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Fereday Twins #2
همسات
Everything comes to he who waits....
Josy Fereday, widowed and wary, has decided that she isn't marriage material. But now that her twin sister, Belvia, is happily wedded, Josy must get on with her own life.
Dacre Banchereau is offering her an almost perfect solution-a place to stay and a job. But the catch is that Dacre is also proposing marriage ...the one thing that Josy feels she can never accept.
Dacre possesses a quality Josy hasn't encountered in a man before: patience. He's asked Josy to marry him and he's prepared to wait--either until she's ready to be his wife, or until he's made her fall in love with him....
Josy Fereday, widowed and wary, has decided that she isn't marriage material. But now that her twin sister, Belvia, is happily wedded, Josy must get on with her own life.
Dacre Banchereau is offering her an almost perfect solution-a place to stay and a job. But the catch is that Dacre is also proposing marriage ...the one thing that Josy feels she can never accept.
Dacre possesses a quality Josy hasn't encountered in a man before: patience. He's asked Josy to marry him and he's prepared to wait--either until she's ready to be his wife, or until he's made her fall in love with him....
157 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1996
7 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Steele
339 books112 followersJessica Steele was born on May 9, 1933 in the elegant Warwickshire town of Royal Leamington Spa. She has two super brothers, Colin and George, and a lovely sister, Elizabeth. She was a delicate child and missed a lot of school. In fact, she left school at aged 14, when she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. At 16, she started work as a junior clerk. In 1967, Jessica married with her husband, Peter and within a very short space of time they had moved from her hometown to the lovely area where they now live. Their house is built into the side of a hill, and has beautiful views over more hills and valleys. Her brothers and her sister are very close and she has plenty of nephews and nieces to make up for the fact that she and her husband have no children of their own. Both she and her husband are more than a little dog-oriented, and their current dog is a Staffordshire bull terrier named Florence. Florence is gorgeous. She loves everybody but, since she is 40 pounds of dynamite and would hurl her boisterous self at everyone she meets - given half a chance - she has to be restrained (as much as possible). She is fun.
Her husband spurred Jessica on to her writing career, giving her every support while she did what she considers her five-year apprenticeship (the rejection years) while learning how to write. She published her first books in 1979. Jessica has tried using a typewriter, but it just doesn't work for her. She is much happier writing in longhand, and in actual fact has a dozen or so fountain pens filled and ready to go at the start of any one session. A friend has a secretarial agency and, after deciphering Jessica's writing, returns an immaculately typed manuscript. To gain authentic background for her books, she has travelled and researched in Greece, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, China and Japan.
Her husband spurred Jessica on to her writing career, giving her every support while she did what she considers her five-year apprenticeship (the rejection years) while learning how to write. She published her first books in 1979. Jessica has tried using a typewriter, but it just doesn't work for her. She is much happier writing in longhand, and in actual fact has a dozen or so fountain pens filled and ready to go at the start of any one session. A friend has a secretarial agency and, after deciphering Jessica's writing, returns an immaculately typed manuscript. To gain authentic background for her books, she has travelled and researched in Greece, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, China and Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 16, 2019
Nice story about an emotionally damaged, very young widow who slowly heals at an enchanting, isolated, horse farm in the French countryside, with the help of the man who is very obviously besotted with her. He was nice. She was nice. Everybody was nice. It was like taking a relaxing vacation in HPlandia away from all the drama, the OWs, and the angst.
October 31, 2017
Man, what an ethereal heroine. How could someone be so naïve? I some times thought she might float off, she was so non present in herself. I did like the hero though. I think the author could have come up with a better way to have her think she was responsible for her husband's death. A car accident rather than a horseback riding accident. People don't fall off of horses and die because they had an argument with someone. Not unless they were madly galloping down a rocky hill ala Man from Snowy River on an untrained horse or wildly jumping over a too big fence on an untrained or over faced horse directly after said argument. Neither of those things happened. The husband just galloped off. I've had arguments before and have never randomly fallen off my horse. So for her to even think that regardless of what actually happened is dumb.
Still a fairly interesting read for all that. I would like to read the sister's book just to be complete. I
Still a fairly interesting read for all that. I would like to read the sister's book just to be complete. I
September 7, 2020
"Wife in Waiting" is the story of Josy and Dacre!
So sweet!
Remember the scared wuss of a sister in the first book- one who cried and had panic attacks all the time? Well in this book, she finally grows a spine and behaves like a normal human being..well kinda. She was trapped under her overbearing father, until her dead husband's distant cousin invites her over to work on his ranch. He is so obviously smitten, and slowly woos the heroine out of her shell and into his heart. She learns the truth about her dead ex, gets over her fears, falls in love with riding, while being courted gently by the patient hero.
