Olivia Harris is an excellent interior designer but due to a lack of capital she's stuck doing all the work and getting none of the glory in Pierre's shop. Until her friend Ria arranges to give her a loan from Charles Wright for her birthday. Olivia introduced Charles and Ria in her shop one day and they've been having an affair since, despite Charles being significantly older and married. But Charles's stepson, Edward Archer, sees Olivia and Charles together at the restaurant and leaps to the wrong conclusion, particularly out of jealousy as he had wanted Olivia for himself before he realized "the sort of woman she was". Then Charles dies (after a night with Ria) and Edward comes to tell Olivia her loan has been forgiven in the will...but the press gets a hold of the story and exposes Olivia as Charles' mistress! Despite thinking Olivia to be the sort of woman who has sex for money, Edward can't stay away from her...and he needs her help to find Ria (to buy back the shares in his mother's company that Charles left her) as much as she needs his help to keep her business from going bankrupt due to the negative publicity!
I'm so happy I found this book in a used book exchange last night! I had read it years ago and it stuck with me. I've got to say this is one of my favorite Presents plots (well along with those books where the hero thinks she's sleeping with the older guy but he's really her birthfather or something!). But anyway, this book is quite well done and I really enjoy Olivia as she struggles with her response to Edward. And that Edward falls in love with Olivia even thinking that she was a homewrecker and that he supports her business. Note however that the characters all talk British English despite the book being populated by Americans and set in NYC.
A Woman Accused
Ellysoar, I'm delighted you found and enjoyed this book all over again.
I loved your comment about the characters all talking British English. Yes, they certainly do--because that was how the then-exec director of Presents (actually, HMB in England) insisted American writers had to write, and American characters had to sound. I tried to get her to change her mind by pointing out that my characters would sound like me, and I'm definitely American, but it was a losing fight until a new exec dir (the current one, in fact) came along and absolutely agreed that American characters should speak American English.
It was a HUGE relief!
.
Sandra Marton
http://www.sandramarton.com
HOT CITY NIGHTS, July, Harlequin Anthology 4 stars, RT
THE SHEIKH TYCOONS, a Presents Trilogy, coming in Oct, Nov, and Dec
Britsh English
What an odd policy! I'm glad they changed that one - I've got to admit I kind of always thought whenever this happened that the authors were just British and didn't know how to write American dialog! :)
Oh this sounds like a good
Oh this sounds like a good read. :) I'll keep an eye out for it, I'm always picking up older HPs on eBay.
Sandra Marton... I've read and loved tons of your books. If you see this, here's two of your books I reviewed fairly recently and LOVED.
2525
The Desert Virgin
Sandra Marton
Harlequin Presents
Holy smoking hot, batman! This goes into the keeper pile, simply because it was such an incredibly passionate ride. Yowza! She's been captured by the bad guy, he's a special ops guy investigating the bad guy. The bad guy offers the heroine as a sexual playtoy to the hero. The heroine mocks him, and so the hero decides he's not going to be noble and turn her away to focus on business, instead he's going to have her, get the tension over with, so then he can go and focus on business. The atmosphere between the hero/heroine is so charged and constantly on edge. They are on the run, trying to escape together. After they escape, they get separated. His reaction once he awakes and finds her gone is priceless: the hero is totally whipped and he doesn't realize/admit it yet. His pursuit of her is so single-minded, it's thrilling. Rating: 5/5 stars, this is a keeper!
2652
The Italian Prince's Pregnant Bride
Sandra Marton
Harlequin Presents
Back Cover: It was payday for Prince Nicolo Barbieri. The Italian aristocrat's negotiations to take over Manhattan's SCB bank were about to bear fruit. But he wasn't expecting Aimee Black, granddaughter of the bank's current owner-- who was pregnant with Nicolo's baby! Nicolo felt duty bound to marry Aimee and give his child his name. But Aimee had other ideas about surrendering herself to this arrogant foreigner, who surely didn't love her! Favourite Scene: "Of course," Nicolo had said calmly but when he hung up, he'd pumped his fist in victory. Another Fav Scene: "Life," Lucas would say solemnly, "is short." "And Marriage," Damian would add even more solemnly, "is forever." The last part of the toast was left to Nicolo. "And freedom," he'd say dramatically, "freedom, gentlemen, is everything!" My Review: Hot diggity. The best way to describe this book is as a hell of a passionate chase. The hero and heroine meet accidentally over and over again… and each time they set eyes on each other, passionate awareness just flares and they set each other off like bombs and clash then fling themselves straight into a whirlwind of passion. Um... yum! It wasn't a slow and carefully built love, it was a mad rush, which was yummy. I thought it was different and fun. Some people might have a problem with the fact that the hero/heroine had anonymous sex, without names, and in a public place the first time. Obviously given the title, the heroine ends up pregnant and his bride. Great reveal about the pregnancy, nice shock value, and the hero arrives soon after she finds out and he's ready for another confrontation. I loved that soon after they were married for convenience, he took pride in introducing her as his pregnant wife, he seemed very pleased with it and not upset that he'd been dumb and knocked the wrong woman up, he was happy she'd be the mother of the sons he wanted. Great read, quite a ride! Rating: 4/5 stars, whew, this is a passionate ride!