He was running from his darkest desires. She turned out the lights and took him to bed.

A desperate escape. A forced proximity fake marriage. And a passion dark enough to heal—or destroy—them both.

After years of cruelty, Margaret Davies flees into the night with nothing but her life. Beaten but unbroken, she seeks refuge in a quiet Canterbury cottage. She expects isolation; instead, Edwin Giles—a footman who had one task: bring her to safety, then return to his post—finds going back is no longer an option.

To keep Margaret’s reputation intact, they are forced into a dangerous façade: masquerading as a respectable married couple, sharing a home, a career, and a life that feels almost… real.

But as the forced proximity pushes them together, Edwin battles a mounting, dark desire he fears makes him just as monstrous as the men he despises. He offers her gentle restraint. Margaret doesn't want his restraint—she wants his passion, kink and all. She is ready to claim her own pleasure, and she wants him.

Just as they surrender to their intense new intimacy, a scandalous London court case threatens to unmask Margaret. If her identity is exposed, it won't just destroy her hard-won freedom—it will ruin the honorable life Edwin has sacrificed everything to build.

Can two scarred souls survive the fallout of the truth, or will the shadows of London reclaim them both?

An Unladylike Affair is a high-heat, open-door historical romance featuring a fiercely protective hero, a resilient heroine reclaiming her agency, forced proximity, and a fake marriage with a dark, delicious edge.