Very nice characters! Good one time read with loads of honesty! He was so kind and caring- giving her so much space- and she slowly emerged out of her cocoon into this world of happiness.
Safe..ish/ SWE
3/5
So sweet!
Remember the scared wuss of a sister in the first book- one who cried and had panic attacks all the time? Well in this book, she finally grows a spine and behaves like a normal human being..well kinda. She was trapped under her overbearing father, until her dead husband's distant cousin invites her over to work on his ranch. He is so obviously smitten, and slowly woos the heroine out of her shell and into his heart. She learns the truth about her dead ex, gets over her fears, falls in love with riding, while being courted gently by the patient hero.
Very nice characters! Good one time read with loads of honesty! He was so kind and caring- giving her so much space- and she slowly emerged out of her cocoon into this world of happiness.
Safe..ish/ SWE
3/5
October 7, 2025
I’m only giving this 3 stars as the characters are so NICE that I would feel mean to give it the 2 stars it deserves…
So the drippy sister from the last book gets a hot French hero (36) that is deeply in love with her and will do anything for her. Really it pays to be so saintly (insipid). The heroine (23) is a widow (virgin, of course) and the hero is the cousin of her dead husband - he who died less than 24 hours after the ceremony (thanks to the horse that had previously caused his impotence - no lesson was learned there).
The heroine finally turns up in France to look after the two horses he purchased just to give her a reason to move into his weekend house (he fell in love at first sight when the newlyweds arrived in France the year before). He then visits most weekends and sets about making her comfy with him. But the REALLY annoying thing about this novel is that she quakes about everything!! I just had no patience with it!
HEA for the hero, who can’t believe his luck, and the heroine - who is really the lucky one!
So the drippy sister from the last book gets a hot French hero (36) that is deeply in love with her and will do anything for her. Really it pays to be so saintly (insipid). The heroine (23) is a widow (virgin, of course) and the hero is the cousin of her dead husband - he who died less than 24 hours after the ceremony (thanks to the horse that had previously caused his impotence - no lesson was learned there).
The heroine finally turns up in France to look after the two horses he purchased just to give her a reason to move into his weekend house (he fell in love at first sight when the newlyweds arrived in France the year before). He then visits most weekends and sets about making her comfy with him. But the REALLY annoying thing about this novel is that she quakes about everything!! I just had no patience with it!
HEA for the hero, who can’t believe his luck, and the heroine - who is really the lucky one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2017
A decent story but the writing is just not for me. I had a hard time finishing it.
The h was too mousy and too afraid of her own shadow. The H seemed really kind and patient until you considered that he was the age difference between them then he comes off as being manipulative and creepy as hell. (Shades of Harvey Weinstein lingering in my mind, maybe.)
I finished it just because I wanted to see if a Jessica Steele book would get better. It didn’t. So I am off to more familiar pastures and I hope for a better read.
The h was too mousy and too afraid of her own shadow. The H seemed really kind and patient until you considered that he was the age difference between them then he comes off as being manipulative and creepy as hell. (Shades of Harvey Weinstein lingering in my mind, maybe.)
I finished it just because I wanted to see if a Jessica Steele book would get better. It didn’t. So I am off to more familiar pastures and I hope for a better read.
December 2, 2012
Wow, this book is sizzling, smokin' hot -- by Hqn romance standards, LOL!
Marc falls in love with the extremely shy Josy, but she is about to be married. Very soon, her husband dies and Marc waits for his chance, but... she doesn't leave her home for three years! She blames herself for her husband's death. Finally, Marc creates an elaborate ruse, exploiting Josy's love of horses to lure her to his estate in France. Josy goes to France to take care of Marc's horses -- her first job ever. While in the course of grooming and exercising fine stallions, she slowly engages in a little horsing around with another stud. It's the most explicitly sexy book Steele has written, by far.
Jessica Steele is on auto buy for me, even though she only writes Harlequin Romances and some Hqn Presents. She is now about 80 years old, sad to say.
Steele is a quirky writer, in terms of syntax, grammar, etc. Her sentence construction is ... unusual.
But she is among the best at Hqn in terms of storytelling, dialogue, and sexual tension. Also, her characters make me chuckle sometimes. I love her books, even the ones I only rate three stars are good.
