Review: Liked it
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 21, 2013
I could guess where the story was going, but I was more than willing to traipse along.Our heroine marries a man old enough to be her grandfather for the sake of her family.  The old guy cannot perform in bed, so he can't have any children with her.  He isn't the most pleasant of characters either.  In order to secure his family line, and to keep his disreputable nephew from inheriting, he arranges for a handsome young lord to be kidnapped and held at a cottage on the edge of the estate.  Only two servants, a man and wife, know of his plan.He sends his young wife to spend an hour each day with the young man.  They meet in darkness, and during that hour the handsome young lord is to bed the lady so that she will become pregnant.  They are not to speak of anything personal that might lead to recognition later.  The old guy intends to pass the child off as being his own.Our heroine does conceive and the man is released back to his family.  But the old fellow dies within a few days, and at the same time the doctor informs her she is carrying twins.  Everything important is left to her, while the nephew gets a pittance.  Of course it's important one of the babies be male.We jump forward four years.  Our heroine has given birth to her twins, one male and one female.  She has gone to London, and while there, she meets a handsome man who she discovers is the father of her children.  She had fallen in love with him during those weeks of his captivity.  He had fallen for her as well.Our hero hears a rather nasty story about her from the nephew.  He begins to put two and two together -- he realizes the twins are his children.  And he thinks she set the whole thing up to inherit.  He confronts her and says they will marry.  He was a younger son, but his father and older brother have died.  The title is his to carry on.The marriage is lukewarm during the daylight hours, but is far from that during the night.  If the reader is put off by sexual situations, this book may not be for them.  She is determined to make the best of the situation for the sake of their children, and because she is still in love with him.Eventually he learns the truth -- it was her husband's idea, not hers.  She is the sweet woman he had made love to in the cottage -- and the woman he had fallen in love with.  So we get the ending we want.  I think we all see it coming, but I thought the story was good.  The characters were likeable.I would recommend it.