Jester's Girl Book

Jessica Steele is on auto buy for me, even though she only writes Harlequin Romances and some Hqn Presents. She is now about 80 years old, and hasn't written anything new for a few years, sad to say.

Steele's sentence construction is sometimes ... unusual. But IMO, she is among the best at Hqn in terms of storytelling and sexual tension.

Her heroines are virgins, and the wanting drives the heroes nuts. But Steele's heroes often endure internal conflict, either because of jealousy, or because they are unwillingly falling in love with a woman they THINK is without honor, a shady character! So they blow hot and cold and tell many lies and generally mess it all up. Later, when they realize they've lost all chance with the girl, they totally sweat it out! Sometimes they grovel - I like a good grovel. :-)

This book isn't one of my faves, but it's still good. When the shell-shocked heroine is struck by a car while visiting Italy, the hero rescues her. And refuses to let her go. He'll do anything to keep her...but -- oh! -- the lies he tells. Soon he's caught in his own sticky story, and sweating it out. Kinda fun.