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An Outrageous Proposal
Laura wasn’t surprised when she saw Dirk Thornton with a glamorous brunette: her estranged husband’s reputation as a womanizer was well-known to her. But she was shocked by her feelings for Dirk–they weren’t dead at all and, what was more, he knew it!
Soon Dirk, a top Sydney criminal lawyer, was pursuing her relentlessly, but Laura couldn’t forget that she’d been unable to conceive his child–which meant that there could be no future for them. Why then was she still tempted to accept Dirk’s simply outrageous proposal?
Soon Dirk, a top Sydney criminal lawyer, was pursuing her relentlessly, but Laura couldn’t forget that she’d been unable to conceive his child–which meant that there could be no future for them. Why then was she still tempted to accept Dirk’s simply outrageous proposal?
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Miranda Lee
815 books236 followersMaureen Mary was born on 1945 at Port Macquarie, a popular seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her sister was the novelist Wendy Brennan (Emma Darcy). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside, much closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers. Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training, as well as horse and goat breeding, but was left dissatisfied.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.
Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.
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July 12, 2018
Re Outrageous Proposal - Miranda Lee gives us one of the most whacktastic plots in all of HPlandia with this marriage on the rocks second chance HP Plus of May 1995.
I can never decide if I am outraged or hysterically keeled over in laughter at the utterly ludicrous plot of this book.
The h was married to the H and wanted a baby above all else. After months of trying to conceive and mechanical type scheduled boudoir bounces, the h finally tells the H if he can't get her preggers, she doesn't want him. The H flips out and decides he is done with the drama and leaves the h.
The h has a lot of emo baggage from a controlling, bitter mother who fiercely doted on the h. But the mother was also angry that the h was the product of the mother being seduced and dumped by a married playboy. The h had been under the thumb of mother until she met the H, then he took over bullying her through life - she didn't mind tho, because she was buckets in love with the H and she felt that he made her a more competent person.
The only other thing she really, really wanted was to have a baby. The H believes it is because her mother told the h that only a child would prove the H's love for her, but we eventually learn that the h had a very narrow, lonely life and she really, really likes children just because they are children and that they don't intimidate her like other people do.
The H has a brother and sister in law with two small kids and through the h's relationship with them, we see just how much she just genuinely adores kids.
The H is a natural daredevil and the h's harsh words about not wanting him, which she immediately apologized for, lead him to go hog wild on truly outrageous behavior. The H becomes the Lothario Lawyer, running around with all manner of femme fatale women in front of the h, during the year long separation between the two of them.
Eventually the h's mother dies and the h runs into the H again at her brother in law's most recent theatrical production, which the h designed the costumes for.
The h is about as sophisticated as a befuddled kitten and is totally heartbroken when she sees the H at the play with one of his femme fatale lady buffet samples. The H then makes his move to lurve club the h up all over again when the h is babysitting for her in laws and the young boy gets his head stuck in the staircase banister.
The h is in two minds about the H, she still loves him and knows she was obsessed with babies and played her part in the marriage breakup, but his wild gambling and headline grabbing Lady Parade is just too much for her. He also claims that he never really loved her and the h decides it is time to let go and move on.
The H asks the h to dinner and makes her wait an hour for him to show up, this angers the h greatly, especially when the H claims the Lust Mojo is still strong and the h should become his divorced mistress. Mainly cause he is sterile and lied to the h about it during her baby mania and they may as well enjoy each other to expunge their residual lust for each other. The h is furious and walks out.
The h is strong in her assertion that she is done with the H, but he still has a key to her flat and he waylays her late the next night. There is a huge Purple Passion moment and when the h implies that her bed hasn't been empty the last year either, the H freaks out until he realizes that he has no grounds to censor the h's behavior.
The H's reaction to the h's taunts about OM convince the h that he really does love her, she really hasn't been with anyone else either, so she decides to take a gamble of her own. The h agrees to to an affair, with the h still being in love with the H, and she is convinced she can be happy now with just him.
The H claims he still loves the h and moves back in and he claims that he will be faithful to the h from this moment on. Still, the h is walking on eggs around the H, their relationship isn't the open and communicative one that they shared when they were married. The H only seems to open up in bed. So the h, sure that the H might not be as solidly in love with her as she thought, is determined to keep the Lurve Mojo Passion boiling hot and doesn't admit her worries.
It seems the h might have been correct in worrying about the H's real feelings. She walks in on a rendezvous with an aforementioned femme fatale who seems to be planning to take a "business trip" with the H and the conversation leads her to believe they will be sharing a hotel room and the H is lying to her about his taste for bedding OW.
The h is devastated all over again and runs off across Australia, only to find out she actually is preggers. She has to go back and put together her life, she is happy she is preggers and very unsure of what to do about the H.
