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He wanted passion, not commitment!
Lydia's new boss was a powerfully charismatic man. But Lydia dared not surrender to the dangerously sweet attraction she felt toward Wolf Strade.... He might be icy cool on the outside, but he was all fire and passion underneath—just a little too hot to handle!
And Wolf made it clear that love and marriage didn't feature on his agenda, whereas Lydia had her tiny daughter, Hannah, to think of. But still she couldn't get Wolf out of her mind. Should she try and melt the icy barrier around Wolf's heart...and, if so, how?
Lydia's new boss was a powerfully charismatic man. But Lydia dared not surrender to the dangerously sweet attraction she felt toward Wolf Strade.... He might be icy cool on the outside, but he was all fire and passion underneath—just a little too hot to handle!
And Wolf made it clear that love and marriage didn't feature on his agenda, whereas Lydia had her tiny daughter, Hannah, to think of. But still she couldn't get Wolf out of her mind. Should she try and melt the icy barrier around Wolf's heart...and, if so, how?
Mass Market Paperback
First published June 9, 1995
15 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Helen Brooks
404 books119 followersRita Bradshaw was born on 1949 in Northampton, England, where she was educated as a good Christian. She met Clive, her husband, at the age of 16 andnow the magic is still there. They have three lovely children, Cara, Faye, and Benjamin, and have always had a menagerie of animals in the house, which at the present is confined to two endearing and very comical dogs who would make a great double act on TV! The children, friends, and pets all keep the house buzzing and the food cupboards empty but Helen wouldn't have it any other way. She still lives today in Northampton with her family. Although having enjoyed some wonderful holidays abroad she has never been tempted to live anywhere else, although she rather likes the idea of a holiday home close to the sea one day.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
Being a committed Christian and fervent animal lover she finds spare time is always at a premium, but long walks in the countryside with her husband and dogs, meals out followed by the cinema or theatre, reading, swimming, and having friends over for dinner are all fitted in somehow. She also enjoys sitting in her wonderfully therapeutic, rambling old garden in the sun with a glass of red wine, (under the guise of resting while thinking of course!)
For years, she was a secretary. She began writing in 1990 as she approached that milestone of a birthday 40! She realized her two teenage ambitions (writing a novel and learning to drive) had been lost amid babies and hectic family life, so set about resurrecting them.
Her first novel was for Mills and Boon and was accepted after one rewrite in 1992 as Helen Brooks, and she passed her driving test (the former was a joy and the latter an unmitigated nightmare!) She has written 50 novels as well as several sagas as Rita Bradshaw.
Since becoming a full-time writer she has found her occupation one of pure joy and often surprised when her characters develop a mind of their own but she loves exploring what makes people tick and finds the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction" to be absolutely true. She would love to hear from any readers care of Mills & Boon.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 1, 2016
On a re-read, this just did not stand up to 5 stars.
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I always enjoy reading a romance by Helen Brooks. I love the way she weaves her stories together. The chemistry she builds between the hero and heroine. But what really differentiates her from other authors, is that she writes heroines that are not only amazing and lovable, but that have absolute CLASS . It's a wonderful trademark, and makes me believe that Ms Brooks, herself, must be one classy lady.
I highly recommend this book.
_______________________________
I always enjoy reading a romance by Helen Brooks. I love the way she weaves her stories together. The chemistry she builds between the hero and heroine. But what really differentiates her from other authors, is that she writes heroines that are not only amazing and lovable, but that have absolute CLASS . It's a wonderful trademark, and makes me believe that Ms Brooks, herself, must be one classy lady.
I highly recommend this book.
July 20, 2016
Our heroine Lydia is a widow raising a young daughter on her own and in order to win the job as temporary secretary she doesn't correct her new employer when he assumes her husband is alive and well. When her daughter Hannah answers the home phone and tells him her Mommy has had an accident he comes running. Wolf questions Lydia and she agrees with him when he further assumes that she is separated from her husband. This dynamic of a husband in the works keeps Wolf at arms length but he battles his attraction for Lydia. And Lydia learns some truths about the passion that was missing with Mathew and that she is afraid of with Wolf. She does however make it clear to Wolf that giving in to their passion won't mean anything without love. This is a quick and emotionaly intense read. I loved the epilogue!
November 12, 2017
"Fire Beneath the Ice" is the story of Wolf and Lydia.
A sweet story about misconceptions due to lies between two widowers, Wolf hires Lydia as his secretary because she's married and won't come on to him.
The heroine lies regarding her husband, then misconstrues a lot of things about Wolf while he's initially mean but always caring- burdened by his past.
Everything is eventually resolved in the end- but my favorite part was OTT adorable epilogue, which made this worth the read.
Safe
3/5
A sweet story about misconceptions due to lies between two widowers, Wolf hires Lydia as his secretary because she's married and won't come on to him.
The heroine lies regarding her husband, then misconstrues a lot of things about Wolf while he's initially mean but always caring- burdened by his past.
Everything is eventually resolved in the end- but my favorite part was OTT adorable epilogue, which made this worth the read.
Safe
3/5
April 5, 2017
Available on Open Library.
I thought at first this was a re-read, but apparently not. Helen Brooks writes a lot of similar tropes that it's so interchangeable.
Anyway, this was an ok read, beautiful widowed secretary goes to work for handsome playboy boss, who dislikes being the object of affection of his female employees, so is naturally wary.
There is an uncontrollable attraction between them and you can see the Hero trying to fight it off. The h has an adorable daughter that melts hearts, including the Hero's, of course. There is a bit of misunderstanding since the H believes the heroine to be married instead of widowed, but all is resolved in the end.
There is a satisfying epilogue that shows the couple several years and many kids later. Very cute.
I thought at first this was a re-read, but apparently not. Helen Brooks writes a lot of similar tropes that it's so interchangeable.
Anyway, this was an ok read, beautiful widowed secretary goes to work for handsome playboy boss, who dislikes being the object of affection of his female employees, so is naturally wary.
There is an uncontrollable attraction between them and you can see the Hero trying to fight it off. The h has an adorable daughter that melts hearts, including the Hero's, of course. There is a bit of misunderstanding since the H believes the heroine to be married instead of widowed, but all is resolved in the end.
There is a satisfying epilogue that shows the couple several years and many kids later. Very cute.
October 28, 2016
I adored the younger sister.
Read
June 12, 2017ماريغولد فلاور او ما يعني الزهرة هو اسم غريب اطلقته والدة الفتاة على ابنتها ، و هي تعتبره اسم سيئ الحظ ، تتعثر في طريقها بجراح الأعصاب فلين مورو الذي يتعمد استفزازها ، فترفض كل تعامل معه لأنها تحاول التعافي من صدمتها بخيانة خطيبها السابق .
أحببت وصف الكوخ النائي و أتمنى أن أعثر على مكان شبيه فيه .
أحببت وصف الكوخ النائي و أتمنى أن أعثر على مكان شبيه فيه .
November 29, 2022
Lydia worked as a temporary secretary through an agency. She was a widow with a three years old adorable daughter to support and take care of. She was in desperate need of money to handle her bills and house mortgage, not to mention the new decoration for daughter's room. Therefore, when she landed the position of a secretary in Strade Engineering company to Wolf Strade himself, she was willing to do anything! Wolf was not charming nor flexible and wanted a full time secretary so she lied about her marital statues. She told him she was married! It backfired at her, though, when she became attracted to him!
to be honest, I liked the beginning and the ending of the story more than the middle. I think the middle needs to be modified in such a way that doesn't make both these two characters fall in love immediately. A man who lost his wife and only child and a woman who lost a beloved childhood friend-husband would never in reality fall in love as quickly as presented in the novel. Just an opinion. :)
to be honest, I liked the beginning and the ending of the story more than the middle. I think the middle needs to be modified in such a way that doesn't make both these two characters fall in love immediately. A man who lost his wife and only child and a woman who lost a beloved childhood friend-husband would never in reality fall in love as quickly as presented in the novel. Just an opinion. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2025
Before I start: For some reason this one got me in the feels a little bit more than I was expecting, so this is more of a straight review/summary than usual for me. Not lots of jokes.
