Historical Romance Book Club discussion

Hi, everyone! I saw this request/book search in an HR Facebook group and wanted to see if anyone knows the book the person is searching for.

Mods, I can't recall if we had a specific ongoing thread for this kind of request/book search, so let me know if I need to recopy this somewhere else.

Below is the request/book search. Spoilers ahead.

Two other [Facebook] groups are already looking for this since yesterday and so many of us want to find and read this (hoping for epic groveling) that I thought I'd give this historical romance lovers group a shot, maybe one of you knows and can put us all out of our misery.

I'm looking for a Recency I read 10-15 years ago, but can't for the life of me remember the name. This is the plot - a young heiress, about 17 or 18, runs away to Gretna to marry the man she loves. He is a fortune hunter and just wants her money so that he and his lover can live in comfort. The heiress and fortune hunter marry over the anvil, and have an awful wedding night. He then tells her he just married her for her money, and that he loves another.

I can't remember exactly what happens next, but he dies, again can't remember how. She goes back home to recover, but eventually goes into society, where she rejects all offers of marriage but has at least one close make friend.

After a few years, a handsome aristocrat comes to London, and our heroine finally falls in love. They go to the country, she to her estate, and is staying nearby - again don't remember the details. The go riding, and they go to a ruined castle/abbey/something, and he seduces her and they have sex. Afterwards, he tells her that he set out to make her fall in love with him so he could break her heart.

It turns out that he is related to her late husband, and her mother-in-law has persuaded him that the heroine destroyed her son, and was the cause of his death. He leaves her distraught, and she eventually gets up and makes her way home. Her late husband's lover goes to our 'hero' and tells him the truth. He is, of course, filled with guilt and remorse, and tries to beg her forgiveness. I can't remember how it's all resolved, but they do get together.

Ideas?

As far as I am aware, I think this works just fine. Joanna is better at keeping it straight though!

I am not familiar with this book, hope you get something!

We had one that has been archived due to inactivity. Since they are infrequent enough I think this is fine.

What a book! I have definitely not read it.

For some reason it sounds like a book Meagan McKinney would write about, because two or three of her books that I've read had to do with revenge but the hero's revenge was never to make the heroine fall in love with him so maybe not.

I'm curious, did anyone find out what book it was? :)

Sadly, no.

My thought exactly!! hehehe!

sounds for familiar. it's not edith Paytob or Scalett Scott ?