Spoilers, beware!
One of my favourite DP books, a mean hero that redeems himself at the end. DP’s heroes are usually mean and many times it just does not make any sense. Yes, I wanted to slap him a few times, but somehow I could understand the why of his actions. He has a lot of misconceptions about her, believing his favourite cousin. The heroine does suffer a lot, like most of this author’s h usually do.
An older man attracted to a young woman. He feels this would not work because of their age difference and pushes her away, cruelly. A meddling cousin who wants her for himself, spreading lies. Abusive marriage, accidental death of the husband, H hating the h accusing her of causing his cousin’s death. The rich husband leaves her a minimum amount of money in custody of the H, so basically destitute. She has an accident (skydiving!!!) and the H and his sister, h’s best friend, take her in to recover. He is still attracted to her and hating it, but he hates her more for causing his cousin’s death, so he is cruel to her. In the end, h can’t take it anymore and escapes. In the meantime, they discover how abused she was by her husband and how his death really occurred, and when they find out that she is gone, he feels really guilty. He goes looking for her and convinces her to return, and tries to make it better for her. She is distrustful but slowly gains confidence. A relationship starts budding between them, bus he is very insecure because he is so much older, tries to muddy the waters with an OW, and finally escapes on a long business trip. She is heartbroken, and leaves for the city to make a life for herself and finally feels content. He of course misses her and is jealous of her new friend, so he goes after her, discovers she is still a virgin (oh the wonders of an impotent marriage!), which makes him very happy (he is, after all, his author’s hero), and they finally get their HEA.