Most of Jessica Steele's books follow a pattern, or formula. (but not this book). A typical Steele plot goes something like this: Her heroes are always wealthy, world-wise, dashing, and debonaire, like Cary Grant. Her heroines are always beautiful virgins, so no sex (usually) and the wanting always drives the heroes nuts. But usually, the hero starts off on the wrong foot, thinking the gal did something terrible (embezzle, cheat, steal, sleep around, etc), so he is nasty, cold and ruthless. Steele's heroes always endure internal conflict, because they think they are falling in love with a dishonorable woman, a shady character! So they blow hot and cold and generally mess it all up. Ha ha! Later, when they realize how wrong they've been, they sweat it out! Sometimes they grovel - I like a good grovel. :-)
Marc falls in love with the extremely shy Josy, but she is about to be married. Very soon, her husband dies and Marc waits for his chance, but... she doesn't leave her home for three years! She blames herself for her husband's death. Finally, Marc creates an elaborate ruse, exploiting Josy's love of horses to lure her to his estate in France. Josy goes to France to take care of Marc's horses -- her first job ever. While in the course of grooming and exercising fine stallions, she slowly engages in a little horsing around with another stud. It's the most explicitly sexy book Steele has written, by far.
Jessica Steele is on auto buy for me, even though she only writes Harlequin Romances and some Hqn Presents. She is now about 80 years old, sad to say.
Steele is a quirky writer, in terms of syntax, grammar, etc. Her sentence construction is ... unusual.
But she is among the best at Hqn in terms of storytelling, dialogue, and sexual tension. Also, her characters make me chuckle sometimes. I love her books, even the ones I only rate three stars are good.
Most of Jessica Steele's books follow a pattern, or formula. (but not this book). A typical Steele plot goes something like this: Her heroes are always wealthy, world-wise, dashing, and debonaire, like Cary Grant. Her heroines are always beautiful virgins, so no sex (usually) and the wanting always drives the heroes nuts. But usually, the hero starts off on the wrong foot, thinking the gal did something terrible (embezzle, cheat, steal, sleep around, etc), so he is nasty, cold and ruthless. Steele's heroes always endure internal conflict, because they think they are falling in love with a dishonorable woman, a shady character! So they blow hot and cold and generally mess it all up. Ha ha! Later, when they realize how wrong they've been, they sweat it out! Sometimes they grovel - I like a good grovel. :-)
October 8, 2025
2+
The heroine stayed mostly a wet rag for me, alas (see review for the companion book). I can appreciate she faced several traumas and it's too bad she didn't get therapy rather than a new beau & husband to see her through it. Both would be good.
I found the hero's love for her inexplicable, but he seemed to be in the same predicament, so we have that going for us.
This was a departure for JS and for that, interesting. It was slower, gentler, and had none of the regular clanging conflicts and clashes from her usual. I didn't miss those necessarily, but I did miss the spark and wit she allows her leads as they interact. I wasn't drawn into this one, for whatever all reasons (wanting more of how her sister & BiL were doing cemented I preferred that book & twin's story to this one).
Despite that, it surprised me not (I think I ha'd aloud) that the first, so brief, marriage wasn't a love match or consummated. That alone was believable and, in the way of HEA romance, a bit of relief from a story of someone truly broken by grief and learning to love again. But it's also JS, and she and her heroes prefer their heroines to be virgins. At least she worked it to make sense within the plot, tho going to a lot of trouble to get there and harm done to the heroine along the way.
It was fine, and there's a sweetness about it. I'm glad JS didn't go the he-bullies-her-back-to-life route. That wouldn't have worked for Josy, and it speaks well of him that he knew it. And that she came back to life for him and with him, and that's a good foundation for a HEA. But JS isn't Betty, so handling this sort of dynamic to me isn't her forte, and it shows.
Hero is upstanding and going to love the stuffing out of her, and she'll stay shy and living in the country quiet and it'll be serene bliss. They'll have her sister & BiL over for long weekends and playdates for the kids-to-be. Good for them -- but I wasn't that invested in them getting there.
The heroine stayed mostly a wet rag for me, alas (see review for the companion book). I can appreciate she faced several traumas and it's too bad she didn't get therapy rather than a new beau & husband to see her through it. Both would be good.
I found the hero's love for her inexplicable, but he seemed to be in the same predicament, so we have that going for us.
This was a departure for JS and for that, interesting. It was slower, gentler, and had none of the regular clanging conflicts and clashes from her usual. I didn't miss those necessarily, but I did miss the spark and wit she allows her leads as they interact. I wasn't drawn into this one, for whatever all reasons (wanting more of how her sister & BiL were doing cemented I preferred that book & twin's story to this one).
Despite that, it surprised me not (I think I ha'd aloud) that the first, so brief, marriage wasn't a love match or consummated. That alone was believable and, in the way of HEA romance, a bit of relief from a story of someone truly broken by grief and learning to love again. But it's also JS, and she and her heroes prefer their heroines to be virgins. At least she worked it to make sense within the plot, tho going to a lot of trouble to get there and harm done to the heroine along the way.
