Substitute Father (Marriage Of Inconvenience) (Harlequin Super Romance)

Rating:
Summary: Not your average romance-contains spoilers
Review: Luke Duncan is a single vetrenarian. One day he goes to the grocery store and his cart is stolen by a boy. Instead of being mad at him he takes the boy and his younger brother and sister home with him.

Because he is not their natural father a person from child protective survices comes to investigate Luke with the children. The only problem is that Kelley Fitzpatrick went on a disasterous date with Luke several months before and it looks like she is trying everything in the book to try to take the kids away from him.

However the more time Kelley spends with Luke the more they find that they have in common and they start to get to like eachother. After a judge makes a recomendation to seperate the three children under Lukes care Kelley comes up with a plan. Kelley and Luke would marry so that Luke could adopt the three children and then divorce after the adoption is final.

After the marriage things progress and Kelley and Luke find themselves more in love than before. Instead of the plan that they had come up with they both adopt the children and end up remarring and having a baby together.

Rating:
Summary: Winner of the WordWeaving Award of Excellence
Review: Veterinarian Luke Duncan knows he is a soft touch for orphans of the four-legged variety. But the day a small boy steals his shopping cart, he learns that he's an equally soft touch for orphans of the two-legged variety. Now he'll do anything to help Brian, Hannah and Troy find the stability that was sadly taken from them when their mother died. Unfortunately, social worker Kealey Fitzpatrick may have other ideas about what's in the best interest of the children. Their blind date was disastrous, and her assignment to the case may prove even more so.

Kealey wishes she had the ability to take life with the openness and spontaneity that she sees in others. But years of being shuffled between foster homes taught her to guard her feelings and desires carefully. Doggedly erected barriers prevent anyone from drawing close, yet somehow Luke manages. With his gentle understanding of three orphans, Luke slips beneath her defenses. Despite his best intentions, however, Luke cannot provide the children with a two parent home; which, of course, is in their best interests. When Kealey finely understands just what Luke can provide, it may be too late to keep him and the three orphans together without resorting to a marriage of convenience.

While the Marriage of Convenience miniseries suggests a rather predictable plotline, author Bonnie K. Winn fashions a character driven romance with heart touching originality. From the shopping cart escapade that brings Luke and the orphans together to Kealey's newly discovered enthusiasm and creativity, each moment becomes charmingly poignant. Further, Luke's small gifts and loving treatment of Kealey, despite her clear cut goals of ending the marriage at a specified time, demonstrate his own remarkable abilities to risk his heart without expectation, but always with hope. Very highly recommended.