The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife

by Annie West

Stavros Denakis is furious when Tessa Marlowe turns up without warning. Weary and cynical through his experience with women, Stavros suspects the wife he hardly knows is a gold digger--surely she's here to claim her share of the Denakis millions. But Tessa is a temptation that he can't resist....

Bedded by her gorgeous Greek husband, Tessa realizes she has fallen in love with him, and longs for their marriage to become real. Only, Stavros, though he may be passionate in private, remains cold in public, and is determined they stay wedded only in name....

Genres: Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Marriage Of Convenience, Contemporary, Fiction

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Hello! I love writing passionate, intense love stories about sexy alpha men and the women who are their perfect match. Look out for my books with Harlequin (Presents) or Mills & Boon (Modern/Sexy) and for my indie stories, full of passion and intense emotion with a touch of glamour. My latest stories are my Hot Italian Nights series including 'Bound to the Italian Boss' June '17, 'The Italian's Bold Reckoning' July '17, 'At the Italian's Bidding' August '17 and 'Falling for the Brooding Italian' September '17.
Yes, I do like a dark, handsome hero!

You can catch up with my news at www.annie-west.com (where you can also sign up for my exclusive reader newsletter with giveaways and behind the scenes info). I'm on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/anniewest.au... and I adore hearing from readers. You can also contact me at annie(at)annie-west(dot)com

I live with my family at beautiful Lake Macquarie on the east Coast of Australia and my favourite things when not writing are good food, good company, great books, getting outside in nature and travel.

Bookwise, I'm a multi USA Today bestselling author with millions of books sold, in English as well as in lots of other languages. I've won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and the Romantic Book of the Year (Romance Writers of Australia). One of my favourite review quotes is from Romantic Times which said in its review of The Sheikh's Ransomed Bride 'This is what a love story could be.'.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeweler billionaire hero married heroine in the midst of a civil war to free her from jail. He thought she was dead until she shows up on the day of his betrothal party. Heroine didn't know they were really married. She's only there to return his ring and to thank him for helping her. Hero immediately thinks she's there to blackmail him and doesn't let up on that notion for over a hundred pages.

There are good and bad points to this:
Good - it keeps up the tension since there really isn't anything else going on besides the sexual tension.

Bad - the hero continues his stubborn belief to a ridiculous point.

The heroine was simultaneously afraid and turned on by the hero. The hero was simultaneously angry and turned on by the heroine. This was a match made in heaven. Luckily they're already married.

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

This lost wife has the worst timing in the history of HPs. Why couldn’t she have just stayed dead and kept it convenient for the paranoid rat masquerading as the H. Or even fought back against his unjust accusations? But then she's a no-better-opposite-of-him - a pitiable, un-opinionated, noodle-spined prima clingosa of a h.

Flashback- They had a pretend moc to save her from a south American jail but there were bomb blasts, ambushes and other such drama. So while he escapes thinking her to be dead, she was only injured and gets saved by a nun and with whom she stays for close to 4 years, as rebels make her escape impossible. But the dreams of her savior had made it all bearable, although she knows she can’t have him but maybe she can find a clone when she escapes?

In the present - So she lands up at his Athens home (only) to return his heirloom ring (do I believe this?)- emaciated and stumbling with fatigue- as he is celebrating his engagement to a suitable type, instead of flying back home to Australia from South America. Quite a detour, I would say crossing the equator too! Last thing a tired, malnourished person would think of as a priority.

So the engagement is broken and the infuriated (which's a normal state for him) H holds the resigned (again normal) h as hostage till his team can sort out the various conspiracy angles. Meanwhile, he hones his sneering and sarcastic skills on her while she sways about and feebly defends herself. And of course, the fact that he is attracted to this skinny specimen (while never to the suitable one) infuriates him further!

There were so many eyerolling moments that my eyes were constantly spinning in my skull!
Firstly, a virgin! So, what was a 19 years old naïve v doing all alone in a war torn country? Is never explained satisfactorily. And she manages to save not only her virtue but also the no doubt valuable ring, all this while?

And the H’s paranoia is so extreme, I think he needs a psychiatrist. You idiot, if she wanted money why would she refuse your various offers? She'd just make a good deal and move on. Only HP Hs see logic where no one else can. And he keep coming up with new accusations and allegations.

But then it's a beast that could only be tamed by a hymen! Oh, if this abrupt change hadn’t caused a whiplash I'd be laughing like a hyena.

