And Then He Kissed Her

Author: Laura Lee Guhrke
Published: February 2007 (HarperCollins)
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 8/10

This one's a Victorian version of the classic cliche of employer and employee falling in love, and it does

Right, so Emmaline Dove has been an excellent secretary to Viscount Harrison Marlowe, so much that he's begun to take her for granted. Emma's been trying to publish a book on etiquette, and keeps submitting manuscripts to Harry, and he keeps rejecting them. When she finds out that he's been rejecting them without reading them, she quits, and Harry realizes how much he depended on Emma. They work together again when Harry buys the newspaper Emma writes a column in, and they get to know each other beyond the professional relationship they used to maintain when Emma was his secretary.

Harry has problems with remarriage because he endured a scandalous divorce from his adulterous wife. Emma doesn't want to have scandal ruin her good name, as she is so focused on writing about etiquette and maintaining her spotless image. She keeps refusing Harry, and he confronts her with the way Emma has hidden her true self behind walls of etiquette and propriety, only to satisfy what other people think of her. She realizes he's right and agrees to begin an illicit love affair with him. They spend lovely weekends together in a cottage in the countryside.

Although Emma knows that the relationship is for sex only, she falls in love with Harry, and when she realizes this, she breaks off the affair. And once again, when Emma leaves him, Harry realizes what he's missing out on. Classic "want what you can't have" thinking.

In terms of the employer-employee romance, I really liked it, much more than The Raven Prince. The story was well-written, although the romance was a bit slow in development. Not too much drama, just the right amount, and that always gets a star from me!