Tessa Radley

"No cats.  No kids.  No press.  No diamond rings." Jessica Cotter is Ryan Blackstone's secret mistress for 2 years.  Ryan does not acknowledge their relationship in public.  When Jessica finds she is pregnant, she knows she knows she needs to end it with Ryan.  And then his father dies.

PRIDE & A PREGNANCY SECRET by Tessa Radley, Silh Desire, Feb. 08.

     I really enjoy Tessa Radley's writing a lot and finding this book was nigh impossible... or at least I thought it was.  This was a loaner, but I've since ordered my own copy from eHarlequin... gotta love a place like this.
     When I first started reading this story I thought that I knew how it was going to proceed and wasn't terribly excited.  But I was wrong!  The characters didn't behave as I had thought they would; they were just caricatures but, seemingly, real people with minds of their own... not formulaic at all.  I really shouldn't have been surprised.  The books that I've read by Tessa Radley have been anything but predictable or formulaic.
     I really loved how Jess was able to look past her own expectations and see that Ryan needed her to be there; and Ryan was finally able to take off his blinders and really see that what he feared wasn't going to be.  Both were people that were mature enough to step out of their own comfort zone to be there for someone else ~ and those kind of characters work for me every time.  Excellent read and a wonderful continuation of a series that has really gripped my imagination.  VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

RATING:
Excellence: Excellent to Outstanding ~ 4.5 stars
Steaminess: Sensual

Jessica and Ryan have been lovers in secret but just before his father's fatal accident, Jessica discovered she was pregnant. She knows Ryan doesn't want kids or a wife so she's determined to leave him. But Ryan realised when he thought Jessica was on the doomed flight that he can't live without her, so will he let her go when she tries to leave?

Second in the series Ryan is determined never to marry or have children but his secret mistress has a bombshell for him!

Pride & a Pregnancy Secret by Tessa Radley ~ Silhouette Desire ~ February 2008 ~ #1849
Ratings:
Excellence: Very Good
Steaminess Factor: Sensual

Back Cover:

The royal wife

After five years Jayne could finally release herself from Sheikh Tariq bin Rashid, the desert prince of Zayed…and her husband. He'd courted her, captivated her, but he'd never truly trusted her. And treacherous palace lies had sent Jayne running.

Now the time for hiding was over—she was back to demand a divorce. And Tariq was willing to comply. If Jayne would pretend to be his happily wedded bride for a few weeks longer. But with passion still burning so intensely between them, would Jayne truly ever be free?

Favourite Scene: (mmm, I love that he won't let her go)

He’d fought the red, red rage for calm.
And in that instant he’d known that he was going to make this divorce as difficult as he could.

Jayne wants to divorce Tariq but he refuses to grant the divorce unless she comes to Zayed and pretends to be reconciled so that his father can die in peace. Jayne hates Tariq's father because he lied about her and was the reason she and Tariq broke up. Tariq still believes she got pregnant by another man and Jayne is tired of trying to convince him of her innocence.

Gemma is back and Angelo is furious because she cheated on him when she left him but Gemma announces she can't remember their affair. In fact it was her twin who stole her identity before dying a drug addict and Gemma thinks Angelo was responsible but she can't resist the attraction between them. Will she succumb to Angelo's charms, only to get thrown out of his life when he finds out the truth?

I just love the whole tortured hero thing. For Ryan was tortured because he wanted Jessica with him but was afraid that he would be looked at like his father so he pushed her away or did his best to try and push her away. The same thing for Jessica whose mother had a startling secret one that could have potentially driven Ryan away.