Never Fall for Your Fiancee
- Автор: Heath Virginia
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: St. Martin's Publishing Group
- Жанр: Исторические любовные романы
Электронная книга - «Never Fall for Your Fiancee». Краткое содержание книги:
**
Virginia Heath's fun characters and situations will have you laughing out loud! Don't miss this wonderful read! - Sabrina Jeffries, *New York Times* bestselling author**
**
The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.**
“All parents are doomed to clash with their offspring. That is the way of things. Neither will ever fully understand the other despite the invisible bonds which bind them. I despair of Hugh constantly—and doubtless he despairs of me.” Another pointed look was accompanied with a wry smile. “I’ll bet he painted me quite the harridan.”
“No … not at all.” It was probably safer to stick to the topic of her sister. “He is much fonder of you than my sister presently is of our mother. It also doesn’t help familial relations that poor Vee hates the name my parents saddled her with, and I cannot say I blame her. Venus is a dreadful name with unmistakably awkward connotations. I hope she grows into it one day.”
“Oh, she will!” The older woman patted her arm. “All her awkwardness will pass soon enough, then she will blossom like you and Diana. Even the most beautiful butterflies start as caterpillars first. It is character building. I daresay you were a caterpillar not so long ago yourself, Minerva. What were you like at the tender age of seventeen?”
“Very awkward and not the least bit even-tempered. I believe I did my fair share of chafing against my parents, too.” At seventeen, she and her useless father had had some blazing rows. And eighteen and nineteen, for that matter—until he abandoned her. “Girls, in particular, are more belligerent at that age, I think.”
“Oh, my son was belligerent at that age, too! Belligerent and stubborn. He is still as stubborn as an ox, only nowadays he does it with a rakish smile rather than a sulky snarl. He was also a sorry-looking specimen. His features were too large for his face. He was a painfully gangly thing with rounded shoulders, big feet, and even bigger hands. For the longest time I feared he would never fill out enough for those excessive appendages to be in proportion.”
Minerva cast a glance at the man in question a few yards ahead of her. There was nothing rounded about his broad shoulders now, and while there was no denying his hands were big as they had easily held her entire bottom, he was perfectly in proportion. If anything, he was too perfectly proportioned.
“He is a handsome devil, isn’t he?” His mother had caught her looking and was smiling knowingly. “Too handsome by far.”
“He is.” Although, to his credit, he really didn’t display any of the narcissistic tendencies that plagued other perfect specimens. “It is hardly a surprise he has been so popular with the ladies.” But it was his relationship with his father that intrigued her more. And perhaps Mrs. Peters? Although much as Minerva wanted to ask about the woman who had left Hugh monosyllabic, shaken, and angry, she wasn’t sure a past sweetheart was something she should ask his mother about.
“But he has clearly met his match.” Olivia scrutinized her again. “Between the pair of you, I should have the best-looking grandchildren in the entire county.” Minerva managed a smile despite suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with the abrupt change in topic. “And doubtless all will tower over me, too.… Do you plan to start a family straight after the wedding?”
“Er … um…” Allowing herself to consider the statement, even superficially for the benefit of formulating a reply, instantly reminded her that to make any children with Hugh would require a greater level of intimacy than she had engaged in already. A level of intimacy her needy body had been scandalously only too willing to accept then, and still hankered after now.
“Why do I suddenly feel my ears burning?” Hugh couldn’t have heard his mother’s question, but he had turned around at precisely the same moment as Minerva’s cheeks exploded crimson—he must have somehow sensed it.
“I was asking your fiancée if you planned to start a family immediately after the wedding? If the pair of you get cracking straightaway, I could have a grandchild by Michaelmas.”
“Olivia!” Next to Hugh, Jeremiah rolled his eyes. “That is none of your business, woman!”
“Whyever not? Hugh is my only child, and therefore my only chance at grandchildren. I am not getting any younger and should like to enjoy them before my dotage. Minerva will soon be his wife, so it stands to reason she will have a say in the matter, too.” She looked toward her son expectantly, not the least bit contrite. “Minerva only has so many childbearing years left and it’s long past time Hugh did his duty.”
“Have you not seen my ravishing fiancée?” His gaze suddenly locked with Minerva’s, as the flirty Hugh decided to make an unexpected reappearance. Those twinkling blue eyes raked the length of her slowly. Possessively even. She could feel the heat of his gaze through all the thick layers of winter clothing to her sensitive, wanton bare skin, which still craved his touch. “For I would hardly call it a duty, Mother.”
“There is no need to be crude, Hugh. You’re embarrassing Minerva.”
“You brought the subject up.”
“In a proper manner. You decided to make it improper.”
“That’s because I am improper and always have been.”
“You are both embarrassing Minerva!” Jeremiah came to her rescue, offering his arm and pinning them both with his glare. “Walk with me, my dear, and save yourself. Then I can list all the reasons why only a fool would want to marry into this family.” Then he set off at a brisk pace, putting some welcome distance between the pair of them.
“I’m very sorry.… She means well.… She just cannot stop herself from interfering. And Hugh is reliably Hugh and loves to vex her when she does.” He patted her hand. “You will get used to it.”
“It is lovely she cares.” Minerva doubted her father gave two figs about her life. “I know Hugh loves his mother, too. It’s funny—we were just discussing parental relationships with children and how fractious they can be.”
“Then they gave you a proper display of it to prove the point. They’re always the same. Always butting heads and trying to outdo one another in who can be the more outrageous. I am trying to run interference—but Olivia is not easily swayed. Inexcusable grandchild questions aside, I hope she hasn’t been too ferocious on her quest to discover all there is to know about you. She’s been desperate to meet you for nearly two years.”
“If Hugh had done a better job of informing his mother about my family and me, and not thwarting your previous attempts at visiting, then she wouldn’t have so many questions.”
“There is that.” Jeremiah tossed a glance over his shoulder to where Hugh and his mother were now bickering several yards away. “Can I entrust you with a secret, Minerva?”
“Of course.”
“Between you and me, my wife has been convinced for several months he’d been making you up entirely.” He said it with a chuckle, but it confirmed her suspicions. Olivia had her son’s measure, and Minerva would have to be careful. “Because it is such a convoluted tale…”
“They do say the truth is always stranger than fiction.” She hoped her own smile appeared natural and not as tight as it felt. “And let’s not forget, Hugh can embellish a story better than Aesop, with scant regard to the truth.”
“That he can. He has a way with words.”