Desperation forced Miranda to encamp for the night in Jason Steele's luxurious office suite; unfortunately he returned unexpectedly and found her there—and was far from pleased! In fact, after the unholy row that ensued she certainly never dreamed that in spite of everything, in a few short months she would be his wife. For Jason Steele was reputed to be a rake where women were concerned, and he never made any secret of the fact that he preferred an affair to marriage every time. So what chance was there of lasting happiness for Miranda with a man who professed to scorn 'a scared little innocent straight out of a Victorian sermon'? And besides, there was the shadow of Lissa…
Margery Hilton and her husband worked in the theater and in wasn't until she had to retire from her job due to a back injury, which also prevented her from doing any housework. So she had time to settle down to serious writing.
The heroine, Miranda, was an orphan who grew up by a strict and puritan maiden Aunt who gave her similar upbringing somewhere in the country. Upon the Aunt's death Miranda ( 19 ) moved to London and got a secretarial job at a big company. She moved in with three other girls who were morally liberated and from time to time they would have sexually permissive parties which Miranda detested as she possessed deep rooted moral values.
The Hero Jason ( 37 ) was the owner and CEO of the company Miranda was employed to, a very important and powerful man. He had just break up with his current girlfriend, a model, as he had discovered that she was two timing him. Angry and betrayed he headed for his office that night feeling frustrated with the female gender as this was the 3rd woman who have betrayed him to date, one way or another.
That same night Mirandas roomates were, once again, having one of their notorious parties so she decided to spend the night at the company building and specifically in the CEO'S office.
The H found a girl he never saw before camping in his office and he got annoyed and angry. Miranda told him about her impossible situation and that she had a choice of his office or the streets that night as she didn't have money to get overnight accommodation.
The H needing a diversion from his problems took her out to dinner. He got impressed by her youthful and idealistic views about eternal love, marriage and children as well as her undeniable moral values that were so hard to find. He himself was jaded and cynical about these concepts as he got burnt before. He would later get a room for her at a Hotel.
As he arrived home he received a phone call from Lissa. Lissa was a woman he had a year long affair with which jilted him and married his friend. It was a big blow for him one he didn't manage to get over yet. Lissa asked to visit him that night with the veiled promise for " more ". Feeling very low emotionally he thought that's what he needed. They spend the night together. Poor cuckolded new husband of Lissa and friend of Jason!
A few weeks later Miranda offered repayment to him for the Hotel fee and a few weeks after that he instigated a meeting as he wanted to inquire why she didn't let the company know she had change houses. Apparently he tried to visit her at her old residence for some reason and couldn't find her there.
Some time passed and one night the H offered the h a lift home. He had just come back from a trip abroad and she invited him in for a meal. They ate, talked and as the H was so tired fell asleep on the armchair. He woke up after midnight and after an unpleasant scene with the landlady the H asked her to marry him. By this time Miranda was in love with him but she did not believe he was in love with her.
She was reluctant to accept his proposal but he convinced her with promises of a home of her own, a family, offers of affection, tenderness and fidelity. He told her he wanted her and the besotted girl couldn't do anything but accept his proposal.
They dated for the next month and a few days before the wedding Miranda heard from the office grapevine that Jason was having an affair with a married woman which troubled her greatly. If she accused him she knew it would be the end of everything. Suppose she did walk out on him and later found it was just gossip? So she stayed put and went on with the wedding.
Many weeks passed and while the couple was getting along fine,Jason was working a lot and frequently going abroad on business. One day Miranda received a visit from a woman named Lissa. She invited her and Jason for dinner but when Miranda told him about it, he hit the fan and declared they are not going. She was puzzled about his dramatic and over the top reaction to the invite.
One day while Miranda was leafing through a magazine at a doctors waiting room, she discovered that the married woman Jason's name was linked to was Lissa. Tormented with suspicion, doubts and jealousy she wanted to trust Jason but her instinct told her that him and Lissa never ended despite the fact that each had chosen to marry another.
Jason took Miranda to a cabin in the woods for a week's holiday. During those calm days she found a new caramaderie with him. She had almost forgotten her doubts and she almost succeeded in banishing Lissa from her memory. Jason asked why, before their holiday, she seemed withdrawn. She wanted to tell him but she dared not. She still didn't know enough of him to predict the outcome.
A few weeks later the couple attended a big society party. Lissa and her husband attended also. At some stage Miranda lost truck of her husband so she stepped out into the vast garden. She spotted Jason and Lissa behind the hedge. Lissa was asking him if he was in love with his little wife and he evaded to answer. Lissa remarked that his marriage was the perfect smokescreen. Miranda fled the scene but not before her husband spotted her.
Back at home he told her that if she stayed a little longer she might have heard him telling Lissa that the affair was over, for good. He told her about his history with the OW and that she had gotten under his skin. He told her about the night they spend together at his home ( the night he caught Miranda in his office) . He was feeling wretched that night due to his break up with the model and he succumbed to Lissa. He was in love with Lissa at the time.
After that Lissa continued to pursue him, he was tempted, but he had avoided her. He wondered if she would cuckold him as well if he had married her, the same way she had cuckolded her husband. He told Miranda that he had never been unfaithful since their marriage. He accused her of not trusting him and that made him feel angry and disappointed. She accused him of only marrying her in order to sleep with her. He replied that he had married her on impulse and on the rebound.
The next few days the rift between them yawned wide and deep. One morning Jason appeared with a suitcase. He was off to a business trip and told her that once back they would have to talk. Miranda was sure he was going to ask for a divorce.
The day he was flying back there was a serious bomb scare on his plane. When long after the situation was resolved safely and the two of them were alone, Jason told her that he loved her. She didn't believe him as he already said he loved Lissa and he had married her on the rebound. He said he LOVED HER not Lissa and he was not entirely truthful when he said those things. He was angry and disappointed that she didn't trust him and he hit back.
He had found in Miranda the ideal kind of love that he had turn his back on due to the bad experiences he had with women in the past. He wanted to have Mirandas trust and he got angry when he realised that he hadn't got it. Now been forced to face eternity ( due to the bomb threat) he let go of his pride and faced reality that Miranda was his true love. I wasn't entirely convinced that Miranda wast second best but the author wants us to believe that she wasn't so l would go along.
While I agree with other reviewers that the end was a bit, shall we say, contrived (but certainly nothing unusual in the realms of HRlandia), I thought this was a surprisingly modern take for a romance written in 1973. The writing is straightforward and skilled (in a sea of lurid purple from quite the crop of other HR writers of this time), and the take on marriage is relatively modern (in some ways) and hard-nosed. The story itself manages to convey the zietgeist of the early 70s (the heroine meets her company-head-honcho-hero when she bunks down in his office to escape her hippie roommates' "love in," hee, and the cocktails and cigarettes are consumed with abandon throughout), but for all that, it doesn't come off as particularly dated. There's a strong sense of the rapid societal changes that are changing marriage and relationships in general, which makes for interesting subtext.
It's a story of love and trust (or the lack thereof) that occur when two relative strangers marry. The hero makes no bones about the fact that he's marrying the heroine because he wants her and can't get her any other way. She's at least infatuated to begin with, and they rub along well enough until uncertainty and distrust rear their ugly heads. Our hero is abrupt and hard-edged and something of a closed-down jerk, but as alpha heroes of the times go, he's actually not so bad. The heroine is not a dimwit or a Mary-Sue, and she's not afraid to speak her piece when it's merited. I liked her. I wanted them to work out. Of course that's a given. But I bought the HEA, or at least HFN.
For those who keep score: the hero does sleep with his married ex-lover at least once (before he meets the heroine) and it's your call as to whether you believe his claims of fidelity otherwise (I did, but I'm an easy mark for HP/HR vintage alpha heroes).
Overall, I really enjoyed this for a very different take on 1973 than I usually get from vintage authors I read (e.g., Betty Neels/Violet Winspear).
I could have lived without reading this book again but unfortunately I did. I had forgotten what a jerk the hero was. The Hero meets the h in his office one night where she is hiding out and takes her to a hotel since her roommates were throwing a 'sex' party and she couldn't go home. After that he hooks up with a married woman that he has been in love with forever. The very same night too. He asks the h to marry him a little bit later and I thought it was a coverup for his affair with the slutty OW! She was clueless though and loved him and he was big bad and mysterious and it was just so boring. On the night before her wedding she hears that he is having an affair with the married woman. She is stunned but goes on with the marriage but is very nervous and sad. On the Wedding night the H is a complete jerk and tells her to just go to sleep. He wants a seasoned performer in his bed and not a virgin. Did I say how charming he was? Yuk. Eventually they do the deed and she is overcome with the wonderful post coital glow and is totally in love-lust. The OW visits the house and checks out the wife and then there is his working late every night and the h is positive that the H is sharing that post coital glow with someone else. He is a jerk and honestly I was over him. I wanted her to run off with the maid, Libby, and live happily ever after in the ottage in the hills and sing and dance and fish. But no there is more drama with an overheard conversation between the H and the OW at the party, a bomb on a plane and then yippee we have an HEA. I definitely have no good words for this book and I wish I hadn't read it again. Now i will never forget it. Just say no. Did I mention how boring it was?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Terrible story of a cold, cynical asshole who marries a little country mouse on the rebound from the many sophisticated mistresses who keep jilting him. He had no respect for his wife and was cruel to her. He also cuckolded his friend. The guy was totally morally bankrupt. Thankfully, his wife was SUCH a ninny, she swallowed all his bullshit denials of unfaithfulness. Author brought this horrible story to conclusion with a cockamamie "bomb-on-the-hero's-plane" episode that was the catalyst for their dubious HFN.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was disappointed by the book,the characters were shallow and h Miranda is TSTL and Jason is a selfish shallow jerk with no morals,disliked him very much
Jason must say a jerk who is always running behind Lissa who is married to his friend Charles,once Jason-Lissa were lovers but Lissa choose Charles over Jason which hurts Jason ,he starts going out n sleeping with many woman,Jason now has broken up with his recent fling Carolina same night Lissa calls n on phone itself hints out wht she wants Sex with him ,he is so happy and after doing the deed he suddenly has Guilt attack how can he betray his friend Charles n is disgusted with himself then he also has eyes on Miranda who he met same night in his office and decides to get married to her,she agrees
Lissa keeps coming whole town knows Jason going around with married woman Lissa but our Miranda does'nt has a clue she only knows that woman but does'nt knows her name n face then she comes to know n confronts Jason he says yes i married u on rebound n when Miranda hears a interlude between Lissa-Jason which indicates they are still having their affair going on,Miranda runs away but Jason-Lissa come to know and Jason is angry with Miranda for spying on him n they have a fight he says he made it clear to Lissa he does'nt wants to do anything with her n all
Later a Jason leaves,Miranda goes to meet some relative n s small incident bomb on plane makes both of them confess their feelings
I found this entertaining with the fun meet-cute and the OW drama. I’m a sucker for a romance between the typing pool girl and the CEO.
