A Bet with a Baron

A BET WITH A BARON LORDS OF TEMPTATION BOOK 1 LORDS OF SCANDAL SPIN OFF TAMMY ANDRESEN Copyright © 2022 by Tammy Andresen All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Created with Vellum CONTENTS A Bet with a Baron Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue A Romp with a Rogue About the Author Other Titles by Tammy Keep up with all the latest news, sales, freebies, and releases by joining my newsletter! www.tammyandresen.com Hugs! A BET WITH A BARON No one can play the game like her… Though her title is lady now, Mirabelle Smith wasn’t always. Bastard daughter to the Earl of Easton, she grew up without any of her father’s wealth or power to protect her. So when she determines to be the belle of London’s next season, she knows that playing fair won’t get her what she most desires. The only way to win is to use every trick she’s carefully stashed up her lace cuff. Because if growing up on the wrong side of London has taught her anything, it’s that cheaters often win, and gambling only works if you know how to play the game… The problem? She needs the help of a certain baron. Partial owner of a new gaming hell, Hell’s Corner, Baron Boxby’s part of her dark world and the glittering ton that’s just beyond her reach… But how to convince a man who doesn’t want any entanglements to aid her quest? A bet ought to do nicely… This book is dedicated to all my friends who are rocking independent publishing. You are Mirabelle. Strong, hardworking, full of talent, and trying to prove to an industry who sees you as less that you are just as good. But I say you are sparkling jewels, each of you. Shine on! CHAPTER ONE Lady Mirabelle Smith had a secret. The sort that had likely crushed the souls of many a young woman through the course of time and would wound many more. The weight of it would not let her be… She drew in a breath, her gaze scanning the manicured gardens of the Baron of Boxby’s country estate. The lush gardens rustled softly in the summer breeze, only enhancing the bucolic air that infused this place. It was like a fantasy compared with her modest London home and heavenly compared with her first home on the east side of London. In retrospect, she had little understanding of how her father had allowed them to live there for so long. But today was not the day for such thoughts. Today was her brother’s wedding day. That same breeze rustled her skirts and an errant lock of her dark brown hair that she attempted to tuck behind her ear. She wished she were blond like her sister, Anna. A true beauty, Anna was often compared to an angel. No one would mistake Mirabelle for an ethereal figure. Her dark hair and eyes were far more suited to dastardly deeds. Like keeping secrets. She was a woman used to holding the truth close. As the bastard daughter of the Earl of Easton, she’d grown up understanding the stigma that surrounded her birth. And when her father had orchestrated for her eldest brother to become the heir to a marquessate…the entire family had had to keep that secret. But that was the sort of falsehood that she’d been able to go days without thinking on, weeks even. And then she’d had one confidante: her best friend, Emily Boxby. Soon to be Emily Smith. Emily was marrying Mirabelle’s eldest brother and officially becoming her sister. Mirabelle couldn’t be more thrilled. And the fact that their legitimate brother, the Earl of Easton, was going to support her brother Ace’s claim to the marquessate brought her tantalizingly close to fulfilling her greatest wish, her biggest secret of all. Mirabelle wished to be a proper lady. Not just in name. Technically, she was Lady Mirabelle. When her brother succeeded to the marquessate, her title as a lady had been solidified. But she didn’t just want the name of lady, she wanted to be a lady. And most of all, she wanted to be accepted by the other women of the ton. The ones who looked down on her and had since she was a child. Emily had been the only exception. But Mirabelle’s most secret desire was to be one of those women. Beautiful and gracious, one of the few who was accepted and loved. Part of a club that, between her looks and her birth, she’d never been able to touch. Her breath caught in her chest just to think it as she moved toward the line of carriages that would take the wedding guests the short distance to the chapel. Four of her five brothers stood in a line waiting for her. Four sets of broad shoulders and dark hair standing like centaurs in a line. Her surly guardians. Rush came first, the second oldest. His hair was shorn close, his expression ever serious as he watched her move toward them. Triston was next, his overlong hair brushing his ears and collars, his expression clearly revealing his feelings about weddings, as surely as if he was muttering the words “Why would anyone wish to wed?” Gris next to Tris, his ever-ready mysterious smile playing at his lips. It wasn’t that he was happier than their other brothers. It was more that he caught people off guard with his ease. They were never prepared when he struck. And there was Fulton. The youngest, he was also the wildest, forever in trouble. Fighting,