Habit of Command

by Sophie Weston

What he proposed was a bargain--marriage as an exchange of favors!

Paul Theokaris seemed to think he was offering Sally Harrison a fair deal. He needed a wife to convince his bankers and shareholders that he was serious about the family business--and that he'd reformed his "playboy" ways. And he knew Sally needed financial security for her young brother and her ailing grandfather.

"Sensible" Sally agreed to her boss's proposal. Reluctantly. Because she was well aware that a marriage of convenience would also come to a convenient end. Convenient for him, not for her.

It all went to prove that a woman who was marrying for money shouldn't marry the man she loved!

Genres: Harlequin

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Jenny Haddon was born in London, England, where she always returns after the travels that she loves. When she was small, her mother couldn't bear reading aloud, so her mother taught her to read at an appallingly precocious age. She wrote her first book with her own illustrations at the age of four but was in her 20s before she produced her first romance as Sophie Weston.

She studied English Language and Literature at university. Choosing a career was a major problem. It was not so much that she didn't know what she wanted to do, as that she wanted to do everything. So she filed and photocopied and experimented. She worked as consultant at the Bank of England and all the time she drew on her experiences to create her Mills & Boon books. She edited press releases for a Latin American embassy in London (The Latin Afffair); lectured in the Arabian Gulf (The Sheikh's Bride); waitressed in Paris (Midnight Wedding); and made herself hated by getting under people's feet asking stupid questions under the grand title of consultant all over the world (The Millionaire's Daughter). She also is an active member of the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association's Committee, and was its twenty-three Chairman (2005-2007).

Jenny has one house, three cats, and about a million books. She writes compulsively, Scottish dances poorly, grows more plants than she has room for, and makes a mean meringue.

Reviews

[Leona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silly heroine who would rather cut off her nose to spite her face. Heroine refused to see what everyone else could, that this hero was madly in love. I like a stalkerific hero and this one did not disappoint. I would have rated this higher, but the heroine got in the way!

[Martha Muswema · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think its a beautiful but frustrating story line. It surely would feel like torture marrying a person you are in love with yet knowing he doesn't love you back and it is for him is bargaining without attachment. In the first chapters, she had to like prohibit herself from experiencing passion because she was scared he would walk over her like she believed with the rest of the rich,gold digger and hot women and part of that she didn't really believe she was an ideal type of woman that could measure up to his standards which is pathetic.
I did feel like i would slap Paul given the chance he was a real character or real person because he does come out like a ruthless douche beg. At the same time he was very vulnerable maybe even worse than Sally but she mostly saw the uncommitted side of him for her own self protection. Paul is very honest and lovable but little did sally know want to see that side of him especially that she was convinced he is a typical playboy who is only there to get what he wants and step over women.
The passion though did seem steamy and irresistible especially having this hard, handsome masculine imagination of Paul i was like getting inpatient with Sally's unresponsiveness to his seduction.
I love the story and in the end teaches you cant mix love with bargains or games because you will surely get trapped in confusion and frustration.
would like to read more of Sophie Weston's work.

[JillyB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story just didn’t come together for me. I really didn’t like the heroine. She is in love with hero. Married him as part of a mutually beneficial agreement. Of course that means she needs to hide her love away to hold onto her sense of pride. However, she spends most of the book acting like a shrew bemoaning the fact that the hero doesn’t and won’t ever love her(he secretly does). I mean, seriously if you want him to fall in love with you then why don’t you at least try to be less abrasive. The hero is too rich for her, has had too many girlfriends, is too commanding, wants to give her things, she’s too ordinary(not really, but makes no attempt to enhance her obvious beauty) it goes on and on...The fact that Paul still loved her through all this says a lot about his character.

[Bea Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fave kind of hero - high handed steam rollers who decide 'yup I'll marry her' and then make it happen come hell or high water. Obvs 5 stars because I could read these sorts of romances till the end of time and never get bored.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-re-reread and find it believable with a true romance. This happens frequently with Sophie Weston romances.

Original: Story doesn’t quite work. Favorite trope, favorite author but too many holes in the emotional part of the story. He claims he was in love with her for years yet kept dating other ladies and presumably sleeping with them even a few weeks before wedding. Of course she was in love too but based on parade of lovelies wasn't about to let H know.

She fears emotional commitment with any man; her dad used to beat up her mom when he got mad and mom kept excusing it. Good characters and an excellent story of learning to trust. Also scenes in beginning about erratic uncle are funny.

Reread, like better.