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The Blackmailed Bridegroom
If Antonio Scarlatti wanted to be CEO of Fortune Productions, he had to marry the boss's daughter! At first Antonio refused to give in to such blackmail, but then he would it be so difficult to bed and wed the beautiful Paige, and then divorce her? But Antonio was unaware that Paige had secretly been in love with him for years - and neither was prepared for the explosion of passion between them...!
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
16 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
Miranda Lee
815 books237 followersMaureen Mary was born on 1945 at Port Macquarie, a popular seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her sister was the novelist Wendy Brennan (Emma Darcy). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside, much closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers. Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training, as well as horse and goat breeding, but was left dissatisfied.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 17, 2018
Poor little rich girl heroine had a crush on her father's right hand man, but was rebuffed by him when she was 17. She ran away from home, returning occasionally in between jobs to torture herself with glimpses of the hero.
Hero and her father thinks she sleeps around and that she works demeaning jobs. But she actually lived with gay guys and her sexual history amounted to two. Unfortunately, one of them hit her after their first sexual encounter and she left him immediately.
Heroine's father is alarmed that she was hit and decides to dangle the CEO position in front of the hero if he'll marry his daughter. Hero doesn't want to marry, but his is attracted to the heroine and he doesn't want the other guy in the running to marry her since he's a creep.
Meanwhile the evil housekeeper* is listening in on all of these phone conversations and decides she'll get her revenge on all rich people by marring the heroine's happiness on her wedding day. She'll tell her that her husband was blackmailed into marrying her and doesn't love her. It's just twisted enough to add that dash of uncertainty to the romance as the hero wrestles with his conscience as he ultimately falls for the heroine.
There's a lot of sex and some nice courtship scenes - especially the houseboat the hero rents for a holiday.
What's gratifying about the black moment is that the evil housekeeper is thwarted in ruining the heroine's happiness and the hero
*She's so evil she killed the heroine's beloved dog while she was away at boarding school.
Hero and her father thinks she sleeps around and that she works demeaning jobs. But she actually lived with gay guys and her sexual history amounted to two. Unfortunately, one of them hit her after their first sexual encounter and she left him immediately.
Heroine's father is alarmed that she was hit and decides to dangle the CEO position in front of the hero if he'll marry his daughter. Hero doesn't want to marry, but his is attracted to the heroine and he doesn't want the other guy in the running to marry her since he's a creep.
Meanwhile the evil housekeeper* is listening in on all of these phone conversations and decides she'll get her revenge on all rich people by marring the heroine's happiness on her wedding day. She'll tell her that her husband was blackmailed into marrying her and doesn't love her. It's just twisted enough to add that dash of uncertainty to the romance as the hero wrestles with his conscience as he ultimately falls for the heroine.
There's a lot of sex and some nice courtship scenes - especially the houseboat the hero rents for a holiday.
What's gratifying about the black moment is that the evil housekeeper is thwarted in ruining the heroine's happiness and the hero
*She's so evil she killed the heroine's beloved dog while she was away at boarding school.
August 6, 2022
This book was on the road to getting a significantly lower star rating but the last couple of chapters pulled it from the depths of desperation.
The older books were certainly more free spirited than todays modern garbage and here we have a h that had not one previous lover but 2 and shock horror the second of which was the night before she jumped into bed with the H which didn’t really endear her to me much.
Our h is a poor lil rich girl who is rather nice despite her crappy dad although immature as she is rather desperate when she does after the H as a teen.
She shacks up with a friend who becomes her boyfriend until he dies in an accident and is then celibate until she meets the rat of an OM. She sleeps with him as she wants to move on from her unrequited life for the H, he looks a bit like the H and he tells her he loves her to get her into bed. After the deed she realises her mistake as she didn’t like sex with him and gets a backhander for her troubles sending her back to dad.
The H is an Italian immigrant who’s mum was a tart and therefore he was not popular in his village so eventually he’s shipped off to relatives in Australia he eventually falls for a bosses daughter who only used him. She went home to daddy to marry a rich dude leaving the H jobless and heartless.
