Gabrielle Clayton, the daughter of Southern Senator Clayton used to have a successful career on Walstreet as a "golden girl" (I read this in French and that's the word they used) but then she got downsized. Down on her luck and not able to find a new job - but not willing to ask her parents (who opposed her career choice and wanted her to be a society wife instead) for help - Gaby needs a cheap apartment to downsize her life too and it seems like the apartment Paul Reed is renovating is perfect...except for the old school clawfoot bathtub in the middle of the kitchen and the fact that she'd have to share the apartment with Paul. Gaby has never spent the night with a guy before - not even her ex-fiance - but she's in dire straits financially aparently and so she accepts.
Although Gaby immediately is attracted to Paul, she reminds him of the rich society woman who rejected his marraige proposal and so he's wary of getting involved. As Gaby begins a new life as an interior decorator she finds that loving Paul may be her first priority, but will her family and his friends ever accept them as a couple?
I wasn't a fan of this book - and in particular, not a fan of Gaby. I kinda find her hard to believe - she's got this strong financial career which she fought for years to pursue but it seems like all it takes is one word from Paul to have her doubting that's what she really wants to do (b/c obviously if it was she would have got a new job already... um, right). Also, Paul's another one of these only in romanceland guys who "discovers" the heroine's virginity when they hook up and thinks what a huge "gift" it is... although I do like that the book acknowledges that "for a woman who was completely sexually inexperienced just 24 hours ago, she was extremely gifted" (my rough translation back into English). I guess the one thing I really liked was the way Gaby defends Paul's working-middle class background to her snobbish parents, although even that would've been better if she said something before things degraded to the point that Paul walked out on their dinner.