First, the premise/main conflict of this book is why there are anti-discrimination laws for workplaces! At no point was it any of the hero's business whether his secretary was married, divorced, widowed, or single. It was entirely within her rights not to clarify her marital situation, and she never outright said she was married- just didn't contradict his assumption. Now, once their relationship started getting more complicatedly personal, sure. And it did, so she was definitely at fault on a personal level for not pushing through and telling him near the end, but it wasn't a huge big betrayal/deception, at least not for long.
The reason for the allowed deception is because the H wanted a middle-aged unattractive married woman with long skirts and gray hair for a secretary, not a "blonde bimbo", and by the end of their unfortunate first interview/encounter, she went from wanting the job, to being infuriated at his chauvinism and NOT wanting the job, to talking herself back into wanting the job again because the salary was so good she could redecorate her daughter's room. Or that's what she was telling herself.
Anyway. The h is a widow of 3 years with a 3-year old daughter. She's not in terrible straits, but takes on temp jobs to keep things going for her and her kiddo.
The H is the wealthy owner of some engineering company who hires her against his own stated standards because she calls him out on his hypocrisy.
They are both drawn to each other, partly due to having WAY more in common than their surface situations would indicate, but they also each have some serious issues that are keeping them from even wanting to have a relationship- the h's are pretty obvious, but the H's very legitimate and heart-breaking secrets are not revealed till much later. And of course there are a few random wannabe OWs and phantom OM and OWs and jealous interlopers and business shenanigans that are conspiring (not together) to keep them apart as well.
Anyway, the H was really pissing me off with his constant up/down, cold/hot, passionate/distant nonsense, up until the end where he melted entirely, and he had just a heartbreakingly good reason for his issues.
Before that, he said horribly hateful, unforgivable things to the h when he discovered she'd been single/widowed and "lying" to him the entire time, due in part to above good reasons which made him more sensitive than most to lying.
However, instead of leaving the country for months or weeks and building up his grudge, he actually spent a night and part of a day taking a step back and analyzing himself, and ; he went back to repair fences almost immediately. Took a little doing, but it's hard to resist a grown man weeping honest, sincere tears and breaking down in front of ya, and when you already love them... yeah. They HEA'd, but it was convincing and satisfying, in my humble opinion.
First, the premise/main conflict of this book is why there are anti-discrimination laws for workplaces! At no point was it any of the hero's business whether his secretary was married, divorced, widowed, or single. It was entirely within her rights not to clarify her marital situation, and she never outright said she was married- just didn't contradict his assumption. Now, once their relationship started getting more complicatedly personal, sure. And it did, so she was definitely at fault on a personal level for not pushing through and telling him near the end, but it wasn't a huge big betrayal/deception, at least not for long.
The reason for the allowed deception is because the H wanted a middle-aged unattractive married woman with long skirts and gray hair for a secretary, not a "blonde bimbo", and by the end of their unfortunate first interview/encounter, she went from wanting the job, to being infuriated at his chauvinism and NOT wanting the job, to talking herself back into wanting the job again because the salary was so good she could redecorate her daughter's room. Or that's what she was telling herself.
Anyway. The h is a widow of 3 years with a 3-year old daughter. She's not in terrible straits, but takes on temp jobs to keep things going for her and her kiddo.
The H is the wealthy owner of some engineering company who hires her against his own stated standards because she calls him out on his hypocrisy.
They are both drawn to each other, partly due to having WAY more in common than their surface situations would indicate, but they also each have some serious issues that are keeping them from even wanting to have a relationship- the h's are pretty obvious, but the H's very legitimate and heart-breaking secrets are not revealed till much later. And of course there are a few random wannabe OWs and phantom OM and OWs and jealous interlopers and business shenanigans that are conspiring (not together) to keep them apart as well.
Anyway, the H was really pissing me off with his constant up/down, cold/hot, passionate/distant nonsense, up until the end where he melted entirely, and he had just a heartbreakingly good reason for his issues.
Before that, he said horribly hateful, unforgivable things to the h when he discovered she'd been single/widowed and "lying" to him the entire time, due in part to above good reasons which made him more sensitive than most to lying.
However, instead of leaving the country for months or weeks and building up his grudge, he actually spent a night and part of a day taking a step back and analyzing himself, and ; he went back to repair fences almost immediately. Took a little doing, but it's hard to resist a grown man weeping honest, sincere tears and breaking down in front of ya, and when you already love them... yeah. They HEA'd, but it was convincing and satisfying, in my humble opinion.
May 17, 2021
This is possibly a 5 for me. I lost a lot of sleep over this book, because I didn’t want to stop reading. I just felt the tension stayed pretty high for most of the book.
The 27 year old widowed heroine was raising her 3 year old daughter and was waiting to get interviewed by the hero for a much needed job.
The single, very wealthy hero 37 needed to temporarily replace his pregnant secretary. Unfortunately the previous placements were more interested in the hero as a prospective lover.
The h overhears the Hero talking to the employee arranging the interviews and makes it clear about the qualifications he expects from the next applicant. The h is appalled and decides she doesn’t want to work for a cold ego maniac. She barges into the office tells him she is withdrawing her application and good-bye....
The hero being knocked out by her boldness is like wait a minute...he tests her typing skills and when she tells him her name is Mrs. not Miss she gets the job. He figures he will be safe if she is married...she allows him to believe she is married and herein lies most of the drama and angst in the story.
I don’t want to ruin too much of the plot, so I will just say a few more things.
The h loved her first husband, however it was a love born from familiarity. They grew up together, and just kind of fell into a marriage. She states more than once that they made love infrequently and that the sex was tender, and sweet.(meaning nobody was rocking anyone’s world, but neither knew differently) The mild sex probably prolonged the husbands life as he died of an undetected heart issue. The h starts to understand desire whenever the Hero is around...but she keeps it in check because she is not going to be just a fling.
The hero is shaped by things that have happened in his past. The h’s little lie almost destroys their relationship prospects.
The lie that she is married stays in place for most of the story. It is irritating at times, and I’m like tell him!!! BUT it is what keeps the tension between these two going(plus some assumed ow’s are thrown in the mix)
Finally, there is an epilogue. I am a sucker for a good epilogue. This epilogue takes place 10 years in the future. It is evident that the h and H continue to share a deep, passionate love for each other. They are each others one true love!
November 4, 2024
حتى الشخص الذي اعتدت أن أكونه لم يكن ليعجب بها
روايات أحلام وعبير تشرحان لك القصة وتكتب وكأنهما توطئة للفصل اللاحق بينما أنا دوماً أريد التتمة هذا بصرف النظر عن النهايات السعيدة البلهاء ، روايات الجيب بهكذا تناول لن تخرج منه إطلاقاً .
روايات أحلام وعبير تشرحان لك القصة وتكتب وكأنهما توطئة للفصل اللاحق بينما أنا دوماً أريد التتمة هذا بصرف النظر عن النهايات السعيدة البلهاء ، روايات الجيب بهكذا تناول لن تخرج منه إطلاقاً .
September 27, 2021
It's a wonderful story but I wanted him to offer to marry her, not her.
February 26, 2013
2.5 stars. Would have gotten 3 if it wasn't for the deception. I hate it when the character(s) lie to each other.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews