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Marco's Convenient Wife

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Wealthy Marco di Vincenti needed a wife to get custody of baby Angelina - so he proposed a marriage of convenience to the baby's nanny, Alice Walsingham Having secretly fallen in love with Marco, Alice found this marriage pure torture All her family and five hundred other guests expected a couple passionately in love. . . Marco was all too willing to oblige in public - but what about in private, on their wedding night. . .?

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published April 1, 2003

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182 people want to read

About the author

Penny Jordan

1,124 books668 followers
Penelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright

Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 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 serialized 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; she 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, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.

She 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 three air-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 more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.

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.

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5 stars
51 (17%)
4 stars
77 (26%)
3 stars
111 (38%)
2 stars
43 (14%)
1 star
7 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Fanniny Moreno Zavaleta.
465 reviews101 followers
May 28, 2017
My forever favorite by PJ! Okay, maybe I haven't read many by her but reading reviews I've tried to keep her books at arms length. So I just hope I'll find more of her books like this one or better fitting of my tastes.

You already know I'm weird so you won't be surprised that I love it when the h is suffering calamity after calamity when she's meeting the H but I hate it when she is blamed for everything (specially by the H) and she does nothing to defend her good name.

That Louisa girl really served her purpose of annoying me. I've known five year-olds facing their parents divorce and marriage with new people with more maturity than that seventeen year old. She should have spent a night in preventive jail (or whatever is called in Harleyland Italy) to learn her lesson. Apparently not facing any consequences was enough for her to mature, not really buying it.

I just loved the H.

The five years later epilogue was very much appreciated.

I had a bit of a problem with the POV changes but I'm not complaining much.
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,716 reviews722 followers
November 28, 2017
If you want angsty romance with purple prose protestations of LOVE then look no further.

The h has been hired to be nanny to the H's little orphan Annie niece, okay second cousin once removed. The interview process starts out dicey as the h's newly acquired step-niece stole a car and the h took the wrap. The niece needs to do time as PJ does an excellent job showing what a nightmare she is. Demanding, petulant OW in the making.

Anyhoo, the H hires the h as she is the best, right after Mary Poppins of course. Plus he has the hots for her. That doesn't stop him from saying some nasty things though, but he is relatively restrained. Is this really a Penny Jordan novel?

Sexual tension is momentarily thwarted when the H receives a cautionary note from an ex-employer that the h had an affair with her husband. Since this is Harleyland and HP AND Penny Jordan, the H doesn't bother questioning the h about it, but does a Kermit and leaps to his own conclusion.

The foul grandmother to the plot moppet shows up to threaten custody which triggers the Convenient MOC and subsequent de-virginization. The FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE trope kicks in and she thinks he regrets the passion while he thinks... ditto. Plus the H figures out the former employer lied, and the h is actually worthy. No sign of a slander suit unfortunately.

Bad grandma pops up again and kidnaps the h and the baby. The h ends up in the hospital for saving the plot moppet's life.

Once she gets home, the floodgates are opened and the H is openly loving and amorous. Totally besotted. More than once I flipped to the front to make sure I was actually reading a PJ.

Sweet, angsty and romantic.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,160 reviews558 followers
March 31, 2014
Rich and handsome Marco di Vincenti needs a wife to get custody of his dead cousin's baby or else baby Angelina will fall into the hands of her evil grandmother. He proposes a marriage of convenience to the baby's nanny, Alice.

Great love story. Hero is not your typical HP hero. He is super nice, honorable old fashioned and has some strong traditional values. He's everything an alpha male hero should be and the way he takes care of Alice and Angelina just melted my heart. No wonder Alice fell hard for him. But Marco can't resist her either. He falls head over heels for sweet Alice but of course neither will admit their feelings and angst ensues!
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,228 reviews634 followers
October 27, 2017
Sweet story of an Italian hero who marries the nanny of his cousin's child in order to keep custody of her. Of course, their marriage of convenience is complicated by each having feelings for the other and trying to hide those feelings.

The H/h meet cute when the heroine's sister's stepdaughter (got that?) steals his car and crashes it. The heroine sticks up for the girl and the hero admires her loyalty. There are more misunderstandings with the heroine thinking the hero is the baby's father and the hero thinking the heroine had been let go from her last nanny posting because she was having an affair with a married man.

