Never a Bride

"Charming and delightful - a must-read!"

- Joan Johnston, New York Times bestselling author of A Stranger's Game

"Witty dialogue and clever schemes ... Grey's vivid characters will charm readers."

- BOOKLIST

Her name is on everyone's lips ...

When he left for America six years ago, the handsome Viscount Stonehurst never suspected that he would return home to England to find his lovely fiancée embroiled in the scandal of the decade. The woman he planned on making his wife has been kissing every man in London ... except him!

But scandal doesn't matter in search of the truth ...

Engaged and then abandoned, Mirabella Wittingham is determined to find the man who drove her cousin to suicide, even if it means ruining her reputation and disgracing herself in the process ... When her plans go awry, Mirabella has no choice but to turn to her long-lost fiancé for help. But can she trust the man who deserted her so many years ago, or is he destined to fail her yet again?

"Readers will be quickly drawn in by the lively pace, the appealing protagonists, and the sexual chemistry that almost visibly shimmers between them in this charming, light-hearted, and well-done Regency."

- Library Journal

"An uplifting, wonderfully sensual story. I hated for it to end."

- Meryl Sawyer, New York Times bestselling author of Play Dead

Read more Continue reading Read less FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this debut Regency, independent Mirabella Whittingham is determined to find the scoundrel who seduced her friend Sarah and drove her to suicide, but Mirabella's only clue to the man's identity is that he bears a scar on his neck. Having consigned herself to spinsterhood ever since her betrothed fled to America, Mirabella sees little harm in kissing a few men and running her fingers beneath their cravats to search for the incriminating mark. Unfortunately, her intended, Viscount Camden Brackley, decides to return to London after six years only to discover Mirabella in the arms of another man and his family's affairs in shambles. Having been betrayed by his previous fianc, he is appalled to find that Mirabella is no less chaste, and he decides that he cannot marry her. The two pretend to remain engaged, however, so that Camden can have time to settle his family's finances and Mirabella can avoid upsetting her ailing father. As they play the betrothed couple and Mirabella secretly continues to root out Sarah's seducer, Camden realizes that he is not immune to Mirabella's charms. The story line is more complex than many others in the genre and far less believable. Grey's all-too-proper and perfunctory dialogue and her wooden characters do little to enliven this middling tale. (June 5) Forecast: Given its flaws, Grey's novel may be left at the altar by readers.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

FROM LIBRARY JOURNAL
Determined to learn the identity of the man who caused her gentle cousin, Sarah, to take her own life, unconventional Mirabella Whittingham embarks on a daring plan one which involves kissing her suspects in order to find the telltale scar on the back of the cad's neck. Predictably, her actions threaten to ruin her reputation. Undaunted, Mirabella continues to scandalize the ton (British high society) , but when her fianc? of six years, whom she has never met and had given up on, suddenly returns from America and finds her in another man's arms, she is forced to change both her tactics and her perspective. Despite the somewhat improbable premise, readers will be quickly drawn in by the lively pace, the appealing protagonists, and the sexual chemistry that almost visibly shimmers between them in this charming, light-hearted, and well-done Regency. Grey has also written a number of well-received romances as Gloria Dale Skinner and lives in Panama City, FL. This is her first novel under the Amelia Grey pseudonym.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. FROM BOOKLIST
Mirabella Whittingham has waited for six years for the fiance she's never met to come back from America, but she's been busy in the meantime. She has her reasons, but she's starting to get a bad reputation for slipping out to the garden with various young men and kissing them. Camden Thurston Brackley, Viscount of Stonehurst, has returned from America at the request of his family, who want him to finally marry. Having left the country after finding his previous fiancee in the arms of another man, he figures it's probably time to try again. So where does he find Mirabella, his intended? Why, in the garden, kissing another man. This inauspicious beginning launches a wonderfully wrought romance full of witty dialogue and clever schemes. Mirabella is bright and intelligent and not afraid to show it. Camden is captivating and patient, and both of Grey's vivid characters will charm readers. Maria Hatton
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved REVIEW
I loved everything about this book. The characters, the humor, the fake engagement, the tension. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amelia Grey's awards include the Booksellers Best and the Aspen Gold, and writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter and the prestigious Maggie Award. Happily married for over twenty-five years, she lives in Panama City Beach, Florida.

EXCERPT. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
From Chapter One

Will This Be the Year?

Another Season opens and the patient Miss Mirabella Whittingham begins one more year waiting for her long absent fiancé to return. One would hope that Viscount Stonehurst would appear this year to claim his bride. Hmm. Lord Stonehurst certainly knows how to keep everyone in the ton guessing.
-Lord Truefitt, Society's Daily Column

"Mirabella, what's this I hear about you being free with your affections?"

Mirabella Whittingham froze at the sound of her uncle's voice. Heaven have mercy, she was caught. And she'd bet the am