BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Mary Balogh's The Secret Mistress. In this classic tale, New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh introduces a hero like no other: Miles Ripley, London’s most irresistible bachelor, who’s about to lose his heart to the last person he ever expected to love—his wife. When Abigail Gardiner knocks at the door of Miles Ripley, Earl of Severn, the last thing she expects is a marriage proposal. Desperate, she’d come to this charismatic stranger’s home to plead for her future. Instead she shocks them both by saying yes. Her impulsive decision will have consequences neither she nor her new husband can foresee. For Miles has his own reasons for marrying her. And Abigail is harboring a secret of her own. As distrust gives way to desire . . .…
"The Ideal Wife was based on something I read about in a colour supplement, not that I’m much given to reading colour supplements, but it was about someone very local to where I live. He was a great fan of Rousseau . He adopted two girls with a view to keeping them and marrying whichever one turned out best – and marrying off the one that didn’t turn out so well. Which is a really creepy idea. He raised them on Rousseauian ideals. It’s a monstrous idea to adopt two orphaned children and raise them up to find out which one you fancy most – which one fits best to your ideals. He’s so wrapped up in himself that he doesn’t really notice the sexual aspect. His intentions are almost scholarly – scientific – but he’s cruel. He’s inadvertently absolutely wicked. He was eventually (in real life, I mean) killed by his horse. His horse kicked him in the head, which I would have liked to use in the book, but it didn’t lend itself."
