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sábado, 6 de janeiro de 2024

Review: Temporary Wife

Temporary Wife Temporary Wife by Roberta Leigh
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

1 ⭐- Ugh! Didn't like it or triggers or pet peeve!
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Zero goes to the top 5 list of the most despicable of all time.
He and his mistress are worthless, disgusting and deserve the fire of hell. They betrayed (3 years) a sick person and on the verge of death. His mistress aimed at money, social status and sex. Zero betrayed not only his friendship with his lover's husband, but also a dying man who deserved more respect and consideration on his part.
Our heroine had her reasons for accepting this MOC, but she was totally deceived by her supposed friend and Zero, since she didn't realize they were lovers.
I was annoyed at the many times the name Gina was mentioned and Zero just thinking about her at all times and also comparing the heroine with Gina.
Argh!

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But she had put her love into it, a love which he had believed only he knew about: until he had discovered today that Roger knew too.

'I was thinking how perfect you look.'

She came closer still, but did not kiss him. They had always been careful when they met in the Harrick building,

'We've slipped up somehow,' he said aloud. 'Our secret's out.'

Because he longed to take her in his arms, Luke put his desk between them.

'Your nephew by marriage has given me a choice,' Luke said heavily. 'Either I give you up or he will tell his uncle about us.'

'Then are you suggesting I give you up?' He tried to make his words light, but he knew his voice was heavy. He loved Gina more than he had ever loved any woman.

Even now he knew that given the chance, he would rather have Gina than this plum job that had been offered to him.

But he could not find another Gina. It had taken him thirty-three years to find this one.

'He knew we were together the weekend Charles went into the Clinic for a check-up, and he knows we meet on a Thursday afternoon.'

'I don't suppose you would care to get divorced from Charles and marry me?' 'You know I can't.'

'Never!' he said vehemently. 'I love you. I love you.'

'Are you free this weekend, darling? Charles is going into the Clinic again.' 'I'm always free,' Luke reminded her. You are the one who finds it difficult!'

As soon as Gina is free well get married, I'd marry her tomorrow if she'd say the word.'

He thought of the few women he had taken out in the past year; not because he had wanted their company but because being seen with them had helped to maintain, the camouflage that he was fancy-free.

'You're the only woman I could ever bear to touch!'

I've thought of you as my wife for so long that marrying anyone else—even as a temporary arrangement—is unthinkable.

Yes, Emily would do very well for Luke. She was not so dull that she would drive him to find other female company when she herself was not free, nor was she sufficiently attractive to impinge upon him as a woman. Yes, little Emily Lamb was the ideal choice.

'I haven't been a celibate,' he said abruptly. 'Don't let Gina kid you that I am.'

'Many talents,' he repeated, and before she could guess what he was going to do, he pulled her against him and pressed his mouth upon hers.

'Our marriage is a business commitment—something we entered into with our eyes wide open. My being in love with another woman doesn't alter the situation or the reason why you agreed to marry me.'

Bestowing her lover on Emily until such time as she was free to take him back.

'Learning that Gina and I love each other doesn't affect our bargain,' Luke continued. 'My marriage is still necessary.'

a man capable of living a lie, of being Charles's friend yet loving Charles's wife. It was this that horrified her more than anything, and though she tried to see it from Luke's point of view, she found it impossible. She appreciated that Charles's ill health prevented Gina from leaving him, but was nauseated by the way in which Gina and Luke were trying to get the best of both worlds.

'Indeed I can. In many companies, promotion only comes by stepping into a dead man's shoes, and it's exactly the same at Harrick Investments. Except that when you step into Charles's shoes you'll also be able to step into his bed!'

His understanding of loyalty differed totally from hers; his ability to simulate was so brilliant that she felt she could live with him for ever and never see beneath the charade to the man. It was an uneasy prospect.

Occasionally when he sat across from her in a restaurant, he would think of Gina and the time when she would be able to sit opposite him instead, openly declaring their love for all the world to see.

If only this were a real honeymoon and he was with Gina. The thought of her was suddenly so unbearable that he plunged into the nearest cafe to use their telephone. Within a few moments Gina's voice came over the wires, husky and soft in his ear and making him throb with desire for her.

Hearing Gina's voice in no way appeased his longing for her,

She was wearing a different shade of lipstick too: it made her mouth look soft and moist, and he was reminded of Gina's mouth, and the feel and taste of it.

'Of course; when Charles is dead. That will really be curtains for us then, won't it?' She smiled. 'Don't bother to deny it.'

Darn Luke and Gina! They had played her for a fool and now she was going to take advantage of the part they had created for her.

'Gina,' he whispered. With a gasp Emily wrenched free of him.

All she knew was that Luke had betrayed her. No, that wasn't true, she had betrayed herself.

'Forgive me,' he murmured. 'It was my fault. Next time I'll remember that men have a low threshold of excitement!'

Under cover of the conversation she studied Gina, bitterly acknowledging that her beauty alone was enough to make any man lose his senses.

'None of us have come out of this episode very well,' she agreed. 'But I don't think my reason for doing what I did was quite as despicable as yours and Luke's.'

'We have different ideas of what honesty means.'

'She was also involved with you for the last two of them! For heaven's sake spare me any platitudes about bereaved widows!'

'You're a fool, Luke! Gina didn't stay with Charles because he was ill. She married him for his money and that's the reason she remained with him. If she could have you as a lover into the bargain, that was so much the better!'"

You and Gina have finally got what you wanted. You have your position at Harrick's and now you can have Charles's wife. She has you and Charles's money. You should both be feeling very pleased with yourselves. At the risk of uttering a truism, I'd say you deserve each other!'

She put her arms around his neck again and pulled his head down until his mouth lay upon hers. Her body pressed close to his and her breasts moved and swelled against his chest. It had been several weeks since he had held Gina close, so that he was disconcerted by his lack of response and wondered if he could be ill, or if pressure of other work" had tired him. Certainly he could never remember a time when he had held Gina in his arms and not wanted to make love to her.

Her eyes did not have the softness of Gina's but gazed at him fearlessly and with contempt.

The evenings he had spent with Gina when Emily had been left here alone; the dinner parties where she had acted as his hostess and he had treated her as if she had been professionally paid to do it.

'You have no reason to feel guilty.' 'Haven't I? Do you think it was easy for me to work for Charles and at the same time make love to his wife?'

Tawdry. It was the right word to describe his shabby and deceitful love affair. Yet she still could not forget that it had filled his life for so long. An image of him holding Gina flashed into her mind, and an agony of jealousy made her want to hurt him.


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