A Private Wager by Chasity Bowlin

A wager between two aging society matrons regarding one’s claim to be the greatest matchmaker in all of the Ton has resulted in some truly advantageous marriages… and no small degree of scandal.

Harrison Warfield, Viscount Harcourt, understands that marriage is in his future, but he’s determined that it will be the very distant future. And since he’s had an unfortunate attraction to Miss Lucy Dawes, an heiress who has embraced her status as a spinster rather than be married for her fortune, he’s spent most of his time avoiding her. Which is all well and good, until they are the special guests of Lady Pandora Osbourne at a house party hosted by one of her dear friends.
But it isn’t just Lady Pandora who has wagered on making a match between the Viscount and Miss Dawes. The Viscount himself has been lured, through no fault of his own, into a very damning wager with his envious cousin, Barton Warfield. Their most valuable unentailed estates are the stakes…. And the wager itself is for the hand of Miss Dawes.
Can he convince her to marry him? Can he do so without losing his heart? And when success is on the horizon, can he prevent his wretched cousin from destroying what he finally sees as his first real chance at happiness?