Lyon on the Inside by Regina Jeffers

A shadow from Aaran’s past may end both Lady Freya’s life and his chance for happiness.

Desperate to avoid her father’s declaration that she was to marry a middle-aged baronet, Lady Freya Cunningham boards the London coach to her Aunt Felicity’s home in Kent. She means “accidentally” to encounter Lord Aaran Graham. His lordship is to stand up with his brother at Benjamin Thompson’s wedding, but Freya quickly realizes that a lady traveling alone is a prime victim for a devious man, that is, until, like in a storybook tale, the man of her “dreams” comes to her rescue. Freya’s heart is about to be stolen, but whether by a thief or a gambler or a gentleman remains to be seen.

Aaran had been desperate to reach Lady Freya before something untoward happened to her. His brothers’ wives had set up this scheme of bringing the two of them together, but Graham fears accepting his hopes to find happiness with the woman he desires will more likely leave him standing without a leg upon he can depend. Lady Freya’s father despises him, though Graham is one of the richest men in the United Kingdom.

Lady Freya’s adventures are just the beginning. There’s an unhappy younger brother, a wicked stepmother straight out of a Grimm fairytale, a diamond of the first water to whom Graham had once proposed, and the unrelenting “evil” that had been following Lord Duncan’s family, including Aaran Graham, around for nearly a year, all coming together for a final showdown in a Kent hunting lodge.

Tropes you’ll enjoy:
Forbidden love
Alpha hero
Strong female lead
Love at first sight
Soul mates
Matchmakers gone wrong
Honorable marriage
Star-crossed lovers