Ever His Bride by Linda Needham

Read For:

Royal Romance Challenge

A to Z Reading Challenge

Synopsis:

THE DARKEST HEART His looming form blocks the firelight. His voice is like midnight fog, shivering along her skin. Yet Felicity Mayfield must marry hard, cold Hunter Claybourne, or go to debtor's prison. Boldly, she proposes a bargain to the wealthy financier: she'll become his wife in name only for one brief year-if he allows her the freedom to continue living an independent life. Surely her newspaper scribblings are a matter of indifference to him. THE BRIGHTEST LOVE He never suspected a wife would be such a nuisance. It was supposed to be a simple business arrangement. Instead, she has invaded his cavernous home-rearranging the furniture, winning over his servants, blinding him with sunlight. Her constant Presence is unsettling, her vanilla scent everywhere, her skin a soft temptation. Suddenly it seems only right that she would wear his ring...and share his bed. After all, she is his wife. Yet even as Felicity opens a chink in Hunter's heart, her expose of the scandalous workhouses threatens to uncover his darkest secret, forcing him to choose between his hard-won empire and the miracle of love.

My Review:

I loved this book and finished it in a day. The storyline in set in Victorian England at the start of Industrialization. The hero, Hunter, is a financial wizard, but a bit of a "gorgeous" Scrooge. His entire life revolves around making money and keeping it. He has a vast fortune, but lives like a hermit to save a buck. The story starts when he has the heroine, Felicity, put in a sponging house. Her Uncle fraudulently sold 30 thousand dollars worth of Felicity's railroad shares to Hunter but he wasn't allowed to by law until she turns 25, and she's only 20 now. The Uncle, ran away to America, leaving Felicity holding the bag. So Hunter tells her: marry me for a year, when I can get the shares by law, or I'll send you to debtors prison. After a year, they will divorce.

Hunter is very much a "tortured hero" which I'm a sucker for anyway, but very "alpha" as well, which I normally dislike. Fortunately he starts behaving halfway through the book. Felicity is a wonderful heroine-very strong willed, intelligent and forthright.

The sexual tension is wonderful as are the love scenes which are very "spicy". Great secondary characters, high drama and a solid backstory makes this a five star book for me.

Recommended!