Another night shift and another Penny Jordan novel... This one was brilliant - it made me laugh a lot.
It commences with Alice, an English Nanny applying for a post with an Italian Count to look after a 6 month old baby. From the very beginning, Alice proceeds to make a series of bad decisions which will ultimately - it being a Mills and Boon - end up with her having twins (but she's only got herself to blame). The first bad decision is that for some strange reason she takes her wayward cousin along to the job interview with her. Said wayward cousin then steals her prospective employer's car and wrecks it, leading to a very awkward moment at the job interview indeed. Despite being late for the interview (and aiding and abetting the theft of his car just prior to the interview) she somehow gets the job.
She is then asked to sign a contract binding her in the post for five years (who in their right mind willingly signs such a document? I'm lucky if I last two years at most in any job, but then maybe that's because I spend most of my shifts reading Penny Jordan romances...) However, Alice dashes into bad decision number two and signs it. Literally seconds after signing it, Marco (new boss)is "reaching for her, imprisoning her upper arms within the firm grip of his lean fingers as he turned her in towards his own body." Yes, he starts as he means to go on, with a bit of good old-fashioned sexual harrassment in the work-place, leaving poor Alice to gaze longingly at the legally binding document she has just signed, her fingers itching to tear it up.
Finally, in order to retain his hold on the baby who is his ward, Marco decides he needs a wife; and only Alice will do. (Incidentally this will also mean he no longer has to pay her for looking after the baby). No-one in their right mind would agree to that, correct? Wrong. Alice quite happily goes along with the arrangement, leading to all kinds of nookie, and, ultimately, twins. With all of the above in view, I do think that the most revealing line in the entire book might be: "That heatstroke must have been far more potent than she had realised!" I should say.
All of the above aside, this is a very, very entertaining book. The characters are well-rounded, with Marco being a tad better than the usual brooding remote M&B hero. He realises quite early on he's in love with Alice and the romance positively sizzles off the page. Nobody does a sex scene quite like Penny Jordan but there are some very sensual moments indeed in this romance; I was getting quite flustered in the call centre as I reached the end of this book.
Final criticism: just where do Mills & Boon find their cover illustrators? The cover for this one features a woman who looks like she can't stop laughing, while being kissed by a man who looks like Dean Gaffney.