And why didn't she just find herself a spine or a boat – and leave!

[Jasbell76 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually check Goodreads' reviews and the rating of a book before read it. This has 3.5 stars, so I told myself let's give this book and the author a chance because Annie West is not of my top HP authors, but I have read some good comments of her books. Anyway, I finished to read this book only because I promised to myself from now on not abandon a book after I start it. So, I have to say I didn't like it.
1. The way the author describes how and when the h/H met, was very poor, weak, I don't know :/
2. Hero's behaviour, personality... was horrible!! He was not romantic, and his good side appeared almost at the end of the book. I didn' feel he loved the heroine. I didn't feel the chemistry between the main characters.
3. Another reason was, when you read a book, it is very important for me that the author describes very well the facial features and physical appearance of the characters, and that wasn't WHAT I found here, I could not imagine the features of the h/H in this novel. Sometimes I related the hero/heroine with an actor or actress, but I couldn't this time :/
4. The ending was so fast, I would like at the middle of the book, the heroine made him suffer, runaway or sth, or was cold with him sometimes but that didn't happen.
I feel that I don't want to read Annie West's books anymore

[KatieV · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved it up until the halfway point and then just liked. The H deserved more of a comeuppance and struggle than he got. Wow was he determined to hold onto his gold digger obsession! Even virginity wasn't a magic wand. Which, although I often enjoy the trope, I don't get how a hymen makes you a saint. I remember girls in high school (including myself) who were still virgins and managed to still have all sorts of faults and I don't remember anyone suddenly growing horns and a tail the moment they were "breached". One of the mysteries of the HP Greek Tycoon psyche I suppose. *shrugs*

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love asshole heroes in stories. It's a true sickness of mine. That's why it pains me so much to admit how much I loathed the hero in this one. Not only was Stavros a gigantic asshole, it was impossible to believe he could be an uber billionaire with how stupid he was. His line of thinking made ZERO sense, and he wasn't just an asshole, he was a tad abusive too. My asshole heroes have to have at least some redeeming quality to them, and this dude did NOT have that at all.

[willaful · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made my fabulous wallbanger shelf, not because the hero is monumentally dickish -- this is a modern Presents, so it's kept relatively tame -- but because he goes on being dickish for so long. It takes 152 pages for him to stop believing Tessa deliberately disrupted his life to try and get money out of him for purely mercenary reasons and to start believing she deliberately disrupted his life to try and get money out of him because after her hard life she needs security.

There's some excellent angst, an interestingly different backstory, and a good resolution, so I enjoyed it a lot.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay. The first half of the story was a bit weak. The hero is almost stupidly insistant on believing that the heroine is out to extort money from him. Any reasonably intelligent man would have given her some sort of credence especially after he finds out so many times that she wasn't lieing about whatever situation had just come up that he was accusing her over. The second half after they start a physical relationship is better. And he does do some decent groveling at the end.

[Booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa appears on the eve of Stavros Denakis engagement party and sets in motion a chain of events you won't want to miss

Stavros Denakis is the Greek alpha like no other who holds himself back when it comes to commitment and love. His father's past history with women have left him scared and resentful so when Tessa appears on his door step, he is not only furious but thinks she has an agenda. Tessa swears she is only here to return the "family" heirloom ring with the family crest.Is this really Tessa? The Tessa he married a few years ago and then he witnessed her accident and death? If this is his wife, then why after all of these years has she appeared on the eve of his engagement to another woman? Why now and where has she been? He is angry, intrigued and she still can make him crazy, peak his interest and cause him to feel desire in ways no other woman has ever touched him.

This is one intense love story,liked it and the best part of the book was Satvros had to grovel and he did a decent grovelling

Good read,not a keeper though

[Vintage · Rating 2 out of 5]

The hero, oy vey, the hero. He takes the sinister bad buy inner monologue to a new level. You know the one where in a glance they take a look at a SILENT young woman and psychically know that she is planning to cynically unman them, dismantle their multi-zillion empire and seduce daddy. Starvos is one of the worst I have come across. Even after they have sex and he knows she isn't a gold-digger he assumes she's in it for the minimal lifestyle. The h needs to get a good cast iron skillet and wham! Knock some sense into that Greek tycoon SOB.

Of course, the heroine could have been a little more clear, but I doubt it would do any good. The only save from a one star is when he wakes up, page 206 of 209 page book, he grovels like a dog.

Back to the plot: MOC heroine comes back from the dead during H's loveless engagement to the perfect Greek girl. Accusations fly like snow in January. Our hero traps said heroine until, well, he feels like it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hero Stavros is about to attend a party at his home where his engagement will be officially announced. Not that he is looking forward to it, after all it is simply a marriage for business purposes. However, he is shocked when he is informed that a woman called Tessa, the heroine, has turned up at his home. Four years ago Stavros had been doing aid work in a civil war torn country when he had heard about an Australian woman who had been imprisoned. In order to have her freed, he had pretended to be her fiancé and they married, however before they had a chance to leave a bomb had devastated the area and he believed Tessa had died. Stavros listens in horror as Tessa tells him about the last four years where she had been sheltered at a convent and has only now been able to escape. Tessa had been on her way back to Australia when she had seen an article in a magazine about the man whom saved her life whom she thought was dead. Stavros is stressed with the situation; he has a wife and a fiancée and no idea how to extract himself for either one. His frustration initially causes him to think that Tessa wants money and he makes it clear to her that she will get nothing from him. All Tessa had wanted was to thank him for saving her life and return a family heirloom of his she had kept with her all these years. Now she finds herself virtually trapped in his home while he tries to work out a way to divorce her. Neither of them are expecting the desire of want that flares up between them, nor are they expecting how much they would begin to care for one another.

Whew, this is a rollercoaster of a book. The premise is very original and quite brave of the author. In my opinion everything was very well executed; the writing is evocative and full of tension, plus there is plenty of compassion for both characters. The sexual chemistry between the hero and heroine virtually bounces off the pages. And the love story between them is believable.
The heroine Tessa is simply brilliant; she is so strong and positive even after all she has been through. I liked the hero, but I really wish that he didn't constantly think that the heroine is a gold digger. There was no reason for this to be included and it just seemed like the author used this as a way of getting even more conflict in the book.

Overall, this is a beautiful, intense and emotional book.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated giving this a 2 or a 3...... I finally went with a three, mostly because I liked the plot and the secondary characters..especially grandpa. I was surprised because Annie West usually delivers a much stronger heroine than she did here. Tessie Marlow just seemed a major contradiction. Though she was able to fight off guerilla warfare and survive a country in civil war, she couldn't stand up to Stavros?

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 star's for me.

Stavros was a real b*****d for 96 % of the book so could not award a higher rating.

[Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

There I was at 16% thinking the hero was in desperate need of therapy and that the grovel needed to be worthwhile.
I was disappointed about the lack of therapy and only vaguely satisfied with the grovel.
Overall it was fun-ish for HPlandia

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would definitely take off points because the hero is a mega-jerk. He is so hateful to Tessa. I can understand his cyncism about women, but it's almost like he was angry that Tessa hadn't died as he thought previously. I think that Tessa was remarkably tolerant of Stavros. I really wanted her to stab him with a fork. No matter what she did, he perceived it in the worst light. I'm assuming he was sleeping around with other women while she was gone, but it's not directly stated. In this case, I wouldn't hold that against him, per se, because he thought she was dead. My big issue is how he's such a tool to her when it's apparent she couldn't be more different from the women in his past and his father's ex-wives. This is one of those books where I wished that the heroine had really left him and he had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get her back. Not enough groveling for my tastes. I thought the imagery was good, and Stavros had a really dark aura that scared Tessa, what you'd expect from a hero who was a very bad man, not just a tool. That was kind of interesting. I really like Anne West's books. She's a good writer. The hero was just too mean for my tastes in this one.

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

He is too paranoid and she is too forgiving. Needed more grovel. Magic hymen is a bit outdated...

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a facepalm book. It has so many promising elements, and the writing isn't too bad at all. But it's just like...The hero believes the worst in every situation and in the face of REPEATED proof that he's wrong about the heroine!! If I'd been his dad I would have been like "I need to tell you something, son. It's a secret, come closer. Closer. *WHAP* Don't be such an idjit!!" It got three stars instead of two because facepalm books can be entertaining in their own right.

[Anne Griffin]

typical HP romance where better for heroine to have a hymen than a brainstem.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is also published on Always a Booklover.


This was a rather disappointing read. Thing is, it should have been great. It had everything a book needed – likable characters, good plot, hot hero (hehe), sexual tension, etc. But I didn’t like it. Perhaps it didn’t come together for me. On its own, they were all good. But together, it didn’t work very well. But then again, it could also be due to my mood. I doubt so though. I read it over a few sittings because I was kinda bored with it.

