ONCE UPON A WEDDING NIGHT

Author: Sophie Jordan ISBN: 0061122203 8/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: AVON
Time Period: England 1835

An Innocent Deception... Lady Meredith Brookshire has every right to Oak Run. Now that she's suddenly husbandless and penniless, where else would she, her addled father, and spinster aunt reside? Yet who should appear but Nicholas Caulfield, the new Brookshire heir, claiming the estate is rightfully his by law. The brute is as arrogant as he is handsome—besides, he's supposed to be dead. And the only plan resourceful Meredith can devise to save her family from homelessness is a desperate scheme that may lead her to salvation or ruin ...and the bed of the man she has vowed to hate. A reluctant aristocrat, Nick does not trust this fiery, infuriating chit whom he suspects of subterfuge—yet who bewitches him with her innocent green eyes. The sooner he can get this tempting beauty married off to some stodgy old blueblood—and off his hands for good—the better. There is one slight problem, however: Nick can't bear the thought of her wedding any man but him.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Meredith Brookshire has been running her late husband's estate and loving every minute of the freedom she now has. She may do whatever it is that she would like and answer to no one. It isn't that she wasn't free with her husband Edmund, because he was never around, but at least now she knows that he will never show up humiliating her again or subjecting her to his indifferent behavior. The only brother that he had has been dead for years, so there is no chance of her estate slipping out of her hands. Or is there?

When Nicholas Caulfield finds out that he has inherited his brother's estate, he wants no part of the estate or the memories that it invokes within him. He intends to ride up to the manor and make sure that things are well in hand, set up his brother's widow comfortably and then ride back to London and forget about the whole debacle. That is, until he finds his brother's widow in the midst of a scam the size of London and decides to wait her out to see what it is that she is hiding.

The chemistry between Nick and Meredith is heart stopping. Nick is the essence of an Alpha male. The only problem with that is that Meredith is no shrinking violet. She will not let any man waltz into her life and cause pandemonium like the last man she trusted. She stands up to Nick and he has no idea what to make of her—all he knows is that he is falling in love. His plan to see her married and out of his hair is not turning out at all as he had planned.

Sophie Jordan gives us a taste of her creativity and talent just enough to whet our appetite for more. ONCE UPON A WEDDING NIGHT is everything that I look for in a romance, and then some, and I definitely look forward to reading more of Ms. Jordan's work.

Kristal Gorman