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An Inconvenient Marriage
Could she sacrifice her happiness? Marriage to a man she hardly knew--what an appalling prospect! Yet Christa realized she had no choice.
Ross Donahue would not negotiate. "I am not particularly interested in owning Liddiat Hall," he had told her, "but I am interested in acquiring you. As my wife."
He would save her father from debt and probably prison, but his price was Christa. And despite her earlier intention, she knew she couldn't let her father sort things out on his own. She'd agree to Ross's terms, but could her heart survive such an inconvenient marriage?
Ross Donahue would not negotiate. "I am not particularly interested in owning Liddiat Hall," he had told her, "but I am interested in acquiring you. As my wife."
He would save her father from debt and probably prison, but his price was Christa. And despite her earlier intention, she knew she couldn't let her father sort things out on his own. She'd agree to Ross's terms, but could her heart survive such an inconvenient marriage?
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 7, 1990
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Diana Hamilton
326 books74 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.
She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.
Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.
In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.
Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 24, 2017
Re An Inconvenient Marriage - Diana Hamilton tries her hand at the blackmail into marriage trope with an h who gave up her high powered London career to come home and sort out her country aristocracy father and his gambling habit.
Unfortunately she is too late when the H shows up at the family estate a little after 6am and tells her he is staying for the weekend. The h hasn't seen her father all night and is very worried, she tries to throw the H out. Then her father shows up and he is more than willing to pimp her out. The H proposes to restore the family hall, set her father up in a job and pay off her father's debts if she will marry him. The h, who is currently working at one of her school friend's dress shop but is really ready to go back to London and her executive job, tells the H she isn't interested but he can have the family home in exchange.
Then her father, who can't seem to shake himself out of the nineteenth century, tells the h that if she doesn't marry this guy he will go to prison cause he gambled away deeds to the parts of the estate he no longer owns and it would be considered fraud. Besides if the h will marry this guy, she will be financially set for life - never mind that she has a perfectly good career of her own.
The h's father is in his 60's and the h remembers how great he was as her father when her mother died. She doesn't want him in prison, so the wedding is on. The H seems to want her cause she is really beautiful and she has an upper class social circle, but the H doesn't know anything else about her as they only met once before at Ascot when the h had a migraine and was trying not to pass out.
For some reason the H thinks she is an elitist snob and he assumes that she has been lady of the manoring about instead of having a career and not being a drain on her father and spending her entire savings on making sure that the family hall's staff she had to let go had their pay.
In a last ditch effort to discourage the H, the h sets up a dinner party where she invites one of her old childhood friends to be her pretend boyfriend. This backfires, as the H comes from a very tough background and had to fight his way out of the gutter and now owns a chain of super pricey restaurants and doesn't care who he has to run over, he wants the h.
So they marry and the h likes the H's kisses but she has self respect and so when he tries to lurve her up, she pretends she is asleep and whispers her fake OM's name. She succeeds in putting the H off and things are tense between them as they are in Cannes for their honeymoon yet he is spending all his time working. The housekeeper for the H in Cannes is a Mrs. Danver's clone who is angry the H married the h cause she wanted him to marry her niece, who is the H's interior designer.
The h decides that the H is nice and caring of other people and now she loves him. (Which is true, the H really is very nice and charming to EVERYONE but the h, he is a huge nematode to her, tho he doesn't try forced seduction.) Then she sees the H with the OW interior designer and so she grabs her best undies and the seduction is on.
But they only ever meet up for the lurve mojo moments and the h wants a better relationship. They go back to the h's family hall and it is fully restored and the h wants to go ahead and take the promotion at her old job and the H throws a fit. Then he takes her with him around Europe for his business interests for a month or so. When they get back, the H and h have more arguments about stupid things and when the H finds the h fighting off her fake ex OM, he has another fit and tells her they are divorcing.
The h isn't taking that lying down and she goes after him to accuse him of lurving up his interior designer. All that arguing and yelling finally clears the air and we find out that the H met her at Ascot, thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and fell in love, tho he thought she was a horrible snob, he didn't care. When her dad had the gambling problem and the H could force the h to marry him, he was really happy. But then there was the OM and the H was wildly jealous. He explains that he never slept with the OW and she was moving to America, probably because she was in love with the H but couldn't get him, tho the H doesn't seem to understand that the OW was that into him.
The h explains that she never cared much about the family pile or the country social set and that when she met him at Ascot she had a really bad migraine and was just trying to keep standing up but she had to be there for her father. She declares she loves the H back and we leave them loving it up and planning stork visits for the HEA.