The h’s dad wants to retire and tells the H he can have the job as CEO if he gets the daughter to marry him. H reluctantly agrees and although he feels guilty gets her to jump his bones on their first date after giving the OM a reciprocal backhander and a kick to the baby makers. I liked what the H did here playing up to the Italian mobster stereotype and frightening the OM.
H eventually redeems himself as he does realise he is in love with the h and so that his previous misdeeds can’t come back to bite him in the ass he quits his job on his wedding day so that no one could say he married for anything other than love.
The h in the meantime is accosted by the dog murdering horrible housekeeper who was waiting for the day to tell all to the h and ruin her. The h stands up to her and is able to stand up for the H without any proof. She decided to keep this to herself so the Hs feelings aren’t hurt and we leave them baby making and tv making for their HEA
I love that the h is described as having permanent slick back hair but in their jaunt he lets it go wild.
The h gives an excellent rant about the perils of the sun and dangers of crappy sunscreen
The older books were certainly more free spirited than todays modern garbage and here we have a h that had not one previous lover but 2 and shock horror the second of which was the night before she jumped into bed with the H which didn’t really endear her to me much.
Our h is a poor lil rich girl who is rather nice despite her crappy dad although immature as she is rather desperate when she does after the H as a teen.
She shacks up with a friend who becomes her boyfriend until he dies in an accident and is then celibate until she meets the rat of an OM. She sleeps with him as she wants to move on from her unrequited life for the H, he looks a bit like the H and he tells her he loves her to get her into bed. After the deed she realises her mistake as she didn’t like sex with him and gets a backhander for her troubles sending her back to dad.
The H is an Italian immigrant who’s mum was a tart and therefore he was not popular in his village so eventually he’s shipped off to relatives in Australia he eventually falls for a bosses daughter who only used him. She went home to daddy to marry a rich dude leaving the H jobless and heartless.
The h’s dad wants to retire and tells the H he can have the job as CEO if he gets the daughter to marry him. H reluctantly agrees and although he feels guilty gets her to jump his bones on their first date after giving the OM a reciprocal backhander and a kick to the baby makers. I liked what the H did here playing up to the Italian mobster stereotype and frightening the OM.
H eventually redeems himself as he does realise he is in love with the h and so that his previous misdeeds can’t come back to bite him in the ass he quits his job on his wedding day so that no one could say he married for anything other than love.
The h in the meantime is accosted by the dog murdering horrible housekeeper who was waiting for the day to tell all to the h and ruin her. The h stands up to her and is able to stand up for the H without any proof. She decided to keep this to herself so the Hs feelings aren’t hurt and we leave them baby making and tv making for their HEA
I love that the h is described as having permanent slick back hair but in their jaunt he lets it go wild.
The h gives an excellent rant about the perils of the sun and dangers of crappy sunscreen
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2024
Young heroine in devotional love with older hero, wanting to have his babies the moment he kisses her. Even when she learns & believes that maybe hero's proclamation of love aren't heartfelt, she chooses to move forward with her fantasy life as his wife and mother of his babies without confronting him. I love the backwardness.
July 5, 2017
Interesting story I guess. The h was not a virgin for a change and the H was just okay. She had a horrible childhood, she fell in love with H a long time ago, he rejected her because she was the boss's daughter and he had been in love with another bosses daughter and it hadn't ended well. She saw him almost having sex with another woman in the garden so she takes off with another guy who is not a gentleman and who hit her. After she got hurt, the Father wants his wildchild to settle down so he blackmails him into marrying h or he will give someone else the job. There follows the courtship and they go on a boat trip together and have fun and she falls deeper in love of course and he asks her to marry him and of course she says yes. She has always loved him and it's her dream come true. Several misunderstandings, and an evil housekeeper(and I mean EVIL, she killed the h's dog when she was little) cause a little angst. The h was really sweet actually and not a maneater and there is an HEA. Just okay. The H does redeem himself at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2015
It started out nicely, with the evil father who orchestrated the whole blackmail thing. The misguided hero who thought the worse of the heroine. The misunderstood heroine who's been in love with the hero since forever. And the nosey housekeeper who set to destroy heroine's happiness.
