What do you think?
Rate this book
Passionate Deception
It was a daring plan that backfired completely! Harriet Drummond, promising law student, caused a commotion the day she protested an expropriation bid by Lancaster International. Her antics landed her in the office of the company chairman, Jake Lancaster - and in a great deal of hot water. 'You are without a doubt the most extraordinarily irritating girl I've ever had the misfortune to meet!' he raged. But it was clear he found the exchange positively stimulating. And with phase two of her outrageous offensive set to roll, Harriet knew that the only thing in danger of expropriation was her heart.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Mary Lyons
129 books20 followersMary-Jo Wormell, whose nom de plume is Mary Lyons, was a popular British writer of over 40 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1983 to 2001. She was also a Conservative Party parlimentary candidate.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 5, 2016
Re Passionate Deception - well we have MORE naked women in H's bed's, but this time it isn't a wrecky angstfest, more like a riot with gerbils, English Sheepdogs and a very wise cracking parrot named Fred - Fred really should have gotten more page time, but he was a funny addition in spite of his limited appearances.
The story starts with the 22 yr. old heiress h (who has just finished law school and needs to decide where she wants to be articled to a solicitor at), in the meantime she lives in a low-rent flat during the week and volunteers at the local Law Centre where she champions the underdog and lower income people needing legal advice.
She has set up a peaceful picketing at a big conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting, because the company is using underhanded means to use expropriation (in the US it would be eminent domain,) to take over an entire neighborhood and tear the houses of the elderly residents down to put up flats instead. The h starts a big hubub with her placards and her outrageous dress style while pampleting the attendees.
The H is the CEO of the conglomerate and he is furious over the to-do. He tries to kick her off his property, but the police won't let him and the local TV station has shown up and he looks really bad, like an arrogant womanizing playboy (thanks to the h's signs,) while the h looks like a six ft tall Joan of Arc, (luckily the H is six four, so the height thing isn't an issue.)
Then the h changes clothes, jumps into a wheelchair as a disguise and attends the meeting-even tho the H barred her from entering. She owns a lot of shares in the company and during the meeting, she brings up the unethical behavior and gets it into the company minutes. But the H susses her out and has her hauled up to his office. He is infuriated with her, but attracted too. The h explains the sneaky doings his subsidiary company has been up to and the H promises to check it out.
The H gives her a ride home and the attraction is mutual, there is a passionate kiss, then the h reminds him of his fiancee - the H just recently got engaged and she doesn't mess around with taken men.
The h essentially lives two lives, her parents died and left her a ton of money in trust, she also has a huge house she hates, but since her somewhat avaricious aunt lives in it and would be homeless if the h moved out, she compromises by keeping her little flat close to school and only going back to the big house occasionally. Her aunt is a social climber of the worst sort, and keeps trying to marry the h off to one of the lower half of Debrett's.
The h is supposed to accompany her uncle to a formal London Guild dinner, she gets all dressed up and goes and the key speaker is the H. She manages to avoid him until the end of the evening. When he tries to waylay her, she comes across as an upper-class British Lady and pretends she doesn't know the H. She manages to escape, but she is nervous, she doesn't want the H to know what her background is, cause her aunt would try to bully and manipulate her more if the aunt knew how she lived in the other half of her life.
The h is very attracted to the H, but he is engaged, and while she accepts that, she still has a few little daydreams about him. Then she finds out he did not do as he said regarding the revamp of the elderly people's neighborhood. So she sets up delivery of a bunch of birds, cats and stout to the H's home, along with little notes about what the homeowner's will have to give up if the development plans go through.
The H was out of the country on business but as soon as he returns he rushes to see the h. He can't seem to stay away tho he swears after every encounter it is the last, and after meeting the h's animals there is an intense kissing moment on the h's couch - where Fred the parrot saves the day from full physical congress. The h manages to evade the H's advances after that and also warn him that since she thought he had lied about the housing development, she arranged a surprise for him at home.
The H is a bit leery of the h and her "surprises" and totally hits the roof when he gets home and his apartment is full of animals, he demands the h get them out of his home (with his very English butler in full commentary) and also demands the h go out with him Sunday to see the elderly lady his company wants to evict.
The H and h and the h's dog Montmorency all go out together and after visiting the h's elderly client, where the H promises to fix the situation, he and the h spend a day together at his country estate. The H is still engaged tho, and the h isn't interested, (well she is INTERESTED, but she isn't going to do anything about it but try to avoid his sneaky kisses.) The H then starts a big courtship campaign filled with roses, dog bones and tiny jade elephants in humongous packing crates.
