The Viscount's Hidden Treasure by Shirley Karr

Can She Trust a Privateer?
Miss Harriet Chase has been in desperate financial straits since the closing of the academy where she taught. Marriage would give her the safe, stable life she craves, but her only suitor won't propose unless she has a dowry. The treasure left by her father might provide it, but it's in Spain, and a thief just stole Harriet’s copy of the map. She has to go find the treasure now.

Half the treasure belongs to the heir of her father’s friend, Viscount Sheffield. Rumors swirl around Sheffield, that he’s a privateer who’s killed a dozen men and bedded a hundred women. He can take her to Spain on his ship, but can she trust him ... with her life, her virtue, her half of the treasure?

Nicholas, Viscount Sheffield, inherited nothing but the title and entailed estates. Nick is eager to claim the treasure his father didn’t want him to have, even if he has to bring this timid yet tenacious woman with him. She has memorized what she thinks is the only copy of the treasure map.

As they follow clues, sailing from London to Spain to Portugal, they discover other hunters are also racing to find the treasure, not just the thief. Amidst their adventures, Nick discovers the most important treasure is the woman at his side. But this journey opens Harriet’s eyes to a world of possibilities. Can Nick persuade her that he’s the prize she wants?

First published in 2022. Fourth and final book in the Scandalous Ladies series. Each book in the series can be read as a stand-alone novel—a complete story arc, no cliffhangers—but most readers prefer to enjoy them in the order they were written and published.

A lighthearted, slow burn, forced proximity story with more humor than heat, just a little too naughty to call it sweet.