The Italian's Pregnancy Proposal by Maggie Cox (HP Extra 19)

Back Cover:

When tall, dark, rich and gorgeous Dante di Andrea made love to her, Bliss knew she couldn't keep him in her life. But then he discovered she was pregnant! Dante was furious! No child of his would be brought up in poverty.

However, Bliss wasn't happy when Dante proposed. Surely he needed to marry a woman of his own kind—and do it for love…?

Spoiler Warning: All my reviews contain spoilers to some degree  

Favourite Scene:

‘Where is your bedroom?’ Raising his head, Dante stared down into Bliss’s glazed violet eyes with possessive intent, his need to make her properly his urgent and primitive and driving every other coherent thought far from his mind. Trying to straighten her dishevelled clothing and meeting his avaricious gaze with equal hunger as she moved away from the wall, Bliss didn’t reply—just headed dazedly down the hall to a door right at the end and went inside.

My Review:

They met when his sister collapsed, and the heroine helped her to the hospital and watched over her child for her, both at the hospital and later at her home for a few days.  The H/h were attracted to each other and had sex, then he had to suddenly leave for business out of the country.  When he returns six weeks later, he finds out that she is pregnant.  He demands they marry and raise the child together, she fights it because she had a bad family life, but she gives in under pressure because she can't provide a better life for her child alone. 

The best part of the book is when the heroine is bonding with the hero's niece.  The time they spent together later, while they were engaged at his father's home in Italy, was not very conducive to getting to know each other and falling in love.  I didn't quite see their inner thoughts and outer actions as revealling feelings of deep love.  I think they do fill each other's needs for a family of their own though, and I would have liked to see a little more focus on THAT because it's that need which makes them most vulnerable and in need of each other. 

I would have liked to see the heroine having a career after her babies were born (I felt she needed some purpose in her life, she was searching for purpose before she met the hero) and I would have liked the heroine to see her father one more time and get some closure (her father abandoned her when she was 18, asking her not to contact him, it would have been nice for the hero to track him down for her, I was waiting for that closure). 

My Rating: 3/5 stars, nice relationship between H/h, could have used a bit more sense of love and closure.