This one was okay and fairly angsty for Diana Hamilton. The H was pretty one dimensional tho and I did not quite understand where all this love for the h was coming from. He never takes the time to get to know her and for most of the story, he was nice to everybody BUT her and they did not spend tons of time together really until his business trip and that was only mentioned in passing, so we don't see where he might start to actually like her as a person. Still we can be happy the h is happy and put this one down as a pretty average HPlandia outing.
Unfortunately she is too late when the H shows up at the family estate a little after 6am and tells her he is staying for the weekend. The h hasn't seen her father all night and is very worried, she tries to throw the H out. Then her father shows up and he is more than willing to pimp her out. The H proposes to restore the family hall, set her father up in a job and pay off her father's debts if she will marry him. The h, who is currently working at one of her school friend's dress shop but is really ready to go back to London and her executive job, tells the H she isn't interested but he can have the family home in exchange.
Then her father, who can't seem to shake himself out of the nineteenth century, tells the h that if she doesn't marry this guy he will go to prison cause he gambled away deeds to the parts of the estate he no longer owns and it would be considered fraud. Besides if the h will marry this guy, she will be financially set for life - never mind that she has a perfectly good career of her own.
The h's father is in his 60's and the h remembers how great he was as her father when her mother died. She doesn't want him in prison, so the wedding is on. The H seems to want her cause she is really beautiful and she has an upper class social circle, but the H doesn't know anything else about her as they only met once before at Ascot when the h had a migraine and was trying not to pass out.
For some reason the H thinks she is an elitist snob and he assumes that she has been lady of the manoring about instead of having a career and not being a drain on her father and spending her entire savings on making sure that the family hall's staff she had to let go had their pay.
In a last ditch effort to discourage the H, the h sets up a dinner party where she invites one of her old childhood friends to be her pretend boyfriend. This backfires, as the H comes from a very tough background and had to fight his way out of the gutter and now owns a chain of super pricey restaurants and doesn't care who he has to run over, he wants the h.
So they marry and the h likes the H's kisses but she has self respect and so when he tries to lurve her up, she pretends she is asleep and whispers her fake OM's name. She succeeds in putting the H off and things are tense between them as they are in Cannes for their honeymoon yet he is spending all his time working. The housekeeper for the H in Cannes is a Mrs. Danver's clone who is angry the H married the h cause she wanted him to marry her niece, who is the H's interior designer.
The h decides that the H is nice and caring of other people and now she loves him. (Which is true, the H really is very nice and charming to EVERYONE but the h, he is a huge nematode to her, tho he doesn't try forced seduction.) Then she sees the H with the OW interior designer and so she grabs her best undies and the seduction is on.
But they only ever meet up for the lurve mojo moments and the h wants a better relationship. They go back to the h's family hall and it is fully restored and the h wants to go ahead and take the promotion at her old job and the H throws a fit. Then he takes her with him around Europe for his business interests for a month or so. When they get back, the H and h have more arguments about stupid things and when the H finds the h fighting off her fake ex OM, he has another fit and tells her they are divorcing.
The h isn't taking that lying down and she goes after him to accuse him of lurving up his interior designer. All that arguing and yelling finally clears the air and we find out that the H met her at Ascot, thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and fell in love, tho he thought she was a horrible snob, he didn't care. When her dad had the gambling problem and the H could force the h to marry him, he was really happy. But then there was the OM and the H was wildly jealous. He explains that he never slept with the OW and she was moving to America, probably because she was in love with the H but couldn't get him, tho the H doesn't seem to understand that the OW was that into him.
The h explains that she never cared much about the family pile or the country social set and that when she met him at Ascot she had a really bad migraine and was just trying to keep standing up but she had to be there for her father. She declares she loves the H back and we leave them loving it up and planning stork visits for the HEA.
This one was okay and fairly angsty for Diana Hamilton. The H was pretty one dimensional tho and I did not quite understand where all this love for the h was coming from. He never takes the time to get to know her and for most of the story, he was nice to everybody BUT her and they did not spend tons of time together really until his business trip and that was only mentioned in passing, so we don't see where he might start to actually like her as a person. Still we can be happy the h is happy and put this one down as a pretty average HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2020
Heroine in this one is AWFUL - so if you don't like bitchy heroines, then this one isn't for you. However, if you like blackmail and angst then you will be rewarded with plenty of hurt feelings and misunderstandings.
