The Rugged Lover by Bronwyn Jameson (SD 1666)

Back Cover:

She made the bold proposition to get under his skin. And by Tomas Carlisle's reaction, Angelina Mori succeeded. Angie knew that tragedy had turned her friend hard and remote...like the Australian outback he loved. Still, she was scandalized that after confessing her secret fantasies about him, after offering to bear the Carlisle heir his father's will demanded in one year's time, he'd dared to suggest they make a baby...without sharing his bed. Well, she'd wanted Tomas to imagine a better way.

The way nature intended.

Because being so intimate with Tomas might not simply save his family's fortune...but the man himself.
 

My Review:

I was warned that the hero in this book was a little "cold", but personally I didn't think he was cold at all, he was just reserved and a loner.  He had deep feelings and he was emotional, he just hid it.  The deal they had was to make a baby, and it could have been really cold and clinical, but the hero was intent on the baby making being good for Angelina.  I liked that this book was about two friends becoming lovers, that's a favourite plot line of mine. 

However: when she was 18, he didn't notice her as a woman and fell in love with her best friend... it made the heroine seem a bit like second-best that he only noticed her seven years later.  I would have liked it better if the hero had realized that his love for his wife Brooke had been immature and a little selfish, and if he'd recognized that the heroine offered him more secure a relationship with friendship and passion.  I needed to see what made Angelina different from Brooke, and why Angelina was the woman who would get the HEA with the hero (I disliked that she got it by default). 

I thought it was very refreshing that the hero couldn't be casual about sex, and that his wife had been his first lover, the heroine his second.  I was a little surprised, but I enjoyed that because it meant the hero was a very loyal man who would make a very committed lover, husband, and father.  The relationship was tender, quiet, with passion and love welling just below the surface. 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars, a nice friends-to-lovers story.