The Valentine Deception

What if the past refuses to stay buried-and falling in love is the most dangerous deception of all?Dr. Verity Bloom has built her life around the dead.A meticulous genealogist with a love for archives, order, and silence, Verity prefers centuries-old documents to unpredictable living people. The past makes sense. The past doesn’t lie. And the past certainly doesn’t threaten foreclosure.Until it does.When Verity’s quiet London archive is on the brink of being seized by the bank, salvation arrives in the most impossible form: a powerful estate lawyer, a century-old mystery, and a legendary jewel thought to be nothing more than scandalous folklore-the Heart of Eros.Recover it, and Verity’s debts vanish. Refuse, and she loses everything she’s spent her life preserving.The problem? The trail is buried in riddles, forgotten love affairs, and places no respectable academic should ever go.And she won’t be searching alone.Julian Fawkes is a thief with a conscience, a past he doesn’t discuss, and enemies who would rather see him dead than let him uncover certain secrets. Where Verity is methodical and controlled, Julian is instinctive and dangerous-a man who moves through the city’s shadows with unsettling ease. He breaks locks. He bends rules. And he has his own reasons for wanting the Heart of Eros found before the wrong people get to it.People who are already watching.As cryptic clues pull them from crumbling opera houses to locked vaults and into the ruthless orbit of an organization that trades in stolen history, Verity is forced out of her comfort zone and into a world where knowledge alone isn’t enough to keep you alive. Every answer raises new questions. Every step closer to the truth tightens the net around them.And pretending to be a couple at an elite Valentine’s masquerade may be the most dangerous role either of them has ever played.Because the Heart of Eros isn’t just a priceless jewel.It’s proof of a love meant to be erased.It’s leverage powerful enough to start wars.And it has a way of exposing the truths people are most desperate to hide-including the ones beating dangerously close to Verity’s own heart.As danger escalates and trust becomes a gamble, Verity must decide how much she’s willing to risk: her career, her carefully ordered life, or the one thing she never planned for-Falling for a man who lives by deception.Perfect for fans of romantic suspense, slow-burn chemistry, historical mysteries, and high-stakes treasure hunts, The Valentine Deception is a smart, stylish thriller where intellect meets danger-and love may be the greatest risk of all.