The H also tells her he wants to end his engagement but it needs to be done in person and the fiancee is out of the country modeling, he only has a little time before his next big business trip, so he wants to platonically date the h. She agrees and they take each other all over London doing unusual touristy things.
Finally the H tells the h he broke his engagement, they go out and get caught in a storm and after getting back to his house, they wind up in bed. The H has to go into the office, so he gives the h his house keys and tells her to wait for him at home. She gets to his house and the ex-fiancee is naked in the H's bed. The ex tells the h that she was just a sub hitter and the h is hurt and confused and runs off to her cousin's farm in the country.
Three weeks later the H finally tracks her down, tells her his insane ex-fiancee lied her head off and avows true love forever, he figures they are a good match cause they are both huge banking heirs, she can tell him off and get away with it and she is the kind of girl his mum told him to find.
The h loves him back, all the animals will go live with them in their new house and the aunt can keep the old one. The H and h have to do serious negotiation over the "Obey" in the marriage ceremony, but the h is sure they can come up with a compromise and it is sunshine and roses in HPlandia once again.
This one was funny and the h was a riot, she was nice but pretty assertive and she got a few good jokes in on the H. He loosens up a lot over the course of the book, and there is some of his POV - which shows us just how in love with the h he really is. Give this one a go if you need a lift, it is funny and the HEA is believable too.
The story starts with the 22 yr. old heiress h (who has just finished law school and needs to decide where she wants to be articled to a solicitor at), in the meantime she lives in a low-rent flat during the week and volunteers at the local Law Centre where she champions the underdog and lower income people needing legal advice.
She has set up a peaceful picketing at a big conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting, because the company is using underhanded means to use expropriation (in the US it would be eminent domain,) to take over an entire neighborhood and tear the houses of the elderly residents down to put up flats instead. The h starts a big hubub with her placards and her outrageous dress style while pampleting the attendees.
The H is the CEO of the conglomerate and he is furious over the to-do. He tries to kick her off his property, but the police won't let him and the local TV station has shown up and he looks really bad, like an arrogant womanizing playboy (thanks to the h's signs,) while the h looks like a six ft tall Joan of Arc, (luckily the H is six four, so the height thing isn't an issue.)
Then the h changes clothes, jumps into a wheelchair as a disguise and attends the meeting-even tho the H barred her from entering. She owns a lot of shares in the company and during the meeting, she brings up the unethical behavior and gets it into the company minutes. But the H susses her out and has her hauled up to his office. He is infuriated with her, but attracted too. The h explains the sneaky doings his subsidiary company has been up to and the H promises to check it out.
The H gives her a ride home and the attraction is mutual, there is a passionate kiss, then the h reminds him of his fiancee - the H just recently got engaged and she doesn't mess around with taken men.
The h essentially lives two lives, her parents died and left her a ton of money in trust, she also has a huge house she hates, but since her somewhat avaricious aunt lives in it and would be homeless if the h moved out, she compromises by keeping her little flat close to school and only going back to the big house occasionally. Her aunt is a social climber of the worst sort, and keeps trying to marry the h off to one of the lower half of Debrett's.
The h is supposed to accompany her uncle to a formal London Guild dinner, she gets all dressed up and goes and the key speaker is the H. She manages to avoid him until the end of the evening. When he tries to waylay her, she comes across as an upper-class British Lady and pretends she doesn't know the H. She manages to escape, but she is nervous, she doesn't want the H to know what her background is, cause her aunt would try to bully and manipulate her more if the aunt knew how she lived in the other half of her life.
The h is very attracted to the H, but he is engaged, and while she accepts that, she still has a few little daydreams about him. Then she finds out he did not do as he said regarding the revamp of the elderly people's neighborhood. So she sets up delivery of a bunch of birds, cats and stout to the H's home, along with little notes about what the homeowner's will have to give up if the development plans go through.
The H was out of the country on business but as soon as he returns he rushes to see the h. He can't seem to stay away tho he swears after every encounter it is the last, and after meeting the h's animals there is an intense kissing moment on the h's couch - where Fred the parrot saves the day from full physical congress. The h manages to evade the H's advances after that and also warn him that since she thought he had lied about the housing development, she arranged a surprise for him at home.
The H is a bit leery of the h and her "surprises" and totally hits the roof when he gets home and his apartment is full of animals, he demands the h get them out of his home (with his very English butler in full commentary) and also demands the h go out with him Sunday to see the elderly lady his company wants to evict.
