lost it all-gambling. But while Ruthie finds freedom and a little luck at the card tables, she meets her match with all-round degenerate and gambling den owner Harry Holmes.
Harry is tired of playing the thief. Years of keeping one eye open at night have encouraged him to turn straight once and for all. A legitimate businessman now, with the most successful and popular gambling hall in London, Harry is miles away from the street urchin he once was. So why does he still feel like something is missing? And why does he have the miserable bad luck to suddenly grow a conscience?
Harry doesn’t have to search any further than Ruthie. Ever since he spotted her and her terrible disguise in his club, he’s been obsessed with the alluring woman. When he asks her to marry him, he believes she will be the saving grace for his tortured soul. But Ruthie is not the demure, obedient lady he expected. She challenges him in infuriating and enticing ways, forcing him to remember a past that he’d prefer to keep safely hidden.
Ruthie doesn’t know what to make of her husband. He’s surly and rude, but also kind and gentle. Though he’s plagued by controlling tics and quirks, he hides them under a calm and icy demeanor. The more she grows to understand him, the more she recognizes that Harry has his own disguise, one that he’s ready to shed.
But when Harry’s past comes back to haunt them, he pushes his new wife away, knowing that he will never be free from the baggage, no matter how far he runs from it. However, Ruthie refuses to be cast aside. She might not be able to read cards, but she can read her husband, and he needs her just as much as she needs him. Harry Holmes is expert gambler, but she must teach him a new type of game-one with no masks or sleights of hand, one where honesty and love win.
Can Ruthie show him that a love like theirs is worth fighting for, or will Harry allow himself to be drawn back into a life in the shadows?
There’s one thing she knows for sure-when love is the ultimate gamble, sometimes you have to risk it all.
