This HaBO comes from Jenny, who is searching for a historical romance:
Looking for a historical romance. I don’t remember too much unfortunately. I think the first scene between the hero and heroine (possibly even the first scene of the book) takes place in an alleyway.
I think they are acquainted with each other or know of each other somehow. Maybe he’s a friend of her family or her brother. Anyway, either it’s an alleyway outside of his apartments/offices and she’s waiting to speak to him. OR the location has nothing to do with hero and she’s just there for something else. And he comes upon her and gets kind of concerned/mad that she’s there. Maybe because it’s a shady neighborhood or she didn’t come with a chaperone or someone to protect her. When he came upon her, there might have been another woman around him like a prostitute or his mistress with him, but not 100% sure about this.
I think she’s in need of help with something or help finding someone. In that case, it would make sense that she was there to speak to him. If, however, he came upon her randomly, I don’t remember what the circumstances where.
So I think by the end of this scene, they make some sort of deal that he will help her. And maybe they also kiss or almost kiss by the end of the scene?
Sorry I know it’s not a lot to go on. And I can’t remember what happens in the rest of the book.
There are a lot of “you shouldn’t be here in this seedy alleyway” opening scenes. Maybe we’ll find the right one if we list them all!
I think this is Mine At Midnight by Lisa Kleypas.
That’s Mine Till Midnight.
Oddly enough, just like one of last week’s HABOs, this HABO reminded me of a Jennifer Blake HR. Blake’s PRISONER OF DESIRE (set in New Orleans in the 1850s) begins with the heroine waiting for the hero outside his mistress’s house. Not sure if the house is in a “bad” neighborhood, but the heroine is unchaperoned. She needs the hero’s help—she wants to persuade him not to duel with her sister’s fiancé because the hero is an expert swordsman and will undoubtedly kill the fiancé. When she’s stated her case, the hero does kiss her, but while he’s “distracted” with kissing her, the heroine’s coach driver coshes the hero on the head and the heroine takes the unconscious hero back to her house to keep him imprisoned so he’ll be unable to meet the fiancé for the duel the next morning. Back in the early 1990s, I remember liking this book very much (it has a relatively older h&h who have a complicated history, and a subplot involving the Know-Nothing Party and the lead-up to the Civil War); however, it is set in ante-bellum Louisiana and some scenes are set on a plantation—and the books racial politics and representations of slavery are about what you’d expect from the “Moonlight & Magnolias” era of bodice-rippers.
https://www.amazon.com/Prisoner-Desire-Louisiana-History-Collection-ebook/dp/B0098875J4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=jennifer+blake+prisoner+of+desire&qid=1586889812&sr=8-1
Sorry—I don’t actually think the HABO is PRISONER OF DESIRE. I forgot there is an opening scene at a Mardi Gras ball. The second scene in the book is the one where the heroine waits for the hero outside his mistress’s house.
/Never mind.
I second “Mine Till Midnight.” I love Cam and Amelia!
It could be A Secret Love by Stephanie Laurens, but the lady wears a disguise, which is pretty memorable.
It could be Mine Til Midnight, although the hero and heroine don’t know each other before the story starts – they meet when she goes to the club he works at to look for her brother. She is with a family friend, though, so maybe that’s what you’re remembering.
A Secret Love also kind of works – he is a family friend of hers, and they meet because she needs his help. However, there’s no other woman involved, and I’m pretty sure they meet at a church, not somewhere shady.
This could fit a Janna McGregor, “The Good, the Bad, and the Duke.” There’s a scene early on where she ends up outside of I think a gaming den and then he comes out and they interact in an alley. He has to pretend she’s not respectable to keep her safe. She’s looking for her journal.
This made me think of the Maiden Lane books Elizabeth Hoyt (all those narrow St Giles streets.) Wicked Intentions maybe?
It also made me think of “Dukes Prefer Blondes” by Loretta Chase although I’m not sure if that is where the book starts.
Definitely not Dukes Prefer Blondes — that starts when the protagonists are children and she never waits for him in an alley — she comes to his office. I also think it is Mine Til Midnight.
I don’t have an answer for the HaBO but a few of these will be added to my tbr pile.
Think this is How the Scoundrel Seduces by Sabrina Jeffries. First chapter is Zoe going to Tristan’s investigative agency to ask him to help find her real mom. He’s mad about it but they do kiss to “seal the deal”
It also sounds like Say Yes to the Marquess?
That also sounds like “To Rescue a Rogue” by Jo Beverley.
Since none of these answers seem to be what Jenny was looking for, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it wasn’t a historical, after all, but rather a paranormal – it’s one of those stories where the guy is a changeling of some sort . . . I don’t read many paranormals, but I think I remember that one I did read a while back started like this, and I think it was pretty good. Come on you paranormal readers – anyone agree with me?
Possibly Firelight by Kristen Callihan? It’s a fantasy historical romance. The first scene takes place in London alley and the hero is looking for the heroine’s father. I loved the series & was sad when it ended.
Possibly Firelight by Kristen Callihan? It’s a fantasy historical romance. The first scene takes place in a London alley and the hero is looking for the heroine’s father. I loved the series & was sad when it ended.
My first thought was Her Notorious Viscount by Jenna Peterson but I could be wrong. It’s been awhile since I read Mine Til Midnight though.
I would like to add Dangerous by Amanda Quick to the list. The book starts off with the heroine going to see the hero to ask him not to duel her brother. She gets the stink eye from his butler because real ladies don’t visit gentlemen in the middle of the night, much less unchaperoned. I don’t remember what happens next except that the hero is good at picking locks….Hope you find you book! 🙂
Is it The Secret Pearl by Mary Balogh? The story begins outside of a theater where a young woman meets a gentleman (they don’t know each other before this time) in a alleyway. She is desperate for money, she names her sum to the gentleman, and he takes her to a tavern to do the deed only to find out she has never been with a man before.
Btw I discovered Mine Till Midnight from this strand. Such an amazing read!