The Bridal Bed

by Helen Bianchin

The wedding deception!

Suanne was thrilled that her mother was remarrying. But everyone expected her to attend the wedding with her own fiance, the very gorgeous Sloane Wilson-Wlloughby -- the bridegroom's son! How could Suzanne admit their engagement was off?

But Sloane had a plan. For the weekend of the wedding, they'd play the part of a happy, soon-to-be-married couple. Which meant sharing a suite -- and a bed! And secretly, Sloane also intended bringing about the second family wedding of the weekend....
/> DO NOT DISTURB!
Anything can happen behind closed doors!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Hqn, Contemporary Romance

185 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Helen Shirley was born on February 20 1939 in New Zealand, where she grew up, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. She wrote stories for amusement in her early teenage years, and when she left leaving school, she took a secretarial job at a father-and-son legal firm.

At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.

It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.

With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!

Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.

She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."

Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interviewer: So, you fell in love with the hero?

Heroine: Yes, oh yes, he is everything I have ever looked for in a man.

Interviewer: And he fell in love with you too?

Heroine: Oh absolutely! It was a whirlwind romance. We fell for each other on the spot and we just...knew...you know. It was like we had met each other in a previous life. I always read about that stuff but never thought it would happen to me. But it did.

Interviewer: So this was serious, not a fling?

Heroine: Definitely! We got engaged after three weeks and I moved in with him pending our wedding.

Interviewer: Okay, interesting. So then, what possibly could have happened to break you two up? Did he cheat on you? Did you discover he was marrying you to facilitate a merger between his company and your father's? Or to get his hands on an old Tudor style mansion bequeathed to you jointly by your godmother and his step-aunt, unbeknownst to you?

Heroine: No, no, nothing like that. He is lovely, just lovely.

Interviewer leans forward: So then, what happened? I am all ears.

Heroine: Well, this random woman threatened me that she was going to hurt me if I didn't break up with my fiance. Then she actually tried to run me over with her car.

Interviewer: Wow, you're kidding me! What a psycho! Did you call the police?

Heroine: No.

Interviewer: Did you tell your fiance?

Heroine: No, he was out of town.

Interviewer re-adjusts his glasses, shuffles some of his paperwork, mutters: Hmmm...This isn't a historical romance right? As I recall...Oh, yes, here we are...It was published in the nineties...ahem...NINETEEN-nineties...and it is a contemporary romance, right?

Heroine looks blankly at interviewer:....

Interviewer, beginning to go pink in the face: Okay, so if he was out of town, what prevented you from contacting him? I mean, it's not like you had to find a parchment and quill and send him a message with the next ship out of harbour, right?
Didn't you call him...like, on the phone...to tell him what happened?

Heroine: No.

Interviewer: Email him?

Heroine: No.

Interviewer, bright red: Did you do anything, ANYTHING AT ALL, to communicate to your fiance that an attempt has been made on your life?!!!

Heroine rolls her eyes: I moved out of his apartment without explanations and stopped taking his phone calls. Actually, he became a little bit harassing with all the phone calls, especially at my work.

Interviewer, after a long silence, asks in a strange, monotone, voice: Where did you say you worked again?

Heroine: A law firm. I'm a lawyer.

Interviewer: You're a lawyer.

Heroine: I'm a lawyer.

Interviewer: People come to you to resolve their problems. With the law.

Heroine: Yup.

Interviewer: So if a client came to you with a story of threats and violence by a deranged psycho, what would you legally advise them?

Heroine: Duh! Call the police and go to court to get a restraining order. Potentially file a civil lawsuit and maybe even alert the media about the identity of this dangerous individual.

Interviewer slowly gulps down what appears to be a tall glass of cool water. Stares some more at the heroine in silence. Then utters a little sigh or maybe it was even a moan, and then bravely continues: So, do you mind telling me why you wouldn't follow your own advice in this situation?

Heroine: What d'you mean, my situation...Oh! [Interviewer suddenly perks up, eyes gleaming.] Oh, well. That was totally different. [Interviewer's head falls despondently back down]

Interviewer: Different how?

Heroine: Well, you see my fiance is immensely rich and influential.

Interviewer: Go on.

Heroine: And the woman who tried to kill me is a socialite who is very prominent in the city's top social circles.

Interviewer looks blankly at heroine:...

Heroine, enunciating slowly and soothingly like a schoolteacher trying to teach a complex math formula to a recalcitrant student: Soooooo....We. Are. In. a. Helen. Bianchin. Book.

Interviewer: Meaning?