I should expand on why heroine is so awful - she is supposed to be portrayed as a lovely, strong woman who is pushed into a corner by her feckless father (gambling the family pile) and the besotted hero who is blackmailing her for her hand in marriage. The problem is that she is full of good intentions and then backtracks all over the place. For example: Heroine claims she won't bail out her father, but she backs down. She announces she will be a terrible wife and then is full of guilt for every bitchy comment and lie she tells the hero (there are many).
She also uses an OM to make the hero jealous and then is irritated when OM is hurt. Her snobby attitude and class-conscious insults are also hard to take.
Still, she suffers that angst of falling in love with her tormentor - just as he is tormented - so it's a compelling - if slightly nauseates - read.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
I should expand on why heroine is so awful - she is supposed to be portrayed as a lovely, strong woman who is pushed into a corner by her feckless father (gambling the family pile) and the besotted hero who is blackmailing her for her hand in marriage. The problem is that she is full of good intentions and then backtracks all over the place. For example: Heroine claims she won't bail out her father, but she backs down. She announces she will be a terrible wife and then is full of guilt for every bitchy comment and lie she tells the hero (there are many).
She also uses an OM to make the hero jealous and then is irritated when OM is hurt. Her snobby attitude and class-conscious insults are also hard to take.
Still, she suffers that angst of falling in love with her tormentor - just as he is tormented - so it's a compelling - if slightly nauseates - read.
Boogenhagen has all the details in her excellent review.
January 22, 2019
Los matrimonios arreglados en los que surge el amor me encantan! Es una historia entretenida donde nuestra protagonista se encuentra entre la espada y la pared si quiere evitar que su padre termine preso por las apuestas y aparece el caballero, de no tan brillante armadura, dispuesto a ayudarla, siempre y cuando ella sea su esposa.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2021
This is 3 1/2 stars for me because I enjoyed it. However the emotional connection between the characters seemed more absent than it should have been given they each loved the other, and there wasn't much emotional connection to the reader.
He blew hot and cold and she played the same game when she should have simply spoken up.
He blew hot and cold and she played the same game when she should have simply spoken up.
June 4, 2021
J’ai pas vraiment de reproches à faire car je sais que ces histoires sont fait pour être expédiées très vite, ne parlons même pas des personnages ultra cliché et matcho et et les droits des femmes ne sembles être qu’une vaste farce.
January 5, 2025
While not up there with the best, this was a pretty good story. While you get the usual misunderstandings, jealousy, OM/OW, etc., it didn't go too over-the-top with it, and you also have a H and h that you can understand where they're both coming from, and how they feel (POV for her part, educated guess for his) and at the same time that you sympathize, you still want to shake them silly for the (frequent) times they say the wrong thing and spoil a good moment.
The h, in particular has a talent for doing this. She says something off putting as a safeguard, and it did the trick, but it sure backfired on her later! Then, when she tries to say the right thing, she picks the wrong time, and it turns into a disaster! Ironically, the rags-to-riches H accuses her of having the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, when it turns out (more than once) to be her foot, instead!
Of course, when you apparently blackmail the h into marrying you, what can you expect????
Entertaining reading!
The h, in particular has a talent for doing this. She says something off putting as a safeguard, and it did the trick, but it sure backfired on her later! Then, when she tries to say the right thing, she picks the wrong time, and it turns into a disaster! Ironically, the rags-to-riches H accuses her of having the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, when it turns out (more than once) to be her foot, instead!
Of course, when you apparently blackmail the h into marrying you, what can you expect????
Entertaining reading!
June 8, 2021
Could she sacrifice her happiness? Marriage to a man she hardly knew--what an appalling prospect! Yet Christa realized she had no choice.
Ross Donahue would not negotiate. "I am not particularly interested in owning Liddiat Hall," he had told her, "but I am interested in acquiring you. As my wife."
He would save her father from debt and probably prison, but his price was Christa. And despite her earlier intention, she knew she couldn't let her father sort things out on his own. She'd agree to Ross's terms, but could her heart survive such an inconvenient marriage?
Ross Donahue would not negotiate. "I am not particularly interested in owning Liddiat Hall," he had told her, "but I am interested in acquiring you. As my wife."
He would save her father from debt and probably prison, but his price was Christa. And despite her earlier intention, she knew she couldn't let her father sort things out on his own. She'd agree to Ross's terms, but could her heart survive such an inconvenient marriage?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews