DEIRDRE & CALDER!
Deirdre is a beauty of another order entirely–the only thing her looks have ever gotten her is trouble from her social-climbing stepmother. The only thing Deirdre wants–the only thing she’s ever wanted!–is the Beast of Brookhaven for her very own!
THE DUKE NEXT DOOR
The Heiress Brides Bk 2
A marriage of convenience
The dangerously beautiful Deirdre Cantor is
determined to inherit her grandfather’s vast fortune.
All she needs is to marry a duke . . . and be the
first granddaughter to walk down the aisle.
So when brooding Calder Marbrook, the Marquis
of Brookhaven and future Duke of of Brookmoor,
is abandoned at the altar, Deirdre makes it her
business to become his wife–in spite of the
whispers about his past.
An inconvenient truth. . .
Soon Deirdre’s visions of a lavish existence with
the handsome Calder are shattered when she
learns his shocking secret. Feeling betrayed,
Deirdre seeks veangeance by playing a perilous
and seductive game of cat and mouse with her
husband that threatens to drive them both to the
heights of passion. But at what cost? Calder is
determined to keep his secret under
lock and key–and to make his stunning wife
his in every way that matters. Even if it means
winning her heart all over again . . .
Quotes:
“What can Bradley come up with after The Liars Club
and the Royal Four? The answer is a humorous romp of
marriage mayhem that’s a love and laughter treat,
tinged with heated sensuality and tenderness. This
winning combination ensures Bradley’s Heiress Brides
series will climb the bestseller charts.”
—Romantic Times Bookreviews
“Bradley tells an involved, sexy story. If you haven’t
yet read a Bradley novel, let yourself be seduced by
the mistress of the genre!”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
Under the covers:
I love the Grimms’ tale of “The Summer and Winter
Garden,” the story of Beauty and the Beast. A primary
theme in this one is the conflict between marrying for
love and marriage as a sort of bargain. In the fairytale,
the father trades his daughter for his own life. In my
version, the woman trades herself for the man of her
dreams–but doesn’t know how to get herself back
when things don’t turn out as planned! Deirdre does
everything wrong because she’s been raised to use her
beauty like a weapon, instead of following her heart.
Calder is the Beast (and the father of the Beastie–his
outrageously misbehaved daughter, Meggie) not because
he is cruel, but because he is cold and unwilling to
compromise. His past is full of pain and regret because
of willful women and he isn’t about to let Deirdre add
to that. At the same time, Deirdre isn’t about to let the
man she’s longed for since she was fifteen shelve her
like an unwanted doll.
I love the battle between fire and ice. There is nothing
more fun than breaking down the walls of a solitary,
self-contained man when armed with lust, laughter
and love!
Portraits of our lovers:
DEIRDRE
Miss Deirdre Cantor is an exquisite beauty who has been well instructed in flirtation and manipulation by her
conniving stepmother Lady Tessa. However, beneath her practiced airs there has survived a passionate,
generous soul—who has been jonesing for the somber Marquis of Brookhaven since she first saw him when she was fifteen years old. Now her chance has come.
When her cousin jilts him on their wedding day, Deirdre steps in and proposes a cold, practical arrangement—a marriage that will benefit them both. It isn’t until Calder surprises her with his horrid child
Meggie and threats of dire consequences if Deirdre cannot tame the wild girl that Deirdre realizes that she will need much more than
her beauty alone to tame the Beast of Brookhaven!
CALDER
Calder Marbrook, Marquis of Brookhaven, aka the Beast of Brookhaven, can’t seem to keep a wife. His first wife despised him and fled to her death, which still shadows his reputation. His second bride jilted him at the altar, flying into the arms of his own brother rather than wed him. When lovely Deirdre proposes, Calder is so surprised that he accepts. (He never stood a chance against Deirdre’s twin weapons of mass
distraction!) Then again, why not marry her? Calder wants a peaceful, ordered existence and complete control over it. Gently bred (and smokin’ hot) Deirdre is mild-mannered and obedient—or is she? Calder is about to realize that clashing wills and lonely hearts
do not a perfectly uneventful marriage make!
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!