Heroine, sarcastically: Meaninnnnnng, I have to wait for the Other Woman to torture me some more before my fiance finally unravels The Great Big Terrible Misunderstanding that has kept us apart for approximately 182 pages and then threaten the Other Woman with social shunning and/or a ruthless corporate take-over of her daddy's company if she doesn't leave us alone

You got that, Mate?

Interviewer rips off microphone, turns over his chair, and walks off the interview, loosening his tie as he walks away.

[boogenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re The Bridal Bed - Helen Bianchin does the fourth book of the Do Not Disturb miniseries

As this IS HB and we are going to do all things High Fashion, HB gives us her hotel setting on Dunk Island - a beautiful place along the Great Barrier Reef.

This is a very standard HB outing and honestly, I can't do a better spoilerization than Naksed's incredibly funny take on this situation.

But just for those special little HB flourishes, I will give a quick synopsis.

The h and H fell in love and he put an engagement ring on it before the story even starts. While he was on a business trip, the h was stalked and run off the road by a deranged socialite who told the h to get out of her relationship with the H while she was still breathing.

(Normally I would think this was way Over the Top, but as this h was from a regular middle class background and a hard working lawyer, I could appreciate that she just did not feel up to the daily cat fights that seem to be so much a part of HB's High Society. Tho the h seemed to positively luxuriate in all the wardrobe changes. )

So the h moved out with only a note for the H. He stormed into her office at her legal firm, but the h is determined to stay away. She refused to press charges because the Deranged Socialite, (who never appears in person on page,) has a very prominent father and the h respects him - hence the discretion about hauling his daughter into a police station.

(I like Naksed's explanation for this tomfoolery a lot better tho.)

So when the story starts, we walk right into the h's Huge Mopey Moment. We only get four or five showers the entire book too, (and one of them was the H and h sharing,) because the HP Water Conservation Commission dropped a warning for HB's excessive consumption.

That means that when the h's mum calls up and announces her weekend wedding on Dunk Island to the H's father, we have to do a full wardrobe evaluation, a lot of moisturizing and lipstick color consultations are mandatory-but there were no specialized bath products demonstrated during the making of this romance.

We get some H POV in this one and HB makes it clear that the H is going to manipulate this situation for all he is worth, he isn't leaving Dunk Island without a firm ball and chain wrapped around his girl

So the h and H meet for dinner and the battle strategy is to pretend the engagement is still a thing. The h and H will need to share a room, because a HB mum is all about the female boudoir sharing liberation thing and actually expects the h to dig right in there and put all out for her man. (In a very lady like and discrete way of course.)

We all go to Dunk Island and we get a LOT of food porn, HB was reading Charlotte Lamb again, and some interesting bikini descriptions with a copious amount of sunscreen application. We also get some nice Dunk Island travelogue too, for those HP Voyagers who like the descriptive background information.

Eventually the H, who is touted as one of the world's great legal minds, figures out that the h was threatened. For once he tells the h she should have called the police and the h explains about the Deranged Socialite father situation.

The h refuses to name any names, but the H doesn't have to work to hard to deduce the responsible part and puts his minions into action. Meanwhile he does his sneaky sharing a bedroom with the h moves and manages to resume the lurve club purple passion bouncing.

The h's mother and the H's dad have a lovely wedding and we get imported High Society day trip guests at the wedding. We also get the requisite HB High Society verbal cat fight, but the Deranged Socialite was left off the guest list.

After the big night of boudoir bliss, the h's heart just can't say no when the H pulls out a special license and demands the h marry him in the morning. The H also reveals that he called the Deranged Socialite's dad and got her discreetly shipped off to a mental hospital.

With the murderous Socialite getting the care she desperately needs, the h and H are free to marry and make their own way. HB gives us two solid chapters of Dunk Island Romantic Bliss and a very nice H True Love and Devotion Forever declaration.

We leave the H and h married and in love and celebrating the rosy sunset with a kiss. Now we can all pull out our revered bottle of Veuve Clicquot and raise a glass to HB's new awareness of water conservation and another Pink Sparkly HB HEA outing.

[Nightwitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one just launches right into Bianchin's favorite trope of “oh hey the other woman’s nuts” - we learn quite efficiently that a “young socialite” threatened the heroine with bodily harm if she didn’t break off her engagement to the hero, and rather than discuss it with him the heroine simply moved out. Because that's reasonable. This plotline ends with a whimper rather than a bang: the heroine admits to the hero that someone threatens her, he locates the woman’s name, and tells her daddy on her. All off-screen. So boring.

