American Heiress Francesca Winthrop thought she was in love with Randolph, a barrister in training, but he has been sent across to Germany for his firm and she has not has not had any contact with him for awhile. In the meantime her mother has arranged for her to be married to William Chambers, the Duke of Bedford and he is coming to America to take her back to England as his bride. It is an arrangement that suits both families, the Winthrop’s get a peer in the family and Bedford gets much needed funds for his family seat.

Fran does not want to stay in England and her father has said that he wants any children she has to go to school in American and that when she is confined she could probably come home for awhile so she plans on getting pregnant straight away. With the help of a diary of a Courtesan she tries to seduce her husband but he has his own problems in that he thinks she may be already pregnant so does not want to make her his wife until he is sure any children she has would be his and not another’s

It was quite an interesting story, at first I did not really like Fran but she grew on me, I loved William from the start and the ending was a surprise. ( )

This love story is about Fran being forced to marry a Duke because her mother forced her into it. The Duke married in order to inherit her money. He has his own ideas as to why such a beatiful woman is being forced to marry at her age, which forces him from consumating his marriage. She has her reasons for consumating it--all the while they both find it difficult to keep thier hands off each other. Through thier journey, they find true love and how to cope with stresses due to family secrets, running a household, and learning to live with each other. Strongly recomend it. ( )

American heiress Francesca Winthrop was going to marry for love, but her domineering mother had social-climbing plans. So when English duke William Chambers showed up looking for a fortune to discharge his father's unpaid debts, a marriage of convenience is inevitable. But despite their initial attraction, Franny and William have a bumpy road ahead - he's convinced she is carrying another man's baby, and she's determined to get with child as soon as possible so that she can return home...

The characters are lovely and deep. He suffered at the hands of a cruel father and his first wife who betrayed him. She has a deep fear of crowds and society, but secretly adores translating fairy tales. Once they stop fighting one another, I truly believed that they could make it together. Unfortunately, they spent an awful lot of time embroiled in one Big Misunderstanding, which I found frustrating.

That said there are a number of great scenes, the highlight for me was an honest to goodness FAN WAR! People always talk about the secret language of fans, but you rarely see it in action in novels. But here - full force!

More posted at my blog. ( )