Bedded at the Billionaire's Convenience by Cathy Williams

Bedded at the Billionaire's Convenience by Cathy Williams


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The word 'mistress' needs to be struck from the vocabulary of the editors and the writers for this series of romance novels. It is so nineteenth century. And just a heads up here, a woman is not a man's mistress if he does not support her and she is not his beck and call, sexually or otherwise. Thus, this term does not apply to Georgie, whatsoever. I guess the person who writes the blurbs thought that us Harlequin Presents readers were so unenlightened, that we wouldn't buy this book unless the blurb included 'mistress' in the description. Here's a lesson to you: I hate the mistress concept. When I get a Harlequin Presents in the mail or pick one up in the store, seeing this outdated, sexist term is a turnoff to me. I will read the book if I like the author and the story sounds interesting otherwise. But I would prefer never to read another book where the heroine is the hero's mistress. It offends my 21st century sexual egalitarianism principles. Okay, you might ask why I read these books. Because they are good, and entertaining, and a nice way to spend a few hours, allowing me to recharge, relax, and let off some steam. Because they are fun to read, I am prepared to overlook some of the way un-PC aspects, most of the time.

PSA over. Review begins: Georgie approaches Pierre at his elite gym in London to explain that she more or less said they were engaged because his mom has been really depressed since her stroke, with little to take interest in, and she thought knowing that her son was engaged would help. Of course, Pierre is livid. He doesn't even like Georgie. She's too disorganized, too down-to-earth, too scatter-brained for his tastes. He likes his women cold-blooded, into making money, intellectual, and willing to get horizontal without feelings involved. This is about 180 degrees opposite to Georgie's personality.

Georgie heartily disproves of Pierre's life style. The fact that he barely ever comes home to see his mom, that he is way too fixated on making money, and city living, and his colorless, snooty, boring girlfriends. She thinks that he's forgotten the important things in life. But she's a good friend with his mom, and she wants for Didi to get better. So she takes a chance and says they are engaged.

Pierre goes along with the charade, because Georgie answering his phone at 10:30am when he offers to let her stay in London, really gives the impression that they are 'together.' Also out of concern for his mother whose hippish, country lifestyle with his deceased father was something he never agreed with, although he does love her.

This odd couple spends more time together, and develop a liking and attraction for each other. Georgie is very wary of Pierre, knowing he's not the home and hearth type. She doesn't like his materialistic values, and she feels that he looks down on her simple living. Although Pierre feels that Georgie is way too 'messy' in her life for him, and he doesn't care for her 'flower-child-like' dress sense, Pierre comes to realize that Georgie is very sexy in a way that none of his other girlfriends were, and why not make their association real for the time being?

I enjoyed this book. I liked the back and forth between Pierre and Georgie. I liked that Georgie wasn't beholden to Pierre or under his thumb. She had her own career and her own home, and was perfectly happy with her life in the country. Pierre was the one who had some issues he needed to work out. He resented his family for their organic farming ventures, and the fact that they squandered their money on schemes destined to fail. He focused on making and keeping his money, and became more and more cold-hearted in a sense. Georgie brings a part of him to life, and he realizes how much he loves his mom, and enjoys being around her. Georgie and Pierre have good chemistry (although the love scenes are not fully described. Part of them would be shown, and part wouldn't. Which I thought was weird, but oh well.)

I was actually okay with Pierre to a certain extent, although I wished he hadn't kept his family at a distance, but I can't judge him for that. He might be rich, but he didn't have much quality of life. I think spending time with Georgie and his mom helped him to realize what he was missing out on, but eventually that scared him. He made me mad on the part where he sees a tender smile on Georgie's face and decides it's time to cut and run. I thought that was very cowardly of him, and low down. But he ends up realizing what he almost let slip through his fingers when he goes back to town, and his mom tells him that Georgie has a new boyfriend after three months pass. Of course, he goes running because he doesn't want any other man to have her. (Rolling eyes.) Men!

This was a fun book. I stayed up way too late reading it, and I'm paying for it today. Definitely recommended, if you don't mind the incomplete love scenes.

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