When she gets home the H is waiting for her and he does a big time speech for the h to listen to him. The business trip with the OW really was a business trip, he was representing her in a harassment suit against the company she works for and more than that, she used to sleep with his brother back in uni days and the H wouldn't take his brother's leavings.
The H also claims that he has always loved and still loves the h so much that he would do anything to get her a baby. Thus the brilliant or incredibly stupid (I can't decide which,) plan of the H's was put into play.
The H's whacked out plan was to appear to be a cheating slime pustule in the tabloids, (srsly, he blackmailed his dates into going out with him as part of his legal fees, but claims no lurve clubbings were allowed), lie about his virility and all of this was get the h's mind off baby making and focused on steamy sex cause he LURVES her sooo much.
This idea occurred to him after watching 10 minutes of a Discovery Channel docudrama about infertility where it was mentioned that psychological blocks could prevent the h from conceiving. Well, lucky for him it works and the h has no self esteem anyways, so she totally forgives him and we get True Lurve Forever Avowals for the whacked out HEA.
I just don't know where I am on this book. The deception is right there in the title and it is brilliantly done, the H was pretty convincing in his desperation to explain that he never really cheated on the h and she was so in love with him and so sad with her own desperation, that I was happy she was happy and felt she got her HEA.
On the other hand, the mocking of infertility by the H's half baked and insulting plan is TRULY TACKY, so tacky that it almost overrides anything decent about the book. Fortunately this is HPlandia and I can tell myself that it has no bearing on real world reality. Even tho there is absolutely no way this book would ever be published today.
In that respect, this is truly a vintage HP outing, the callousness regarding infertility and the casual dismissal of the H's womanizing and every character's acceptance that "men will be men" is just too dated to make it a winner in the modern world of romance.
So if you pick this one up, please be warned, this is not a very tolerant look at the truly heartbreaking situation of infertility. However if you keep in mind that this is a dramatic whackfest trainwreck through the universe of HPlandia, you might have yourself an interesting HPlandia outing.
I can never decide if I am outraged or hysterically keeled over in laughter at the utterly ludicrous plot of this book.
The h was married to the H and wanted a baby above all else. After months of trying to conceive and mechanical type scheduled boudoir bounces, the h finally tells the H if he can't get her preggers, she doesn't want him. The H flips out and decides he is done with the drama and leaves the h.
The h has a lot of emo baggage from a controlling, bitter mother who fiercely doted on the h. But the mother was also angry that the h was the product of the mother being seduced and dumped by a married playboy. The h had been under the thumb of mother until she met the H, then he took over bullying her through life - she didn't mind tho, because she was buckets in love with the H and she felt that he made her a more competent person.
The only other thing she really, really wanted was to have a baby. The H believes it is because her mother told the h that only a child would prove the H's love for her, but we eventually learn that the h had a very narrow, lonely life and she really, really likes children just because they are children and that they don't intimidate her like other people do.
The H has a brother and sister in law with two small kids and through the h's relationship with them, we see just how much she just genuinely adores kids.
The H is a natural daredevil and the h's harsh words about not wanting him, which she immediately apologized for, lead him to go hog wild on truly outrageous behavior. The H becomes the Lothario Lawyer, running around with all manner of femme fatale women in front of the h, during the year long separation between the two of them.
Eventually the h's mother dies and the h runs into the H again at her brother in law's most recent theatrical production, which the h designed the costumes for.
The h is about as sophisticated as a befuddled kitten and is totally heartbroken when she sees the H at the play with one of his femme fatale lady buffet samples. The H then makes his move to lurve club the h up all over again when the h is babysitting for her in laws and the young boy gets his head stuck in the staircase banister.
The h is in two minds about the H, she still loves him and knows she was obsessed with babies and played her part in the marriage breakup, but his wild gambling and headline grabbing Lady Parade is just too much for her. He also claims that he never really loved her and the h decides it is time to let go and move on.
The H asks the h to dinner and makes her wait an hour for him to show up, this angers the h greatly, especially when the H claims the Lust Mojo is still strong and the h should become his divorced mistress. Mainly cause he is sterile and lied to the h about it during her baby mania and they may as well enjoy each other to expunge their residual lust for each other. The h is furious and walks out.
The h is strong in her assertion that she is done with the H, but he still has a key to her flat and he waylays her late the next night. There is a huge Purple Passion moment and when the h implies that her bed hasn't been empty the last year either, the H freaks out until he realizes that he has no grounds to censor the h's behavior.
The H's reaction to the h's taunts about OM convince the h that he really does love her, she really hasn't been with anyone else either, so she decides to take a gamble of her own. The h agrees to to an affair, with the h still being in love with the H, and she is convinced she can be happy now with just him.
The H claims he still loves the h and moves back in and he claims that he will be faithful to the h from this moment on. Still, the h is walking on eggs around the H, their relationship isn't the open and communicative one that they shared when they were married. The H only seems to open up in bed. So the h, sure that the H might not be as solidly in love with her as she thought, is determined to keep the Lurve Mojo Passion boiling hot and doesn't admit her worries.
