خذ الحب واذهب

by Lilian Peake

When Professor Harford Tudor first invited Maretta to visit him, she looked on the invitation as coming from a kindly colleague who looked on her work as promising. After all, the professor was old enough to be her father.

So it was disconcerting, to say the least, when Professor Harford's disagreeable son Rhian began to treat her as - well, some kind of adventuress! What a ridiculous situation to be in - a bone of contention between father and son!

At least it would have been ridiculous if it hadn't become so serious - for she soon realised, to her horror, that she had fallen in love with one man, and didn't want to hurt the other. What should she do?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Lilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.

Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.

Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first, I was a confused little puppy when I started this novel. That's because the 24 yr old heroine Maretta seemed to be in the throes of starting a relationship ( even though she denied it to her mother ) with her 52 yr old boss, Professor Harford Tudor.

Then, I was a a bit appalled:



Why was I appalled ? Because the H of the story turned out to be Professor Tudor's son, Rhian ! But, later on down, my feelings turned to full blown Ew ! and Gross shock.:



Why all the feelings of icky Ew !? Perhaps the following 2 photos, with the very important captions will explain in a dramatic way:

This is the H's late mother:




This is the heroine, Maretta:




The H's dead mommy can pass for an identical twin of the heroine ! Now, why oh why, did Lilian Peake think it was gonna be romantic to have a story where the H wants to bang a girl who looks like a doppelganger of his late mommy ? I know it's always said that some guys want to marry a girl who's just like their mommy, but that usually means a girl who shares a personality, habits and disposition like mommy; not one who looks like mommy ! The H's mother had died giving birth to him and so he never knew her. His father Harford has never dated, had sex with or been interested in another woman since the wife's death. The H is 32 yrs old, so this means that his 52 yr old dad has been celibate all that time. It's sweet and tragic for one man to be so in love with a woman that he cannot bear to be with another female. It makes my selfish heart flutter with joy because I would hope my husband would be that faithful should I die before he does. Yeah, I'm not the type of woman who's gonna give him my blessings to find love again. Lol.

But back to the story...

Harford becomes obsessed with Maretta because she looks like his late wife. Maretta works as a lab assistant in the Professor's Dept of Metallurgy. The H Rhian is a geologist who is visiting his father during the summer vacation and he's angry to see his daddy so enchanted with the heroine. He's also upset because he himself is becoming attracted to her. The heroine is caught up between the father and the son. It's kinda like that sick old love triangle from that soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, where daddy Eric and son Ridge were both in love with the same woman: Brooke.

This is an old photo of the infamous trio Eric, Brooke and Ridge from the soap opera:



And this is the hero, Rhian:




And this is the H's father, Harford:




Harford was a tall, handsome and dignified man who seemed to regained his lost youth when he brought Maretta to his home to spend the summer with him. Harford became a little bit too weird, though, because he made the heroine uncomfortable when he tried to mold her into his perfect woman. His hobby was bird watching ( ornithology ) and he bought Maretta a camera and a pair of binoculars so she could accompany him to his hide and spend long boring hours watching birds. The H did his best to intervene in what he saw as a developing romance between his daddy and Maretta. There were lots of passionate, forced kisses that he bestowed on Maretta and once, in a fit of jealous anger he even told her:

'Don't be too sure, my girl, don't push your luck. I'm not keeping my distance - or my patience - much longer. If it's the last thing I do I'll break up this cosy little twosome even if I have to rape you first and deliver you up to him secondhand, in which case he'll be so disgusted with you, he won't want you any more.'

The father, Harford, treated Maretta like a beautiful fragile princess; he would kiss her tenderly on the cheek, chastely on the lips ( no tongue action ! ) and on her hands. It still gave me the creeps to read about a heroine having these alternating scenes with a father and then a son. Both men became a bit obsessed with her. The father didn't hide his fixation but the H ( like the usual alpha male type ) hid his possessive jealousy by saying nasty things to her. Rhian also had an OW called Doranne who lived in a neighbouring village but he never slept with her after he met the heroine. He mentioned this indirectly to the heroine, during a passionate scene:


'It's a long time since I had the comfort of a woman. There are times in a man's life when they're an absolute necessity.


