p. 45
“According to the will he had written shortly before his death, Morris had indeed left everything to his daughter for one year only before it was to pass to her brother or, in the event of his prior demise, to her cousin. But he had also dangled a juicy carrot before her face. She could retain her inheritance for the rest of her life if she married during that year.”

I worked with someone whose marriage was arranged; she was miserable being married to an abusive man, and yearned for the man she was in love with as a teen, who BTW became much more successful in life than my coworker’s husband.

I wouldn’t force a relative to marry any particular person to get their inheritance, but I might try not letting them at the money until they finish a degree.

As far as someone being kidnapped by pirates, if my research into my family’s history is correct beyond the Atlantic, it seems that one of my male ancestors was actually kidnapped by pirates. It happened centuries ago, and I’m not even truly sure he was my ancestor (he’s 2 generations beyond where it gets questionable), but it still urks me, grrrr! But he kicked some pirate butts to escape, yay (even if we don’t share blood!)

Don’t personally know of any secret babies, but did spend a bit of time with an amnesia patient (their identity was known, and it was believed the amnesia was temporary — I never found out how long it lasted).

I always enjoyed the forced protector device, even if the heroine is fairly capable of protecting herself, because villains are devious, and can be pretty strong. Extra hands always comes in handy when in danger.

Thanks for the laughs sallahdog 8^)

eta I love secret baby plots too. ::shrug:::

I wasn’t able to post this on the SBTB site, but I’m pretty sure you’ll see it here. This may be a helpful example.

Mary Balogh’s Courting Julia

From her Web site: “When Julia Maynard’s step-grandfather dies, he
leaves Julia nothing even though she has lived with him all her life and
tended him in his last illness and loved him - and even though he
appeared to adore her. But he does leave his precious unentailed home,
Primrose Park, to whichever of his five nephews can win her hand within
a month of the reading of the will.”

Hey,deprive those dang authors all you want…as long as there are garage sales and flea markets I am sure I can find my fixes of
’stupid stories I love’… Is it wrong of me to admit that one book reviewer mentioned an old book that was no longer in print that featured a guy who never washed and a secondary character who had a thing for goats….and I spent hours looking for that book?…. sigh… I feel so dirty…