Desperate reader Catherine has a HaBO, but it involves a plot twist so it’s a spoiler below the fold. Be ye Warned!
Once upon a time I found this book at my local library amongst their pitiful collection of romance novels, but I can’t find it again or remember the title!
It involved the heroine being rescued by a masked man as they were being pursued by a very, very scary villain. The story was actually very ho-hum until the end when there was a MAJOR TWIST. (SPOILER! HIGHLIGHT to READ!)
The hero and the villain were the same person. The villain was supposedly this terrible man responsible for murders, when he was actually covertly saving people. Of course the heroine fell in love with the masked man and was slightly surprised (ha!) when it turned out the man she loved was someone else. The whole book really turned around for me when I found out the two male characters were the same person – it was not something I saw coming at all. I *think* the hero’s name was Michael, though the villain had a different name.
If it helps, I thought the book was by Donna Fletcher or Karen Ranney, but I couldn’t find their books in the library’s romance section when I’ve gone to look.
Thank you from one desperate bitch!
Anyone remember that? Did someone wake up in the shower in the next book, and it was all a dream?
I’m afraid I don’t know this particular book, but the “two men are actually one man” plot device was quite common in historical romances published in the 1980s. Usually, the hero would be masquerading as his own evil twin for reasons that had nothing to do with the heroine—and the heroine spent much of the book torn between the “good” hero and the “darker” twin—never realizing that when one was around she never saw the other one!
This sounds like “A Rose in Winter” by Kathleen Woodiwiss.
Could it be…
Tender is the Storm
by Johanna Lindsey
Headstrong heiress Sharisse Hammond wants no part of the New York society marriage that has been arranged for her. So she heads west across a vast and dangerous land—with no intention of honoring her agreement to become the mail-order bride of a rugged Arizona rancher.
But Lucas Holt needs a wife—any wife—if his plan to destroy his most hated enemy is to succeed. And this gullible Eastern lady would do quite nicely. However, their separate schemes to use one another are complicated by raw, aching passion. For Lucas’s beautiful, unsuspecting pawn was not supposed to be so irresistible alluring. And freedom-loving Sharisse never dreamed she could ever desire one man so much!
It turns out they are twins and one has died and the other took his identity to fool the townspeople. the scary one is the one who lived.
I hope I have this one!!
Sounds like one of Mary Balogh’s single titles: ‘Daring Masquerade’.
Maybe Karen Ranney’s One Man’s Love: Book One of The Highland Lords
it’s Donna Fletcher’s “Dark Warrior”. I read it for review and actually enjoyed it a lot. It’s my favorite of hers, as predictable and contrite as it may be considered by some. heh
P.S. Here’s the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Warrior-Donna-Fletcher/dp/0060538791?&camp=212361&creative=383961&linkCode=waf&tag=adamzero-20
O my that cover! It looks like he’s trying to squeeze her out of the dress like she was toothpaste.
@Carmen, I am so glad I wasn’t drinking. It would have come right out my nose!
The hero that turns out to also be the villain plot device is one that is difficult to disguise as the story progresses. I’ve watched several movies like this and when it becomes clear that this is the case with over an hour to go in the film. The whole story becomes pretty cheesy. Just my opinion though, some may like this plot device.
Might also be Desire in Disguise by Rebecca Brandewyne “Originally published in paperback in 1987, this popular romance finds love between a male and female buccaneer in the wake of the French Revolution.” I do have to agree that it sounds more like A Rose in Winter, though.
Definitely not the Lindsey named above – but it is ringing bells with me that it might be Jude Deveraux’s The Raider.
http://www.amazon.com/Raider-Jude-Deveraux/dp/0671743813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278647117&sr=1-1
Oh oh oh!! Could it be The Bride Thief by Jacqui D’Allesandro???? Do I actually know one??!!
http://www.jacquied.com/BrideThiefExcerpt.html
I have to admit I sometimes enjoy the both-men-are-one plot son occasion- I like when the good guy inevitably becomes upset that the heroine seems to prefer his ‘bad’ alter ego- even though it’s HIM! So silly…
I am just about positive that is Donna Fletcher’s Dark Warrior. It is wonderfully, awesomely, craptastically hilarious.
It was Jude Devereaux’s the Raider – did it happen in America??? If so, then that’s it