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Montana Mavericks: Wed in Whitehorn #4
The Marriage Bargain
As part of his scheme to bring down the man he blames for his family's ruin, vengeful corporate raider and multimillionaire Adam Benson decides to marry his enemy's daughter, Victoria Rutherford, a shy beauty whose innocent and loving heart draws him despite his plans. Original.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Victoria Pade
352 books46 followersVictoria Pade is the bestselling author of numerous contemporary romances, six historical romances and two mystery novels. She began her writing career after leaving college to have her first daughter. That daughter was seven years old and there was a second daughter, before Victoria had her first book accepted for publication. That novel and the three that followed it were historical romances. But the exit of her husband and the urge to do more contemporary writing that explored the kinds of problems she was facing inspired a switch.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 29, 2016
If you like revenge stories where the heroine has to physically suffer, you'll love this one.
Corporate millionaire hero from the wrong side of the tracks marries philosophy professor heroine as a condition of buying her parent's ranch. Seems she flirted with him in high school and her father caught them kissing in a barn and warned hero off. Heroine's father then fired hero's alcoholic father, making him go on a bender. Hero's life went from bad to worse until he left town and became a millionaire. Now he's back for revenge - he wants snobby heroine to know what hard physical labor feels like, so he outfits her in the town's used clothing store and then sends his ranch hand on vacation and makes her do all the work.
I'm a sucker for revenge stories and this is a good one. If you don't like a little bit of heroine masochism thrown in with your story, then you probably won't like this one. I thought the hero was sufficiently remorseful, but he is pretty mean at the beginning. You'll just have to decide if the revenge/remorse formula is in the right calibration.
This story is part of a series, but none of the other characters piqued my interest. There are also two other sub plots about the girl at the thrift store who has visions and a doctor who got the mayor's daughter pregnant that have to do with the overall arc of the series. But the main thrust of the story is H/h and revenge and forgiveness.
Corporate millionaire hero from the wrong side of the tracks marries philosophy professor heroine as a condition of buying her parent's ranch. Seems she flirted with him in high school and her father caught them kissing in a barn and warned hero off. Heroine's father then fired hero's alcoholic father, making him go on a bender. Hero's life went from bad to worse until he left town and became a millionaire. Now he's back for revenge - he wants snobby heroine to know what hard physical labor feels like, so he outfits her in the town's used clothing store and then sends his ranch hand on vacation and makes her do all the work.
I'm a sucker for revenge stories and this is a good one. If you don't like a little bit of heroine masochism thrown in with your story, then you probably won't like this one. I thought the hero was sufficiently remorseful, but he is pretty mean at the beginning. You'll just have to decide if the revenge/remorse formula is in the right calibration.
This story is part of a series, but none of the other characters piqued my interest. There are also two other sub plots about the girl at the thrift store who has visions and a doctor who got the mayor's daughter pregnant that have to do with the overall arc of the series. But the main thrust of the story is H/h and revenge and forgiveness.
March 1, 2022
This was unusual.
The heroine was rich and spoiled and the hero was the son of the hired help.
When she was 15 and he 17 she had a crush on him and they shared a passionate kiss in the stable, but her father saw them and thought the hero was abusing her so he fired his father and sent them away.
The heroine didn't deny that the hero was abusing her because she was scared of her father.
So many years later the heroine is poor and the hero is a billionaire and she needs money for her father's dialisis, so the hero offers marriage in exchange for money.
The heroine accepts, she has no choice, but soon she realizes he wants retribution.
Sex?
Not at all.
He will make her work as his hired help, cook, maid, workman all in one.
He takes her to a cottage with little confort and buys her clothes in a thrift shop.
Of course the hero has still a big crush on her and lusts after her all the time, so he has to fight for self-control each time she and her nice lil self are around.
The heroine is not spoiled any more and takes her situation very well, she's a professor and has studied philosophy so she is able to accept what the hero tells her to do without much fuss.
The hero is fascinated with her new self, and eventually falls in love with her.
There's not much angst here, the heroine was a pleasant woman, very mature and self confident, the hero holds a grudge because his life was difficult after his father was fired, but I thought his resentment to the heroine excessive: yes, she didn't tell her father she was consenting to the hero's kiss, but she was only 15 and I doubt that the man would have acted differently anyway.
There's also a little drama in the end, when she falls and is badly hurt and the hero feels a heel and guilty because he made her do dangerous things, but soon it is solved and all is well.
Some things were very strange.
The hero and the heroine meets after 20 years.
yes, 20 years, that means the heroine is 35 and the hero 37.
None of them is very young but they sometime speak like they are in their 20, when they talk about things like: one day I will marry and have children, one day I'll be professor at University...
I mean, she's 35 and I doubt she can wait many years to have children...
Whatever.
Maybe 10 years instead of 20 would have been better, but actually the heroine was pleasant and mature enough so I can understand she was over 30.
And the revenge. No sex but hard work. Better?
Yes, It was new.
The heroine was rich and spoiled and the hero was the son of the hired help.
When she was 15 and he 17 she had a crush on him and they shared a passionate kiss in the stable, but her father saw them and thought the hero was abusing her so he fired his father and sent them away.
The heroine didn't deny that the hero was abusing her because she was scared of her father.
So many years later the heroine is poor and the hero is a billionaire and she needs money for her father's dialisis, so the hero offers marriage in exchange for money.
The heroine accepts, she has no choice, but soon she realizes he wants retribution.
Sex?
Not at all.
He will make her work as his hired help, cook, maid, workman all in one.
He takes her to a cottage with little confort and buys her clothes in a thrift shop.
Of course the hero has still a big crush on her and lusts after her all the time, so he has to fight for self-control each time she and her nice lil self are around.
The heroine is not spoiled any more and takes her situation very well, she's a professor and has studied philosophy so she is able to accept what the hero tells her to do without much fuss.
The hero is fascinated with her new self, and eventually falls in love with her.
There's not much angst here, the heroine was a pleasant woman, very mature and self confident, the hero holds a grudge because his life was difficult after his father was fired, but I thought his resentment to the heroine excessive: yes, she didn't tell her father she was consenting to the hero's kiss, but she was only 15 and I doubt that the man would have acted differently anyway.
There's also a little drama in the end, when she falls and is badly hurt and the hero feels a heel and guilty because he made her do dangerous things, but soon it is solved and all is well.
Some things were very strange.
The hero and the heroine meets after 20 years.
yes, 20 years, that means the heroine is 35 and the hero 37.
None of them is very young but they sometime speak like they are in their 20, when they talk about things like: one day I will marry and have children, one day I'll be professor at University...
I mean, she's 35 and I doubt she can wait many years to have children...
Whatever.
Maybe 10 years instead of 20 would have been better, but actually the heroine was pleasant and mature enough so I can understand she was over 30.
And the revenge. No sex but hard work. Better?
Yes, It was new.
May 23, 2011
I'm not really sure that these Harlequin/Silhouette books are my cuppa. I've read a few oldies and didn't like them and this is the first newer one and it really didn't do it for me either. I gave it a shot because it had a few elements that I like, such as the "forced marriage", "revenge" and a jerky hero but I ended up just skimming the book.
Years ago Victoria (h) was a young teenager living on her families ranch, a very secessfull ranch and has had a crush on one of the ranch hands sons, Adam (H). She knows that it is forbidden but she can't help but want to get him alone so she can flirt with him a little. They end up alone in the barn and one thing leads to another and they end up in a hay pile kissing, a very passion filled kiss. When her father walks in and catches them he goes ballistic, nearly accuses Adam of rape and the whole time Victoria is too afraid to speak up and tell him that she was there willingly and that Adam had done nothing wrong. And because she doesn't speak up to her father and in Adams defense, her father kicks Adam and his family off the ranch. This act and the losing of both his mother's and his father's job sets off a chaine of horrible events that Adam,til this day, blames on Victoria.
Adam, now all grown up and a very rich man, is back for revenge. Victoria's father is in ill health and they have to sell the farm to be able to afford the medical costs. The only offer they have comes from Adam, only there is one conditon to the sell going through....she has to marry Adam. He has threatend that if she didn't marry him he would make sure that no one bought the farm and that her family woulnd't have enough money to keep her father alive. He can't wait to get her to the farm and make her work as a farm hand and to see what it's really like.
