The Business Of Romance
In love with a boss who didn't seem to know she was
alive, pretty Pippa Gordon had had enough. When Blake Harrison returned from
England, she was going to hand him her resignation.
Then all Pippa's plans were turned upside down by a
message from Blake telling her to meet him in London as soon as possible.
Suddenly Pippa found herself embarking on a whirlwind journey from New York to
London to Amsterdam, where she was informed that she must temporarily pose as
Blake's fiancée on a pleasure cruise that included a jet-set beauty with
designs on Blake. Pippa would have liked to refuse to join the whole charade,
but when Blake stole her passport, she didn't have much choice. Yet…with or
without a passport…Pippa would have jumped ship immediately if she could have
foreseen the dangerous course she would soon be sailing through the stormy seas
of love…
An oldie but goodie. Glenna Finley wrote more than forty romantic
suspense books in the 70s and 80s. She was a frequent traveler, and many books
are set in locations worldwide. One of the things I enjoy about her books is
the way she slips information about the location into the story, making it a
vital part of the story.
In this book, Pippa works for Blake as his secretary. During
the year she's been there, she has felt like part of the furniture, unnoticed
and unappreciated, while she has quietly fallen for him. Giving up on making
him notice her, Pippa plans to give him her resignation when he returns from
his latest trip. Those plans change when she gets a message from Blake ordering
her to meet him in London, then Amsterdam. After an exhausting journey, Blake shocks
Pippa by introducing her as his fiancée.
Stan, a fellow classic car enthusiast, invited Blake on a
canal cruise on his newly purchased barge. Unfortunately, one of the other
passengers is a young woman determined to get her hooks into Blake. Pippa resists
the job of decoy but has to cooperate after Blake swipes her passport. Further
complications arise when they must share a small stateroom on the boat.
I enjoyed watching Blake and Pippa's relationship
develop. Pippa reminds herself frequently that this is pretend, but the forced
proximity to Blake makes it challenging to remember. Meanwhile, Blake enthusiastically
embraces the deception, playing the doting fiancé to the hilt. There are some good
scenes of them together, where Pippa feels a spark of hope for more than
pretend. However, in other scenes, Blake is standoffish, or Pippa pushes him
away to protect her heart. As the book went on, I suspected Blake had feelings
for Pippa that he didn't know how to express. I liked the ending and the hint
of vulnerability in Blake's big moment.
Strange things are happening aboard the boat. Stan is
very protective of the storage room across from Blake and Pippa's room, rousing
Pippa's curiosity. Blake confides in her that Stan has a sketchy past and has
drawn the interest of law enforcement. An attack on Pippa arouses Blake's
protective instincts and worry about her safety, and a narrow escape on the
water puts Blake's safety in question. The anti-climactic resolution of the
mystery takes place off-page, confirming my suspicions about the perpetrator and
methods.
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