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!
Lindsay writes:
It was a historical single title that I read around 2003/04. The heroine is a Saxon lady, and the hero is a Norman knight who has been given the land that used to belong to her family. She’s hiding out at a nunnery, and he seeks her out to offer her marriage – I think because he thinks it’s the decent thing to do, and also because he doesn’t speak the language and needs someone who can actually communicate with all the people he is now in charge of. They get married and have a few weeks or months of hot sexxoring, until she gets knocked up, and he gets called away to serve his king. They’re both secretly in love with each other by this point. All of this is backstory that is explored later in the book.
When the book actually starts, the hero is still off with his king, and the baby has been born. The heroine’s brother comes to visit a lot, to tell his sister how much he hates the Normans and how she should too. Then the hero comes home, but he brings some pregnant chick with him (I think he tries to hide her at first), and of course the heroine assumes she’s his mistress, but it turns out that she’s actually the king’s former mistress and now that she’s with pod, there are people after her. There’s some sort of battle, the angry brother falls in love with the pregnant chick, and somewhere in there, the hero and heroine confess their feelings.
As for other identifying details, I think it took place in winter, and the cover was mainly navy, with a woman in a cloak on it. Oddly enough, though I don’t remember the title, I do remember where we shelved it in the library I worked in at the time, so I would say that the author’s last name is towards the middle of the alphabet.
This is insanely long, but I would love help finding this book!
Ok, is it me or does this seem like a Lindsay novel? Or a Lowell?
It completely sounds like a Johanna Lindsey novel, but I can’t remember which one, they all tend to bleed into each other
This part is almost the exact beginning of The Prize by Julie Garwood. The heroine gets away from the hero by tricking him and takes sanctuary in a nunnery.
Also, there is a baby involved, but the baby belongs to the heroine’s brother, who DOES hate the Normans.
The rest of the storyline (there’s no pregnant mistress) doesn’t fit though. But The Prize was the first book that came to mind when I read this so I’m mentioning it just in case the reader combined the storyline of two books.
Link to book for reference: http://amzn.to/bxay0E
This part is almost the exact beginning of The Prize by Julie Garwood. The heroine gets away from the hero by tricking him and takes sanctuary in a nunnery.
Also, there is a baby involved, but the baby belongs to the heroine’s brother, who DOES hate the Normans.
The rest of the storyline (there’s no pregnant mistress) doesn’t fit though. But The Prize was the first book that came to mind when I read this so I’m mentioning it just in case the reader combined the storyline of two books.
I don’t know what this IS, but it’s NOT a Lindsey. I’ve read all the Lindseys, and this isn’t one.
Could it be a Beverly? It sounds a lot like the cover copy of one of the Beverlys in my library that I keep picking up and putting down (too many big misunderstandings for me—I’m scared). If no one gets this before my next library trip I’ll try to check.
First, I know it’s Beverley, apparently my fingers don’t.
Second, after thinking some more, could it be Uncommon Vows by Mary Jo Putney?
Captcha: perhaps63. Perhaps I’ll get one of these for once.
@Angela James- My first reaction was The Prize, too! With a touch of Saving Grace thrown in for good measure?
DietCokeSnort!
I had thought The Prize, too, but the pregnant mistress veered it off. Good luck in your hunt!
The first paragraph sounded exactly like Desire by Amanda Quick/JAK, but only child, no brother, no Normans, no pregnant mistress. Sorry.
I’m sure I”ve read this one. But I can’t remember anything useful. I didn’t like it a ton, so it didn’t stick in my head.
/useless contribution
Sounds like A Twlight Clear by Linda Cook.
Blurb: “After three long years fighting for his king, Henry Plantgent, the time has come for William de Macon to return home to the raven-haired wife…But their reunion will not be a joyous one, for William comes bearing a burden: Henry’s pregnant mistress whom he must keep hidden from Welsh spies. Desperate to keep his beloved wife and daughter safe, he must conceal the truth about the woman, even if it costs him the love and trust of the wife he yearns for.
It sounds like an early Devereaux, but I’m at work and can’t get to my bookshelves. *frustrated*
I think dick is right: A Twilight Clear by Linda Cook. Check out the cover art:
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Clear-Linda-Cook/dp/0821773437/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271869366&sr=8-5
Regan
Agree with the posters who say the first part sounds like Lindsey’s The Prize, but that the rest doesn’t fit.
I know it is not a Lowell – the only historicals she wrote are the the Glendruid series and this doesn’t fit.
Keep us posted – this sounds like a good one (or two books – if the storylines got meshed!)
Hurrah for dick! Looks like you’ve got it even down to the cover. Gosh the memory on you guys. Lindsay was right about the winter setting and the navy cloak on the woman on the cover. I liked that the background of the novel involved Christmas customer for the mid 1100s so I’ll have to get a copy of it to read. GEEZ yet another book on my to be read list.
It’s not a Beverley. No pregnant ex-mistresses of the king, though her medievals are mostly about Norman lord, Saxon lady, or some other variety of outsider lord, insider lady.
Yes! That’s it, thank you. I’m looking forward to rereading this one.
I wonder if this is the one where the heroine burns her hand while saving a kid – the king’s kid? – and the hero keeps trying to explain his view of marriage by saying “______________, marriage is like a map….” and he’s always frustrated because no, blockhead, marriage isn’t like a map at all.
Funny, the bits and pieces you remember…
@ Kinsey nope, the scene you’re describing is from Garwood’s The Prize. It’s not actually the king’s kid, but happens while she’s meeting king and queen for the first time. Because of that act, she gets to choose her husband instead of being the prize in the competition.
The Novice Bride by Carol Townend. http://www.amazon.com/The-Novice-Bride-ebook/dp/B000SSULTE/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
While this is not the book you’re talking about… it’s very similar.
But in this story, he’s looking for her older sister… and the baby in the book is the infant brother of the two girls.
Fun weekend read…