Heartless Marriage (Harlequin Presents) [Paperback]

Helen Brooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996 | Series: Harlequin Presents

Marriage on trial!

From playboy lover…

When gorgeous millionaire Raoul de Chevnair chose Leigh as his bride, it seemed he'd left his flirtatious bachelor days behind for good. But had he? Their marriage had scarcely begun before his playboy habits returned and Leigh found him in the arms of another woman….

…to faithful husband?

That was five years ago. Leigh is no longer a naive teenage, bowled over by Raoul's charm. So when he vows to win back her trust, Leigh is determined not to give in that easily! It's all very well for Raoul to sweep her off on an exotic second honeymoon, but Leigh needs a lot of convincing that Raoul has decided to take his marriage vows seriously after all!

Helen Brooks creates "rich characters, sparkling interplay and a riveting emotional conflict."

—Romantic Times

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 189 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373118449
• ISBN-13: 978-0373118441
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Helen Brooks book so far!, October 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartless Marriage (Harlequin Presents) (Paperback)

I read this book in one sitting. It was really good. It featured the kind of hero and heroine and setting that I may find in a Lynne Graham (my all-time favorite author) novel. The hero is Raoul de Chevnair, 32 years old French billionaire. He is super gorgeous (like Lynne Graham's heroes), with black hair and beautiful blue eyes. The heroine is Leigh, 25 years old and English. She is ordinary and poor (like a Lynne Graham's heroine). Because her husband is so wealthy and devastatingly good-looking, and because so many women are attracted to him, she felt very insecure. She often wondered why he is with her. But he finds her beautiful and is crazy about her. In fact the thing that stands out is that based on his actions and his behavior towards her, it is clear that he loves her so much, even though he does not tell her until the end of the novel. There are some poignant moments.

They first met on a beach when he was 25 and she 18. They fell for each other like mad and married soon after. For 18 months they lived in an idyllic world where he pampered her and devoted his full time to her. He took time off from his business and just spent all his time with her. Then when she found a naked woman on their bed and he coming out of the bathroom naked, she thought he had betrayed her so she left him. He tried to explain but she would not listen. He let her go because he felt she needed time to grow up away from him. For five years he kept an eye on her from afar. Then he felt it was time for them to be reunited so he came and demanded that she came back to be his wife. She agreed on a three months trial basis.

You can tell he loved her so much but because of her insecurities she could not see this. Through the five years they were apart, he remained faithful to her. She was one lucky woman!

I only wish the heroine was less resistant and that the love scenes were more elaborate.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Romance Junkie, October 31, 2011

By 

Esa Soy "Mady" (New York City) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Heartless Marriage (Harlequin Presents) (Kindle Edition)

This book was terrible, just plain awful, reading the reviews from other people it's hard to believe we are talking about the same book. The only reason I know it's the same book is because of the hero's name Raoul and heroine Leigh. Ok, So Raoul married Leigh and eighteen months later she runs away because she walks into her bedroom and finds some Marion person naked on the bed. Her husband comes out of the bathroom wearing a smile and not much else. He lets Leigh run away and stay away for like five years so she can grow up and see the situation for what it was. I'm no spring chicken and I was having a hard time seeing things for what they were- DULL. They are both a Bore, and she's an ass. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm from NYC and no Bitch is going to get naked in my house and on my bed to do MY man. Leigh should have grabbed Marion by her blonde dumbass, kicked her ass all over the bedroom and tossed her naked ass out of her bedroom. Now turn round and tell Raoul, "you got two minutes to explain or your ass is going out the window." This would have made an interesting read but this book. I gave it one star because zero was not an option. Can't recommend it at all.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Appropriate title, the book definately needed more heart..., December 27, 2011

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Heartless Marriage (Harlequin Presents) (Paperback)

This book starts with the reunion of an estranged husband and wife. The h left the H after walking in to their bedroom and finding a naked woman sprawled on their bed and the H emerging from the shower. From the start, the book did not make sense to me. The h reaction to the first meeting goes as expected, she is still mad/hurt and he acts as though little time has passed between their estrangements, not 5 years. Somehow they end up agreeing to spend time together to finalize their divorce (again makes no sense since they have been apart for 5 years). What follows is a long argument about whether or not the h still wants the H. Yes you do, no I don't, Yes you do, well maybe a little...no, I mean no, I really don't. Pages upon pages of these arguments without them ever talking about the actual event that separated them. It made no sense for them to not even have a conversation about it, they just continued to have tedious argument. The H never explains anything, just whines about how she doesn't want to talk about it. By the time I was 80% in the book and they still had not talked about the bathroom incident I really didn't care anymore. I skimmed the rest of the book enough to know that it was all solved within a conversation which made me even more annoyed. The end was extremely anticlimactic and not worth the tedious pages and pages of repetitive dialogue that you had to suffer though to get to it.