It takes a car crash to put it all in perspective. There's a lovely epilogue five years later.
Profile Image for KC.
527 reviews21 followers
September 28, 2020
4.5 stars

There's so much to like in this heartwarming marriage-of-convenience romance. Marco was wonderful and so sexy in his role as a surrogate father to his young cousin. (Is there anything yummier than a hot alpha hero cuddling a baby in his strong arms?!) I loved how loving and protective both he and Alice were towards little Angelina. Their love for her was palpable and united them just as much as their eventual love for each other did. I also loved Alice for her sweet nature and desire to champion those weaker than herself, like her young cousin and the orphaned Angelina.

Despite the baby plotline's strong presence, the developing romance between Marco and Alice remained the main focus. Sprinkled in between their struggle to deny their love for one another were doses of passion and angst, which I greedily soaked in!
Profile Image for Brenda.
246 reviews46 followers
October 30, 2017
Thanks to Fanniny's review, I read this book and found it to be a very sweet marriage of convenience story between a wealthy Italian and a nanny to keep custody of his orphaned niece.

Although, I liked the book a lot, I had some issues with it at the beginning. One was as the whole thing about the spoilt teenager getting away scot free after stealing the Ferrari and almost killing herself, Alice, and the other driver she'd bumped into. It was not as if she'd stolen a cookie from a jar. This was a huge crime, for which if not the police, she should have at least been detained at least by Marco and put the fear of god into. That scene was supposed to give Marco a bad impression about Alice, but it failed because he realized right off that Louise was responsible for stealing the car and causing the accident, not Alice, and also saw she was very protective and loyal to her charge.

That brings me to the next issue that rankled me - Alice's OTT assumptions --wrong assumptions-- about Marco. I felt there was no real basis for it. He didn't do anything so bad except give a look of contempt when she blushed at the ice-cream man's flirting, and pinned his gaze on her breast where her melting ice-cream had fallen. Also, before meeting him she'd already assumed he was a very bad father to the baby girl. At least, Marco had reason to believe she had an affair with a married man. It was what her previous employer had written in her reference. From the very beginning, he had no doubts about Alice's maternal instincts and full dedication toward her charges.

Other than these minor irritants, it was a fairly good read. They both kept circling one another with both falling in love early, but not wanting the other know as they thought their love wasn't reciprocated, which was fine because it gave cause for a little angst and tension between the two.

I loved sweet baby, Angelina. Loved how she reacted when she saw Marco or Alice, how she smiled and reached out to them. I also loved the love and dedication of the two toward her.

The baby's grandmother was a real piece of work. Liked how Marco stood his ground and did not succumb to her blackmail when it would've been so easily to pay her off. Of course the unfathomable consequence --the accident-- was horrifying. The whole scene --how Alice threw her body over the baby to shield her against the impact of the collision, how her body was trapped, Marco trying to hide his tears from Alice on seeing her bloodied face and trapped body-- all had me in tears.

Lovely epilogue. Very nice book.
Profile Image for Vee.
715 reviews204 followers
May 28, 2019
5 stars!

One more book for my growing list of fav hp books. The hero was sweet and the heroine was lovable. This may be a bit too fairytale-ish with the love at the first sight plot and happy ending with 5 kids (1 on the way, 1 adoptive, 2 twins, 1 eldest son) the heroine and the adoptive baby got into an accident but magically survive without too much serious injuries. But I need a fairytale read now as a form of an escape for me. Whatever, nice quick read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Grace Harwood.
Author 3 books35 followers
June 24, 2013
Another night shift and another Penny Jordan novel... This one was brilliant - it made me laugh a lot.

It commences with Alice, an English Nanny applying for a post with an Italian Count to look after a 6 month old baby. From the very beginning, Alice proceeds to make a series of bad decisions which will ultimately - it being a Mills and Boon - end up with her having twins (but she's only got herself to blame). The first bad decision is that for some strange reason she takes her wayward cousin along to the job interview with her. Said wayward cousin then steals her prospective employer's car and wrecks it, leading to a very awkward moment at the job interview indeed. Despite being late for the interview (and aiding and abetting the theft of his car just prior to the interview) she somehow gets the job.

