Bought by the Billionaire Prince Book

3.5

Meg, Alex Hunter's adopted sister, comes to Niroli expecting to meet her big brother, only he's not there. So Meg and her traveling companion end up finding work at the local casino run by Prince Luca Fierrezza. As soon as he sees her, Luca wants her, but she's distant and not enthusiastic about a romance with a prince, which leaves Luca flabbergasted. Meg has her reasons, one being that she's not interested in a guy who can only see her beauty - she wants someone to see beneath the surface to the woman who worked hard to overcome childhood neglect and an eating disorder. When Luca sees "Meg" on a security camera stealing the Nirolian jewels, he's furious at the deception. She insists on her innocence, but he knows what he saw. So he agrees to bail her out of jail if she'll become his mistress and he can get her out of his system once and for all, but he finds that he wants more than just a mistress...he wants to know her inside and out and for her to return the love he's starting to feel.

Luca isn't quite the asshole the summary would suggest, but it's more that he's an asshole in a different way. I liked that Luca didn't just want a fling - he felt something deeper right from the get go and wasn't afraid of it. He was also a bit more willing to handle "no" when he heard it, though he clearly didn't like it. I definitely appreciated the fact that Luca and Meg didn't consummate their relationship while she was still under suspicion and while she was his "mistress." Luca comes to realize that he wanted her trust and her passion more than he wanted feelingless sex. See, not a bad guy, really. Except for the shit he says to throw Meg's eating disorder back in her face and many, many things he does to undermine her trust in him. Their love was pretty believable because they shared their life stories and connected and even when he was furious at her "crime" he was still protective and loving of her. So love wasn't the problem, trust was. I for one was a bit astounded that she was able to take him back after his final transgression...or more that she was able to take him back so quickly and without reservation. I think it would have made things a bit more believable if she'd tentatively agreed to stay a while longer to let him earn back her trust and then have the epilogue showing how successful he was.

Now, I really liked Meg as a heroine. She had some strength and for me, didn't come across as stereotypical with her problems. She's clearly recovering and knows she's constantly in recovery and that it's on her, nobody else, to keep it going. I liked this story and this HEA because of the strong heroine and the fact that the hero clearly was more invested in the relationship than most other HPlandia heroes. He also wasn't spiteful or lying to himself about his feelings. So that made this a fun one - not to mention the angstiness of his final transgression.