I read this book in two days it wasn't great but neither was it horrible; the main characters Lucien and Tara weren't the most exciting people.
The plot of the story is Tara and Lucien met through their siblings, Lucien's brother and Tara's sister who is out to land a wealthy guy, drags 18 yr old Tara along on a double date to distract and entice Lucien, while her sister workers on the younger brother. Tara who is painfully shy, with low self-esteem and always comparing her weight and appearance to her "prettier, slimmer older sister", she practically hero worshiped her and was willing to do anything to gain her older sister's approval.
Lucien the jaded aristocrat is attracted to Tara and takes a liking to her, all the while being aware of her sister's gold-digging motives and also suspecting Tara of being in cahoots with her, despite misgivings on both sides the two share a mutual attraction that leads to a one night stand, that leaves the young and impressionable (now no longer a virgin) Tara with the notion that she is in love with Lucien. I don't understand because he never gave any indication that he felt anything for her outside of lust, and to make matters worse he leaves money beside the bed after its all said and done, apparently enough cash for Tara to put herself through school to pursue a degree in childcare.
Fast forward two years later both Tara and Lucien's siblings are married to one another, had a child and now are both died, leaving their child orphaned. Tara is now 20 yrs old and in care of her infant niece. Lucien has come back into her life after two years of no contact, only to claim custody of their niece and also believing that Tara has slept with his deceased brother, a claim that was made by Tara's sister sometime with in the intervening years.
Within hours of reuniting Tara and Lucien jump back into bed together, he still holding her in a mixture of lustful contemptuous feeling and not much else, meanwhile she's still harboring this delusion of unrequited love. After some initial bickering and bulling on Lucien's part they come to the conclusion that Tara should temporarily move into Lucien's home to make the transition of custody smoother for their niece.
For the rest of the book Tara attempts to find some self-esteem while Lucien flat out tells her he doesn't and can't love her, but he is willing to make her his mistress until he decides to marry someone he deems suitable for the role of his wife and countess.
I think being that the heroine was so much younger than the hero these two were mismatched from the start. The heroine's naïve and dogged determination to find the good in people who constantly emotionally abuse and use her, from her sister, brother-in-law and Lucien, it all got on my nerves. Also, her willingness to accept whatever was dished out to her while fully realizing she was being treated like a doormat, but still allowing it was plain annoying after the first few chapters.
The bullying personality of Lucien's character was all that was his substance he had no redeeming qualities, although the author tried her best to make him sound like "little boy lost" which I guess was suppose to explain and excuse his actions towards Tara. I didn't get the impression he cared about her outside the bedroom. Their happily ever after didn't ring true to me, not to mention there were so many gasps in the story. I never understood why Tara's sister accused her of sleeping with her husband. This was not one of Susan Stephens best work, I've read better from her