It seems the h might have been correct in worrying about the H's real feelings. She walks in on a rendezvous with an aforementioned femme fatale who seems to be planning to take a "business trip" with the H and the conversation leads her to believe they will be sharing a hotel room and the H is lying to her about his taste for bedding OW.
The h is devastated all over again and runs off across Australia, only to find out she actually is preggers. She has to go back and put together her life, she is happy she is preggers and very unsure of what to do about the H.
When she gets home the H is waiting for her and he does a big time speech for the h to listen to him. The business trip with the OW really was a business trip, he was representing her in a harassment suit against the company she works for and more than that, she used to sleep with his brother back in uni days and the H wouldn't take his brother's leavings.
The H also claims that he has always loved and still loves the h so much that he would do anything to get her a baby. Thus the brilliant or incredibly stupid (I can't decide which,) plan of the H's was put into play.
The H's whacked out plan was to appear to be a cheating slime pustule in the tabloids, (srsly, he blackmailed his dates into going out with him as part of his legal fees, but claims no lurve clubbings were allowed), lie about his virility and all of this was get the h's mind off baby making and focused on steamy sex cause he LURVES her sooo much.
This idea occurred to him after watching 10 minutes of a Discovery Channel docudrama about infertility where it was mentioned that psychological blocks could prevent the h from conceiving. Well, lucky for him it works and the h has no self esteem anyways, so she totally forgives him and we get True Lurve Forever Avowals for the whacked out HEA.
I just don't know where I am on this book. The deception is right there in the title and it is brilliantly done, the H was pretty convincing in his desperation to explain that he never really cheated on the h and she was so in love with him and so sad with her own desperation, that I was happy she was happy and felt she got her HEA.
On the other hand, the mocking of infertility by the H's half baked and insulting plan is TRULY TACKY, so tacky that it almost overrides anything decent about the book. Fortunately this is HPlandia and I can tell myself that it has no bearing on real world reality. Even tho there is absolutely no way this book would ever be published today.
In that respect, this is truly a vintage HP outing, the callousness regarding infertility and the casual dismissal of the H's womanizing and every character's acceptance that "men will be men" is just too dated to make it a winner in the modern world of romance.
So if you pick this one up, please be warned, this is not a very tolerant look at the truly heartbreaking situation of infertility. However if you keep in mind that this is a dramatic whackfest trainwreck through the universe of HPlandia, you might have yourself an interesting HPlandia outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2021
re-read may 2021
same feelings, the dumbest and most unexpected plot twist 😌😌
3.5✨
should hate this but I just loved the logic of the husband, I didn't see that coming
April 25, 2021
Trainwreck Alert! Trainwreck Alert! My brain is scrambled on the tracks and I must warn any future readers.
*Do not read any further if you are triggered by infertility struggles or cheating. *
This is a marriage in trouble story of a brilliant defense lawyer and his sweet, beautiful dyslectic wife. Everything was fine for three years until the heroine became obsessed with having a baby and they could not conceive. Hero finally walked out on her.
In their six-month estrangement the heroine’s controlling mother died and the hero has been flaunting his many women around town. Heroine has lived in hope that hero will return to her, but hero seems happy with his new bachelor lifestyle. Hero’s brother and wife try to be there for the lonely heroine and encourage her to wait for the hero to come to his senses.
Any romance reader will know that the hero acting out of character will eventually have a reason for his behavior. Heroine wonders it, too. Perhaps he’s protecting her from dangerous criminal clients? Or he’s got cancer? Or he is devastated by his diagnosis of sterility?
Can you guess?
No really – can you guess? Because my jaw dropped when I read why he put the heroine through hell. (And if cheating angst is you’re thing, this one is for you)
Why yes, this is Triple A certified gaslighting. Only the finest kind.
Heroine buys it hook, line and sinker for an HEA that is still making with chortle from the thrill ride.
Oh, the angst, the angst. I loved it. That’s why I gave it four stars. I was riveted to the story.
Boogenhagen has all the details.
A final note. The hero did not have sex with any of these OWs – he just squired them around town and humiliated the heroine. And he never denied it when the heroine asked.
*Do not read any further if you are triggered by infertility struggles or cheating. *
This is a marriage in trouble story of a brilliant defense lawyer and his sweet, beautiful dyslectic wife. Everything was fine for three years until the heroine became obsessed with having a baby and they could not conceive. Hero finally walked out on her.
In their six-month estrangement the heroine’s controlling mother died and the hero has been flaunting his many women around town. Heroine has lived in hope that hero will return to her, but hero seems happy with his new bachelor lifestyle. Hero’s brother and wife try to be there for the lonely heroine and encourage her to wait for the hero to come to his senses.