The characters were both rather likable most of the time. Stavros was a jerk at times. Super cynical and jaded. But I’m glad to say that love did change most of it. As for Tessa, I didn’t like her towards the end. Just because she was in love with him didn’t mean she had to be so clingy. Sometimes, you gotta make a stand. Sure, she wanted to stay with him because she felt that it was the only way she could have the love of her life by her side. But can she really settle for so little? And should she? I couldn’t like that part of her because she couldn’t move away, until it was too late.

As for the plot, overall it was good. I just didn’t feel anything for it. Maybe it was just not written well, in terms of the descriptions. I didn’t like the pace. Some parts were way too draggy and others too fast. When he found her I was so surprised because nothing was shown in between. I would have liked to see the pain that both of them experienced through their separation.

As for the love between the characters, I guess it was there. I just didn’t really feel it. Honestly though, I have no idea why she loves him. As in, her reasons for doing so don’t really make sense. Then again, love isn’t supposed to make sense right?

Now, this review is super difficult to write. Because in all honesty, I had no feelings for the book at all. There was no emotional connection between the characters and I, nothing that made me want to turn to the next page. Which was quite sad actually. At the beginning, it looked like it could be a good book! Oh well, it could also have been my mood, but I doubt so. So. All in all, a rather disappointing read.

[Susan in Perthshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m catching up on this author’s back catalogue and it’s fascinate to see her journey as a writer. Her ability to create engaging and fascinating characters and execute perfect plot lines is so good today but this book shows how far she’s come.
The premise is brilliant. Marriage of convenience 4 years earlier ended in heroine’s death (or so the hero thought.)

Now Tessa who was saved by a nun is free to leave unspecified South American country, and fly to Greece to thank hero and return his ring before going home to Australia.(Some diversion!)

Unfortunately she lands on the very day Stavros is announcing his betrothal and he assumes she’s there to cause trouble extort money and generally behave in a thoroughly bad way. There is no evidence shown to explain why he immediately leaps to that conclusion about Tessa, nor why he feels it necessary to behave in a little late and unpardonably cruel, vicious and aggressive way.

If this was simply an initial reaction it might of been understandable but he continues like this for pages and pages and pages. No matter how often his suspicions are proven wrong, he continues with this ridiculous suspicious and cruel behaviour. When they finally have sex of course he discovers she’s a virgin and suddenly he realises she’s not what he thought she was. He is a bully, his behaviour verges on the controlling, abusive mode and. Yet Tessa is turned on? Ugh - no!
Because he’s such a jerk, I really couldn’t understand what Tessa saw in him, other than a good looking man to have sex with.

This author normally creates such fabulous heroes: well rounded and three-dimensional with flaws and weaknesses, but also full of great positive qualities. Stabros is not one of them.

Equally Tessa was hard to understand. It was hard to believe that when Stavros offered her almost everything she wanted, she to choose to run away rather than stay and hope that love would develop.

This was well written and had some beautiful scenes, set pieces and dialogue in it. But it wasn’t one of her best and I’m so pleased at how her skills have developed over the years.

[Tonya Warner]

Stavros Denakis had just announced his engagement when Tessa Marlowe apprears on the scene. The woman he had married to save from prison in a foreign country. The woman he had believed dead for the last four years. He can only believe she is after money from him because that is what his life experience has been.



Tessa had struggled for four years trying to escape from a country in crisis, dreaming of the man who she believed pretended to marry her for her to escape. Told she was the only one to survive the mortar blast, she built her dreams to help her go on, around Stavros. Finding him alive, she sets out to return to him his family ring. Finding the man of her dreams in reality angry and suspicious, she tries to ignore his cruel barbs aand not become a victim again.



As Stavros learns more and more about this woman who is his wife, he tries to fight the feelings she invokes. Deciding he wants her to remain his wife, he neglects telling her he loves her and has to find her again.



A very nice story.

[Jen - Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
The hero is really crass at times and I had a lot of trouble liking him pretty much throughout the whole book until the last couple of chapters. The heroine , well, I'm not really into malnutritioned, bony women but she had some redeeming qualities.
It's really the last chapter that sealed it for me as a 3.5 star rating. Stavros has to apologise more than once and make proper amends to his wife. I found this chapter and what was said very touching.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one- loads of angst which I like to see in my Harlequins :)

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it, the plot was too static and the characters were not compelling at all.

[Anuradha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just one more of those cliched , over-the-top ones. Tycoon hero, destitute virgin heroine.

He suspects her to be a gold digger from Page 1 to Page 199. He fumes and frets about his suspicions. And in between the raging hormones and bulging trousers carry on with their own story. So every page alternate between some macho, tycoon talk and randy sexual reactions.

She for her part is a mousy rabbit for half the time when he shouts. And the remaining time, she is equally randy and desperate for DOING IT.

So the taunts continue, but the sex continues too. Till she realises that the book is almost over, its time to bring in the 'LOVE' word. So the girl runs away and hides (in her father-in-law's home !). And our despo hero misses her and immediately discovers that it was LOVE all along.

The one redeeming aspect of the story was the premise on which this unlikely couple were married in the first place. She was stuck in prison in small town Mexico, as she got caught unawares in a civil war. Our man was there for some diamond mining business, he is a world renowned jeweler you see.

He does the gallant thing, marries her in Mexico and saves her from prison. Then they get separated during the war times. He thinks she is dead, she thinks he is dead.

4 years later, when she figures out who her rescuer is, she decides to come over to meet him. No, not to take up on the marital offer. Just to say Thanks !

And the fellow is getting engaged to a convenient socialite (an OW who just gets a passing mention) on that very same day.

Because the wifey has turned up on just the exact day of his proposed engagement, he is extra suspicious of her motives. He is convinced, she is the gold digger type, out to milk him.

Easy read, just skip the excessive mumbo jumbo about his suspicions and his lusty thoughts. Because that's just way too repetitive in the book. Then you'll be done in 30 min !

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eeep, liked this one, especially after the stupid hero got over the 'she's only after my money trip'. Dude. Chill the hell out, you are so fucking repetitive and shallow. If we could swap out the hero.....we got a five star book! Liked the heroine a lot! The original reason for marriage was not explained fully or how they got separated afterward. The hero doesn't believe a damn word the heroine says for 3 quarters of the book. Listen dude, wait til she ACTUALLY lies to you before calling her a liar. Moron. The hero's only backstory is that he has had 3 gold digging stepmother and gold diggers chase him... not very deep. But after the hero got his head out of his ass, the book's plot got to continue. I think if the fiancé got tossed back in to cause trouble that would have been fun. Like the heroine so so much, she has seen some shit, and lived to actual war and government upheaval that makes her a freaking badass. Of course the hero botches his 'lets just stay married' speech, but makes up for it later.

[Patty Duplechin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annie west is an amazing author. Tessa Marlowe meet Starvos Denakis when he saved her just before a civil war broke out. He hadn’t seen her in four years because he thought she died. It took her that long to escape from there. Starvos isn’t sure that she showed up to blackmail him. He doesn’t trust women. Unbeknown to her, they were married. All she wants is to return his ring and make a life for herself in Australia. Will they get a divorce? Will he ever believe her, that all she wants to forward? They do have chemistry. Will they go their separate ways? Will they get to know each other and know they have more in common? Everyone loves her. I loved this story. Thank you, Annie

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. The H married the h in some country in South America where there was a rebellion, married her to save her from jail, then there was an explosion and he thinks she’s dead. She was only hurt, and after 4 years she came back to thank him. He thinks she’s a gold digger, but eventually, even if he is dumb and thick, he understands she’s a cute and lovely person, and falls in love with her. Nice reading, the hero is stupid and slow but anyway this seems to be a characteristic of all HP heroes.

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife" is the story of Tessa and Stavros.

On the eve of his engagement, the hero discovers the woman he married in name only is alive.. and that he left her in a war torn country. Basically, he spends majority of the book being suspicious of her intentions, and then eating her words.
Now I loved how honest the heroine was, and her relationship with his father. The book would have been perfect if she had fought him harder (and the author had made her win atleast ONE battle).

Not bad.

SWE hero's safety during separation unknown
3/5

[May Grider · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I didn’t even get very far and would not normally have chosen a star rating, but what I did read was just horrible. Why is the heroine turned on by the looming violence of this macho man? (All adjectives actually applied by the author to her hero.). I felt it was the opening of some dark torture fantasy.
I think I’ve read one of hers from the late 2010’s and it was better. Wish I’d marked it on GR, because I don’t think I can read this author again.

[Connie Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book in an awesome setting. The characters were real to life, and I enjoyed the twist and turns in the plot