A long-lost billionaire… A virgin to tame him! Dedicated personal assistant Lauren Clarke always does as she’s asked. Her latest task? To prevent a media scandal, she needs to find reclusive Dominik James–her boss’s estranged brother–and convince him to marry her! But in Hungary’s darkest forests she discovers more than just an untamed billionaire… Dominik’s brooding masculinity awakens … masculinity awakens Lauren’s long-dormant desire. Once they’ve exchanged their convenient “I do’s,” will innocent Lauren accept that their hunger can’t be denied?
Read on…as the billionaire and his convenient bride tie the knot!
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When capable PA Lauren is sent into the woods by her boss to find his half-feral brother and tame him with a convenient marriage, keeping him from causing a PR incident, Lauren has no choice but to accept. And when Dominik awakens desires in Lauren she never knew existed…she has no choice but to give in. Caitlin Crews writes such witty, emotionally packed Presents. She’s always a favorite.
I absolutely loved this Presents fairy tale! When the hero lives in the Hungarian woods and the author is Caitlin Crews you know you’re going to get everything you want to be swept away in a fantastic read.
Untamed Billionaire’s Innocent Bride by Caitlin Crews is book Two in The Combe Family Scandals Series. This is the story of Dominik James and Lauren Clarke. I haven’t yet read the previous book, so for me this was a standalone book.
Lauren has been asked by her boss to find his long lost brother who is thought to be a hermit of sorts that doesn’t mingle much with the other or the ‘upper-crust’. So this leads her to Hungary where Dominik is living in a cabin. Lauren comes forward to teach him what he needs and of course her feelings become engaged with his. Dominik worked himself up from an orphan to be very rich but chooses to live a quite recluse type life. Dominik had know about the family but since they didn’t come looking for him he didn’t go looking to follow up with them. But Lauren brings his feelings out that he didn’t know he had.
Enjoyed their story.
Untamed Billionaire’s Innocent Bride is the second book in The Combe Family Scandals series by Caitlin Crews, but it’s the first book in the series that I’ve read, and while I’m generally not a fan of the fairy tale romance trope, this one worked for me and it gets a 4-star rating.
Lauren Clarke is the personal assistant to multi-billionaire, Matteo Combe, and at the reading of his late mother’s will, Matteo is shocked to learn that he has an older half-brother, the illegitimate son born to his then 16-year old mother–a child who was given to an orphanage at birth. Apparently, giving away her firstborn son was something she regretted, but never did anything about, but instead, she willed one-third of her billions to her unclaimed son, Dominick, and Matteo tasks prim and proper Lauren with finding him (it is known that he lives in Hungary), bringing him back to London, and training him to assume his proper role as a cultured, well-groomed and well-mannered addition to the uber-rich family, in true Pygmalion fashion.
With an obvious nod to Little Red Riding Hood, Lauren, in her inappropriate, too-high heels and red cloak, sets off into the dark, foreboding Hungarian forest to find Dominick, tell him of the fortune he’s about to inherit, and get him to return with her to England, and she does. To call Dominick brooding is like calling a thunderstorm wet, but he is instantly attracted to the prim and lovely blonde woman although he doesn’t want to be. When he learns that Lauren is not only a virgin, but claims to have no sexual urges and no interest in kissing, sex, love or romance, it’s as if she’s thrown down the gauntlet, and Dominick will only agree to go to England and meet the family that threw him away under certain conditions–the main one being that Lauren will allow him to kiss her when, where and how he chooses, and she agrees to his terms.
What awaits them in England is an empty mansion. Matteo, who so wanted to meet his half-brother, isn’t even there, another slap in the face for Dominick. Next, Matteo instructs Lauren about her duties regarding grooming Dominick for what will be an eventual attack by the papparazzi and mass media when they get wind of this sotry, and as if that wasn’t enough, Matteo then decides that it would be helpful if Dominick was married and settled, and orders Lauren to marry the man, all for goal of keeping up appearances and making him seem like a valued and legitimate member of the family. Dominick again has conditions before accepting this latest demand–he’ll marry Lauren in exchange for a real wedding night with her. Lauren is already slowly learning with each of Dominick’s kisses that she does seem to have some sexual urges when it comes to him, agrees to the deal, and boy is she ever in for some surprises from this handsome alpha male. The only thing missing from this fairy tale, and it was something I expected, was that Dominick is not a shape-shifting wolf, just a very sexy, very masterful and moody man.
While this story is rather unbelievable, it is based on a fairy tale after all, I loved how deeply Ms. Crews delved into the psyches and emotions of these two main characters, giving the reader insight into their private thoughts and emotions, something I rarely see in the rather abbreviated page counts of the Harlequin Presents line, but as the story progressed, I found myself drawn into the drama, history and feelings of these characters and even though I knew there would be an HEA ending, rooting for them nonetheless.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable and heartwarming read, and I’m happy to recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of fairy tale romances. Well done, Ms. Crews.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
This was a difficult book to rate. The first half of the book was slow and I struggled to keep reading. Around the half way mark it definitely picked up. I especially liked the epilogue and I’m looking forward to reading the other characters stories.