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 was submitted by Seb, who has been looking for a historical romance for a long, long time:
So this might be a hard one. I read this way back in the day (my high school years, I think, so between 1999 and 2003). It was a decent size book, and had an old fashioned bodice-ripper cover. It was an American Historical, and, if memory serves, a bit of it went like this.
The heroine moves into a home with her 3 male cousins. She and the oldest one are into each other, but he’s a great big jerk, so you know how that goes. They do end up in bed together, I think, and this prompts them into getting married. He’s not happy about this in the least, and I’m pretty sure there’s a bit about him having old-fashioned condoms because he doesn’t want to get her pregnant.
The bit I remember best is, while they’re out in town somewhere, she gets kidnapped by this big, hairy, probably nasty fur trapper guy. He wants her for his own.
Her husband is furious, thinking she’s leaving him. So he follows the trail to find them and get her back, and ends up getting captured by the same guy. To try and free them, she convinces the trapper guy that he needs to take a bath (in the river) before they consummate and start their new life. So he goes out to the river (I’m pretty sure it’s winter, too), gets naked, starts bathing, saying stuff like, “I’m doing this for you, baby!” And while he’s in, she snatches up his gun, holds it on him, and drags him back to the cabin, where she frees her hubby, and eventually they get out, go home, and do the, “I love you,” “No, I love you,” thing, end book.
The Bitchery has done a great job finding books in the past, and you guys are my last hope. No matter how I try, I just can’t find this book! Help!
You have to love a heroine who outwits a stinky guy into taking a frozen river bath. As Carrie said earlier, a little man smell goes a looooong way.
Do you recognize this book?
A Heart so Wild by Johanna Lindsey. I just read this book. 5 stars on Amazon. Excellent.
Not sure what this book is, I don’t think I have read it, but pretty sure it is not A Heart So Wild by Johanna Lindsey. Although it might be another JL, I have not read her full backlist. A Heart So Wild involves a woman searching for her father and working with a gunslinger named Chandos. No mountain-man kidnapping and no cousin love. It is one of my favorite old-skool JL. Anything involving cousins and I ran away, even if it makes some historical sense, ew.
Okay, so I’ve gone to check Amazon, and it doesn’t look like “A Heart So Wild” to me. I don’t remember the heroine hunting for her father. She was well settled in with her cousins (there was a dad there, the cousins’ dad, but hers weren’t around). Thanks, though!
The search continues…
Catherine Anderson? She has a historical series with the Keegan family.
I don’t remember it specifically, but I think one of that series had a scene like that. But I don’t think they were her cousins and I don’t think there was a dad there.
I’m probably no help at all!
Catherine Anderson seems to be a no-go, too, but I am more determined than ever to find this book!
Thanks, everyone!
And, if I manage to find it on my own, I’ll post here just in case anyone is curious, haha.
Seb, I am curious so please post it here if you ever find out. I feel like I have read that scene before but cant recall what book. I know you read it in the late 90’s or early 2000’s but the cousin relationship make me wonder if it was actually published earlier. I remember reading books in the 80’s with cousin romances in them.
Could it be a Brenda Joyce book? Based on the attitude of the hero and the whole “kidnapping” angle, it’s possible and seems somewhat familiar – some of her older ones do have the heroine being raped by the villain, so you’d need to sort through. Good luck!
I found my HABO! For anybody wondering, it was “Montana Magic” by René J. Garrod!
This search took me forever, but I finally cracked it last night. I stuck the bit from the back of the book below. Ahh! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to read it again.
(Thanks for re-opening the comments Sarah! I’m so glad this is solved, haha!)
From the back of the book:
“SHE TRIED TO BE A LADY
When her Montana cousin wrote that his three grown sons could use a lady’s influence, headstrong Genevieve Heller left Boston on the next train. Pretending to be a prim and proper Massachusetts miss, the strawberry-blond beauty set out to tame the unruly westerners… especially the infuriating Sterling, who managed to fill her head with very unladylike notions! His broad shoulders made her dream of tender embraces; his strong hands made her yearn for intimate caresses; and the knowing look in his turquoise gaze made her want to slap the arrogance right off his handsome face!
BUT HE WAS NO GENTLEMAN
Sterling knew there was more to their unwanted houseguest than simpering smiles and mindless chatter. No woman with hair that glorious color could be as meek as Miss Genevieve Heller wanted to seem. He meant to uncover the real Genny… right down to that luscious, creamy skin. His kisses would fill her with sweet fire, his touch would sear her with passion’s heat. And he’d melt her eastern heart with his wild Montana Magic!”
😀