365 books in 365 days Challenge ... Book #311

The Mistress's Child - Sharon Kendrick
Mills & Boon Modern
In 'His Child' Mills & Boon By Request
Harlequin Mills & Boon, 2008
ISBN: 9780263861358


My rating

From the back cover:

"Property tycoon's secret love child... 
After Philip Caprice and Lisi fell into bed together, Philip left at midnight....The reason he gave for leaving had prevented Lisi from telling him that their evening of passion had resulted in a darling baby, Tim. Until now... 
Property millionaire Philip has just discovered he has a son.... Lisi knows Tim needs a dad. Philip's solution is that Lisi and Tim move in with him.... Does Philip just want to play at happy families--or does he want Lisi to be his mistress once again?"


This is another By Request omnibus I bought from the kindle store as it was on sale.

The heroine Lisi is shocked when the hero Philip turns up at her work place, even more so when he makes it clear that her is there to see her. Philip has never forgotten Lisi and the brief passionate time they spent together, nor has he forgotten his shame over his actions. Lisi was devastated when Philip just walked out on her, especially after his parting remarks. His constant attentions now make Lisi nervous, and she tries to keep him from finding out that he is the father of her son Tim. But she also can't deny that her feelings for him have never gone away, and it is not long before Philip finds out the truth. Initially he is angry at Lisi for keeping his son from him, but he realises that after what he did to her she had every right to do it. But he wants to be a part of Lisi's life and be a father to his son, so he tries to make Lisi believe and trust in him. Something Lisi doesn't know if she can ever do.

This is a brilliant book, so well written and understandable. So often in 'secret baby' stories there isn't any actual good reason, apart from circumstance, for keeping the baby secret, but in this book the heroine has every reason to. This is a very appealing part of this book. Also, there was no insistence on marriage just because there is a child, hurrah! Sharon Kendrick keeps you guessing about what actually went wrong between the hero and heroine, and when it is revealed, wow it is a shocker - one that I didn't want to accept but I did and that was down to the wonderful, empathetic writing.
The way that the hero and heroine gradually learn to like each other and fall in love feels very natural and is very satisfying to read.

I enjoyed this story very much; emotional, well written and believable.

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