Harford and Rhian have a bittersweet father and son relationship. It's obvious that Harford, even though he loves his son, blames Rhian for the death of his mother. And, as the story progressed, Harford became somewhat determined to compete with his own son. He started dressing like a younger man and he would act like a possessive suitor with Maretta. It was almost as if he wanted to show his manwhore son that the old man still had it in him to win the hand of the fair maiden. I felt sorry for Harford because he was an attractive man who could've found love with another lady closer to his age. One of the most Ew ! scenes occurred when Harford saw Rhian entering the room and deliberately started kissing Maretta's perfumed wrist just to make the H jealous:


Harford did not straighten. Instead, his lips touched lightly where the scent was strongest. Maretta was caught. While the son looked on, the father's kisses feathered her skin, but it was not those that had her tingling. It was the son's searing regard as he watched the two of them together.


And then Rhian, would try to hit back at his father by flirting with Maretta. This made Harford jealous and insecure because he knew he couldn't compete with the seductive power of his son:

Harford's face, with its high cheekbones and deeply intelligent eyes, became a little gaunt.

'This is one girl you'll keep away from, Rhian. You'll not touch her, do you hear?' There was a twist of anguish beneath the words.

'It's a little late to tell me that,' Rhian drawled, leaning back and holding his cup between his palms.


It seemed as if Maretta became a pawn in the power struggle between father and son. The heroine also became a little TSTL when she allowed her feelings of pity to overpower her logic. She didn't want to be in a relationship with Harford but she also knew that his emotions were fragile. That's why she didn't put an early stop to his old fashioned courting of her. The irony is that Maretta didn't know that she was a doppelganger for Harford's late wife and the H waited too long to tell her the truth. That revelation would've put an early ending to all her feelings of compassion and pity for Harford. Maretta was also the first one to tell the H she loved him but it only happened in an intense scene where Rhian seemed to have other hidden motives:


His fingers sought and found the ends of the stole and he pulled them, crossing them over.

'Say you love me,' he whispered fiercely, 'say you love me or I'll—' He tugged the ends around her throat, making her afraid, yet it was a fear she delighted in. He had her at his mercy and she responded unreservedly to the ecstasy he was arousing.

'I love you,' she whispered, 'I love you, Rhian.'


This happened after Harford had proposed marriage to Maretta and Rhian's motives became obvious in the following scene:

'I asked her to marry me. She said she wanted time. She didn't refuse. It was only time she wanted, to make up her mind ...' Harford's voice died away to a whisper, then loudly, angrily, he said, 'You've done it deliberately, you made her fall in love with you to spite me. You used your charm, every weapon at your disposal - and you have so many, so very many - to tear her from me. You've left me destitute. It was despicable, contemptible ...'

Now the son replied, his voice steady and hard.

'You're so right. I deny nothing. I admit I did it deliberately. I did everything within my power to make her love me. I could see what was happening to you - from the start I've known. Somehow I had to prevent the catastrophe, because that's what it would be if you married her. You're in a dream world, a world of your own making. I had to do something to make you see sense,


And if that wasn't cruel enough, Rhian savaged his father's feelings even more !


'You've lost, Father, and I've won. There's nothing you can do now to alter the situation. Reconcile yourself to the fact and live the rest of your life in solitude, sanity and peace.'

Then, that trainwrecky drama got turned on its head when the heroine, in her own vindictive fury as a woman used and scorned, decided to punish Rhian by accepting Harford's marriage proposal !


'Harford,' she said again, 'will you - will you still have me as your wife?'

'My sweet, sweet girl! You know what you're saying? You're so pale—'

'I'll marry you, Harford.' Her voice was toneless, her eyes staring as if she were sleepwalking.

What a freaking disasterfest ! Poor Harford didn't even see that the MC's were now using him as a pawn in their sour little love game. This could've been avoided if Rhian had been more gracious to his father and not spurned the heroine's love. I think Rhian loved her at that point, because he was jolted and seemed to be in a vicious type of anguished hell ,afterwards, when he saw her wearing his father's engagement ring. It was like a sick figurative game of chess, where these players are just destroying themselves in order to outplay each other. Maretta's mother, Josephine, was sad about the engagement and tried to get the heroine to change her mind. Then the soap opera got a little steamier and sicker because the heroine's mother seemed to enjoy spending a lot of time with Harford. And Rhian, had invited his OW Doranne to the house for a few days. Maretta found herself on the outside, watching her mother engage in animated discussion with Harford while Rhian was busy flirting with Doranne.

The big revelation scene came after Rhian conspired with Maretta's mother to kidnap her and take her away on his river boat. The MC's came close to having sex but the heroine stopped because she was still engaged to his father. When they returned, Maretta's mother revealed lots of photographs of Rhian's late mother. That's when the truth became obvious to the heroine:


On every spare space, on tables, windowsills, chests of drawers, the bedside table, all over the walls, were photographs - of a young woman. A young woman so like herself it was impossible, at first sight, to believe they were in fact different people. There was an incredible likeness in the features, the wide, almond-shaped eyes, the full mouth, the arched brows and high cheekbones. But more than anything else, there was a similarity in the colour of the hair - a pale, golden ,brown exactly like her own, the colour she herself shared with Rhian.

