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 is from Randy, who is looking for this historical romance:
This should be an easy one because I’m fairly certain it was written by a well known author and not written forever ago. I thought it was by Sherry Thomas, but I can’t find it just by reading the blurbs about her books.
As I recall, the heroine’s husband died and they were childless. But, there has to be an heir in order for her to inherit or she’ll lose everything. The hero was good friends with the husband. The hero and heroine decide to make a baby and claim the heroine was pregnant by her husband at the time of his death.
The following is all I can remember: the heroine is in mourning and very timid and the hero (sly dog) tells her he needs to perform cunnilingus in order to prepare her for the actual deed.
I also recall a hot air balloon ride at the (I think) end of the book.
The hot air balloon ride should spark something!
Waking Up with the Duke
by Lorraine Heath
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Could it be this book? A lady awakened by Cecilia Grant? https://www.ceciliagrant.com/a-lady-awakened.php
It’s been a long time since I read it and don’t remember a hot air balloon! But the general plot fits your description. It’s actually a really amazing book!
Is this Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened?
It sounds a bit like Waking Up with the Duke by Lorraine Heath but there’s no hot air balloon, and the husband needs an heir because an accident has left him paralysed and weakening.
Is it Cecilia Grant’s _A Lady Awakened_?
Seconding “A Lady Awakened” by Cecilia Grant.
My first thought was of a very early (late-80s/early-90s) Mary Balogh, WEB OF LOVE, although not all the pieces line up: hero is a soldier and good friends with heroine’s soldier husband (who is sterile, due to an earlier injury—although he has a daughter from his first marriage, conceived prior to the injury). When the husband is killed at Waterloo, h&h console each other, but it’s obvious the heroine is still in shock and she eventually repudiates the hero. Back in England, she discovers she is pregnant and must decide whether to tell her husband’s family about her brief post-widowhood affair or try to pass the baby off as a “miracle.” I love those early Balogh books—so, so angsty.
“A Lady Awakened” does have the must-conceive-an-heir-posthumously plot, but the other details don’t line up.
Also, if it were A LADY AWAKENED, I think the requester would have remembered just how much bad sex is in that book (OMG, it’s a LOT.)
Maybe Lorraine Heath’s “Waking up with the Duke”? The husband is still alive, but is paralyzed and unable to have children. The heroine sleeps with husband’s friend in order to conceive.
This sounds like a mashup of A Lady Awakened by Cecilia (as others have mentioned, has the “make a fake heir” plot) and Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden (which I’m about 90% sure includes a balloon ride). These also happen to be two of my favorites!
Also I’m pretty sure the hero and dead husband aren’t friends in A Lady Awakened.
Thanks for all the comments! According to Goodreads, I have read Lady Awakened. I do not remember reading it, but Goodreads says I must have enjoyed it, because I gave it 5 stars! Unfortunately, I am well acquainted with bad sex, so I must not have noticed it! lol I’m going to have to re-read that one. I’m also adding the other suggestions to my TBR pile. Because they all sound like something I would enjoy reading. Waking Up With the Duke is the winner!! I could only find it in the library on audio and skimmed through until I found the oral sex scene. I will finish going through it tomorrow to see if there was a hot air balloon. I put a hold on Love and Scandals. I may have read it prior to signing up for Goodreads. So I will check it out later for the possible balloon ride too. Thanks again for the help!
No hot air balloon in Waking Up With the Duke— I read it a couple of weeks ago. Strong candidate for my Most Detestable Characters Hall of Fame (the husband), though.
Looks like about the only thing I got right in my description of the book was the sex scene and you all still figured it out. Good job!
Thrilled I got it right! Ainsley in Waking Up With The Duke is one of my favourite heroes so I’ve read it a number of times.
I know the winner has already been found but there is an EXCELLENT hot air balloon story in Heyer’s Frederica 🙂
I have never read anything by Georgette Heyer. I think Frederica would be a great book to start with! Thanks!