The Wagered Wife

by Wilma Counts

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821768069
• ISBN13: 9780821768068
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Zebra Books
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Winning Wager

Forced to marry the unwanted ward of a nasty gamester to avoid bankruptcy, Trevor stiffens his upper lip and honors his debt. It apparently doesn't occur to him that Caitlin is somewhat less than overjoyed at the prospect of marriage to him until after the ceremony. This is almost a Regency coming-of-age story. Evidently Trevor was a bit slow to mature--7 years seems a bit excessive. The true pivotal characters are Caitlin and Aunt Gertrude. Caitin's warmth, common sense, and patience in the face of adversity (especially husband related) give the book depth and interest. I frequently found myself wanting to give Trevor a swift kick, but he finally realized that he was a man and could afford to tell his parents "no." The manner in which his sister Melanie resolves the question of the child's paternity is delightfully humorous and devious. Well worth reading--more than once.

Forced Marriage

Trevor Jeffries is young male who feels responsable for the death of his twin brother and their best friend. While drunk at a card game, Trevor loses alot of money and becomes engaged to marry the oppent's niece. Trevor being a gentlemen, marries the girl, and takes her up to an estate he owns. He leaves her there while he is summoned to London by his family. (They never knew about the marriage)They inform him all of London knows he was tricked into the marriage and the girl is already with child from another man. Trevor believing his family agrees to go away for two years so they can arrange for a divorse. Five years later, Trevor arrives in London, and encounters a beautiful woman in the park and at the opera. It turns out to be his wife, Caitlin. Then more shock comes when he finds out he has a daughter. At first he still thinks she is tricking him but finally see the resemblance to his sister and the date of the child's birth. When they finally arrive at the estate he left her, he doesn't know what to think. The place has been turned around, making money not just for him but his tenants. And they breed horses, who are making an name for themselves with the ton. He can't believe his wife did all this, then he starts to suspect she got help from one of her admires. They finally work things out, his father, sister and one brother accepts Caitlin and their daughter. His mother is the mother-in-law from h---, so she'll never admitt to a mistake but they live with that. The story was good, the characters okay, I can't give it a 5 star but I can recommended it to read.

a wholehearted recommnedation

This is one novel that I can wholeheartedly recommend without any reservations! Wilma Counts has written a really good regency romance that also manages at the same time to cater to those of us who need for our heroines to possess at least some 21st century sensibilities!The Honourable Trevor Jeffries, wrapped in grief for having caused (in his mind anyway) the deaths of his twin and his best friend, has been doing his level best to lose himself in a whirl of exceesively disreputable behaviour. The end result of which he finds himself losing everything at cards to Baron Fiske. The only way that the Baron will allow him to cancel his debt is if Trevor agrees to marry Fiske's young neice, Caitlin Woodbridge. Trevor of course agrees, and in no shot order finds himself wed to a young and awkward girl barely out of the schoolroom. Trevor takes Caitlin to his estate in East Anglia, an estate that is falling apart and badly in need of funds. However neither Trevor nor Caitlin have any money, and they are finding it hard going trying to run an estate and make their marriage work. And when summouns arrive requesting that Trevor attend his parents in London, Trevor leaves after having quarrelled with Caitlin yet again. Once in London Trevor's family work on him to leave his wife and to apply for an annulment; they manage to convince him that he was gulled by Fiske and that Caitlin is probably an adventuress already carrying someone else's child. Trevor listens to his family and escapes by enlisting for the Peninsula.Seven years go by, and while the Jeffries still refuse to recognise Trevor's marriage to Caitlin or the daughter she has borne him, Caitlin has managed to rescue the estate and has succeeded in making it a profitable enterprise. And when Trevor finally returns from the Peninsula, he realises that not only does he still have a wife (and a wife that has blossomed into a very attractive young woman), but that he has a daughter as well. Trevor decides to try and mend his marriage with Caitlin. But it is not easy: he has to contend with the rather nasty rumours that surround his wife, her distrust of him, and his suspicions that she is an adventuress. Will Trevor and Caitlin be able to mend their marriage or will the Jeffries succeed again in driving the two apart? I liked this novel primarily because of Caitlin. She is a worthy heroine: brave, practical and warm hearted. But the main reason this novel met with my wholehearted approval was because Wilma Counts makes Trevor work at earning Caitlin's trust and love. Trevor keeps jumping to erroneous conclusions and frequently makes an ass of himself. However Caitlin doesn't fall on his neck and accept his treatment just because he apologises! Trevor is a young man that needs to grow up an become his own person, and in this novel we see that. And that's what makes this novel such worthwhile reading.