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The Constantin Marriage
Alex Constantin agreed to a marriage of convenience to Tatiana Beaufort because this inexperienced young woman intrigued him. But on their wedding night she asked for a year's grace before making theirs a "real" marriage--insisting on single beds!
A year on, Tattie is both alarmed and tempted when her husband suggests they become lovers at last. But she is just as determined that she will not become his proper wife until Alex says, "I love you."
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2004
13 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
318 books92 followersGillian Smith (alias Lindsay Armstrong) was born in South Africa. She grew up with three ambitions: to become a writer, to travel the world, and to be a game ranger. She didn't achieve the last one, but her fascination for wildlife and that special something about Africa and its big game still remains with her. When she went to work it was in travel, at an agency and an airline, and this started her on the road to seeing the world.
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 22, 2020
My very brief thoughts on this one. I wasn't feelin' the lurve or the Patented HP Lurve Club Mojo.
The story is that the h is an heiress for two huge Outback cattle stations. Her mother and god parents pressure her into marriage with the H so he can "take care" of her business interests.
The problem is that the H is having a huge affair with one of his employees and the h knows about this - so she marries him and then tells him it is a marriage in name only.
So the H continues his affair - then the godmother invites the H's affair partner employee lady to a party for the h.
The h is insulted and everyone acts like she has no reason to be, mostly because she won't accommodate the H's lurve club banishing her pink unicorns and start having mini H's.
The H decides he needs to ruin the h's unicorn grooming status anyways. So after a lot of back and forth and running off and kidnapping, lurve club mojo power is invoked and the h falls at his feet like his year of infidelity and his laissez faire approach to marriage is really a True Love Foreever declaration in disguise.
Now you could say that since she wasn't willing to do her conjugal duty in the marriage, the H has every right to invoke HPlandia Rule Number 2:
(If the h's isn't hitting it with the H, the H has every right to find a babe who will.)
But all I can say is sleeping with one lady while you are ostensibly wooing and marrying another is a Typhoon of Tackiness that LA just could not pull off with a Vintage HPlandia Doyenne Author style.
It might have worked better in 1974 as opposed to 2004 and I might be just a bit biased on the post 2000 HPlandia trope delivery too.
The story is that the h is an heiress for two huge Outback cattle stations. Her mother and god parents pressure her into marriage with the H so he can "take care" of her business interests.
The problem is that the H is having a huge affair with one of his employees and the h knows about this - so she marries him and then tells him it is a marriage in name only.
So the H continues his affair - then the godmother invites the H's affair partner employee lady to a party for the h.
The h is insulted and everyone acts like she has no reason to be, mostly because she won't accommodate the H's lurve club banishing her pink unicorns and start having mini H's.
The H decides he needs to ruin the h's unicorn grooming status anyways. So after a lot of back and forth and running off and kidnapping, lurve club mojo power is invoked and the h falls at his feet like his year of infidelity and his laissez faire approach to marriage is really a True Love Foreever declaration in disguise.
Now you could say that since she wasn't willing to do her conjugal duty in the marriage, the H has every right to invoke HPlandia Rule Number 2:
(If the h's isn't hitting it with the H, the H has every right to find a babe who will.)
But all I can say is sleeping with one lady while you are ostensibly wooing and marrying another is a Typhoon of Tackiness that LA just could not pull off with a Vintage HPlandia Doyenne Author style.
It might have worked better in 1974 as opposed to 2004 and I might be just a bit biased on the post 2000 HPlandia trope delivery too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2021
He married her because she owned two cattle stations and the price of beef was going up. She married him because she was too young to run the stations by herself and needed a non-fortune hunter to preserve her assets. They have long conversations about the history and harvesting of pearls (the hero's main business), the history and raising of cattle, and in between those, they throw verbal darts at each other, her about his mistresses and him about her refusal to consummate the marriage.
The whole fun of marriage of convenience stories is to infuse the relationship, little by little, with emotion, romance, and sexual tension until the protagonists explode, unable to keep their hands off each other anymore. These two were robots. I did not feel any love between them, let alone attraction or even a bit of affection. The most passionate relationship was between the heroine and her puppy!
The slimy OW showed up a couple of times to brazenly put down the heroine, with complete immunity, since she continues to design jewelry for hero's company and that "business relationship" is prioritized over his wife's feelings.
Both the hero and heroine were cold manipulators, using sexual favors or the promise of them to extricate real business favors from each other, such as saving the heroine's cattle stations, or acting as the perfect business wife for the hero in his many social obligations.
The whole story left me absolutely cold.
The whole fun of marriage of convenience stories is to infuse the relationship, little by little, with emotion, romance, and sexual tension until the protagonists explode, unable to keep their hands off each other anymore. These two were robots. I did not feel any love between them, let alone attraction or even a bit of affection. The most passionate relationship was between the heroine and her puppy!
The slimy OW showed up a couple of times to brazenly put down the heroine, with complete immunity, since she continues to design jewelry for hero's company and that "business relationship" is prioritized over his wife's feelings.
Both the hero and heroine were cold manipulators, using sexual favors or the promise of them to extricate real business favors from each other, such as saving the heroine's cattle stations, or acting as the perfect business wife for the hero in his many social obligations.
The whole story left me absolutely cold.
May 25, 2023
Competently written but I didn't love this. The H, Alex, missed the mark for me. In the first year of their marriage (which she, heiress type Tattie, had insisted be in name only) he did sleep with his ex-mistress. She had given him permission and I perfectly understand the need but nevertheless, that was quite something to absorb as these two moved towards the emotional closeness the h needed to make it a real marriage. It was a bit disjointed. Hideous, brass-necked OW, but frankly who could blame her after the way he treated her. Yeah. Not LAs finest.
March 22, 2015
this was dull! nothing interesting happening. add to dat, i felt no spark between hero and heroine. so i really dunno how or when the hero decided to let go of his mistress and preferred his wife.
August 29, 2015
This guy had no respect for his marriage vows!
March 21, 2024
The Constant in Marriage
This book is dated. It was written when cell phones were not around. The two characters were married by arrangements between their two families. So she asked for a year to get to figure out if she wanted to stay in the marriage. Now is the time for the evaluation to be given. But his past is also not going to stay in the past.
This book is dated. It was written when cell phones were not around. The two characters were married by arrangements between their two families. So she asked for a year to get to figure out if she wanted to stay in the marriage. Now is the time for the evaluation to be given. But his past is also not going to stay in the past.
December 12, 2018
Nice premise but dragged too much.
December 22, 2022
Readable but not gripping
October 31, 2023
Ew no. Very disjointed story. Nothing good here. Sad about it since the summary sounded interesting. Skip.
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October 29, 2012Boring read....
April 27, 2017
Great lighthearted love story!
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February 22, 2018PERLAS DE AMOR (Spanish Version)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews