Wedded Bliss

Author: Barbara Metzger
Published: March 2004 (Signet)
Category: Regency Romance
Rating: 8/10

I figured it's been a while since I read a Metzger, and Wedded Bliss features a favored Regency romance device: the marriage of convenience that becomes a love match. It fulfilled my need for a sweet book with happy endings and appropriate comeuppance for evildoers.

When Robert Rothmore, Earl of Rockford, receives word that a neighbor has taken his son, he hastily vows to enforce the kidnapping laws. But he quickly discovers that widowed Alissa Henning is no criminal. Instead she is exactly the kind of woman who'd make the perfect mother for his sons. Marriage would be an ideal arrangement for both of them, wouldn't it?

At first, Alissa swears she wills pend the rest of her life scraping pennies together rather than wed the insufferable earl and becoming a glorified governess. Still, she can't very well let her own children starve, and there is no doubt that Rockford will provide for them. So she reluctantly accepts his offer, but there's more to a good life than what's in one's pockets. And Alissa intends to find out what's in her new husband's heart....

I find Metzger hit or miss, and this one's a hit. We get a bunch of young boys, which leads to hijinks, a spinster sister who runs away with a crook, and a despicably unsuitable suitor for Alissa's younger sister. Of course the spinster sister finds her true love, and Alissa is reunited with her dead husband's family (they had disowned her husband for marrying beneath him).

I was surprised by the sexytime scenes, because I had Metzger categorized with the very traditional Regency authors who avoided the nitty gritty stuff. Alissa, already attracted to Robert, confronts him about the non-consummation of their marriage, and demands a daughter. Robert tries to do his duty and not further the mushy feelings he has about his convenient wife, so she's disappointed by the event. So disappointed that she drops a big hint by leaving a copy of the Kama Sutra under his pillow...