THE RELUCTANT SUITOR

Hardcover debut by an enormously popular romancer (36 million copies sold worldwide).

Lady Adriana Sutton has grown into an enchanting young woman, ardently pursued by many a Regency buck. Whom shall she choose? Dear reader, do not hold your breath, as many a page must be turned before the bosomy beauty finally makes up her mind. Let’s see, there’s Roger Elton, low-born but one of nature’s gentlemen and very handsome, what with his warmly glowing grey orbs and all. Adriana is understandably pleased by the mishap that allows her to straddle his powerful thighs for a moment, something that seems to strike him equally. “Poorly suppressed amusement momentarily compressed manly grooves that formed deep channels on either side of his mouth.” Yet mere dimples are not enough to win the heart of this giddy goddess, and since childhood she has been betrothed to Colton Wyndham, the brother of her dearest friend Serena. Now that Colton is about to become a marquis, it seems that she must do her father’s will. But Edmund Elton, Roger’s father, advises his son (in nearly incomprehensible Cockney) to breach the ramparts, as it were, before the competition. Undaunted, Roger wades through a sea of apostrophes and dropped aitches, assuring his sire in no uncertain terms that Adriana is not a filthy slut to be taken whenever a man is in the mood, but a lady born. He must and will marry her, despite his lack of a pedigree, and to hell with the two others, each a marquis, who vie for her hand: Colton Wyndham, now Lord Randwulf, and Riordan Kendrick, Lord Harcourt. Wed to Colton after some minor complications, Adriana is aghast when a shameless hussy named Pandora—nay, far worse, an actress—accuses him of bigamy and shows off her wrong-side-of-the-blanket brat to them. Can this shocking revelation be true? Will true love prevail?

Coy, absurdly overwritten, but the fans will love it.