I do appreciate the subplot here, though, which is that the heroine’s single mother - a loving, hard-working single mother who has reached the impossibly old age of forty-seven - has been swept off her feet by the hero’s father, a silver fox and incredibly powerful, handsome, etc. Melbourne lawyer, with whom she has a happy and vigorous sex life. Honestly I’d prefer to read their book.

Also worth noting, the hero’s name is Sloane Wilson-Willoughby, which seems like it could be repurposed as a heroine’s name in a slightly more modern HP novel.

[☠tsukino☠ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ci sono storie che sono proprio tirate per i capelli; la trama di questo Harmony è basata proprio sul niente.
A tratti noioso.

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t understand any of her behaviour.

She gets threatened by some woman and she leaves him without telling him what happened. Why keep it a secret?

And she treats him as if he is the enemy while the poor guy has done nothing wrong. Numerous times she thinks to herself that she wants to hit him. It just doesn’t make any sense.

She punches him with her fists, she kicks him and there is just no reason for it. She threatens him again and again that she will do bodily harm to him.

It’s just pathetic. She needs anger management class.

And I don’t understand why she couldn’t just tell her mother that her engagement with the H is off. Her mother is a grown, healthy woman.

The funny thing was that he says to her that she has a high degree of common sense. 🙄

Anyway, she is another one of Helen Bianchin’s typical h’s: blonde, petite, violent.

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read.

Passionate story with delightful characters. Ms. Bianchin creates such wonderful emotional characters and an intriguing story. Two people meeting and find their soul mates only to have it destroyed by the OTHER WOMAN. But true love doesn't die and our H is determined to reclaim his love, slay the dragon, and live happily ever after. The H is rich, smart, loyal, and sexy. The h is small, smart, and lovely. Their chemistry undeniable as they pretend to still be a couple for their parents wedding. All the while the H is working to find out what happened and get his girl back. While the h is trying to hide how much she loves him. A very nice read from 1998. There always tends to be a lot of details in surroundings, cloths, etc. Which really paint a nice picture for the reader but if you don't appreciate it, it can make the book dull.

[Mudpie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75* I would have gladly given this 4* if not for the TSTL heroine!

SPOILERS SPOILERS

Suzanne was a LAWYER. Sloane actually said she had a lot of COMMON SENSE?! I nearly choked LOL! This legal eagle should be a great judge of character right? Maybe he'd been blinded by love...

When Sloane, her beloved fiancé, was away on a business trip handling an important case, she got a threatening note telling her to leave him. She ignored it. Then little incidents happened which she dismissed as accidents...until one day she was nearly driven off the road! The culprit was a socialite who verbally abused and warned Suzanne to leave Sloane or else the next time she won't be so lucky!

What did this independent professional modern woman do? She packed up and left the love of her life, without telling him the truth. It wasn't even like the psycho threatened to harm Sloane so she had to leave him for his own good.

I really felt for Sloane. He's pretty much the perfect hero. Smart, wealthy, gentlemanly, yet strong and tender. He never gave up on Suzanne and their love. He knew her better than she did herself! The way he stood in the shower letting her punch him repeatedly to vent off, OMG!

There's no doubt Suzanne loved him, but she felt insecure, not coming from the upper crust. Why oh why did she not tell Sloane after he's back? Her reasons were she did not want him distracted during his big case, and she refused to divulge the identity of the psycho socialite because she respected the crazy's prominent father. I can't even...

I wonder at their HEA though...When the next challenge came, would she pack her bags and leave again?!

The island resort was an exotic and beautiful setting. How Sloane pulled off this second wedding in the family in the same weekend, was touching and impressive.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not like the heroine. She was wimpy “people said mean things and something happened but I’m not gonna tell my fiancée wah!” Just a limp person you didn’t want to get the strong loyal cool hero. The heroine is the cause of everything in this book that the hero has to solve himself she doesn’t help at all. Skip.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. It was one of the few older harlequin's where the Male lead is hot a jerk from the beginning. It was a romance from start to finish and had one of the most romantic love scenes I have ever read!

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, even though the story was thin. I liked the hero a lot he was very nice. The heroine didn't give him much credit. there were too many sex scenes, it felt like filler. They sure do take a lot of showers.
The setting was great I wish I could go there.

[Dana Bartram · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was slow going. The author had the female lead either always mad or horney. No in between. And the male lead always had a drawl. The background "mystery" was quickly done and wrapped up by a few lines of dialog. Was an okay book, could of been better.

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lettura scorrevole, anche se non è tra i migliori Harmony.

[Darleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very romantic book and both interesting I really enjoy Suzanne in this book.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very typical Helen Bianchin.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzanne's mother was marrying Sloane's father. Sloane, her estranged fiance.

[Cem73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Titre vf : The bridal bed