The story also ravelled nicely. Some sneaky moves from evil dad and hero to trap the heroine. The hero started to see the real heroine and started to fall for her. The heroine just be her cute self. The nosey housekeeper kept plotting...
But the ending was a disappointment. The housekeeper told the truth about the blackmail to the heroine, after the wedding. The heroine grew some backbone and pretended to knew all along, but inside she's hurting. At this point, I was hoping for confrontation between the heroine, the hero and the evil dad. But, evil dad had a heart attack because hero refused the CEO position and decided to start his own company, and the heroine decided not to let the hero know that she knew about the blackmail for some reason and suddenly all was forgiven. What?
The story also ravelled nicely. Some sneaky moves from evil dad and hero to trap the heroine. The hero started to see the real heroine and started to fall for her. The heroine just be her cute self. The nosey housekeeper kept plotting...
But the ending was a disappointment. The housekeeper told the truth about the blackmail to the heroine, after the wedding. The heroine grew some backbone and pretended to knew all along, but inside she's hurting. At this point, I was hoping for confrontation between the heroine, the hero and the evil dad. But, evil dad had a heart attack because hero refused the CEO position and decided to start his own company, and the heroine decided not to let the hero know that she knew about the blackmail for some reason and suddenly all was forgiven. What?
August 6, 2011
The Blackmailed Bridegroom is Miranda Lee’s 52nd romance novel. The man in question is Antonio Scarlatti, initially the efficient PA to wealthy Film & TV entrepreneur Conrad Fortune, now in line to become the CEO of Fortune Enterprises. The blackmailer is Conrad Fortune, who is dangling the CEO position in front of Antonio’s nose if he beds and weds Conrad’s wayward daughter, Paige. Will it be a hardship for him to do the boss’s bidding? He could always divorce her later……… But Paige has been in love with Antonio since she first met him. And she is going to grab her chance at happiness with both hands. Another lovely local romance from Miranda Lee.
November 15, 2011
It was an okay read,not one the good or best Miranda Lee's book.Did not feel any connection or chemistry between Paige-Antonio,plot was a same old H being blackmailed but later he falls in love,nothing new or different.I was bored but somehow finished it
November 5, 2024
The men in this book are so, so terrible, from her overbearing dad to her rapey ex to the arrogant H. The sexism and objectifying is horrifying, and in the beginning it was unclear if ML could turn this around into a believable romance.
But she did. She takes the time to show how the H comes around and better understands the h (although obviously, still so terrible anyone would think of and manipulate women in that way) and their coming together is well done. A bit more expressed remorse and repentance at the end would have made it better, but I still ended up liking this, despite its many flaws.
The h goes through quite a bit and I also appreciated that the author allowed her youth and vulnerability to show--she has backbone despite what she's been subjected to, even when she succumbs to moments of weakness. The housekeeper was like a cartoon villain, but it was fun that the h didn't play her nasty little game at the end.
3.5 stars
But she did. She takes the time to show how the H comes around and better understands the h (although obviously, still so terrible anyone would think of and manipulate women in that way) and their coming together is well done. A bit more expressed remorse and repentance at the end would have made it better, but I still ended up liking this, despite its many flaws.
The h goes through quite a bit and I also appreciated that the author allowed her youth and vulnerability to show--she has backbone despite what she's been subjected to, even when she succumbs to moments of weakness. The housekeeper was like a cartoon villain, but it was fun that the h didn't play her nasty little game at the end.
3.5 stars
April 4, 2009
Hot! Always like Miranda Lee's books, she write extremely hot sex scenes and often with plot surprises
July 7, 2011
Love it! Well, bad start doesn't always mean bad end, right? Sweet-and-smutty kind of reading.
February 3, 2026
This novel by Miranda Lee is a dark, emotionally charged romance that does not shy away from uncomfortable truths.
Antonio, an Italian immigrant to Australia, grows up unwanted and scarred by profound early trauma. His first experience of love comes with Loren—a woman who cares for him but ultimately cannot choose him when love threatens her social position. Her decision to walk away reinforces the brutal lesson Antonio has learned all his life: that affection is possible, but commitment is conditional.
The true heart of the story emerges with Paige. Manipulated by her controlling father into a marriage of convenience, Paige begins the novel fragile and uncertain. Yet when confronted with the truth behind the arrangement—and later with an attempt to humiliate her on her wedding day—she responds with unexpected courage and resolve. Rather than flee, she chooses honesty, partnership, and growth.
This is not a gentle romance. It is about survival, pride, damage, and the slow forging of trust. Love here is not instantaneous; it is earned.
Miranda Lee delivers a powerful, unsettling story where the heroine’s strength lies not in innocence, but in choice—and that makes the ending deeply satisfying.
Antonio, an Italian immigrant to Australia, grows up unwanted and scarred by profound early trauma. His first experience of love comes with Loren—a woman who cares for him but ultimately cannot choose him when love threatens her social position. Her decision to walk away reinforces the brutal lesson Antonio has learned all his life: that affection is possible, but commitment is conditional.
The true heart of the story emerges with Paige. Manipulated by her controlling father into a marriage of convenience, Paige begins the novel fragile and uncertain. Yet when confronted with the truth behind the arrangement—and later with an attempt to humiliate her on her wedding day—she responds with unexpected courage and resolve. Rather than flee, she chooses honesty, partnership, and growth.
This is not a gentle romance. It is about survival, pride, damage, and the slow forging of trust. Love here is not instantaneous; it is earned.
Miranda Lee delivers a powerful, unsettling story where the heroine’s strength lies not in innocence, but in choice—and that makes the ending deeply satisfying.
December 31, 2025
Housekeeper got off too lightly for her wickedness. She was so evil and wasn’t made to pay at all. That’s my biggest grievance with the book.
The ending also felt rushed and was unsatisfying overall. I wished everything was brought out in the open and discussed between the H and h, rather than they both keeping the secret to themselves about why he married her.
Asides that though, the first chapter was a banger, the book was very engaging, the sex scenes were steamy and done very right, and the writing was phenomenal. A lot of striking descriptions and sublime metaphors. I’d end this review with my favorite of them all:
“Publicly, he was all capped teeth and false charm, in Antonio’s opinion. Handsome as Satan, but privately he had the morals of the Marquis de Sade.”
The ending also felt rushed and was unsatisfying overall. I wished everything was brought out in the open and discussed between the H and h, rather than they both keeping the secret to themselves about why he married her.
Asides that though, the first chapter was a banger, the book was very engaging, the sex scenes were steamy and done very right, and the writing was phenomenal. A lot of striking descriptions and sublime metaphors. I’d end this review with my favorite of them all:
“Publicly, he was all capped teeth and false charm, in Antonio’s opinion. Handsome as Satan, but privately he had the morals of the Marquis de Sade.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2017
I liked the story and was happy that the Housekeeper got her comeuppance. I also like it when the author adds a decent ending to the story. They wanted children and we were told about the baby and the name on the last page. Thankyou Miranda.
July 9, 2021
Ugh. Explicit and senseless. Plot and characters' actions and emotions just happened.
May 21, 2025
Predictable.
January 3, 2017
Till the end book was five star but due to lack of the confrontation the book lost the stars
January 18, 2019
Si bien la historia está buena, el enamoramiento de adolescente que solo crece y madura en una relación adulta, me molesta que: la mala se fuera de rositas, que ni el padre ni el novio le dijeran a ella la verdad de lo que hicieron y que ella no tuviera el amor propio suficiente para enfrentarse a ellos, aún a pesar de que su marido si se enamoró de ella y que dejó la compañía.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
September 2, 2008The Blackmailed Bridegroom (Presents S.) by Miranda Lee (1999)
September 6, 2012
It was a very sweet and overall good read. There was nothing that made it amazing but I did enjoy reading it on my rainy night.
September 10, 2016
Too simplistic of the story.
September 17, 2009
Way too smutty! another disapointment from the blerb to the book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews