Valeria is taken by her father Sir Edward Fitzmount to Vienna to ensure hermarriage to Perry Adaire. Neither one wants to marry. Valeria has taken toMajor Leo Carrington, Perry's commanding officer. Leo Carrington thinks sheis trapping Perry into marriage. He sure finds out different!.
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on 24 November 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialised bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan, and was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale, in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her late husband bought her out of his own money at a time when he could ill afford it the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels. Her husband died at the beginning of 21th century.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for threebair-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
As Widow, Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family. She passed away on 31 December 2011.
Despite the title, which puzzles me, this is a very clean book set in the regency period. The heroine, Valeria, is too tall for fashion and is a bit self-conscious because of it. An arranged marriage between her and the son of a neighbor is being pushed for. Valeria and Perry are good friends and feel more like siblings and do not wish to be married. Perry was currently in the army stationed in Austria therefor Valeria's father made arraignments for travel to Austria to try to push for a betrothal. Valeria wishes to stay home in England but her father has rented their home and she has no choice but to fall in with his plans. Valeria came upon the new tenant's son in the stables tormenting a cat, she boxes his ears and earns his mother's enmity. Mother dear has her own back though, she happens to be the aunt of Perry's commanding officer. The false information she writes to Leo is instrumental in the misunderstandings that follow. I read this on openlibrary.com
Sir Edward Fairmount had decided had decided that his daughter Valeria must marry Perry Adaire. Despite her own opposition to the match, Sir Edward took her to Vienna, where Perry's regiment was stationed, to make sure the betrothal took place.
In Vienna, the Peace Congress was in progress, and amidst the intrigue and excitement, love touched Valeria at last. But it was not love for Perry. Valeria had lost her heart to a man who seemed to have no heart of his own.
2015-05-04 The reason I haven’t read this yet is because the font is tiiiiiiiiiiiny. I found a pair of clip-on magnifying lenses, though. I’ve always been blind as a bat but this one’s ridiculous.