Krentz is a successful romance writer because her formula is not the standard I hate you then I love you set up. Her characters know what they want, it just takes them some time to get there. The same stands here. Our hero & heroine are involved from the get-go so you don't have that "will they, won't they" tension...they already have! In this book, the hero's got the big secret, however, Ms. Krentz doesn't drag it out all the way to the end until you're ready to scream, "Just tell her!". She lets it go early and then our hero spends the rest of the book paying for it. However, she added a little twist to the "big" secret that makes it a little more interesting and our hero gets screwed (figuratively, not literally) even more than he thought he was going to originally, once the secret came out to his ladylove! Its interesting to see how he handles it. As usual, one of the pair is flashy, outspoken & confrontive, while the other is elegant, subdued & withdrawn. However, this is at least my 15th Krentz book and the formula still works for me. Go read it.