Jolian Michaels is a single woman in Boston making her living as a jewelry designer and volunteering part time at a Reachout Hotline for runaways. Only she gets personnaly involved when Jem McKay phones sounding far more well-educated than the typical runaway, and asks her to pass on a message to his father...She does and in so doing gets caught up in the persona of Fletch McKay. Fletch first accuses her of kidnapping and then traces her call, showing up at the Crisis Centre and tagging along to help her rescue another runaway from her would-be pimp. The night grows late and she lets Fletch crash on her couch and thus begins his campaign to seduce her while trying to find his son. She's holding out for love and her integrity will not let her turn over Jem to his father, even when they meet in person, etc. Fletch is burning himself out flying back and forth from Boston to Chicago (he's a millionaire from a cheap, pine furniture distribution business) until one day Jolian gives in and sleeps with him, forgetting that she set up a brunch date with Jem at her apartment for the following day. Fletch catches Jem on the doorstep and Jem cries out that he can't come back as he's learned that Fletch isn't his real father, and the healing starts as Fletch has known this since his divorce and loves the boy as his own. Some time passes and he comes back for Jolian as he loves her too and can now accept her love - and be a furniture artisan as he trained for when he was young.
Plotwise, this book was quite interesting - I liked the characters, the situations, etc. But the language was at times a bit off-putting. Not the British writing (which the writing style is consistently with the HP line even though this book is set in the US as noted above...and for example Jolian's friend at the Hotline is dating a rugby player), but the way Fletch spoke -- for example "'You silky!' he exulted in her ear as she leaned back against him." All in all reading this book made for a pleasant morning, but it was nothing outstanding.
