The Raven-Guarded Heiress
(2026)(The second book in the Sableford Scandals series)
A novel by Claire Bessey
A proud heiress with a dangerous secret. A soldier hired to guard her. A blackmail plot that reaches deeper than ruined reputation.
Lady Maris Veyne has survived the scandal surrounding Sableford House with her pride intact, but London society is not kind to women with family secrets. Her mother, the Dowager Countess of Sableford, has buried three husbands. Her brother has already uncovered one murder. Now the family is trying to appear respectable again during the London season.
Then Maris’s past returns.
Years ago, she trusted Lionel Crewe, a charming fortune hunter who encouraged reckless letters, private meetings, and promises he never meant to keep. Maris escaped ruin, but society will not care about the truth if those letters become public.
When Lionel appears in London and threatens to expose her, Cassian Veyne hires Captain Rafe Harrow to protect her.
Rafe is a war veteran, a former soldier, and the last man Maris wants watching her every move. He is disciplined, blunt, and far too observant. He sees the fear she hides under elegance, and he refuses to be distracted by charm, rank, or polished lies.
At first, the threat looks like simple blackmail. But the letters contain references Maris never understood as a girl: a sealed account, her father’s name, and the old Sableford Settlement. Someone is using her youthful mistake to reach family papers tied to inheritance, marriage contracts, and a scandal powerful men have spent years keeping buried.
As Maris and Rafe follow a trail of black wax, blue ribbon, forged letters, paid gossip, and dangerous carriage routes, attraction turns into trust. But the closer they come to the truth, the clearer it becomes that Lionel is only a pawn.
A more powerful man wants Maris cornered into marriage, and he is using society itself as the trap.
With Nox, the one-eyed raven, stealing clues from dressing tables and drawing rooms, Maris must decide whether to protect her reputation or refuse shame completely. Rafe must decide whether honor means stepping aside or standing beside the woman society says he can never have.
The Raven-Guarded Heiress is a clean Regency romantic mystery filled with blackmail, society danger, closed-door romance, aristocratic family secrets, old letters, false rescue, and a slow-burn love story between a proud heiress and the soldier who sees her clearly.
Perfect for readers who enjoy clean historical romance, Regency mystery, protective heroes, clever heroines, class tension, family scandal, blackmail plots, and romantic suspense with fair-play clues.
Genre: Historical Romance
Lady Maris Veyne has survived the scandal surrounding Sableford House with her pride intact, but London society is not kind to women with family secrets. Her mother, the Dowager Countess of Sableford, has buried three husbands. Her brother has already uncovered one murder. Now the family is trying to appear respectable again during the London season.
Then Maris’s past returns.
Years ago, she trusted Lionel Crewe, a charming fortune hunter who encouraged reckless letters, private meetings, and promises he never meant to keep. Maris escaped ruin, but society will not care about the truth if those letters become public.
When Lionel appears in London and threatens to expose her, Cassian Veyne hires Captain Rafe Harrow to protect her.
Rafe is a war veteran, a former soldier, and the last man Maris wants watching her every move. He is disciplined, blunt, and far too observant. He sees the fear she hides under elegance, and he refuses to be distracted by charm, rank, or polished lies.
At first, the threat looks like simple blackmail. But the letters contain references Maris never understood as a girl: a sealed account, her father’s name, and the old Sableford Settlement. Someone is using her youthful mistake to reach family papers tied to inheritance, marriage contracts, and a scandal powerful men have spent years keeping buried.
As Maris and Rafe follow a trail of black wax, blue ribbon, forged letters, paid gossip, and dangerous carriage routes, attraction turns into trust. But the closer they come to the truth, the clearer it becomes that Lionel is only a pawn.
A more powerful man wants Maris cornered into marriage, and he is using society itself as the trap.
With Nox, the one-eyed raven, stealing clues from dressing tables and drawing rooms, Maris must decide whether to protect her reputation or refuse shame completely. Rafe must decide whether honor means stepping aside or standing beside the woman society says he can never have.
The Raven-Guarded Heiress is a clean Regency romantic mystery filled with blackmail, society danger, closed-door romance, aristocratic family secrets, old letters, false rescue, and a slow-burn love story between a proud heiress and the soldier who sees her clearly.
Perfect for readers who enjoy clean historical romance, Regency mystery, protective heroes, clever heroines, class tension, family scandal, blackmail plots, and romantic suspense with fair-play clues.
Genre: Historical Romance
Used availability for Claire Bessey's The Raven-Guarded Heiress