I have been waiting for nearly a year for Tiarnan and Kate's story. Tiarnan is the older half-brother of Sorcha Murphy who is the heroine in the book "Brought for the Frenchman's Pleasure" also by Abby Green; Kate is also Sorcha's BFF. I was really intrigued by the under current relationship that you get a glimpse of in Sorcha's story. In Mistress to a Merciless Millionaire, the story picks up where the first one left off, Kate and Tiarnan are at Sorcha and Romain's child's christening, once again Kate is put in a situation were she can't avoid being in the same room as Tiarnan even though she would like to wish herself on the other side of the world from him. Tiarnan and Kate have a bit of a history that started when she was 18yrs old and he 28, where they shared a very passionate kiss that nearly led to something more, unfortunately/fortunately (however you look at it) now years later life has dealt them both some pretty rough cards in the deck leaving Tiarnan nearly emotionally barren and Kate in not much better shape, although they have both become highly successful in their chosen careers. Kate is a world renowned super-model and Tiarnan is a multi-billionaire with his fingers in many pies, but the one thing that has eluded them both is finding honest, loving and lasting intimate relationships.
During the christening Tiarnan and Kate both realize at the same time what they have been avoiding for over 10yrs, first and fore most is that their mutual attraction for each other hasn't died out, but has become more intense over the years for being denied. Tiarnan, a take charge kinda guy decides its time to stop running and face the music, so he pursues Kate with a single mindedness to get her into his bed and get her out of his system once and for all, mean while Kate is a mass of seething emotion knowing that she has finally slipped up and revealed her feelings for Tiarnan, but also being aware of the fact that he hasn't had a serious long-term relationship since his marriage to the mother of his ten-year old daughter ended several years ago. Kate doesn't want to be just another notch on Tiarnan's bed post, no matter how discrete he maybe, she wants to be the "one" that breaks through his hard exterior to the man she glimpse he could be 10 yrs ago.
I think this book was a smash hit and worth the wait, it isn't just a basic story of boy meets girl, and it's neither a hero nor damsel in distress kind of book either. The plot is well laid giving sufficient background to the reader so that you understand were all this hot temper, animosity and just blatant lust for one another comes from that Tiarnan and Kate share. They are both emotionally damaged by people that have been close to them in their lives and now because of that, they are leery of giving one another a chance to disappoint the other, but all the same they have exhausted all the avoidance methods they have in their arsenal. Kate in my opinion was a pretty strong character to put up with some of the not so gentlemanly accusations that Tiarnan throws at her, without much foundation I might add. She also befriends and is some what a mother-type to his 10yr old daughter who is going through a mixture of growing pains and just plain not feeling as if she belongs to anyone or anywhere. I have to say that the only thing keeping me reading this book was Kate, because more than not I wanted to shake Tiarnan and tell him to snap out of the He-Man strong silent type role, because at times it was definite over kill. Over all I give the book four stars. Happy Reading!