The sainted Miss Venus was up to something - and he was damned if that didn't intrigue him. Venus Merriwell knows exactly what she wants in a husband: a selfless academic, free from all the wretched vices of her gambling father. Unfortunately, at twenty-three and after several romantic disappointments, the one true love of her life is a bursting-at-the-seams Covent Garden orphanage that desperately needs to expand into the empty building next door. Gambling isn't just Galahad Sinclair's life, it's in his blood. Following a childhood in a New York tavern, he's spent the last five years making a success out of his East End gaming hall and saving for the pleasure palace of his dreams in Covent Garden. The only fly in his ointment? His perfect building just happens to be right next door to Venus's orphanage. With Venus's malevolent orphans doing their darndest to sabotage Galahad's lifelong dream, the two soon find themselves locking horns. Will either of them ever take the ultimate gamble and learn to love their neighbour?