Any romance reader will know that the hero acting out of character will eventually have a reason for his behavior. Heroine wonders it, too. Perhaps he’s protecting her from dangerous criminal clients? Or he’s got cancer? Or he is devastated by his diagnosis of sterility?
Can you guess?
No really – can you guess? Because my jaw dropped when I read why he put the heroine through hell. (And if cheating angst is you’re thing, this one is for you)
Why yes, this is Triple A certified gaslighting. Only the finest kind.
Heroine buys it hook, line and sinker for an HEA that is still making with chortle from the thrill ride.
Oh, the angst, the angst. I loved it. That’s why I gave it four stars. I was riveted to the story.
Boogenhagen has all the details.
A final note. The hero did not have sex with any of these OWs – he just squired them around town and humiliated the heroine. And he never denied it when the heroine asked.
December 2, 2022
SPOILER ALERT ⚠
Miranda Lee’s An Outrageous Proposal is an outrageously sexy Harlequin Presents. This book was released as a Presents Plus, a special series within the regular Presents line that ran for a couple of years in the mid-1990s.
I gather that these books were written by the line’s best-selling authors. Initially, they were longer than the average Presents by about 20 pages. The covers were also colored and had individualized fonts for the authors’ names. By the time the last Presents Plus was published, the length no longer mattered, and the covers looked more or less like regular Presents.
Laura had been happily married to Dirk Thornton. The only thing that would have made their marriage perfect was a baby. After years of vigorous efforts, however, the couple had trouble conceiving. Laura became so obsessed with her inability to have a child, leading to their marriage crumbling. After a vicious argument, Dirk left her.
Six months have passed, and it seems Dirk has spent no time grieving over the end of his marriage. The high-powered attorney is seen around Sydney’s flashy events with even more striking brunettes dangling on his arm.
When the book begins, Laura sees Dirk at the Opera House with one of those sexy ladies. Laura can’t help but feel jealous. She has never stopped loving her husband. It had been almost impossible to bear seeing Dirk flaunting his many women, and without the support of her former in-laws, Dirks’ brother, and his wife, she’d be lost.
Laura realizes she wants her husband back and asks for reconciliation. Dirk is cruel and throws her offer back in her face. Did she really think he’d take her back so easily? If she wants him, she has a long line to wait behind.
Laura won’t be deterred. Then Dirk reveals to her that he’s sterile. There will never be any children for them. To his way of thinking, what’s the point of marriage if there can’t be children? Dirk proposes instead of reconciling, they engage in a no-strings affair.
Laura and Dirk do just that; this is where Miranda Lee shines. She excels at writing hot steamy scenes without delving into raunchiness.
Laura realizes that without Dirk, children don’t matter. She can live without offspring, but she can’t live without her husband!
So, holy moly, it’s a shock to the system when Laura finds out she’s pregnant!
Hold on to your horses because here is the revelation: Dirk was never sterile.
Moreover, all those women he’d paraded around town were part of a ruse to make Laura jealous to fight for her man. Dirk had read somewhere–perhaps on a paper placemat at a greasy spoon sometime in the wee hours of the night after a bender–that women have difficulty conceiving if they’re too obsessed with it.
Laura’s constant focus on having a baby was the very thing that prevented her from getting pregnant!
By removing that concept from the equation, Dirk knew Laura’s anxiety would subside, enabling them to engage in lots of steamy sex, and then… viola!
A miracle baby would solve all their problems./s
Laura and Dirk and the child will make a happy family. And Dirk no doubt will come up with another outlandish ruse in the future to keep his marriage satisfactorily kinky.
I absolutely cherished this oddball romance. It indeed had an outrageous proposal for a wild plot. I marvel at the craziness of Harlequin Presents’ stories. The best writers could sell the wackiness, making these little books such entertaining and addictive reads. Miranda Lee’s sensuous writing shines here in An Outrageous Proposal. By this time in her career, she had hit her stride.
1995 would be a prolific and productive time for the writer, as this was also the year she released her Hearts of Fire miniseries.
An Outrageous Proposal won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Harlequin Presents Plus in 1995.
4.5 Stars
Miranda Lee’s An Outrageous Proposal is an outrageously sexy Harlequin Presents. This book was released as a Presents Plus, a special series within the regular Presents line that ran for a couple of years in the mid-1990s.
I gather that these books were written by the line’s best-selling authors. Initially, they were longer than the average Presents by about 20 pages. The covers were also colored and had individualized fonts for the authors’ names. By the time the last Presents Plus was published, the length no longer mattered, and the covers looked more or less like regular Presents.
Laura had been happily married to Dirk Thornton. The only thing that would have made their marriage perfect was a baby. After years of vigorous efforts, however, the couple had trouble conceiving. Laura became so obsessed with her inability to have a child, leading to their marriage crumbling. After a vicious argument, Dirk left her.
Six months have passed, and it seems Dirk has spent no time grieving over the end of his marriage. The high-powered attorney is seen around Sydney’s flashy events with even more striking brunettes dangling on his arm.
When the book begins, Laura sees Dirk at the Opera House with one of those sexy ladies. Laura can’t help but feel jealous. She has never stopped loving her husband. It had been almost impossible to bear seeing Dirk flaunting his many women, and without the support of her former in-laws, Dirks’ brother, and his wife, she’d be lost.
Laura realizes she wants her husband back and asks for reconciliation. Dirk is cruel and throws her offer back in her face. Did she really think he’d take her back so easily? If she wants him, she has a long line to wait behind.
Laura won’t be deterred. Then Dirk reveals to her that he’s sterile. There will never be any children for them. To his way of thinking, what’s the point of marriage if there can’t be children? Dirk proposes instead of reconciling, they engage in a no-strings affair.
Laura and Dirk do just that; this is where Miranda Lee shines. She excels at writing hot steamy scenes without delving into raunchiness.
Laura realizes that without Dirk, children don’t matter. She can live without offspring, but she can’t live without her husband!
So, holy moly, it’s a shock to the system when Laura finds out she’s pregnant!
Hold on to your horses because here is the revelation: Dirk was never sterile.
Moreover, all those women he’d paraded around town were part of a ruse to make Laura jealous to fight for her man. Dirk had read somewhere–perhaps on a paper placemat at a greasy spoon sometime in the wee hours of the night after a bender–that women have difficulty conceiving if they’re too obsessed with it.
Laura’s constant focus on having a baby was the very thing that prevented her from getting pregnant!
By removing that concept from the equation, Dirk knew Laura’s anxiety would subside, enabling them to engage in lots of steamy sex, and then… viola!
A miracle baby would solve all their problems./s
Laura and Dirk and the child will make a happy family. And Dirk no doubt will come up with another outlandish ruse in the future to keep his marriage satisfactorily kinky.
I absolutely cherished this oddball romance. It indeed had an outrageous proposal for a wild plot. I marvel at the craziness of Harlequin Presents’ stories. The best writers could sell the wackiness, making these little books such entertaining and addictive reads. Miranda Lee’s sensuous writing shines here in An Outrageous Proposal. By this time in her career, she had hit her stride.
1995 would be a prolific and productive time for the writer, as this was also the year she released her Hearts of Fire miniseries.
An Outrageous Proposal won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Harlequin Presents Plus in 1995.
4.5 Stars
January 9, 2022
Really, it would be 5 stars for the fantasy. It’s more science fiction than hp.
The heroine and the hero are separated.
The hero left her because she was obsessed with having a child and couldn’t get pregnant.
Their life was all about getting pregnant, sex was a duty and she was nasty each time she found out she wasn’t pregnant.
She also told him that if he wasn’t able to get her pregnant she didn’t want him any more.
That was cruel and awful.
The hero was a darling man and he was mad about her. He was treated as a sperm donor.
So he left her. I can’t deny I sympathized with him.
afterwards she regrets her words and tries to talk to him but he tells her he is happy like that, he wants a divorce and his sex life is great, and besides he had also found out he is sterile.
The heroine’s colleagues start seeing him with ow around.
One night she meets him with his actual mistress so she can’t deny any more that he has moved on.
The same night he kisses her, and she realizes she still wants him, but can’t stand that situation any longer so she tells him she wants a divorce.
He doesn’t even blink, but asks her to be his mistress instead.
After some lame refusal from her part she accepts because she thinks he still loves her and anyway she still loves him and is willing to accept him as he is.
They start having sex, wonderful hot sex and - this was really weird- some days later they declare their love and their intention to stay married.
But of course the heroine thinks he will be unfaithful again and each time he is a little bit late she thinks he’s with ow.
One day she finds him with ow in his office and she leaves him, telling him she needs thinking.
She finds out she’s pregnant and decides to go back to him and tell him.
As soon as she’s back, he’s there waiting for her, distressed and worried, and blurts out the truth.
The truth is he wanted really bad to make her happy and, listening to a tv program where it was said that women can’t conceive often because they’re stressed, he thought that if she thought he wasn’t able to conceive and was only having sex for fun and not duty, she would have conceived easily.
So he made up all the sterile playboy story with women who were paid to be his date but only that, without any involvement, and no sex of course.
They were clients or friends, never mistress.
He admits he only did it for her and that it hurt him a lot being apart.
Ok, how crazy is this one?
I know it’s far from reality but it was funny, the heroine was a doormat and I didn’t really liked her.
She rejected her husband when he was a wonderful husband only because she couldn’t get pregnant, but she accepted him when he admitted he was sleeping with ow. One evening while they were making out he told her he was going to sleep with ow and she didn’t even balk! The woman was without pride and sensibility (and Jane Austin would know).
