Love Is A Draw

Book 2 in Check Mates, a brand-new Regency romance series by #1 bestselling author Sara Adrien.

Chess is her pride.
He’s playing for his future.
Only one can win—unless love finds a way to rewrite the rules.

Governess Avigail “Gail” Tarkov has spent years keeping her heart locked behind strategy and silence. Brilliant at chess, cautious in life, she’s long since given up dreams of her own happy ending. In Regency London, there’s no safety for an immigrant Jewish woman without fortune or title.

But when Victor Romanov arrives at the Pearler estate, everything begins to unravel.
Victor is bold. Charismatic. Dangerously intelligent. And he sees Gail—not just her mind, but her fire, longing, and loneliness. For the first time, she begins to imagine something more than winning games. Something more than just surviving.
Victor is bold. Charismatic. Dangerously intelligent. And he sees Gail—not just her mind, but her fire, her longing, her loneliness. For the first time, she begins to imagine something more than winning games—more than just surviving.

Victor hasn’t come to play for glory—he’s playing for permission to stay.
If he wins the tournament, he’ll earn the right to challenge the infamous Black Knight: a match that could secure him an earned title and the legal standing to remain in England. But his final opponent is Baron von List—a ruthless aristocrat who would rather see a Jewish man exiled than victorious.

And the Baron doesn’t play fair.

As the match nears and danger circles close, Gail and Victor must navigate more than strategy and stolen glances—they must risk everything for the life they want… and the love neither expected.

A governess with secrets.
A champion with everything to lose.
A love story no one saw coming.

Featuring the return of beloved characters from across Sara Adrien’s Regency romances—including the fearless Pearler family and the infamous Greg Stone—this unforgettable romance is packed with sharp minds, scandalous stakes, and a battle of hearts that could change everything.