ARRANGED MARRIAGE, BEDROOM SECRETS – Yvonne Lindsay
Courtesan Brides , Book 1
Harlequin Desire #2453
ISBN: 978-0-373-73466-5
June 2016
Contemporary Series Romance

New York City and countries of Sylvain and Erminia – Present Day

Due to a rift between their countries, Prince (now King) Thierry of Slyvain was betrothed to Princess Mila of Erminia seven years ago when she was eighteen and he was twenty-five. Since that time, they haven't seen each other, as Mila persuaded her brother to allow the wedding to take place when she turns twenty-five. During the intervening years she has attended college in the United States and her body has matured. She's much prettier now than when she posed for her official photograph with the prince. But with her wedding almost a month away, she hears Thierry is planning a visit to New York, and Mila decides to surprise him with a visit. Before she's able to introduce herself, he mistakes her for just a regular woman, not his intended bride. They spend some time together, anonymously, which gives her hope for their marriage, until she learns upon returning to Erminia that Thierry plans to spend time with a hired courtesan. Has she lost him before she's even wedded him?

Mila decides to take the courtesan's place and spend a couple of weeks alone with Thierry. She intends to prove to him that they are compatible even before he finds out that she's really his fiancée. Can she pull it off? How will he react when he learns the truth? What about the fact that if they consummate their “affair” he'll learn she isn't really a courtesan?

Did Mila make a mistake in intercepting the hired courtesan because she wanted Thierry all to herself? She has been dreading the marriage, but meeting him in New York gives her a glimpse of the man, and she likes what she sees. Mila is much different now than when she was eighteen, and apparently he didn't bother keeping track of her in the years since as he had no idea what she looks like now. Their countries were on the brink of war after a scandal divided them, and an arranged marriage between the prince and princess was offered as a compromise. Mila didn't want the marriage, but as a dutiful woman raised to follow her royal heritage, she agreed. But the one thing she does want is love. Will she be able to find it with Thierry?

Thierry has been honorable and loyal during his engagement. In fact, he's never been with a woman and thought hiring a courtesan to instruct him in the ways of pleasuring a woman would help make his marriage to Mila “palatable.” When the woman he met in New York shows up at his remote cabin as the courtesan, he is both pleased and scared. Pleased because he really likes her, and scared because he fears he may fall for her, which may doom his marriage to Mila.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE, BEDROOM SECRETS by Yvonne Lindsay is the first book in the Courtesan Brides series and starts out with an intriguing concept. Can a couple forced into an arranged marriage become attracted to each other despite the odds? Spending time alone, Thierry and Mila are finally allowed to get to know one another and it turns into their finding love. Will they be able to get past the deception and have a true happily-ever-after? Find out in the enchanting ARRANGED MARRIAGE, BEDROOM SECRETS.

Patti Fischer