Joy Simms's cousin Casey wins a all expenses paid vacation in London and a dinner date with an actor, but given that Casey is a guy who entered the contest through a women's magazine, he convinces Joy that she should pretend to be him and go in his place (the magazine was his girlfriend's but he doesn't want her on a date with a star!). Danny, the actor, proves to be very egotistical and boring, so when his co-star Marcus Ballantyne shows up, Joy surprises herself by taking up with him instead, for a night of dancing with the beautiful people. Danny doesn't want her to tell Marcus about the contest, so there's a second lie already in play, with Marcus thinking that she and Danny are lovers. And then when Casey shows up the next day, Marcus is further convinced that Joy must be a married woman carrying on with other men!
Frustrated, Joy leaves London, and heads back to her small town, but her taste of the good life in London has made her face some hard truths, such as the fact that she really should quit her job (her boss at the library for the past year has been the man she dated for 4 years but who broke up with her for an older woman!). Anyway, Marcus shows up in said small town, and sees Gerald (the boss) going after her too! Does Joy have a chance of convincing Marcus that she's really an honest woman?
Well this is one of those clichéd Harlequins so yes. Joy can do all that with her magical virginity!, which is "the greatest gift any woman can ever give a man" according to Marcus. Sorry, that really pissed me off - not that this book is unique in using that sort of mentality, but - I mean this was published in 1995 so unless British people are waaaay behind the times (which I don't feel they are) there is some sort of problem here. Apart from that the constant misunderstandings and leaps to conclusions are very frustrating, especially in the earlier half of the book, and I really couldn't understand why Joy wasn't swearing more (or at all), cuz really...In the end, Joy and Marcus do live HEA, with Marcus eliminating Joy's troubles with regard to finding a new job by marrying her so she can have their babies. Yup, just a bit too antiquated for me.
