365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #106

Reckless Night in Rio - Jennie Lucas
Mills and Boon Modern
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2011
ISBN: 9780263886733





My rating





From the back cover:

"‘All you need to do is...pretend to love me.’
The task should be easy for Laura Parker – after all, Gabriel Santos is outrageously good-looking, it’s for one night only, and he is offering her a million dollars...
There are just three things to consider, however:
1. They’ve already had one steamy, unforgettable night together in Rio.
2. Laura’s been in love with Gabriel ever since.
3. Gabriel’s never wanted children, but he’s not aware he’s the father of Laura’s baby..."

I was looking forward to reading this latest offering from Jennie Lucas. I have always liked her books and this is another enjoyable read.

The heroine Laura is shocked when her former boss Gabriel, the hero, turns up at her sisters wedding. They parted company nearly two years ago after they spent the night together. Laura had been in love with Gabriel for 5 years and was devastated when he shunned her the next day, and went back home never telling Gabriel she had his baby. Gabriel let Laura go as he felt she deserved more than he could ever give her but he hasn't been able to stop thinking about her. Now, Gabriel is in the middle of a very important business deal that is being threatened by a clingy ex-lover. He asks that Laura comes back to Rio with him to pretend to be fiancée for a short time in order to stop the advances from the ex-lover so that the business deal goes through. He offers Laura a large sum of money and she reluctantly agrees, her fears over what Gabriel will do when he finds out about the baby seem unnecessary when Gabriel doesn't realise it's his. Once in Rio, Laura tries to ignore the desire between, while Gabriel realised that he doesn't want to ever let Laura go, but he can never truly love her.

This is, once again, a brilliant book from Jennie Lucas. I do think this one is less 'dark' than her usual style but it still had some very deep emotional moments. I liked that it had a different spin on the secret baby plot, with Gabriel not realising it was his baby, this certainly kept me interested.
The pace of this book is just right, and the honesty with which the characters are written really helps the developing relationship feel very real.

A great book.

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