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Landon's Legacy #1
An Indecent Proposal
Harlequin Presents offers you another chance to enjoy this bestselling novel from Sandra Marton.
The boss’s marriage demand!
When Cade Landon planned to return his late father’s oil company to its former glory he expected a challenge—but not in the form of feisty manager Angelica Gordon. She’s different from any other woman he’s met, and Cade doesn’t know whether to sack her or seduce her!
Seduction might be the only option when Angelica reveals that a deal between their fathers has given her a stake in the business. Shrewd negotiator Cade sees an opportunity to ensure Angelica’s compliance and satisfy the chemistry bubbling between them—by making her his convenient wife!
Book 1 in the Landon’s Legacy quartet
Originally published in 1995.
The boss’s marriage demand!
When Cade Landon planned to return his late father’s oil company to its former glory he expected a challenge—but not in the form of feisty manager Angelica Gordon. She’s different from any other woman he’s met, and Cade doesn’t know whether to sack her or seduce her!
Seduction might be the only option when Angelica reveals that a deal between their fathers has given her a stake in the business. Shrewd negotiator Cade sees an opportunity to ensure Angelica’s compliance and satisfy the chemistry bubbling between them—by making her his convenient wife!
Book 1 in the Landon’s Legacy quartet
Originally published in 1995.
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1995
14 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Marton
582 books542 followersI've been a writer, one way or another, all my life. Before I could read, I made up poems and my mom wrote them down for me. In elementary school, my teachers almost always let me write poems or stories instead of requiring me to do art projects. Always, I dreamed of becoming a published writer...and that dream came true! I write novels about sexy, powerful men and independent-minded women, and what happens when they find each other and fall in love. My books are sexy and romantic, and they've very often full of romantic suspense. I write the kinds of books I love to read, and I hope that makes my readers happy.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 21, 2018
Re An Indecent Proposal - This is more like a Sandra Marton 2.5 star effort, but she uses a really fascinating hook at the beginning of this story, one that is only rarely used in HPlandia, so I rounded up.
This one starts with the H in the Middle East drilling for oil for a Sultan. He strikes it big and the Sultan sends him a dancing girl as a reward. The H is pretty sure the dancing girl is there to do WHATEVER he requires in the way of celebration, but he thinks to himself that he isn't the kind of man who sleeps with a woman who is paid for her favors.
Then the dancing girl lets him know that she wanted to be there, she switched places with the original dancing girl hired for the H, so that puts a new spin on the situation. The H is leaning in and maybe ready to partake of celebration festivities when the Sultan himself interrupts, the H's big time conglomerate owning father has died and the H has to go home.
We learn that the H left his father's house at 21 to strike it rich on his own in the oil business after his father tried to force him into the family firm and got the H's beloved girlfriend to dump him with the promise of a big promotion.
Turns out he and his two brothers fiercely resented their father's attempts to control their lives and they all eventually made their own ways in the world, leaving their baby sister to suffer the full effect of their father's attempts at bullying.
The father left the huge conglomerate he owned to the three brothers and the house and a pile of money to the H's sister. None of them want what their father left them, the brothers want to sell off the conglomerate and the sister wants to do her own thing.
Thus we get a four book SM mini series, : Landon's Legacy, which will detail each of the siblings lives after the death of their father.
This H is pretty chauvinistic, but he is also a world class wildcatter/oilman and so he gets selected to go fix the recent Landon acquisition of a failing oil company that is currently being run by a neophyte executive and being run very badly.
(The brother's need to boost several failing companies owned by the conglomerate so that they can get a decent selling price when they put it up for sale.)
Our h is the neophyte executive and a former girl's school teacher. She always wanted to work in her father's oil business and has two Ivy League degrees, one in business management, to do it. Her problems are twofold. First her father sold his business to Landon's before he died and two, she has no clue how oilfield management works.
The men don't respect her and they don't appreciate the Team Management and Psychological approach to roughneck management. These men try their best to be verbally respectful, but it is clear that they don't respect the h's authority and they won't do what she says.
Enter the H, who is the biggest sexist chauvinist since the heyday of the 1980's. He is patronizingly bullying to both his sister and the h and the h is all about the woman power revolution. So we get a lot back and forth arguing over women's rights and patronizing males and even the H's older brother warns that there are sexual harassment laws in the US, so the H needs to watch his step.
That doesn't stop the H from ending every argument with the h in a roofie kissing session, nor does it stop the h from feeling the effects of the HP Lurve Force Mojo and having to fight her Treacherous Body Syndrome when the roofie kissing occurs.
However the h has made a huge error in her quest to prove herself corporate management material. She lied and told the H that there was a verbal agreement between her father and his that she could run the company for as long as she wanted.
Again the H's brother warns that courts have found verbal agreements to be binding, so it will be up to the H's smooth talking charm skills to sort this out. Unfortunately the H doesn't have any, so we get more of the big contest of wills between the two of them.
The H does come through magnificently when the inappropriately dressed h goes out with him to the oil rigs and she gets stung by a scorpion. The H manages to get her to medical care in record time.
Then he blows it when his patronizing bullying manages to insult the hospital's Chief of Toxicology, who is a female physician.
The h, who is beyond frustrated that the H won't let her speak for herself, is in too bad of shape to really defend herself. More wars of words are had when the H has to spend the night at her house to help her care for herself, because she really can't use her arm and is very weak from the aftereffects of the scorpion toxin.
The H wants to hire a nurse and get the h some help as she is really having a hard time managing on her own. The h is stubborn tho and she refuses, so the H tells her she has to move in with him or forfeit her position at the oil company and he will put someone else in place to run things.
The h realizes that her lies are shaky enough that if the H gets someone else in to run things, she will never be able to prove herself. So she moves in with the H at his hotel and seduction soon follows.
Unicorns are banished, but the H has no clue and the h realizes she is in love with a man who will never let her speak or do anything for herself.
The Big Showdown occurs just hours later when the H reluctantly takes the h to meet with a banker to redo the companies debt structure and get it solvent again. The H and the banker both ignore the h and she really feels like she is nothing but the H's extraneous appendage.
The fact that it was the same debt restructure agreement she tried to get the guy to agree to before the arrival of the H is completely disregarded and the H blows up when the h tries to say something.
The H tries to tell the h not to worry about it, he loves her and they can get married. The h tells him she isn't interested in becoming an appendage fashion accessory and then the H tells her to choose between running the company and him. After he bellows on about how there was no verbal agreement and the h is lying.
The H storms off and then he realizes that he can't offer the h the company because he doesn't own it, so he decides to buy it and then make her choose.
Ironically his other brother tells him the h is a whiz at finance, and since that brother is a money making genius, the H has to admit he might be right. The H then rushes around mentally comparing OW to the h, realizes that he is nuts about her and then decides to go hunt the h down.
But first he stops into see his sister and we get some sequel baiting for her later book. His sister points out that he is really super controlling and he does it to protect himself from being abandoned like his first girlfriend did. The H has a think about things and realizes that his sister is probably right.
He gets back to the oil company, only to find the h has resigned and gone back East to resume her life. The h has a potential OM who is much more compatible in values and outlook, but the h realizes that she just doesn't love him and now has to have a mopey moment.
The H shows up while the h is out with the OM and the big confessions of love and devotion begin. The H admits he is too controlling, but he is willing to change his ways if the h will give him a second chance.
He tells the h that she can run the finance end of things and he will do the oilfield side of things and they can get married for a beautiful partnership and run her father's former company together.
The h confesses her love back and believes the H when he acknowledges her finance expertise and they fly off into the sunset together for the big HEA.
This one was on the lower end of the enjoyable HP outing experience. The H's reaction to his attraction to the h was to compare her to the wide variety of compliant lady buffet samples he had experienced before and that was pretty tacky. We do get a lot of H POV in this one, but I am not completely sure that helped the story line out.
(The beginning hook was well done by SM tho, it let us know he was a lady buffet sampler, but it left you in doubt about what the H's intentions actually were. So there was still room to maneuver him into a semi honorable kinda guy and not a nematode who takes advantage of any lady who offers.)
Also, the h was annoying. She had valid points about her business plan, but SM makes the mistake of having her throw a temper tantrum every time she doesn't get her way and it makes her look too juvenile to be doing anything remotely connected to running a company.
It was not a good look for an h who wanted to be seen as executive material. Especially because she was 27 and acted like she was 18. Still the H's bad behavior is as egregious as the h's is, so the two of them deserved each other and we can await the next month's installment of Landon's Legacy in HPlandia.
We will be getting a guardian/ward story with a twist and that is a rapidly fading trope in Vintage HP outings.
This one starts with the H in the Middle East drilling for oil for a Sultan. He strikes it big and the Sultan sends him a dancing girl as a reward. The H is pretty sure the dancing girl is there to do WHATEVER he requires in the way of celebration, but he thinks to himself that he isn't the kind of man who sleeps with a woman who is paid for her favors.
Then the dancing girl lets him know that she wanted to be there, she switched places with the original dancing girl hired for the H, so that puts a new spin on the situation. The H is leaning in and maybe ready to partake of celebration festivities when the Sultan himself interrupts, the H's big time conglomerate owning father has died and the H has to go home.
We learn that the H left his father's house at 21 to strike it rich on his own in the oil business after his father tried to force him into the family firm and got the H's beloved girlfriend to dump him with the promise of a big promotion.
Turns out he and his two brothers fiercely resented their father's attempts to control their lives and they all eventually made their own ways in the world, leaving their baby sister to suffer the full effect of their father's attempts at bullying.
The father left the huge conglomerate he owned to the three brothers and the house and a pile of money to the H's sister. None of them want what their father left them, the brothers want to sell off the conglomerate and the sister wants to do her own thing.
Thus we get a four book SM mini series, : Landon's Legacy, which will detail each of the siblings lives after the death of their father.
This H is pretty chauvinistic, but he is also a world class wildcatter/oilman and so he gets selected to go fix the recent Landon acquisition of a failing oil company that is currently being run by a neophyte executive and being run very badly.
(The brother's need to boost several failing companies owned by the conglomerate so that they can get a decent selling price when they put it up for sale.)
Our h is the neophyte executive and a former girl's school teacher. She always wanted to work in her father's oil business and has two Ivy League degrees, one in business management, to do it. Her problems are twofold. First her father sold his business to Landon's before he died and two, she has no clue how oilfield management works.
The men don't respect her and they don't appreciate the Team Management and Psychological approach to roughneck management. These men try their best to be verbally respectful, but it is clear that they don't respect the h's authority and they won't do what she says.
Enter the H, who is the biggest sexist chauvinist since the heyday of the 1980's. He is patronizingly bullying to both his sister and the h and the h is all about the woman power revolution. So we get a lot back and forth arguing over women's rights and patronizing males and even the H's older brother warns that there are sexual harassment laws in the US, so the H needs to watch his step.
That doesn't stop the H from ending every argument with the h in a roofie kissing session, nor does it stop the h from feeling the effects of the HP Lurve Force Mojo and having to fight her Treacherous Body Syndrome when the roofie kissing occurs.
However the h has made a huge error in her quest to prove herself corporate management material. She lied and told the H that there was a verbal agreement between her father and his that she could run the company for as long as she wanted.
Again the H's brother warns that courts have found verbal agreements to be binding, so it will be up to the H's smooth talking charm skills to sort this out. Unfortunately the H doesn't have any, so we get more of the big contest of wills between the two of them.
The H does come through magnificently when the inappropriately dressed h goes out with him to the oil rigs and she gets stung by a scorpion. The H manages to get her to medical care in record time.
Then he blows it when his patronizing bullying manages to insult the hospital's Chief of Toxicology, who is a female physician.
The h, who is beyond frustrated that the H won't let her speak for herself, is in too bad of shape to really defend herself. More wars of words are had when the H has to spend the night at her house to help her care for herself, because she really can't use her arm and is very weak from the aftereffects of the scorpion toxin.
The H wants to hire a nurse and get the h some help as she is really having a hard time managing on her own. The h is stubborn tho and she refuses, so the H tells her she has to move in with him or forfeit her position at the oil company and he will put someone else in place to run things.
