Re Two Faced Woman - Roberta Leigh does her favorite h in disguise trope again and wins the 1994 Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for HP's in the process. This time we go to London when the h inherits a large share of her unknown father's publishing company.
The h is looking for a purpose in life and also looking for a connection to her bio dad, who divorced her mother when the h wasn't born a son and then never contacted the h again. For some really strange reason, the man used private detectives to keep an eye on the h instead of just sending a letter or calling, but anyhows he did leave his controlling shares to the h. There is mention that he had intended to split his shares between the h and the man currently running things, but died before he could sign that addendum to his will.
When the book opens, the 24 yr old h is waiting to meet with the H, the publishing company director. She overhears him claiming that if she shows up he will quit straight away and go somewhere else. The H is distinctly NON conciliatory - in fact he calls the h, whom he has never met, an utter spoiled witch. Mainly cause he felt he got done out of his fair share. That is the overriding characteristic of this H tho, he sees no one's side but his own and the only opinion that counts is his.
The h knows the H also needs a new secretary as his old one had to retire after an injury. The h is interested in the publishing firm but she needs to learn how to run it, or at least evaluate who is capable of running it, and she is hoping she and the H can create a shared partnership and run the place together if she has a knack for it. Since she goes by her stepfather's last name and not her bio dad's, she decides to pretend to be a secretary and try for a job with the H.
After some intense fabrications and a reference from her lawyer, who is in on the deception, the h manages to spend a whole lot of money to hire a typist/transcription firm and fake her way through the technical aspects of the job. (It was a very good thing she was already rich.) She learns to use a word processor and she really learns to shadow the H as makes the big decisions. When she causes their biggest author to threaten to take his new book to another publisher, the h flies over to New York on the Concorde to convince him otherwise. (She had to do it, the H fired her after the author blew up and took off, but he rehired her when she brought the new manuscript back.)
Of course the h falls in love with the H while all this is going on and she is having to get more and more elaborate in her efforts to hide who she really is. The H is a wide sampler of the lady buffet too, and the h is told this is because the H was dumped by sister of the h's first OM ,whom she casually dates when she first moves to London, and the H is still very bitter about it. Tho the h sees the woman's car outside the H's house late at night and thinks they might still be carrying on- even tho the woman is married. The H really doesn't like women all that much, he was originally an Oxford Don until he got dumped and moved into publishing, but he does like to appreciate their various bodily assets.
The h meets the OW and sister of her casual date at one of the couple's parties and the OW does her best to warn the h off, for some reason she wants the h to believe that the H is still in love with her. Then an over-amorous married Frenchman tries to put the moves on the h and while she is fending him off, the H offers to take her home. There is an almost seduction on the couch moment, but the h holds the H off, reminding him about not mixing business and pleasure. The H and h start to spend more time together, including a nice dinner that the h imported from an exclusive London restaurant and claimed as her own and the lurve mojo tension is steadily building, even as the h continues to date OM and the H goes with OW.
As these things go, after the h and H go to San Diego for a book conference and the h almost gets exposed multiple times in her little deception, the mojo force becomes overwhelming. They become lovers after the H proposes marriage and unicorns are sad that the h will no longer be consorting with them. Right after the big moment, the H announces he knows who she really is and he is vicious and cruel in his put downs and calling her out. Tart shaming and verbal beratement is the order of the day and as the H quits his job and storms off, naturally there will be no marriage, as he only proposed to get her into bed and then humiliate her.
The h has a mopey moment. But really it was the H's intransigence, his blind judgement of an unknown woman and his inability to tolerate anything out of his own personal world view that got them all into this mess. So when the H refuses the h's offer of partnership, the h thinks she can make a go of the publishing company on her own. She does hire a man who has more knowledge of the financial side of things and a lot of the big time authors leave the h's firm, but she also gets more women's fiction in, expands her book selling empire and has huge chart busting blockbusters that the H was too hide bound to accept.
The h misses the H for a bit too, but she gets really involved in her publishing firm and the H sets up his own publishing house. The h hears that he is still involved with his ex on occasion and she wonders if he is actually the father of the ex's expected child - instead of the woman's husband. The h and H meet up again at another bookseller convention, this time the h takes her advertising exec along with her and the H, after some verbal warfare, asks the h to marry him again.
The h is pretty much done with the H at this point and figures this is just a ploy by the H to get his firm linked back to the H's so he can have access to mid level books that pay the daily expenses, as his firm doesn't have a solid backlist of books yet. He tries to tell her he is sorry and that he loves her and that he could slit his throat for hurting her and the h tells him to go ahead and do it and make the world a better place. Then she claims she is intimately involved with her advertising guy, so the H has to leave when the h throws him out.
Several months go by and then the h is in Spain with some friends when the brakes fail on the car she is driving. There is a big accident and the h ends up in hospital. In a blatant HP author ex machina move, RL has the h's friend call the H for some reason and tell him about the accident. He comes over to the hospital with the h's parents and he lies and claims he is her fiance.
The h won't see him for a while, until her parents and her friends nag her about it a lot and claim the H was just trying to be financially equal with her, then the h relents and there is a big heartfelt mutual HEA. We find out that the H isn't love with ex, he was actually relieved when she dumped him and the h explains that she never slept with anyone but the H. The h and H agree to marry and the two publishing houses will pair up, the h is interested in part time book selection and full time H adoration and motherhood for another RL HPlandia HEA.
This one was okay, the HEA was believable and the h was really tough on taking the H back. Overall not a bad day's work at the HP office, so give this one a go if you don't mind deceptions of identity and want a more humorous jaunt into HPlandia.