You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO request comes from Veronica, who is searching for a historical romance:
I am looking for a historical that I read within the past two years, although it could be a few years older than that.
I don’t remember anything about the cover. It was either a marriage of convenience or an arranged marriage.
The only scene I remember vividly was a scene in which the hero takes the heroine’s garter, and tells her that in order to consummate the marriage, she must find said garter, which he has hidden on his body. I believe she follows through on this in his dining room.
I would love to find this book again; it bugs me to no end that I can’t remember it.
In the dining room, you say? *waggles eyebrows*
I think this might be by Christine Merrill. It’s a marriage by mistake story, where Miss W thinks she’s hitching herself to a down-an-out whom she can control, only to discover the d-a-o’s actually a drunk duke. After a rocky start, they begin to get on terms, and the duke does indeed take her garter.
His hand dipped to her skirt, and he raised the hem. ‘You may let me know when you are ready.’ His fingers trailed up her leg, until they were above her knee and had searched out the top of her stocking. He ran his fingertips lightly along the bare skin above the silk, before untying her garter. The stocking slipped, and he pressed the pad of his thumb against the naked flesh of her inner thigh.
She felt her legs trembling at the touch, and moaned in response.
‘Not that way, although it is music to hear, darling.’ He pulled the ribbon down her leg and waved it in front of her. ‘You will be ready when you are brave enough to take this back from me.’ And he tucked it into his coat pocket, and offered her his hand.
WHY does it do that to me!! – Miss Winthorpe’s Elopement, by Christine Merrill. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6929957-miss-winthorpe-s-elopement?ac=1&from_search=true
Yep, that is totally it! Thank you!
How do you do that? One scene and case solved. I’m impressed!
It’s quite a good HR, with an especially awful OW.
On Amazon for $1.99
https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Winthorpes-Elopement-Belston-Friends-ebook/dp/B002WEPE6M/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1476907443&sr=8-1