Fans of Eloisa James & Julia Quinn discussion

This is from one of my favorite books of all times. It's a little old school, but the first chapter never ceases to grab me. The point of view is all over the place, but it provides a lovely setup to the story. I'll reveal the answer on Friday. I hope you enjoy!

The heroine’s marriage would have been the wedding of the year-if the groom had bothered to put in an appearance. Groom was so noticeably absent from his own nuptials that the bride’s father had been forced to walk the long-suffering heroine to the altar where, surrounded by a cluster of distraught bridesmaids, the wedding party minus the bridegroom waited. And waited.

“I shall deal with the corkbrain after the ceremony,” the distinguished bride’s father muttered as heroine stood with her back to the bewildered guests. “The idiot will be late to his own funeral.”

After several minutes of confusion, the minister and the heroine’s parents decided that perhaps until the groom arrived, the heroine’s older brother should stand in as temporary proxy. And so brother and abandoned bride stood. And stood.

At first, no one doubted that the groom would eventually show up to rescue the heroine from this embarrassment. If, as one guest in the third pew remarked, he remembered what day it was.

After all, the groom was hardly known about town for his towering intellect, although his generosity had earned him a loyal following of friends.

The bride-to-be had not wished to be married at the popular St. George’s Church in Hanover Square. A respectable young lady never previously involved in scandal, she avoided fussy affairs as a rule. Yet today the haut ton were crammed to capacity inside the private chapel of the Hero’s Park Lane mansion. To witness a wedding that apparently would not take place.

Heroine, the guests agreed, resembled a royal princess. She positively glowed in an eggshell white satin dress worn over an ivory tissue underbodice. The scalloped hem of the dress foamed daintily around her pearl-seeded slippers. A flowing veil of Honiton lace framed her face, casting in shadow whatever emotion it revealed, to the disappointment of her enrapt audience.

The bouquet of white rosebuds she held glistened from a double-dipping in gilt. White kidskin gloves encased her slender hands, hands that remained remarkably steady considering that their owner was undergoing one of the worst humiliations in a young woman’s life. To be abandoned at the altar.

What could have happened?

Everyone in London knew that the parents of both parties had been planning this wedding since Heroine and groom had toddled about the nursery in nappies. Society papers had remarked more than once that rarely had a betrothed couple seemed so compatible.

Heroine’s sister bitterly remarked, “Those flowers will have dried into a sachet if the groom takes any longer. I shall strangle him for this.”

Heroine’s younger sister shook her head in sympathy. “Poor Groom. Do you think he might have gotten lost? Heroine did say he required a map to find his carriage.”

The other sister’s golden-brown eyes narrowed in contemplation. “She’s holding up well under the humiliation, isn’t she?”

“Would you expect any less?” Younger sister whispered back.

“I don’t know,” the other sister replied, “but I daresay that such bad behavior is probably typical of Hero’s family. For all his gentle ways, Groom did descend from one of the most notorious bloodlines in England. Just look at our host, Hero, over there, lounging like the lord of lions in his pew with his ladybirds around him.”

“His what?” Younger sister asked in a scandalized whisper.

“I can hardly shout out the word, younger sister. That woman in the deep pink dress is Lady G, his last lover.”

“And he brought her here, to Heroine’s wedding?”

“If there is to be one.”

“Well, his brothers are said to be no better,” younger sister added. “The lot of them should have their foreheads branded with an R for rogue.”

“I wonder what Hero thinks of all this,” the older sister murmured. “He doesn’t look exactly pleased, does he.”

Hero, the host in question, the chapel’s owner, sat thinking that the bride had the most appealing derriere he had seen in quite a long time. Not that he made a point of lusting after young women in wedding dresses, but he had been staring at the back of Heroine’s dress for over two hours now. A normal man’s curiosity couldn’t not help but be aroused. What else was he to look at? He wondered whether the rest of her was as appealing.

Oh, I loved this scene. What a setup! This is one of my favorites also.

Oh no I haven't read this but will be read next. Sounds like a real hoot.

I don't think I know this one but I'm very interested. :-)

No clue at all.

Awesome intro. Must read it now.

sounds like fun :)

oh wow! I don't think I have read this before but sounds like my cup of tea!

Not a clue!

Thank you so much for letting me post this week. I've wanted to share this book for so long! Now, without further ado, this week's puzzler answer is The Seduction of an English Scoundrel by Jillian Hunter. It's the first book in the Boscastle series.

People, this one is Not To Be Missed. It's that good.

Well, my pile has increased! Thank you for the great post.

Susan wrote: "Well, my pile has increased! Thank you for the great post."

You are so welcome, Susan. Truly, it was my pleasure.