Taken by the Maverick Millionaire by Anna Cleary (HP 2754)

Reviewed by Janet85 on July 28th, 2008, 1:25am

by Anna Cleary

Format: Print Books

Series: Harlequin Presents

Back Cover:

Overheard…
Cate Summerfield never meant to eavesdrop. Now powerful Tom Russell must stop her from exposing details of an important deal.

Overpowered…
He'll keep Cate very close—seducing the beautiful blonde will be no hardship at all!

And in way over her head!
Cate knows Tom's not just a ruthless billionaire—but can the girl from the wrong side of the tracks ever be more than his convenient mistress?

Spoiler Warning: All my reviews contain spoilers to some degree  

Favourite Scene:

She flashed Tom a provocative glance and swept down her lashes. With a small seductive smile, she thrust a hip forward and sashayed over to him like some voluptuous sex siren. She stood as close as she dared, her body almost touching his.

She heard Olivia’s sharp intake of breath, then the room grew still. Tom Russell seemed to freeze, as if his very nerve fibres had skidded to a halt.

Conscious of the blood pounding in her ears, Cate lifted her hand and lightly speared a tentative finger into the hard abdomen above his belt buckle.

He hardly appeared to breathe.

Pulsingly aware of the raw, masculine chest beneath the fine fabrics, she walked her fingers up his tie, then in mock feminine possession made a pretence of adjusting his shirt collar. She slid a languorous glance up at him through her lashes, then her lungs seized. His grey eyes clashed with hers, alight and blazingly sensual.

Unsmiling, he held her gaze for one breathless, scorching second, then in a swift, slick movement snaked his arms around her.

‘Or this?’ he said.

Before her shocked heart could slot back into its place he pressed his mouth to hers.

Another Fav Scene: (the hero kind of cracks emotionally)

The tough, hardened shell locking in his pain threatened to crack and splinter open. As the kiss broke and he gazed at her he’d never have believed it possible that he, a man, could be composed of so much rawness. He tried to rationalise it, explain it to himself, but his brain felt like a boiling pot of things he was tired of thinking about.

The only thing he could be rock-sure of was that he felt deeply and overwhelmingly affected by Cate Summerfield. He heard himself saying, and he’d never meant it more, ‘I want to make love to you. You’re…of all the women I’ve known, you must be the sweetest…You’re the one…The one I’ve been…I’ll adore you for ever, Cate Summerfield. Do you know that?’

He seized her and pushed her down on the pillow. Her mouth was bruised from kissing, but he needed to kiss her again. There was no way he could stop.
  

My Review: 

The heroine is a reporter who's stuck doing obituaries and wants more.  She does a pithy obit of the hero's father, and then attends the memorial service and overhears some sensitive business info.  The hero needs to keep her from reporting it, and he makes a deal with her to get the excluseive interview later, if she will wait for it to be sealed up first.  He also decides he needs to tie her to him and keep her busy, so he kisses her and pretends a relationship, which quickly becomes real and passionate. 

Whew.  The hero was well-written here.  He had been married to a really good idealistic career woman (wow, a hero chose an intelligent woman as his wife?  This is a rare deviation from the socialites and models in the HP line).  But even with a "good woman" the marriage had flaws: the wife found someone else during a work trip away, cheated, and couldn't look her husband in the eye.  I felt I could see this couple.  Then suddenly she died before they could decide if they would divorce.  Two years have passed, and the hero still sees his dead wife as his ideal woman, he's blinded himself to her infidelity and only let himself focus on the good things about her.  He was a forgiving man too, he wanted to trust in her fidelity, he wanted to believe that she just slipped up and wouldn't do it again, that their marriage could have survived.  During those two years, he hasn't slept with anyone else, until he meets the heroine and feels this intense passion for her.  He says some things to her in bed that are just so endearing.  He's very loveable. 

One slight thing: I would have liked the heroine to be the one to say "I love you" first.  I thought the hero was more vulnerable than her and it would have been good for the heroine to make herself vulnerable and give him unconditional love.  

My Rating: 4/5 stars, very good...  my fav thing about this book was the HERO, it has a wonderful hero.  The hero was very unique.