The hero. What about him. Apparently he knew very well his wife because any other woman would have divorced him and kicked his sorry a** the first time she saw with ow.
What saved him is that he was only pretending to be a nasty playboy, and all because he wanted her to get pregnant and have the child she so wanted.
What a couple of idiot. What an unlikely book.
Of course you have to read it with your eyes wide open and with the only intention of having some light fun.
The heroine and the hero are separated.
The hero left her because she was obsessed with having a child and couldn’t get pregnant.
Their life was all about getting pregnant, sex was a duty and she was nasty each time she found out she wasn’t pregnant.
She also told him that if he wasn’t able to get her pregnant she didn’t want him any more.
That was cruel and awful.
The hero was a darling man and he was mad about her. He was treated as a sperm donor.
So he left her. I can’t deny I sympathized with him.
afterwards she regrets her words and tries to talk to him but he tells her he is happy like that, he wants a divorce and his sex life is great, and besides he had also found out he is sterile.
The heroine’s colleagues start seeing him with ow around.
One night she meets him with his actual mistress so she can’t deny any more that he has moved on.
The same night he kisses her, and she realizes she still wants him, but can’t stand that situation any longer so she tells him she wants a divorce.
He doesn’t even blink, but asks her to be his mistress instead.
After some lame refusal from her part she accepts because she thinks he still loves her and anyway she still loves him and is willing to accept him as he is.
They start having sex, wonderful hot sex and - this was really weird- some days later they declare their love and their intention to stay married.
But of course the heroine thinks he will be unfaithful again and each time he is a little bit late she thinks he’s with ow.
One day she finds him with ow in his office and she leaves him, telling him she needs thinking.
She finds out she’s pregnant and decides to go back to him and tell him.
As soon as she’s back, he’s there waiting for her, distressed and worried, and blurts out the truth.
The truth is he wanted really bad to make her happy and, listening to a tv program where it was said that women can’t conceive often because they’re stressed, he thought that if she thought he wasn’t able to conceive and was only having sex for fun and not duty, she would have conceived easily.
So he made up all the sterile playboy story with women who were paid to be his date but only that, without any involvement, and no sex of course.
They were clients or friends, never mistress.
He admits he only did it for her and that it hurt him a lot being apart.
Ok, how crazy is this one?
I know it’s far from reality but it was funny, the heroine was a doormat and I didn’t really liked her.
She rejected her husband when he was a wonderful husband only because she couldn’t get pregnant, but she accepted him when he admitted he was sleeping with ow. One evening while they were making out he told her he was going to sleep with ow and she didn’t even balk! The woman was without pride and sensibility (and Jane Austin would know).
The hero. What about him. Apparently he knew very well his wife because any other woman would have divorced him and kicked his sorry a** the first time she saw with ow.
What saved him is that he was only pretending to be a nasty playboy, and all because he wanted her to get pregnant and have the child she so wanted.
What a couple of idiot. What an unlikely book.
Of course you have to read it with your eyes wide open and with the only intention of having some light fun.
January 19, 2022
Definitely outrageous!
March 27, 2018
3.5🌟
The logic of the husband made my jaw drop literally was surprised didn’t see that coming
The logic of the husband made my jaw drop literally was surprised didn’t see that coming
January 10, 2022
5 stars.
He is a flawed H. Running around with different women, while still being married to the h. No matter the reason he did that, he hurt her by doing that. On the other hand, she had hurt him many times before that, before he decided to move out of their house.
His playfulness, his sense of humour, his wicked banter, his seduction, his passion, his longing are worth 5 stars. Life will never be boring with a man like this H. I chuckled a few times at his remarks to the h.
He has blonde hair and she has black hair which is a nice variety in looks, because almost always in HP’s it’s the other way around. That they both look different than the standard H and h scores extra points.
In the end he says he only pretended to be with all those other women. So he’s not really a cheater.
What makes this book really stand out, is the h. She isn’t silly, she isn’t annoying like many h’s. She mouthes off a woman who says something bad about her and the H. She tells people to mind their own business. That is very rare in a HP: a h who stands up for herself and for the H. She makes this HP a 5 stars too.
Well done, Miranda Lee. This was written in 1992. As with all other older HP writers (like Penny Jordan, Carole Mortimer, Cathy Williams), I like their HP’s of the 20th century far better than their HP’s of the 21st century.
He is a flawed H. Running around with different women, while still being married to the h. No matter the reason he did that, he hurt her by doing that. On the other hand, she had hurt him many times before that, before he decided to move out of their house.
His playfulness, his sense of humour, his wicked banter, his seduction, his passion, his longing are worth 5 stars. Life will never be boring with a man like this H. I chuckled a few times at his remarks to the h.