She is then asked to sign a contract binding her in the post for five years (who in their right mind willingly signs such a document? I'm lucky if I last two years at most in any job, but then maybe that's because I spend most of my shifts reading Penny Jordan romances...) However, Alice dashes into bad decision number two and signs it. Literally seconds after signing it, Marco (new boss)is "reaching for her, imprisoning her upper arms within the firm grip of his lean fingers as he turned her in towards his own body." Yes, he starts as he means to go on, with a bit of good old-fashioned sexual harrassment in the work-place, leaving poor Alice to gaze longingly at the legally binding document she has just signed, her fingers itching to tear it up.

Finally, in order to retain his hold on the baby who is his ward, Marco decides he needs a wife; and only Alice will do. (Incidentally this will also mean he no longer has to pay her for looking after the baby). No-one in their right mind would agree to that, correct? Wrong. Alice quite happily goes along with the arrangement, leading to all kinds of nookie, and, ultimately, twins. With all of the above in view, I do think that the most revealing line in the entire book might be: "That heatstroke must have been far more potent than she had realised!" I should say.

All of the above aside, this is a very, very entertaining book. The characters are well-rounded, with Marco being a tad better than the usual brooding remote M&B hero. He realises quite early on he's in love with Alice and the romance positively sizzles off the page. Nobody does a sex scene quite like Penny Jordan but there are some very sensual moments indeed in this romance; I was getting quite flustered in the call centre as I reached the end of this book.

Final criticism: just where do Mills & Boon find their cover illustrators? The cover for this one features a woman who looks like she can't stop laughing, while being kissed by a man who looks like Dean Gaffney.
Profile Image for Roub.
1,112 reviews63 followers
October 27, 2013
it was a good story but what annoyed me is marco realised very early on dat he loved her. instead of trying 2 move ahead in their relationship n make the marriage work, he decided 2 keep his distance !? he wanted 2 let her go, after their time 2gether had met his purpose, 2 meet another man n fall in love !? LOL
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
July 19, 2020
Italian count Marco di Vincenti feared for baby Angelina's safety. He needed a wife to get custody--so he proposed a marriage of convenience to the baby's English nanny, Alice Walsingham! Having secretly fallen in love with Marco, Alice found the wedding pure torture! All her family and five hundred other guests expected to see lots of passion.... Marco was all too willing to oblige in public--but what about in private, on their wedding night.
Profile Image for Widala.
279 reviews20 followers
June 24, 2015
Marco was one of the most honorable heroes I've read so far. Maybe his values a bit old fashioned but he lived by them, not being hypocritical about them. Definitely not a whore (swoon).
Profile Image for Saskia.
133 reviews10 followers
August 12, 2018
Ik ben normaal niet zo van de bouquet reeks boekjes maar op vakantie vlakbij Florence vond ik dit wel een leuk boekje om te lezen. Grappig verhaaltje ook wel.
340 reviews2 followers
Read
October 20, 2024
Oh good grief. The first two chapters show us a heroine who is beyond TSTL, "protecting" her sister's step daughter, 17 year old Louise who needs about as much protection as a barracuda. 🤦 I wanted to smack our girl for her stupidity in covering up for her. Fortunately our hero is not taken in and realises who the real culprit is.

Marco was fabulous, a great hero and I loved him. Lots of misunderstandings with two people madly in love with each other but misplaced pride means they can't admit it 🙄.

Throw in the granny from hell who who should have ended up in prison for her behaviour but the fact that she will have no further contact with the families is meant to be her punishment.

There was a fair bit of eye rolling from me at a couple of points but overall I really enjoyed it.
377 reviews
May 2, 2021
3.5
A good read. I’m not a mom so I wouldn’t understand about having favorites, but this bothered me a lot. Why did PJ ruin the ending like this?
Profile Image for More Books Than Time  .
2,519 reviews18 followers
January 16, 2023
I don't remember much about it beyond the sister crashing the very expensive car she was joy riding. Once the h took the blame that lost me.
Profile Image for Cherise.
632 reviews23 followers
August 12, 2013
re-read. I like the fact that we got the H'S pov quite a lot here, also the fact that he realizes early on what he feels. Not sure about the rest though...I don't like workplace romance in general, neither do i like the fact that they seem not to be able to control their actions most time...the near criminal aspect in the beginning also bugged me a bit, so did the over the top emotional h...their love doesn't seem too credible given the fact that there isn't much special interaction going on besides taking care of a baby...
Profile Image for Mirella Grace.
244 reviews19 followers
March 28, 2011
Wewww, 3 bintang ajalah. Ceritanya bagus. Yah, biasalah baik cewek maupun cowoknya sama sama menyembunyikan perasaan masing masing. Cape deh. Buntutnya, hasus mengalami satu kejadian yang gak mengenakkan, baru bilan gimana perasaannya. ck ck ck...