Years ago Victoria (h) was a young teenager living on her families ranch, a very secessfull ranch and has had a crush on one of the ranch hands sons, Adam (H). She knows that it is forbidden but she can't help but want to get him alone so she can flirt with him a little. They end up alone in the barn and one thing leads to another and they end up in a hay pile kissing, a very passion filled kiss. When her father walks in and catches them he goes ballistic, nearly accuses Adam of rape and the whole time Victoria is too afraid to speak up and tell him that she was there willingly and that Adam had done nothing wrong. And because she doesn't speak up to her father and in Adams defense, her father kicks Adam and his family off the ranch. This act and the losing of both his mother's and his father's job sets off a chaine of horrible events that Adam,til this day, blames on Victoria.
Adam, now all grown up and a very rich man, is back for revenge. Victoria's father is in ill health and they have to sell the farm to be able to afford the medical costs. The only offer they have comes from Adam, only there is one conditon to the sell going through....she has to marry Adam. He has threatend that if she didn't marry him he would make sure that no one bought the farm and that her family woulnd't have enough money to keep her father alive. He can't wait to get her to the farm and make her work as a farm hand and to see what it's really like.
April 16, 2021
Decent storyline that would have been so much better without the over the top prose. Why say something in 1 sentence when you can beat it to death in 3 paragraphs. Ugh!
"And then he was above her, that incredible body was between her thighs as his mighty shaft searched for a home and found it inside her." Double Ugh!!
"And then he was above her, that incredible body was between her thighs as his mighty shaft searched for a home and found it inside her." Double Ugh!!
August 18, 2024
This book has a kind of quality that can really bore one to tears. And that was exactly what it did for me. First, writing style was repetitive and second the plot and trope was blah. Storytelling consists of long, rambling POV from each MCs. Simply, one scene alone can gets three takes as we foremost get the scene as it happened before we go to suffer his and her takes of it. Back to back we are entertained by their endless musings, gutter thoughts and extensive what-ifs and so-what questions. Once or twice the heroine even turn to amuse herself with a fantasy or two, such as making up elaborated lovey-dovey scenarios in her head. What if they have no bad past and just happened to meet again in a restaurant, will things be differently? What if he hadn’t shunned her that night out on the porch instead wrapping his arms around her and lay his chin on her head? And just how she would respond to that! Oh, she was amused alright. I was not!
One last thing, they both really have the brains of dim-wits and think like hot-blooded teenagers. In their head, that is! Otherwise, outside their heads, when he does kiss her she ends up responding. Shortly, he would stop the kiss and she would be like never again! But it surely repeats! Not my style, y’all, and by the time we may get something going on (hopefully outside their heads) I was already done. DNF and DNR.
One last thing, they both really have the brains of dim-wits and think like hot-blooded teenagers. In their head, that is! Otherwise, outside their heads, when he does kiss her she ends up responding. Shortly, he would stop the kiss and she would be like never again! But it surely repeats! Not my style, y’all, and by the time we may get something going on (hopefully outside their heads) I was already done. DNF and DNR.
November 2, 2019
Enjoy reading the Montana Maverick series. Like those set in Whitehorn.
August 1, 2024
Could have caught my attention a little sooner
October 13, 2010
A typical romance novel - Man holds grudge against woman and her family for years and finally has chance to get his revenge - except she's no longer an obnoxious snob, her family is no longer wealthy and the physical attraction between them has not left. This book is readable, predictable but a fun fantasy of the relationship we would like to work out in our own lives.
May 11, 2012
Victoria Pade is one of my preferred Harlequin authors. This uses a lot of romance cliches (forced marriage, revenge theme), but I enjoyed it anyway, mostly because the hero doesn't act like a jerk for too long.
February 10, 2013
I'm not sure what romance novel you all have been reading but this "forced marriage" concept is awful. The main characters are unlikeable. The "hero" is an a**h*** and the "heroine" is weak. Borderline abusive storyline and ultimately unreadable.
Read
October 21, 2010clearing my shelves of books I'll never read. ;-p
Read
December 8, 2016I will not rate it since I didn't finish it. I can just say that much the way the book is written is not my cup of tea.
Did Not Finish
January 13, 2018DNF. Waste of a Scribd credit.
April 23, 2019
Started out strong but never delved deeper into anything interesting. The hero’s hate is completely misplaced. She had NOTHING to do with what happened except for being scared of her father. Is her father okay? What about them at lady to gave birth in the woods? So many threads that shouldn’t be left open for other books. Skip, cause the wasted potential hurts the most.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews