Title: Guarded
Series: Boston Renegades
Author: Eden Sloane
Genre/Tropes: Hockey Romance; Fake Marriage; Morally Grey Heroine; Single Dad; Bookish Hero; Found Family
Release Date: October 20, 2026
Cover Designer: Talina with Bookin’ It Designs
Promo Graphic Designer: @hercozybookshelf!
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For a chance to save his daughter, he’ll do whatever it takes…
Sebastian Voss has spent the last three years fighting for custody of the little girl who means everything to him. Between a narcissistic ex-wife, her new fiancé, and a steady stream of damaging headlines painting him as the NHL’s favorite womanizing disaster, Sebastian is running out of options.
Then he lands on one reckless, desperate solution. He needs a wife.
Kat Morrison should be the last woman he asks. He barely knows anything about her except for her storm-gray eyes, freckles, and captivating aura.
But Sebastian has been gone for her since the moment they met, and if marrying Kat gives him a better chance at keeping his daughter safe, he’ll risk everything.
Even his heart.
Kat knows saying yes is a mistake.
Not because she doesn’t love him.
Because she does.
For three years, she’s been forced to write the lies that have damaged Sebastian’s reputation and cost him chance after chance in court. Blackmailed into obedience to save her brother’s life, Kat has become the weapon aimed straight at the only man who’s ever made her feel safe.
Now she’s living in his house, wearing his ring, loving his daughter, and falling deeper for the family she was supposed to help destroy.
But the closer Sebastian and Kat get, the harder it becomes to tell where the lie ends and forever begins.
And when the truth finally comes out, Sebastian could lose more than custody of his daughter.
He could lose the woman he’s loved all along.
Sebastian Voss has spent the last three years fighting for custody of the little girl who means everything to him. Between a narcissistic ex-wife, her new fiancé, and a steady stream of damaging headlines painting him as the NHL’s favorite womanizing disaster, Sebastian is running out of options.
Then he lands on one reckless, desperate solution. He needs a wife.
Kat Morrison should be the last woman he asks. He barely knows anything about her except for her storm-gray eyes, freckles, and captivating aura.
But Sebastian has been gone for her since the moment they met, and if marrying Kat gives him a better chance at keeping his daughter safe, he’ll risk everything.
Even his heart.
Kat knows saying yes is a mistake.
Not because she doesn’t love him.
Because she does.
For three years, she’s been forced to write the lies that have damaged Sebastian’s reputation and cost him chance after chance in court. Blackmailed into obedience to save her brother’s life, Kat has become the weapon aimed straight at the only man who’s ever made her feel safe.
Now she’s living in his house, wearing his ring, loving his daughter, and falling deeper for the family she was supposed to help destroy.
But the closer Sebastian and Kat get, the harder it becomes to tell where the lie ends and forever begins.
And when the truth finally comes out, Sebastian could lose more than custody of his daughter.
He could lose the woman he’s loved all along.
Eden Sloane believes the best love stories aren’t about perfect people. They’re about imperfect people who keep choosing each other, even after the truth changes everything.
She writes emotionally charged contemporary romance featuring devoted heroes, resilient heroines, impossible choices, and love worth risking everything for. Her stories celebrate the courage it takes to love completely.
When she’s not plotting emotional damage (followed by well-earned happily ever afters), Eden can usually be found gardening, trying to win an ongoing battle with the weeds in her yard, drinking far too much caffeine, enjoying a nightcap while watching BBC crime dramas with her husband, and keeping tabs on her four children.
And if you’re reading this during the winter, please send warm thoughts. Eden is somewhere in the Midwest, questioning every life choice that led her to a place where the air hurts her face.
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