The Wedding Night They Never Had: An Uplifting International Romance

Jackie Ashenden

Aug 2021 · Sold by Harlequin

About this ebook

It’s now or never for this royal couple in Jackie Ashenden’s latest dramatic, sexy romance for Harlequin Presents.

He must take a bride…
But he already has a wife!

Charming Prince Cassius wed young Inara Donati to save her from a dreadful forced betrothal. But their arrangement was only on paper. Five years later, after tragedy makes him king, Cassius needs heirs, and for that he requires a real queen!

Bookish Inara isn’t made for court life. But when Cassius demands a divorce, even she’s surprised by the strength of her refusal—and unfulfilled desire. Yet to find the courage to ask him for a true marriage, Inara must first believe she can be the queen he needs…

From Harlequin Presents: Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

Ratings and reviews

Fascinating, slow-burn romance! Cassius rescues a sixteen-year-old Inara from a forced marriage to a horrible man, though his own reputation as the playboy prince is hardly seen as an improvement. A couple years later, tragedy forces him to assume the crown and he focuses on straightening up his life to avoid bringing any more scandal. That includes continuing to ignore his child bride, now a twenty-one-year-old woman, until he realizes his need for an heir and therefore, a divorce first. Inara, despite her growing feelings for her husband, is happy to be married in name only, as she vastly prefers her quiet scholarly life to the spotlight that usually surrounds the royal family. Her reaction to his request surprises them both, leading to the rather sudden change in the direction of their marriage. I loved the way their romance grew from their careful friendship, and how she helped him come to grips with all the emotional undercurrents he'd been ignoring for so long. The entire plot was fresh, vibrant, and authentic, even while set in a completely fictional environment. I'm never disappointed reading a Jackie Ashenden romance, and this one brings all the steam and sizzle that we expect. I highly recommend this for anyone who loves royal romances. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

Rakish Prince Cassius is shocked when 16-year-old Inara asks him to save her from an arranged marriage with an abusive aristocrat old enough to be her grandfather. So he does the only thing he can: he marries her. The plan is to divorce her once she's of age and no longer under the control of her parents. But when the time comes, bookish Inara doesn't want to let him go. Can she prove she can be the queen he needs? This book is so much fun. It's a Regency-style plot set in the present day, and it works surprisingly well. Cassius helps Inara come out of her shell (with a lot of missteps along the way), and she helps him reconnect with the carefree prince he was before he inherited the pressures of the monarchy. This is an entertaining, opposites-attract royal romance. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

About the author

Jackie writes dark, emotional stories with alpha heroes who've just got the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband the inimitable Dr Jax and two kids. When she's not torturing alpha males, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, wasting time on social media, or forced to mountain biking with her husband.