He has blonde hair and she has black hair which is a nice variety in looks, because almost always in HP’s it’s the other way around. That they both look different than the standard H and h scores extra points.
In the end he says he only pretended to be with all those other women. So he’s not really a cheater.
What makes this book really stand out, is the h. She isn’t silly, she isn’t annoying like many h’s. She mouthes off a woman who says something bad about her and the H. She tells people to mind their own business. That is very rare in a HP: a h who stands up for herself and for the H. She makes this HP a 5 stars too.
Well done, Miranda Lee. This was written in 1992. As with all other older HP writers (like Penny Jordan, Carole Mortimer, Cathy Williams), I like their HP’s of the 20th century far better than their HP’s of the 21st century.
February 26, 2012
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Laura and Dirk are estranged. She had been obsessing about having a baby and when it still didn’t work out she blew up at Dirk! He couldn’t take it anymore, said some meant things and then walked away from the love of his life. Dirk came up w/ a wonderful plan and began to enact it. He has become a swinging good time bachelor as he escorts many women about town. Dirk had informed Laura that he is sterile, he doesn’t want to remain w/ her in a marriage and that he only ever wanted her for bedroom things – how about mistress now?
Laura had things from her past that had colored her belief in what she would find if and when Dirk gave her a baby. I found some substance to what he said was her hang-up, but I truly did NOT like Dirk’s execution of his wonderful scheme. He runs around town repeatedly hurting Laura w/ all of the gossip, rumors, and innuendos that filter back to her. He didn’t seem too concerned about this over the course of the story either.
If you can get past this game playing attorney, ha was that a stereotype – twisting of the truth - then this is a good read. I wouldn’t have minded Laura playing a few games w/ Dirk though. Perhaps when she returns and his plan seems to have worked. Maybe she could have caught on sooner or blindly stumbled in to something and tell him that she had been to a clinic and it took!!! Dirk never wanted Laura to play games, but it was all good for him to partake of them. I realize he took a gamble but it really would have been nice if we got to watch him suffer a bit especially after what he put her through for a year. I guess her leaving and not saying anything was to be his punishment but I don’t know if that is enough. I didn’t like it when he spoke of her “imaginary hurts and female pride” – indeed these were not imaginary she saw him w/ OW on a “date” and she heard all the rumors and even the nasty mean things he said to her. While he is talking to her she is thinking about animals and the alpha – I kid you not!! Dirk was truly hurt for the one thing she had said to him before their estrangement, which she had quickly apologizes for, but instead he then continuously hands out punishment to her throughout the entirety of this story. I so believe it would have been just delicious if she had played him as well!!
Laura and Dirk are estranged. She had been obsessing about having a baby and when it still didn’t work out she blew up at Dirk! He couldn’t take it anymore, said some meant things and then walked away from the love of his life. Dirk came up w/ a wonderful plan and began to enact it. He has become a swinging good time bachelor as he escorts many women about town. Dirk had informed Laura that he is sterile, he doesn’t want to remain w/ her in a marriage and that he only ever wanted her for bedroom things – how about mistress now?
Laura had things from her past that had colored her belief in what she would find if and when Dirk gave her a baby. I found some substance to what he said was her hang-up, but I truly did NOT like Dirk’s execution of his wonderful scheme. He runs around town repeatedly hurting Laura w/ all of the gossip, rumors, and innuendos that filter back to her. He didn’t seem too concerned about this over the course of the story either.
If you can get past this game playing attorney, ha was that a stereotype – twisting of the truth - then this is a good read. I wouldn’t have minded Laura playing a few games w/ Dirk though. Perhaps when she returns and his plan seems to have worked. Maybe she could have caught on sooner or blindly stumbled in to something and tell him that she had been to a clinic and it took!!! Dirk never wanted Laura to play games, but it was all good for him to partake of them. I realize he took a gamble but it really would have been nice if we got to watch him suffer a bit especially after what he put her through for a year. I guess her leaving and not saying anything was to be his punishment but I don’t know if that is enough. I didn’t like it when he spoke of her “imaginary hurts and female pride” – indeed these were not imaginary she saw him w/ OW on a “date” and she heard all the rumors and even the nasty mean things he said to her. While he is talking to her she is thinking about animals and the alpha – I kid you not!! Dirk was truly hurt for the one thing she had said to him before their estrangement, which she had quickly apologizes for, but instead he then continuously hands out punishment to her throughout the entirety of this story. I so believe it would have been just delicious if she had played him as well!!
May 1, 2019
Laura wasn't surprised when she saw Dirk Thornton with a glamorous brunette: her estranged husband's reputation as a womanizer was well-known to her. But she was shocked by her feelings for Dirk--they weren't dead at all and, what was more, he knew it!
Soon Dirk, a top Sydney criminal lawyer, was pursuing her relentlessly, but Laura couldn't forget that she'd been unable to conceive his child--which meant that there could be no future for them. Why then was she still tempted to accept Dirk's simply outrageous proposal?
