Scandalous Bride (Scandals)

Scandalous Bride - Diana Hamilton PA just got back from 2-month honeymoon with her businessman husband Hero when trouble strikes their marriage. They both overhear her boss' brother talk loudly in a party that heroine's been having an affair with his brother. No amount of denial seem to appease Hero's suspicions of her r/s with her boss. Hero wants her to quit her job to work & travel with him in his international business. The problem is heroine feels bound to help her boss with his business crisis the next 6 months. She tries to explain matters with Hero but he gives her some ultimatums. Problems get worsened when a sultry female voice answers her husband's hotel phone early in the morning & he brings his new sexy secretary to work at home with him. What can these 2 do to stop their marriage from dissolving?

This was a unique HP in that the story begin after Hero & heroine's honeymoon. Hamilton wrote an emotion-filled romance about what happens when 2 people who fall in love at 1st sight & quickly marry before they get to know each other's pasts. I could feel both the increasingly negative emotional tension mixed with the strong sexual attraction between Hero & heroine. Big misunderstandings, transference issues from the past, & emotional manipulation all played a role in escalating their marriage problems. I'm not really sure why heroine kept her occasionally-abusive 1st marriage from Hero. She seemed to have learned valuable lessons from it. It enabled her to say no to Hero's dictatorial ultimatums & hold on to her independence. Although I sympathized with Hero's desire to keep heroine with him, he fought dirty & acted like a jerk with her. He used guilt to make her do what he wanted & played immature games with her re: the OW. But he did confess & abjectly apologize to her about his faults & I believed his sincerity.

Recommended.