Max Conroy is sent by his boss to gather information about Bronson Alloys in order to facilitate a takeover. He identifies Claire Westbrook as the 'weak link' in the company, the secretary to Bronson himself. Max intends to seduce Claire and get the information out of her, or at least gain access to the office files. What he doesn't count on is finding her 'challenging' and 'attractive' and, of course, 'falling for her.'
Initially as Max gets to know Claire he is charming and kind, coaxing her out of the shell she's built around herself to protect herself from guys like him. Claire tells him what he needs to know, and then sleeps with him. Then, of course she finds out who he really is and what he really wanted. Of course, she feels hurt and betrayed and resolves to avoid him. Good choice. Unfortunately, Max is very used to getting what he wants, and he's decided that he wants Claire. He engages in increasingly more high-handed and arrogant behavior. Claire is understandably angry at him, but stupidly decides that she must be so angry because she loves him so much. He forces her to move away from her family to take a job at his office at headquarters, offering her a lot more money. He tells her she'd be a fool to turn it down, effectively giving her the choice of doing what he wants or being 'a fool.' Then, when she accepts the offer, he shows up unexpectedly at her new home in his town on the very day she moves in, offers to help move the furniture, and surreptitiously makes note of her unlisted phone number by reading it off the phone (stalker, much?). He also takes it upon himself to explain his betrayal of Claire to her mother, who is also there, casting himself in a much better light, of course. When Claire asks him what her mother said to that, he tells her 'She understands," when in fact, her mother had threatened him with bodily harm if he ever hurt Claire again. This serves to make Claire feel as though her mother has abandoned her to him and would not be able to turn to her for help. Claire's sister would also offer no quarter: "...he always watched you...as if he were so hungry for you, as if he wanted to absorb you. It gave me the shivers" she goes on to add, showing her poor grasp of the situation, "the good shivers, if you know what I mean." (p. 184) At this point, I threw the book at the wall, having decided that if I had to read about Claire overlooking all of this and marrying Max and pretending that they lived happily ever after, when everything I've just related leads me to believe that within 3 years Claire will be the recipient of regular beatings to everywhere but her face, I would probably throw up.
It's possible that I am overreacting to a book written in 1986, when things were slightly different. However, I felt you all ought to know, because if you have the same sort of values and beliefs as I do, you probably shouldn't read this book. ( )

Typical Howard romance with alpha hero. ( )

this is a keeper, the heroine,Claire is not a whinny sniveling thing she is a strong self contained woman. Until she falls in love and becomesa weakling. The hero is ALPHA male. The story is riveting, I had to finish it in one sitting.