"Bought: His Temporary Fiancee" by Yvonne Lindsay

This title is from the Desire April 2011 line and is book four of six of "The Takeover" series.

In the "Dear Reader" page at the beginning of the book, the author lets you know that there is a Cinderella transformation in this story and that got a smile out of me because who out there would not love to have one of those herself?  I know I would!

So mega-wealthy tycoon William Tanner has a proposition for his new executive assistant:  Be my fake fiance.  This type of story, used so many times in the Desire line, never gets old.  I love that all of the authors who use it, make it their own. 

Plain-Jane Margaret Cole is shocked by her boss's proposition, not only because she barely knows him but because essentially he is blackmailing her in to it!  You see, her brother is being accused of embezzling money from the company they both work for and in order to save her brother from being arrested, Will approaches Margaret with this deal.

There are many layers to their relationship; besides the brother angle, Will and Margaret had shared a passionate kiss some weeks earlier at a masked party/event held by the company.  Will wanted to pursue a casual relationship with Margaret but never found out her name at the party.  Once he knows who she is, he manipulated the situation so that she becomes his assistant and when the problem with her brother arises, Will takes full advantage.

We shouldn't like him, but we do.

Then there is the reason why Will needs a fake fiance; his father is pressuring him to get married and at stake is the family's farm in New Zealand that Will desperately wants.  He figures if he presents a fiance to his family, his father will sign over the land to him and by the time the ink is dry on the paperwork, he can end his engagement.

Oh, silly man.  Things don't always go as planned and it isn't long before Will is forced to take a good look at himself and realizes that he doesn't like what he sees.  He forced Margaret (who he is coming to care for) in to this relationship, forced her to make herself over, manipulated and lied to his family...bottom line is that he doesn't like the man he's become.

Now he has to figure out how to change it all.  After coming clean to his family about his deception and releasing Margaret from their arrangement, Will finds that he is even more miserable.  

His simple plan to have it all turned out to be anything but...

This was a good story, easy to read.  Margaret is truly transformed but I felt bad for her at so many points in the story.  You know that she has a forgiving nature and you know that she'll forgive Will anything, she should have made him work a little more for it.  This was a great addition to the Takeover series.