It was fine, and there's a sweetness about it. I'm glad JS didn't go the he-bullies-her-back-to-life route. That wouldn't have worked for Josy, and it speaks well of him that he knew it. And that she came back to life for him and with him, and that's a good foundation for a HEA. But JS isn't Betty, so handling this sort of dynamic to me isn't her forte, and it shows.
Hero is upstanding and going to love the stuffing out of her, and she'll stay shy and living in the country quiet and it'll be serene bliss. They'll have her sister & BiL over for long weekends and playdates for the kids-to-be. Good for them -- but I wasn't that invested in them getting there.
August 28, 2017
Dacre is the perfect H! Kind, patient, compassionate, and loving. One of the best heroes I've ever seen in a romance. I highly recommend this story!
June 11, 2024
I liked it, and the hero was the sweetest, most patient man ever, but it kind of dragged. It’s very “sweet” but doesn’t qualify as a “sweet” or “clean” romance. (Not that it was super explicit or anything, I’m just giving a head’s up.)
I appreciate its charms, especially the unbelievably kind hero.
I appreciate its charms, especially the unbelievably kind hero.
August 7, 2022
Everything comes to he who waits....
Josy Fereday, widowed and wary, has decided that she isn't marriage material. But now that her twin sister, Belvia, is happily wedded, Josy must get on with her own life.
Dacre Banchereau is offering her an almost perfect solution-a place to stay and a job. But the catch is that Dacre is also proposing marriage ...the one thing that Josy feels she can never accept.
Dacre possesses a quality Josy hasn't encountered in a man before: patience. He's asked Josy to marry him and he's prepared to wait--either until she's ready to be his wife, or until he's made her fall in love with him...
Josy Fereday, widowed and wary, has decided that she isn't marriage material. But now that her twin sister, Belvia, is happily wedded, Josy must get on with her own life.
Dacre Banchereau is offering her an almost perfect solution-a place to stay and a job. But the catch is that Dacre is also proposing marriage ...the one thing that Josy feels she can never accept.
Dacre possesses a quality Josy hasn't encountered in a man before: patience. He's asked Josy to marry him and he's prepared to wait--either until she's ready to be his wife, or until he's made her fall in love with him...
September 19, 2013
I read this one after my friend told me that she liked it and recommend it for me. But unfortunately I didn't like it that much. I felt the synopsis give away all of the story, and the only time we got a glimpse into the hero thinking is the end, really there was no more to it than what was already in that synopsis. Plus it was a bit slow and the heroine kept on getting on my nerve with her supposed shyness.
To top it off I discovered too late that it's part of a series (big sigh) I just hate when that happen. Now I feel obliged to go and read the other one.
To top it off I discovered too late that it's part of a series (big sigh) I just hate when that happen. Now I feel obliged to go and read the other one.
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May 20, 2016همسات - جيسيكا ستيل
جوسي فيرايدي ، امرأة خجولة تدفن في أعماقها كل شيء حتى الغضب . . .
اتخذت قراراً مصيرياً عندما انتقلت إلى فرنسا للعيش عند داكر ،الذي قدم لها بيتاً وعملاً. . .
ولكن هذا الفرنسي الوسيم يحرك النار التي تحت رماد مشاعرها ، ويؤجج فيها ، في الوقت نفسه ، غضباً لم تعرفه قط . .
لقد طلب منها الزواج ،ولكن جوسي ترفض فهي تعلم أنها لا تصلح أبداً ، وتجربتها مع حبيبها الأخير كانت قاتلة . . .
. . . إلا أن رأي داكر مختلفاً . . . لقد قال " سأنتظر " وانتظر . . .
جوسي فيرايدي ، امرأة خجولة تدفن في أعماقها كل شيء حتى الغضب . . .
اتخذت قراراً مصيرياً عندما انتقلت إلى فرنسا للعيش عند داكر ،الذي قدم لها بيتاً وعملاً. . .
ولكن هذا الفرنسي الوسيم يحرك النار التي تحت رماد مشاعرها ، ويؤجج فيها ، في الوقت نفسه ، غضباً لم تعرفه قط . .
لقد طلب منها الزواج ،ولكن جوسي ترفض فهي تعلم أنها لا تصلح أبداً ، وتجربتها مع حبيبها الأخير كانت قاتلة . . .
. . . إلا أن رأي داكر مختلفاً . . . لقد قال " سأنتظر " وانتظر . . .
August 31, 2016
i got so bored! josy was indeed frigid, i had the impression she was a rape victim. it was never explained what caused her 2 be so afraid of intimacy. ok marc had been rough wid her but it's obvious even then she was afraid of sex !lol. i dunt see wid what or how dacre fell 4 her!she even had the irritating habit of stammering..so shy she was:P
January 29, 2015
Boring, had to force myself to finish it.
December 19, 2015
Boring, had to force myself to finish it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews