Unsuitable Bride for a Viscount (The Yelverton Marriages)
When Alaric Defford, Lord Stafford, hammers at the door of Milton Cottage, desperate to find his runaway niece, he never expects it to be opened by a beautiful widow. For her part, Marianne Turner shares the powerful physical attraction which springs up between them immediately, and the better they get to know each other, the stronger it becomes. There are, however, obstacles. Since both are headstrong, they do argue a lot. The social divide is, moreover, disconcertingly wide: though a gentleman’s sister, Marianne married ‘beneath her’ to a sergeant killed in the Peninsular War. Finally, since she is childless after several years of marriage, she is unlikely to provide an heir. She is, she insists and as the title proclaims, an unsuitable bride for a viscount. But Alaric believes that ‘love is all that matters in the end,’ and he is equally determined.
Since this is the second book in this Regency series, the early sections can be confusing as the backstory from the first is gradually introduced, and Marianne’s resistance does begin to drag after a while. The lovers are, nevertheless, attractive characters, and the insight into the impact of societal prejudices upon the individual is revealing, Recommended.
