'Go to hell, Joe Jordan,' she whispered. 'And don't expect me to do the dishes!' 

This had even more of a dated feel than its published 2000 date, more of a '80s feel. The setting of the Outback was fun and the dog Meg was cute but overall, was pretty slow plodding. The hero and heroine had a tendency to call each other by their first and last names, supposed to be sassy communication between each other, that didn't really work for me. With the set-up of heroine's sister wanting a baby with hero and thinking they had a sexual relationship for more than half the book, it was hard for me to connect, especially with heroine trying her hardest to be standoffish. Meh feeling except for different outback location.

I wasn't sure I liked this book very much initially. It's a bit on the dry side. Lucy comes off as very young, which isn't intrinsically bad, but it's harder to believe in the love story between her and Justin, who is 10 years older and seems like he's robbing the cradle. It's like he can't decide whether to treat her like his teenaged ward or his adult wife. and Lucy seems to take her cues from him, not to mention feeling resentful for being trapped in a loveless marriage.

However, with time, my opinion did improve of this novel. I think it still feels a bit coming of age, and at the same time, it's about a marriage of convenience which slowly and convincingly becomes a love match. I will say that the last ten-fifteen pages were the strongest part of the book. I gained needed clarity on what Lucy's issues were and how Justin felt for her. I don't mind how older Harlequin Presents don't show you what the hero is thinking. I think it's sort of like a love mystery, trying to guess the hero's feelings based on his behavior. In this case, you don't really know where you stand with Justin. I did believe he had feelings for Lucy, but I didn't see much intensity from him. And while I thought he was completely over his ex, apparently he hadn't moved on 100% emotionally until he realized what he felt for Lucy.

I like my Harlequin Presents emotionally intense and with plenty of drama and angst. This one didn't have quite enough of any of those for my tastes. However, the writing was good enough that I did feel that it deserves more than 3 stars. I'll settle for 3.25/5.0 stars.

nice

3.5 stars...ok, 4

Spoilers, spoiler, spoilers. Reading this review will take away all the surprise. Just letting you know.

Some of this story I still haven't wrapped my head around. It's strange. I don't know how I feel about it.

If you read the first couple of pages, you'll come up on how the heroine knocks on a random door as part of her job and is greeted by a sexy woman in a man's shirt...the heroine's husband's shirt to be exact. Sooo, she hasn't seen him in three years. It's still his shirt. And yes, they did it. But you know this right out from the gate so you know if you want to flounce or not. Gotta give kudos on that, right? Of course, I continued to read.

The majority of the first half of the story is told as a flashback. Apparently our little miss married the H under false pretenses when she was a innocent 19 to his worldly 32 as part of a revenge plot the H enacted on her father. When she finds out, she splits soon after (after adding insult to injury) and stays gone for three years until that opening scene.

The rest is the fallout of them finding an excuse for getting back together and the trials and tribulations involved with that.

Something really weird about this story? The OW. She plays matchmaker, which is kinda creepy. You can be too close, you know. Yeah, she screwed him but it was just a comforting f**k among friends. Hmm. Makes you wonder what they'll be up to next time they do lunch, right?

To add to the fun, he's also had sex another time or two the last couple of years. Not with the friendly OW, other ones...but it didn't mean anything. Hmm. I do recognize that she left him but, hey, he was using her to get even with her dad and then on top of that she caught him sucking face with some chick on the porch after finding this out. Of course she's gonna leave. I don't know if I'm perversely thrilled or disgusted that he couldn't keep it in his pants, because he was actually a nice guy. A very much in love, forgivable, whoredog of a hero.

So, this was a fabulous angsty, sneaky bastard, cheater/but-it-didn't-mean-anything, payback is a biach, satisfying grovel kind of story. If you like those kind of stories, you'll love this one.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the copyright date on this was 1986. It has such a restrained, old-fashioned feel to it and the difficult boss/feisty secretary relationship feels right out of the 1930s. I hadn't yet gotten to the love scenes between the unmarried couple, or the heroine's stand on disarmament, but I might have guessed the real date anyway just from the gently lovely feel of the book by its end. The 1980s were really the Golden Age of Harlequin Presents, both for the intense stories, and the quieter, sweet ones like this.