His Reluctant Cinderella-Jessica Gilmore

His Reluctant Cinderella

Jessica Gilmore

Harlequin Romance, Oct 7 2014, $5.99

ISBN: 9780373743117

In London suburb Hopeford, Rafferty's Stores vice-CEO Castor Rafferty demands Clara Castleton tell him where his missing twin sister Clara is.  Castleton Concierge Consultancy owner Clara coldly informs him that she has no idea and besides if she did would not reveal her client’s location to anyone without permission.  His 10,000 pound bribe offer makes her react even icier.  Desperate, he does not want to take over running the business that his sister has managed for four years while he did various around the world charitable work. 

After dumping him off at the house where Clara lived for three years with an admonition about cats, Clara goes home where her ten years old daughter Summer greets her by saying she is late again.  While Raff takes over the firm and constantly prays for Polly’s immediate return, he also finds himself attracted to the queen of ice especially after seeing the single mom so nurturing with Summer.  As they fall in love, he fears losing his independence and feels inadequate to become a tweener’s stepdad; she also feels inadequate to being an upper class spouse and her child comes first so rejects a second chance at a broken heart.

The first Rafferty romance is a charming contemporary due to the engaging (to us fans but not the protagonists) undesirable attraction between the working class single mom and the globetrotting millionaire.  A fun read, the audience will look forward to Polly’s lead (see The Heiress's Secret Baby in Feb 2015).

Harriet Klausner