THE TIES THAT BIND THE MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE

By Carol J. Stephenson
copyright 1999 by Carol J. Stephenson

During the hot, sultry nights of ancient Persia, one woman sought to end the reign of terror by a cuckolded sultan who forcefully married and killed a new bride every night to prevent infidelity.  Scheherazade stepped forward, allowed herself to be married to the sultan, and then forestalled her death by spinning endless tales that continued over a thousand nights. Finally, her husband in admiration of her courage revoked his vow to kill women.

In today's contemporary category, women with courage in their hearts and their dreams for romance on hold step forward into marriages of convenience over and over again for a devoted readership.  What is the appeal?  According to Kate Ryan's Romantic Times Theme Spotlight column (March, 1996), the attraction lies in the inherent conflict between the protagonists.  A "business" relationship is turned inside out to become one of love.

For this theme, there has to be a darned good reason for the hero and heroine to marry.  The MOTIVATION has to be compelling to be believable in today's society.  To protect a child, to save a family business.  To secure a business opportunity, to comply with the terms of a will.  Money and family are both powerful motivators.  

For example, in Linda Varner's Make-Believe Husband (Silhouette Romance), both protagonists need money;  hero to start his own business so he can adopt his nephew, heroine to start her own business for security for her daughter and herself.  Consequently, they enter into a marriage of convenience to land a job with an eccentric rich man.  In Robin Wells's Nine-To-Five Bride (Silhouette Romance), hero needs to be married in order to secure a hotel deal.  Heroine, his secretary, agrees because she's fallen for him and wants to help him.  In Eileen Wilks's Just A Little Bit Married? (Silhouette Desire), heroine is a key witness in a criminal case and needs twenty-four hour protection.  Enter hero hired as a bodyguard who poses as her newly wed husband.

A comic premise with oodles of misunderstanding may dictate a lighter MOTIVATION.  A phony dating arrangement to throw off matchmaking relatives turns into a fake engagement in Krista Thoren's The Accidental Fiancé (Silhouette Yours Truly).  Carolyn Zane's heroine in The Rich Gal's Rented Groom (Silhouette Romance) desperately needs a groom for her high school reunion when her tongue-in-cheek response to the school's survey is returned instead of being tossed.
Since the marriage is counterfeit, as friends, relatives and business associates clap the "happy" couple on the shoulder and wish them congratulation, what happens?  The protagonists feel GUILT, plenty of it.  Naturally, MISSED OPPORTUNITIES to tell the truth abound in the early part of the story.

But also in abundance is PHYSICAL ATTRACTION: from the kiss after they are pronounced husband and wife to the sham displays of affection in public, such as holding hands.  The fireworks of desire are as bright as the Fourth of July.  
A marriage of convenience has built in TOUCHING along with rubber stamp societal approval of a MARRIAGE BED.  The reader anticipates the consummation scene, which may come early or late, depending on the AVOIDED OPPORTUNITIES by one of the protagonists.  The heroine may skirt the danger of intimacy because she fears the emotional commitment a sexual relationship will entail for her.  Or she feels GUILTY because their deal didn't include the bedroom, and she shouldn't be tempting the hero.  The hero may hesitate because he'd be a cad for taking advantage of the situation (GUILT).  Or, he may rationalize sex for a woman means emotional ties, and that would interfere with their deal.

Along the way, physical need turns to a tender, giving need: to caring, sharing, trusting, and finally loving.  Emotional ties begin to entwine the hero and heroine, but not always harmoniously.  Like Giuseppe Momo's staircase in the Vatican, the hero's emotional spiral may be descending while the heroine's is ascending, or vice versa, leading to loads of CONFLICT.  In order to bind the heroine to him, the hero may seduce her only to feel GUILTY because he has betrayed the heroine's TRUST so he retreats.  The couple's GUILT over their community deception fades as both of the protagonists want the marriage to become REAL.  

MISCOMMUNICATION breeds more conflict and leads to a different type of GUILT.  After all, what one is contemplating is changing the terms of the deal.  Of course, unknown to the protagonist is the other feels the same.  Just when one is prepared to express his/her deeper emotions, the other, panicking over her/his own feelings, blurts out something along the lines of how lucky they are the arrangement is only temporary or not real.  Translation: MISSED OPPORTUNITY to express love leads to deepening CONFLICT.  

The black moment, generated by the plot but usually one of broken trust, is thrust upon the hero and heroine, who are faced with either the risk of losing or the actual loss of each other.  In that moment they realize the truth:  they love each other and somehow they must find a way to mend the broken TRUST.  

Closing act has the hero and heroine in a consummated marriage of love.  Sometimes, as the curtain drops, the happy couple repeats the marriage vows as a sign of their commitment.  

The End.  Until your next marriage of convenience book transports a relationship begun under necessity into one of pure magic.