A self-made businessman who wants to climb the social ladder agrees to help a lady inventor find funding in return for her matchmaking skills in early Victorian London.On a rainy night in Belgravia, inventor Diana Ashby is late for a scientific lecture when she spots an altercation in the alleyway. She manages to scare off two ruffians with her umbrella only to find herself looking up at a very attractive gentleman. Aidan Iverson is a wealthy self-made investor and part owner of Duke's Den, a gentlemen's gambling club that also functions as a Victorian version of Shark Tank. Abandoned to a workhouse as a child, he is determined to discover his true parentage while at the same time finding a well-born bride whose social status can raise his own. Diana and Aidan strike a deal: She, a well-connected baronet's granddaughter, will find him a match, while Aidan will locate an investor for her manual vacuum cleaner. Diana is under pressure to make her own match, but an investor could help her family's finances just as much and without forcing her to forsake her one true passion in life. Aidan and Diana are both intelligent, tenacious, and driven. Neither seeks love or marriage for its own sake, but as they spend time together, their own romance blossoms, and their goals shift. The nobleman's gambling den has been overdone in historical romance, although here the plot rests on technology and commercialization in England in the years leading up to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Readers will need to overlook Diana's unusual, and unexplained, amount of unchaperoned freedom. When Aidan admits, "I've never known where I belong," he could be speaking for Diana as well. This is the second book in Carlyle's Duke's Den series, after A Duke Changes Everything.Mature, interesting, and romantic protagonists elevate a familiar story. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Carlyle's memorable second Duke's Den Victorian romance (after A Duke Changes Everything), a budding scientist and a wealthy businessman discover they are a perfect match. Diana Ashby wishes to avoid marriage until she can gain recognition for her inventions. When she happens upon a gentleman being attacked, she chases away the ruffians and assists the victim, and they share a brief, unforgettable kiss. A year later, Diana is invited to present her household cleaning system invention at Lyon's, a gentlemen's club in London, where she hopes to find a backer. One of the investors she meets is Aidan Iverson, the man she assisted. Aidan agrees to fund her invention if she can help him find a noble bride. Orphaned at a young age, Aidan has achieved great wealth through his business successes, but some doors have been closed to him because of his lack of familial connections. Diana introduces him to marriageable young women, but none holds the appeal that she does. Aidan must decide whether the love he feels for Diana is more important than his future bride's noble blood. Fans of historical romance with strong, intelligent heroines will adore this novel, in which emotionally vulnerable, highly motivated characters complete the sensuous story. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Aidan Iverson has made it a point in life never to owe anyone anything, but there is one debt he has left unpaid. Late one rainy night over a year ago, Aidan was attacked by thieves. A young woman emerged from the darkness brandishing an umbrella and helped to fight off his attackers. He failed to learn her name, but he never forgot her. So imagine Aidan's surprise when he not only finds a lady among the group of inventors waiting to pitch their ideas to him and his co-members of the Duke's Den, but realizes that this lady, Diana Ashby, is none other than his one-time rescuer. Carlyle inventively incorporates a Victorian riff on the concept of Shark Tank as well as the hero's hunt for his own past into the engaging plot of the second quirkily different and splendidly sexy addition to her Duke's Den series, following The Duke Changes Everything (2018).--John Charles Copyright 2019 Booklist