This HaBO comes from Brenna, who is looking for this older historical:

It’s a historical Romance book from the late 80s or very early 90s.

The main character was a street kid in London. She was proud of being a virgin, while many of the other street girls were not. She somehow became indebted to a man who seemed really gruff and mean, but of course had a heart of gold. She moved in with him as a servant to pay him back and they fell in love.

I’m already wondering whether this has aged well.