The H and h and the h's dog Montmorency all go out together and after visiting the h's elderly client, where the H promises to fix the situation, he and the h spend a day together at his country estate. The H is still engaged tho, and the h isn't interested, (well she is INTERESTED, but she isn't going to do anything about it but try to avoid his sneaky kisses.) The H then starts a big courtship campaign filled with roses, dog bones and tiny jade elephants in humongous packing crates.
The H also tells her he wants to end his engagement but it needs to be done in person and the fiancee is out of the country modeling, he only has a little time before his next big business trip, so he wants to platonically date the h. She agrees and they take each other all over London doing unusual touristy things.
Finally the H tells the h he broke his engagement, they go out and get caught in a storm and after getting back to his house, they wind up in bed. The H has to go into the office, so he gives the h his house keys and tells her to wait for him at home. She gets to his house and the ex-fiancee is naked in the H's bed. The ex tells the h that she was just a sub hitter and the h is hurt and confused and runs off to her cousin's farm in the country.
Three weeks later the H finally tracks her down, tells her his insane ex-fiancee lied her head off and avows true love forever, he figures they are a good match cause they are both huge banking heirs, she can tell him off and get away with it and she is the kind of girl his mum told him to find.
The h loves him back, all the animals will go live with them in their new house and the aunt can keep the old one. The H and h have to do serious negotiation over the "Obey" in the marriage ceremony, but the h is sure they can come up with a compromise and it is sunshine and roses in HPlandia once again.
This one was funny and the h was a riot, she was nice but pretty assertive and she got a few good jokes in on the H. He loosens up a lot over the course of the book, and there is some of his POV - which shows us just how in love with the h he really is. Give this one a go if you need a lift, it is funny and the HEA is believable too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2016
4 Stars ~ Harriet has just completed her law exams and works for a free legal aid organization in a downtrodden area of London. She has a generous heart, and when she hears poor Mrs. Peters plight with a mighty developer who is swindling her out of her home, Harriet can't help but take up her cause. Digging into Mrs. Peters claims, Harriet learns that the playboy tycoon, Jake Lancaster, owns the company that is evicting her client. Inspiring her friends to the cause, Harriet organizes a 4 person civil demonstration at the entrance of Lancaster International's office, where the Annual Meeting for the Shareholders is about to take place. Arriving directly from the airport, a very jet-lagged Jake is not too pleased to see all the commotion outside his building. To further infuriate him is the six foot Amazon beauty handing out pamphlets denouncing his company as morally bankrupt. His own attempt to defuse the growing confusion at his door, finds Jake losing his cool, and wanting to throttle the woman who's quick wit and sparkling eyes has his pulse racing. And so begins "Jake Lancaster's come-uppance".
I found this to be a hilarious merry-go-round ride for both Jake and Harriet. Jake's mother wished him a woman who "would ruffle his feathers" and she sure got that wish in Harriet! From the first pages these two can't help but get under the other's skin. Their's is an instant attraction with sparks a plenty. Harriet's compunction to get into trouble, even with the best of intentions, has Jake ready to blow gaskets and planning his retaliation. This is a fun, quick read with wonderful characters and laugh out loud dramedy. I'm enjoying Ms. Lyons tongue in cheek sense of humour.
I found this to be a hilarious merry-go-round ride for both Jake and Harriet. Jake's mother wished him a woman who "would ruffle his feathers" and she sure got that wish in Harriet! From the first pages these two can't help but get under the other's skin. Their's is an instant attraction with sparks a plenty. Harriet's compunction to get into trouble, even with the best of intentions, has Jake ready to blow gaskets and planning his retaliation. This is a fun, quick read with wonderful characters and laugh out loud dramedy. I'm enjoying Ms. Lyons tongue in cheek sense of humour.
August 30, 2023
3.5
The h, Harriet, is an orphaned heiress living a bit of a double life, volunteering at a legal advice centre, staying in a flat next to a massage parlour with an old English sheepdog called Montmorency, a parrot and a cockatoo. She first meets the H, American businessman Jake when she leads a protest outside the London AGM of one of his companies and then dons a wig and wheelchair disguise to question him inside. There's instant attraction, despite Jake already having a model fiancee. There isn't a lot of angst, bar the required black moment when she finds naked model in his bed, but there's a bit of screwball pranking and a lot of passionate kissing. They do have sex when he says he's broken off his engagement. Or has he? Anyway, his definition of the meaning of an engagement does not chime with mine. Nevertheless in the circumstances I probably would have as well. He was very rich and very tempting 😂
The h, Harriet, is an orphaned heiress living a bit of a double life, volunteering at a legal advice centre, staying in a flat next to a massage parlour with an old English sheepdog called Montmorency, a parrot and a cockatoo. She first meets the H, American businessman Jake when she leads a protest outside the London AGM of one of his companies and then dons a wig and wheelchair disguise to question him inside. There's instant attraction, despite Jake already having a model fiancee. There isn't a lot of angst, bar the required black moment when she finds naked model in his bed, but there's a bit of screwball pranking and a lot of passionate kissing. They do have sex when he says he's broken off his engagement. Or has he? Anyway, his definition of the meaning of an engagement does not chime with mine. Nevertheless in the circumstances I probably would have as well. He was very rich and very tempting 😂
January 23, 2016
Totally hilarious!