Yah whatever deh yaaa. Yang penting Marco ama Alice menyadari bahwa mereka saling cinta...
Profile Image for Diah Didi.
689 reviews142 followers
August 2, 2011
A very typical harlequin, fall in passion at their first met.
Selanjutnya standardlah, Alice langsung tak berdaya dan Marco berusaha nutupin nafsunya dengan bersikap keras dan dingin.
:p
Membuatku jg bertanya-tanya di adegan percintaan mereka, kok bisa Marco ngomong terus smentara Alice pasrah doank? :p
Profile Image for Katherine 黄爱芬.
2,423 reviews291 followers
July 11, 2014
Walaupun awal2 nya rada boring, tp ke belakangnya lumayan bisa dinikmati jalan ceritanya. Tipikal Harlequin.... yg saling menutupi perasaan masing2 pdhl saling demen. Kalau yg gak suka tipe yg menyembunyikan perasaan, jangan baca buku ini d. Tapi ada nilai2 yg gw suka dr buku ini: kesetiaan dan kemurnian... ini yg membuat gw ksh bintang agak tinggi.
Profile Image for Evelina.
29 reviews
October 23, 2011
Hade varit bra om man kunnat ge halva stjärnor med, för tre och en halv hade varit precis lagom för denna boken. Spännande, högt tempo, intressant miljö och karaktärer. Riktigt bra skriven för att vara den genren.
Profile Image for SaN~.
432 reviews9 followers
November 3, 2010
2,5 bintang aja deh buat si marco ini..
lama amit baru dapet feelnya..
agak keblkg baru lbh ok crtnya..
awal2nya boring banget.. -___-"
Profile Image for Widhy Pratiwie.
127 reviews5 followers
January 14, 2011
wew ah...khas penny jordan bgt...cwony pny prasangka buruk thdp cwenya...stlh kebukti prasangkanya salah,cwony mrasa bersalah dan malah menghindar...huffthh...
Profile Image for Win.
176 reviews4 followers
October 11, 2010
sama sekali ilfil sm alice...untung q lumayan sk marco!!!
Profile Image for Ayu Wirdha.
1,045 reviews12 followers
December 1, 2018
Terlalu banyak dan diulang-ulang soal kekaguman fisik H/h-nya. Sudah dijabarkan detail sekali yaudah jangan terus-terusan dimunculkan di setiap percakapan dan narasi cerita. Kesalahpahaman Alice terhadap Marco yang dianggapnya ayah bayi tersebut padahal mah hanya sebagai paman plus wali karena kedua orangtua Angelina tewas dalam kecelakaan, juga agak lama untuk Alice menyadarinya. Kalau mau lebih detail, mungkin setelah pernikahan kontrak disetujui, Alice dan Marco memulai proses adopsi dan mesti mengikuti kursus parenting sekaligus menghalau nenek Angelina yang berusaha merebut hak asuh nah itu lebih seru daripada didominasi oleh bagian Marco dan Alice saling bernafsu. Satu lagi kesalahpahaman tentang Marco menganggap Alice tipe penggoda laki-laki yang menjadi ayah anak asuhnya. Hal ini diperoleh dari sang istri dimana Alice terakhir bekerja. Dan Alice pun menghadapi prasangka ini dengan diam saja, mbok ya melawan dengan kata-kata sarkastik atau gimana kek bukannya langsung terima atau melted begitu setelah melakukan kontak fisik. Apalagi ada drama dari Francine, nenek Angeline yang nekat menculik cucunya dan Alice demi mendapatkan uang dari Marco untuk membayar hutang-hutangnya, baru Alice dan Marco menyadari perasaan masing-masing.


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