This HaBO comes from Peace, who wants to find this romance:
Vintage Harlequin/Mills & Boon Style Romance set in England – Heroine is a blonde baker/caterer, wrong-bed-leading-to-pregnancy trope.
I’ve been looking for this romance novel for years and really need help finding it! I might have muddled up a few details. Bear with me!
– Setting: England.
– Timeline: Likely late 90s, 2000s, or early 2010s (classic Harlequin Presents / Mills & Boon style).
– Heroine: She is blonde and runs a baking/catering business with her friend (her mother might have also been a baker).
– The Inciting Incident: The heroine has to step in for her business partner to deliver pastries to a wealthy female client’s house party. A bad storm hits, and the client insists she stay over in a guest room.
– The Mistaken Identity / Wrong Bed: In the middle of the night, a man (who turns out to be the client’s wealthy brother) comes into the room/bed. He sleeps with her despite her confusion/attempts to get up. She was a virgin. She flees early the next morning.
– The Hero: He is an ultra-rich English alpha male, but into the tech/electronics industry specifically (not a standard oil tycoon). He tracks her down at her bakery with flowers to apologize because he feels guilty, but she hates him.
– The Pregnancy & Hospitalization: She discovers she is pregnant. She has a high-risk or difficult end of pregnancy and spends her final weeks on bed rest in the hospital, where he spares no expense and stays attentive.
– The Ending: The baby survives. They enter a loveless marriage of convenience/co-parenting situation initially. He is completely doting as a father and quietly yearns for her/tries to get her to warm up to him while she resists. It’s a slow-burn happy ending.
Does this ring a bell for you? Thank you so much!
Let’s HaBO!
He sleeps with her? Well, maybe.
He rapes her? Well, definitely.
(and then he imprisons her in her hospital bed with his entitled presence… there is not enough grovel in the universe to make this guy a hero)
@Peace, my visceral response to the book description comes from my own, and my friends’ triggers and life experiences. I absolutely don’t want my personal reactions to get in the way of your search. I hope someone is able to solve this HABO for you so that you can get a copy and re-read this book which has made such a lasting impression on you. Please come back here after you re-read, and let us (me, anyway) know how it went. No judging; just my insatiable curiosity. TIA.
Following