An Heir for the Millionaire: The Greek and the Single Mom

After being Xander Anaketos' undemanding mistress for nearly a year, Clare finds herself replaced. Unbeknownst to Xander, Clare is pregnant. Four years later they bump into each other and Xander finds out about his 3 year old son. He will do anything it takes to have him.

This was awful, simply awful. The plot was common enough:

1. Rich greek who changes mistresses like clothes.
2. Sweet girl who goes against all her common sense and becomes said Greek's mistress because she's in love with him. Somehow she lasts longer than any of his previous women.
3. Hero dumps heroine before she tells him that she is pregnant, so she decides to engage in the "Secret Baby" plot and live in honourable poverty.
4. Years (and countless women) later, hero discovers secret baby and tries to force heroine to marry him.
5. Heroine refuses marriage (this part is rare!) so hero has unprotected sex with heroine to get her pregnant again.
6. They all live happily ever after.

Even trite plots like this can be salvaged, but there was absolutely nothing likeable about Xander. In Clare's own words,

"How can I love a man who threw me out like rubbish, who packed me off with a diamond necklace, who last night used me for sex because I was convenient and on hand...?

How can I love a man like that? A man without feelings, without conscience, without remorse, or the slightest acknowledgement that he was so coldly callous to me?

I musn't love a man love a man like that! It debases me to do so."

Couldn't agree more. It seems that the only reason Clare is in love with Xander is that he's a stud. I read this story with gritted teeth. Clare was just so unbelievably pathetic. And what can I say about Xander's "brilliant" plot to get her pregnant? He doesn't know her menstrual cycle, doesn't know whether she's on the pill or not, yet thinks that having unprotected sex with her once will be enough to see the deed done.

Ugh. Don't bother reading this one. I feel dumber for having done so.