Soon Dirk, a top Sydney criminal lawyer, was pursuing her relentlessly, but Laura couldn't forget that she'd been unable to conceive his child--which meant that there could be no future for them. Why then was she still tempted to accept Dirk's simply outrageous proposal?
May 13, 2013
This novel was so beyond fucked up and the logic the hero presented the heroine with, was downright diabolical and so very wrong. When the novel came to the end, my mouth dropped for a good two minutes before I could function enough to type this review.
December 19, 2021
1 slimy star for the hero, 1 low star for the doormat heroine, and 5 stars for the angst and cray cray logic of the hero.
December 5, 2022
This was such an outrageous book, I don't even know where to start. But I had a lot of fun reading it!
@boogenhagen and @StMargarets have excellent reviews!
@boogenhagen and @StMargarets have excellent reviews!
June 5, 2023
I really wasn't thrilled with this one. There were serious issues (dyslexia, infertility, psychosomatic conditions, etc.) that could have had more serious attention paid to them. Instead, time is wasted with the estranged couple, Dirk and Laura, agreeing to a no-strings reconciliation, based on their hot sex chemistry (which Laura only agrees to because she still loves him). Dirk has apparently turned into quite the playboy in the year they were separated, and Laura's hoping that'll change, despite being confronted with some of his women. But things aren't always what they seem.
Laura's designing career was a good point of interest, as was Dirk's family, especially his four-year-old daredevil nephew, who got into one escapade after another. But too much time was focused on Dirk and Laura getting naked in every possible way, standing in front of a mirror so they could observe their performance. Nothing wrong with that, except that this was a couple who should have spent more time talking and admitting their real feelings.
When Dirk confesses to what he did, and his dime store psychology reasons for doing it, I felt like choking him! His heart may have been in the right place, but his head sure wasn't.
One thing I really liked was that, after doing what so many h's do and running away when the going gets tough, Laura changed her mind and headed home, for the reason that usually keeps other h's away.
This book had a lot of wasted potential.
Laura's designing career was a good point of interest, as was Dirk's family, especially his four-year-old daredevil nephew, who got into one escapade after another. But too much time was focused on Dirk and Laura getting naked in every possible way, standing in front of a mirror so they could observe their performance. Nothing wrong with that, except that this was a couple who should have spent more time talking and admitting their real feelings.
When Dirk confesses to what he did, and his dime store psychology reasons for doing it, I felt like choking him! His heart may have been in the right place, but his head sure wasn't.
One thing I really liked was that, after doing what so many h's do and running away when the going gets tough, Laura changed her mind and headed home, for the reason that usually keeps other h's away.
This book had a lot of wasted potential.
June 24, 2023
I bet he cheated on her many times.
Although I like Miranda Lee’s books, I have three things to pointed out. First, I love that her heroines are strong and not a doormat or a spineless creature, second that I like is that her Hs always backs the hs up against the OW, if the OWs proves to be a bitchy to heroines. Third that I didn’t like and I hate immensely is that many of ML’s H are faithful or celibate after the OWs but they never are faithful or celibate to the heroines. Her H are a highly sexual creatures, but it seems after they separated/lost/divorced or become a widower they lost the appetite, doing it he remained faithful/celibate because his OW until they meet the heroine and their lust come back. But they are incapable of being faithful/celibate after meeting the heroine, even if they are attracted, loved the heroine or even worse married to the heroine, he will cheat the heroine if he cannot have sex with the heroine, he will sleep around. The book Bride in Blue, he cheated the heroine many times after he married her and supposedly stopped after he start to sleep with the heroine. It shows that the power of the OW sexual attraction is more powerful over the heroine, for me simply states that they are more commited to the OW and never the heroine.
Although I like Miranda Lee’s books, I have three things to pointed out. First, I love that her heroines are strong and not a doormat or a spineless creature, second that I like is that her Hs always backs the hs up against the OW, if the OWs proves to be a bitchy to heroines. Third that I didn’t like and I hate immensely is that many of ML’s H are faithful or celibate after the OWs but they never are faithful or celibate to the heroines. Her H are a highly sexual creatures, but it seems after they separated/lost/divorced or become a widower they lost the appetite, doing it he remained faithful/celibate because his OW until they meet the heroine and their lust come back. But they are incapable of being faithful/celibate after meeting the heroine, even if they are attracted, loved the heroine or even worse married to the heroine, he will cheat the heroine if he cannot have sex with the heroine, he will sleep around. The book Bride in Blue, he cheated the heroine many times after he married her and supposedly stopped after he start to sleep with the heroine. It shows that the power of the OW sexual attraction is more powerful over the heroine, for me simply states that they are more commited to the OW and never the heroine.
March 16, 2023
I have no words.
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