Captive in the Millionaire's Castle

Michael Denver is a successful author in need of a personal assistant. Coincidentally, Jenny Mansell is a fabulous PA in need of a job. Destiny. Oh, and Michael also happens to own a castle, though they don't stay there and he certainly doesn't keep Jenny captive there despite the title.

Michael spends the first half of the books being annoyingly suspicious of Jenny. Apparently he is hot stuff with hordes of manipulative women throwing themselves at him continuously. His ex-wife, Claire, was pretty free with her affections and he keeps expecting Jenny to be like her (eating like a bird, vain, critical, and bored by quiet country living). This gets tedious fast. Very fast. He keeps wondering if Jenny is cleverly pretending to not be interested in him in some complex nefarious scheme to snag his attention, because he is after all, an irresistible stud. Conceited much? It is completely inconceivable to him that a woman would not try to manipulate her way into his very presence, not to mention his bed.

Jenny on the other hand has had her share of disillusionment when she caught her fiancé doing the nasty with another woman. She's lovely at first, but all it takes for her to believe the worst in Michael and run away is for his ex-wife to visit unexpectedly. By this stage, Michael has already told her that Claire took it upon herself to inform the press of their supposed reconciliation, but he himself has no intention of ever getting back together with her. Claire tells Jenny that she is visiting uninvited. Yet what does Jenny do? She immediately jumps to the conclusion that Michael is in love with Claire, is planning on re-marrying her, and has been lying to her about their relationship all along.

This could have been a sweet story but both Michael and Jenny's insecurities are over the top. Rather than feeling sympathetic towards them I was just annoyed. Couple this with a cloyingly sweet "destiny" back story, and I give it a thumbs down.