Rhian also confessed that he'd only invited Doranne over to make the heroine jealous. The MC's weren't the only couple that got their happy ending; Harford soon became interested in the heroine's mother, Josephine. That didn't surprise me since she's an older version of the heroine ( in physical appearance ) so maybe Harford ended up getting exactly what his heart desired after all...

This was still a freaky, weird storyline for me, though. There wasn't any kind of intimacy between Maretta and Harford ( Lilian Peake wouldn't do that ) but this wasn't the type of romance novel that appealed to me.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very dated Harlequin Presents that has not withstood the test of time. Rhian, a typical 1970s alpha male, is aggressive and confrontational with Maretta from the moment they meet. Ms. Peake repeatedly writes about Rhian speaking to Maretta "like a disobedient dog." Charming! And Maretta, who has only just met him, makes intrusive and judgmental comments to Rhian left and right about his personal life and his views on marriage. For a character who is supposed to be above average intelligence, she is remarkably stupid. I found the characters and the story flat and two-dimensional.

[Kim_bab · Rating 3 out of 5]

dapat buku jadul ini rampasan dari temen :))
ceritanya anak dan bapak rebutan cewek (hadehhh)

Maretta yang seorang asisten lab tiba- tiba diundang oleh profesor di tempat dia bekerja untuk tinggal selama liburan musim panas di rumahnya,Maretta pun menerima undangan tersebut, sesampainya disana ternyata Maretta baru mengetahui bahwa profesor mempunyai seorang putra yang cakep, dan bersiap untuk menentang habis- habisan hubungan mereka.

terlepas dari kebodohan tokoh-tokohnya , buku ini tetap menarik untuk dibaca, chemistry nya juga okelah

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

A college professor pays attention to one his lab assistant's, who is very much younger than him. He ends up inviting her to his home. He thinks she has an interest in birds like himself. She just thinks he is being friendly. Then she meets his son and things get interesting.

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 2 out of 5]

32 - خذ الحب واذهب ! - ليليان بيك
من روايات عبيرالقديمة

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

[أجمل زهرة · Rating 4 out of 5]

بحر الهوى

روايات احلام

10

الكاتبة: ليليان بيك

الملخص:

كانت عيناه تلاحقانها. . . تتبعانها أينما حلت. زملاؤه ينادونه بالرئيس, يدعي بأنه يجوب العالم على غير هدى, وهي حائرة في امره, تبحث عن حقيقة الرجل المختبئ خلف مظهره.
عندما عادت كاتي من عطلتها في جزر الباهاما, التقته من جديد, لكنها ودت لو أنها لم تواجه الحقيقة المؤلمة: أن الرجل الذي وهبته قلبها مختلف عن هذا الرجل المخادع القاسي كاختلاف الصيف و الشتاء.
فلماذا فعل بها ذلك؟ لماذا اوقعها في حبه دون رحمة او شفقة؟ خاصة أنه مرتبط بامراة اخرى لا يريد, على ما يبدو, ان يتخلى عنها.

[‎شروق إلهامى · Rating 4 out of 5]

الرواية جميلة وممتعه، أشفقت علي البطلة من سوء ظروفها وحيرتها ووحدتها في أفكارها وأفتقادها للمشاعر الدافئةرغم حنانها الغامر وشفقتها حتي علي من يقسو عليها، عانت في وحدتها وحين قذف إليها طوق النجاة صاحبه من حرك مشاعرها بقوه عكس هذا الطوق وطوقها بمشاعر شائكه قاسية لا راحه فيها ولا اطمئنان، ثم كشف لها ان حتي الطوق كان وهماً وحبله واهي لن يستطع سحبها من واقعها الردئ لبر الأمان بل سيجذبها فقط نحو ارض أخري لا تناسبها وبراقه بريق خادع لا أكثر.

[RomLibrary]

A rolling stone, Doranne had called him, a man without a care in the world.

"A born nomad," Rhian agreed with a smile, "roaming through jungles and across deserts, leaving behind nothing but my footprints in the sand. And without a woman tagging behind."

Maretta stared up at Rhian as the words registered in her mind. She tried to hate him but it was no use. The love she felt was too real to be denied.

[لونا]

تحت عنوان: خذ الحب واذهب