Loving ( Harlequin Presents # 1075 )
Financially-struggling single mother has major trust issues with men due to her rape experience, which conceived her now 6yo daughter. She & her daughter are drawn to her daughter's 6yo friend who feels unloved by her successful but busy father. They invite her over their house & walk her home. But hero thinks heroine's true motive for befriending his daughter is to get close to him, just like other women. Heroine sets him right about her motives & then try to avoid both him & his daughter until hero's daughter runs away from home & hides near her house with her daughter as her accomplice. This crisis precipitates hero to propose a marriage of convenience with heroine with clear limits about their physical intimacy. But things begin to change as they spend more time together in their marriage.Jordan did well in handling heroine's rape trauma. I am usually too disturbed to read books where heroine is raped but I wanted to know what Jordan would do with it. I liked that heroine's rape was neither explained in explicit detail nor was it the focal point of the story. The focus was on how it affected heroine's trust of hero & hero's response to it. Thus, highlighting the romantic r/s of hero & heroine. I liked that heroine didn't run away from her fears & faced them when she was ready. It was neat to see heroine's gradual progress from being intimidated by hero's maleness to desiring physical intimacy with hero. I liked that hero was patient, compassionate, & understanding with heroine's trauma. The kids didn't distract from the romance or sensuality of their r/s but promoted heroine's feelings of safety with hero. Sexual chemistry & love scenes were good.
Recommended.