October 30, 2012
I really liked the heroine in this book. She is smart, funny and very warm hearted. She rescues animals and people and is sometimes outrageous in her efforts.
This book started out good but kind of bogged down in the middle. It is still definitely a good read
This book started out good but kind of bogged down in the middle. It is still definitely a good read
June 25, 2024
Copyright 1986. This was in my mom's book collection. I've read some Harlequins & decided to give it a read.
I'm not sure if this is considered a contemporary romance as it's now 38 years old.
My God WHO is Mary Lyons? She wrote a lot of Harlequins back in the day. She obviously had a dictionary/thesaurus right by her writing desk. Flowery descriptions. Unintentionally funny. The Hero has long mahoghany colored thighs. He also throws words like peripatetic in general conversation. He says hmm? after every other sentence, which is enough to be annoying.
He's a hard businessman & ruthless, but discovers he CAN fall in love. Of course he's also engaged to another woman while he's romancing the heroine. She's slightly bothered by that!
The heroine is a young dumbass who passes her Bar with "flying colors", yet comes up with very juvenile antics to get revenge on the hero for being a hard businessman & throwing old ladies out on the street to further his evil business plans.
Very poor writing. This might have been a standard back in the 70's & 80s. I finished it, but it was a chore to do it!
I'm not sure if this is considered a contemporary romance as it's now 38 years old.
My God WHO is Mary Lyons? She wrote a lot of Harlequins back in the day. She obviously had a dictionary/thesaurus right by her writing desk. Flowery descriptions. Unintentionally funny. The Hero has long mahoghany colored thighs. He also throws words like peripatetic in general conversation. He says hmm? after every other sentence, which is enough to be annoying.
He's a hard businessman & ruthless, but discovers he CAN fall in love. Of course he's also engaged to another woman while he's romancing the heroine. She's slightly bothered by that!
The heroine is a young dumbass who passes her Bar with "flying colors", yet comes up with very juvenile antics to get revenge on the hero for being a hard businessman & throwing old ladies out on the street to further his evil business plans.
Very poor writing. This might have been a standard back in the 70's & 80s. I finished it, but it was a chore to do it!
November 11, 2019
It was a daring plan that backfired completely!
Harriet Drummond, promising law student, caused a commotion the day she protested an expropriation bid by Lancaster International.
Her antics landed her in the office of the company chairman, Jake Lancaster - and in a great deal of hot water. 'You are without a doubt the most extraordinarily irritating girl I've ever had the misfortune to meet!' he raged. But it was clear he found the exchange positively stimulating.
And with phase two of her outrageous offensive set to roll, Harriet knew that the only thing in danger of expropriation was her heart. (le
Harriet Drummond, promising law student, caused a commotion the day she protested an expropriation bid by Lancaster International.
Her antics landed her in the office of the company chairman, Jake Lancaster - and in a great deal of hot water. 'You are without a doubt the most extraordinarily irritating girl I've ever had the misfortune to meet!' he raged. But it was clear he found the exchange positively stimulating.
And with phase two of her outrageous offensive set to roll, Harriet knew that the only thing in danger of expropriation was her heart. (le
January 6, 2026
Like always with Mills and Boon novels there are no surprises. Similar formula each time: enemies to lovers, HEA, age gap, that kind of thing. But it's cute and fast paced and I like that.
The MMC and FMC were well written, and Mary did a good job of actually giving them personalities and a touch of character development within 180 pages.
I enjoyed the choice of conflict and how it was resolved and the splashes of banter here and there. Gave it three stars only because of the type of book it is. Had it been a full-length novel with more depth to the complications and wider character involvement it would be a great novel I reckon.
The MMC and FMC were well written, and Mary did a good job of actually giving them personalities and a touch of character development within 180 pages.
I enjoyed the choice of conflict and how it was resolved and the splashes of banter here and there. Gave it three stars only because of the type of book it is. Had it been a full-length novel with more depth to the complications and wider character involvement it would be a great novel I reckon.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews