Heidi Hart

I first read this a few years ago and liked it, but didn't think it was anything much. Then in the last six months or so, I found myself thinking of 'that story where the penniless heroine is secretly a gossip columnist, and she's got to support this brood of younger siblings, and I think they went to a wax museum?...,' only by then, I'd long forgotten the title of the story and who wrote it. After a LONG time searching the archives on my Kindle (attention Amazon: you might get to work developing more functional search and book description features), I finally found this book. Upon a second reading, it was not any more exceptional than it had been the first time, so I'm not sure why the plot outline stuck with me.

Gossip columnist Felicity writes that Lord Ian St.Ivealreadyforgotten has a beautiful mistress, which ticks him off because 1) it isn't true, and 2) it spurs his fiancée to jilt him, and he desperately needs a wife and heir or he will lose his inheritance to a dastardly uncle. He tracks down Felicity, confronts her, but she sticks by her sources. They argue a bunch, say rotten things to each other, building up a predictable head of lust steam all the while. Then Ian decides, since he really does need a wife, it might as well be Felicity. She resists, so he tries various schemes before ultimately seducing her and threatening to expose her penniless state to her creditors in order to manipulate her to the alter. Then he belatedly grows a conscience and wishes he hadn't tricked her, but it's too late: she's in love. Together, they defeat the dastardly uncle and live HAE.