I wish he’d been more intense and possessive. I wish there’d been some OM drama. It bugs me when the h spends most of the book ate up with jealousy and the H doesn’t have to feel a bit of that too. The ending was too abrupt… I’m not completely sure I believe he loves her. I needed more from him.
Από τα βιβλία που δυσκολεύομαι πολύ να βαθμολογήσω.Σαν ιστορία αγάπης ούτε 1 αστεράκι. Ενιωσα όμως τόσο έντονα τα συναισθήματα της πίκρας της απογοήτευσης και της αγανάκτησης παράπονο δεν έχω!!!Τέτοιο φαλλοκρατικό γουρούνι και τέτοια άβουλη άοσμη ηρωίδα είναι η δεύτερη φορά που συναντώ στα τόσα χρόνια που διαβάζω. .Με εξόργισε με έβγαλε έξω από τα ρούχα μου στην κυριολεξία.Λόγω των συναισθημάτων που βίωσα κατατάσσω αυτό το βιβλίο στα αξέχαστα και το βαθμολογώ με 3 αστεράκια.
There were so many bad reviews for this book that made think twice before reading it, but I'm glad I read it cause it was very good and I like it and I love the hero and heroine.
Is it possible to both like and dislike a book? Because that is how I feel about this one.
The plot is a good one. The author creating characters you can like or dislike. Written in 1974 the beliefs and actions of this story are bang on.
To me the main male character was a jerk. And I don't feel he redeemed himself. The female main character was portrayed typically of the decade it was written. Supporting characters were created with big personalities and added greatly to the story.
I'm keeping it on the safe side with 3 Stars because I can't remember much about it bc I read it years ago. Actually I changed my mind, I'm lowering it to 2 Stars bc I just remembered how the H was an ass and how he was cruel to the h.
صفر [ تربيع : ) ] هو تقييمي لهذه الروايه ، لا أذكر أنني قرأت روايه أسوء منها في حياتي كلها ! هذه الروايه لا تحمل فكره جديده ولا أسلوب جيد وذات نهايه متوقعه منذو أولى صفحاتها ، لا يوجد تشويق فأنت ستخمن بكل سهوله الاحداث القادمه بالإضافه الى أن حواراتها ممله وساذجه و ذات مستوى سهل يستطيع اي شخص أن يكتب مثله ، في الحقيقه لا أعلم كيف استطاع المترجم أن يضيع وقته في ترجمتها ! والأعظم أن نجد من يتكبد عناء نسخها ورفعها بعد قرائتها ويوصي بها ! عموماً لا أنصح بقرائتها مطلقاً فهي تفتقر لجميع عناصر الرواية الجيده ( أو حتى المقبوله ) !
ميرندا وردة ريفية بيضاء , جاءت إلي لندن لتعمل في شركة مديرها العام جايسون معروف بمغامراته العاطفية . الجميع يخافون جايسون وهو دائما على سفر , لكن الظروف تشاء أن يلتقيا , هي العذراء البريئة برأسها المليء بأخلاقيات وتقاليد تعتبرها المدينة الكبيرة بالية , وهو بسطوته وخبرته في المجال العاطفي .. وتلتمع بينهما تلك الشرارة الغامضة التي لا يستطيع مخلوق أن ينكر سلطتها على القلوب . لكن جايسون لا يبوح بحبه , وحتى بعد الزواج تبقي أشباح الماضي مخيمة على حياتهما . فهل تزوج جايسون لأنه سئم مطاردة النساء ,أم تراه حافظ على علاقة مشبوهة في الظل. حادث قنبلة في الطائرة العائدة به من إحدى رحلاته يكشف لميرا ندا كل الحقيقة.
I was disappointed by the lack of depth of any of the characters and the overly permissive nature of Miranda. It actually made me a bit frustrated to read this story.