The h realizes that her lies are shaky enough that if the H gets someone else in to run things, she will never be able to prove herself. So she moves in with the H at his hotel and seduction soon follows.
Unicorns are banished, but the H has no clue and the h realizes she is in love with a man who will never let her speak or do anything for herself.
The Big Showdown occurs just hours later when the H reluctantly takes the h to meet with a banker to redo the companies debt structure and get it solvent again. The H and the banker both ignore the h and she really feels like she is nothing but the H's extraneous appendage.
The fact that it was the same debt restructure agreement she tried to get the guy to agree to before the arrival of the H is completely disregarded and the H blows up when the h tries to say something.
The H tries to tell the h not to worry about it, he loves her and they can get married. The h tells him she isn't interested in becoming an appendage fashion accessory and then the H tells her to choose between running the company and him. After he bellows on about how there was no verbal agreement and the h is lying.
The H storms off and then he realizes that he can't offer the h the company because he doesn't own it, so he decides to buy it and then make her choose.
Ironically his other brother tells him the h is a whiz at finance, and since that brother is a money making genius, the H has to admit he might be right. The H then rushes around mentally comparing OW to the h, realizes that he is nuts about her and then decides to go hunt the h down.
But first he stops into see his sister and we get some sequel baiting for her later book. His sister points out that he is really super controlling and he does it to protect himself from being abandoned like his first girlfriend did. The H has a think about things and realizes that his sister is probably right.
He gets back to the oil company, only to find the h has resigned and gone back East to resume her life. The h has a potential OM who is much more compatible in values and outlook, but the h realizes that she just doesn't love him and now has to have a mopey moment.
The H shows up while the h is out with the OM and the big confessions of love and devotion begin. The H admits he is too controlling, but he is willing to change his ways if the h will give him a second chance.
He tells the h that she can run the finance end of things and he will do the oilfield side of things and they can get married for a beautiful partnership and run her father's former company together.
The h confesses her love back and believes the H when he acknowledges her finance expertise and they fly off into the sunset together for the big HEA.
This one was on the lower end of the enjoyable HP outing experience. The H's reaction to his attraction to the h was to compare her to the wide variety of compliant lady buffet samples he had experienced before and that was pretty tacky. We do get a lot of H POV in this one, but I am not completely sure that helped the story line out.
(The beginning hook was well done by SM tho, it let us know he was a lady buffet sampler, but it left you in doubt about what the H's intentions actually were. So there was still room to maneuver him into a semi honorable kinda guy and not a nematode who takes advantage of any lady who offers.)
Also, the h was annoying. She had valid points about her business plan, but SM makes the mistake of having her throw a temper tantrum every time she doesn't get her way and it makes her look too juvenile to be doing anything remotely connected to running a company.
It was not a good look for an h who wanted to be seen as executive material. Especially because she was 27 and acted like she was 18. Still the H's bad behavior is as egregious as the h's is, so the two of them deserved each other and we can await the next month's installment of Landon's Legacy in HPlandia.
We will be getting a guardian/ward story with a twist and that is a rapidly fading trope in Vintage HP outings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 31, 2012
Well, this book had all the SM ingredients an over-bearing hero, forced kisses and a heroine who had a tendency to be too dramatic. She has been working at her dad's old oil company which is in a terrible mess. The hero's father has just died and he has come to sort out the mess at her company since now he and his brothers are the owner.
The book was a standard SM & enjoyable, though the heroine did irritate me a lot, she was prone to act first & be too judgmental & the hero could be patronizing, kind of like patting the silly heroine's head.
The book was a standard SM & enjoyable, though the heroine did irritate me a lot, she was prone to act first & be too judgmental & the hero could be patronizing, kind of like patting the silly heroine's head.
October 29, 2016
3 Stars! ~ Cade Landon had left Denver and his father's controlling influence when he was 21. He'd made it on his own as an oilman; building up his drilling company to a stage where his expertise is sought after around the world. When his father dies and names him and his siblings as heirs, Cade is dismayed to discover that in order for them to sell the family corporation, some little problems have to be addressed. Cade's assigned the problem of Gordon Oil, a little company in Dallas about to go bankrupt and lower Landon's corporate value in the process. He's not too impressed at having to work with Angelica Gordon, daughter of the man who sold the oil company to his father. She'd stepped into the role of company Director when her father passed away. Angelica has the degrees behind her to give her the knowledge on how to turn the company around, she just needs the chance to do it. So when Cade barges in and practically fires her, she stands her ground and says there's a verbal agreement in place that gives her controlling authority over the oil company. Cade sees Angelica as an aggravation, an obstacle to getting on with his life; so why can't he seem to stop kissing her?
Ms. Marton has writing the supreme chauvinist down to an art form! Cade has a huge attitude problem when it comes to the women he cares about. He wants to take right over and protect them, and he doesn't see how belittling it makes them feel. His intentions are from the heart, it's his fear of losing them that makes him want to control every move they make. He does this with his sister Kyra, and to Angelica's frustration, he does it with her. Angelica just wants to be taken seriously as a person in her own right and be seen as an equal. Her stubborn streak and Cade's steamroller tactics make for alot of spark. I really enjoyed this and found myself chuckling a few times at Cade's bewilderment as he was forced to take everything Angelica gave out. Unfortunately, Cade's realization of his patronizing attitude came too abruptly to make it totally convincing. As I liked Cade very much, I would have liked this awakening to be more developed
Ms. Marton has writing the supreme chauvinist down to an art form! Cade has a huge attitude problem when it comes to the women he cares about. He wants to take right over and protect them, and he doesn't see how belittling it makes them feel. His intentions are from the heart, it's his fear of losing them that makes him want to control every move they make. He does this with his sister Kyra, and to Angelica's frustration, he does it with her. Angelica just wants to be taken seriously as a person in her own right and be seen as an equal. Her stubborn streak and Cade's steamroller tactics make for alot of spark. I really enjoyed this and found myself chuckling a few times at Cade's bewilderment as he was forced to take everything Angelica gave out. Unfortunately, Cade's realization of his patronizing attitude came too abruptly to make it totally convincing. As I liked Cade very much, I would have liked this awakening to be more developed
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2014
I'm not sure how to rate this one, because I kind of hated both characters. The hero was so condescending and sexist, I cringed every time he called her "Sugar." And then I hated the heroine for looking so foolish when she was trying to be a feminist. But, Sandra Marton is very good at sexual tension, so this was still readable. I just had to cringe my way through the sexism and stupidity.
July 19, 2024
Book 1 in this series finds a recent inheritance of a failing oil company which is being run by a female due to the recent death of his founder.
Rescuing the company and its beautiful CEO leads to an interesting takeover with romantic parts. This book was written in 1995 and a simple little plot to follow and enjoy.
Rescuing the company and its beautiful CEO leads to an interesting takeover with romantic parts. This book was written in 1995 and a simple little plot to follow and enjoy.
October 30, 2019
You know those macho jerks that you just want to break? Here is another one. Enjoy this one for the unintentional humor.
Can we say sexual harassment lawsuit?
Can we say sexual harassment lawsuit?
September 17, 2024
Didn't like it. Np.
September 17, 2016
Aurgh! It took me forever to get through this book! The characters were ok, but there was nothing about either Angelica or Cade that really compelled me to like them. Cade is a total alpha male wanting to take care of the helpless and dumb women. Angelica is determined to make it in the male province of oil (that's how the book describes it). Frankly, even the ending (it was an HEA) seemed forced and unbelievable. The biggest word I could come up with to describe my feelings when I finished reading it is "MEH".
June 3, 2021
The boss’s marriage demand! When Cade Landon planned to return his late father’s oil company to its former glory he expected a challenge—but not in the form of feisty manager Angelica Gordon. She’s different from any other woman he’s met, and Cade doesn’t know whether to sack her or seduce her! Seduction might be the only option when Angelica reveals that a deal between their fathers has given her a stake in the business. Shrewd negotiator Cade sees an opportunity to ensure Angelica’s compliance and satisfy the chemistry bubbling between them—by making her his convenient wife!
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August 1, 2016Miniseries: Landon's Legacy
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews