Portugal No Hanayome / Original Title: HAUNTING ALLIANCE (Harlequin Image I 2628 Shifuku No Meisaku Sen)

[Machine Translation] Invited to her best friend's wedding, Catherine landed in southern Europe and was enchanted by the flowers shining in the dazzling sunlight and the stately mansion. Then there was Edouard, the brother of her best friend, who held the title of Count of Pontalegre. The "legend" she had heard so much about was a sexy man. But the moment he saw Catherine, his dark eyes and smile froze. She looked exactly like his first love when he was a boy - the woman who had taken her own life 23 years earlier in despair over an unrequited love. The more Catherine got to know the melancholy Eduard, the more she was attracted to him, but at the same time, she agonized over a painful pain in her heart. But at the same time, she is tormented by the pain of his heartache, because his heart is still haunted by his late first love.... There was another reason why the heroine was timid about love. She was raised by an unmarried mother and does not know who her father is, and she is worried that she is too much of a match for the Count, who should marry a local girl from a suitable family... A masterpiece by a veteran author.

親友の結婚式に招待されたキャサリンは南欧に降り立ち、まばゆいばかりの日差しに輝く花々と、風格のある屋敷に魅了された。そして、親友の兄で、ポンタレグレ伯爵の称号を持つエドゥアード。たびたび話に聞いていた“伝説の人”は、セクシーな男性だった。だが彼はキャサリンを見た瞬間、その黒い瞳と微笑を凍りつかせた。なんでも、少年時代の初恋の人に、彼女がそっくりなのだという―23年前、報われない恋に絶望して命を絶った女性に。憂いを秘めたエドゥアードを知るほどに惹かれるキャサリンだったが、同時に胸が締めつけられるような苦しさに悶えた。なぜなら、彼の心はまだ、亡き初恋の人に囚われているのだから...。ヒロインが愛に臆病なのには、もう一つ理由があった。未婚の母に育てられ、父親が誰かもわからない自分と、ふさわしい家柄の地元の娘と結婚すべき伯爵とでは、あまりにも釣り合わないと気に病んでいて...。ベテラン作家の名作。