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Mistress for a Night

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A night to remember

Jason was shocked at the change in Georgia. Seven years ago she'd innocently initiated their one spontaneous night of passion, become pregnant-then disappeared. Now Georgia was back and Jason intended to discover what had really happened to their baby. If that meant being with her every minute of every day-and night-until she told him the truth, then that's what he'd do....

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

14 people are currently reading
69 people want to read

About the author

Diana Hamilton

326 books74 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.

She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.

Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.

In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.

Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Anne E ♡ emo + OTT Hs.
224 reviews205 followers
March 23, 2022
**SPOILERS and long rambling review**

PLOT...25yo h sees her adopted-stepBro 33yo H again since she left London for NYC 7 years ago, after she miscarried the baby from her 1 night with her long-time crush H. She was so distraught from being almost-molested by her lecherous stepdad while she was getting ready for their family dinner when H would tell their parents of their marriage plans (H proposed when h told him that she was pregnant). And having her neglectful mother & H walk in on them and believing her stepdad's claims that she was the 1 who came on to him. H treats h with contempt, believing that she aborted their baby 7 years ago per her mother's words. And that the only reason his recently-deceased stepdad would leave all his inheritance to h was because they were lovers. Her current letters to her stepdad & his stepdad's reports of frequent lunches with h is enough proof for H. She responds to H's accusations with dismissiveness, which H takes as confirmation of their affair. As disgusted as he is by it, he still has difficulty controlling his attraction to h. She reacts the same way, disappointed in her regressing to her fluttery feelings for H. When they finally confront each other about her former pregnancy, they reconcile and finally smex again. She thinks all is well until a few days later H tells her he's leaving her now that they finally have closure. He still thinks she had an affair with their stepdad but didn't want to insult her by saying so. She hardens herself again from being hurt once again by H. A few days later, she's summoned by a lawyer to finish up the documents re: her inheritance. H shows up too and she tries to keep her distance. He's there because realized he doesn't want to live without her, even if she did have an affair with their stepdad. He tells her ILY, proposed marriage, and she happily accepts. But the lawyer shows them the last letters of their stepdad and h's mother, which confess to h's innocence & their stepdad's fault 7 years ago. It sets H's mind at ease now that he knows the truth but fears that h would hate him for misjudging for so long. She tells him that he must love her to still propose marriage & confess his love for her despite him thinking she slept with their stepdad. Epilogue 4 years later, they're married with twin boys & getting busy to have another baby.

The GOOD:
Good romance/character/emotional development. Book started with both H&h angry at each other for what happened 7 years ago. Now-33yo H was especially contemptuous of h and deeply misjudged her for sleeping with their stepdad & aborting their baby instead of marrying him as they planned 7 years ago. He used to be sweet, kind, and understanding with timid wallflower but shyly adoring 18yo h. Now-25yo h now had a devil-may-care attitude and sassed back at him and blithely ignored his accusations. She had carefully guarded her heart while becoming stronger inside, after being rejected by H & their family and losing their baby 7 years ago. She became a workaholic who strove to succeed at work since her personal life failed. Both were on a successful path in their careers and social life, appearing to have moved on well. Until they saw each other again 7 years later. Then, the romance, emotions, and character vulnerabilities reignited.

Both were fighting for self-control but their feelings & desire for each other couldn't be contained when they were in the same room. Lots of accusations on H's part, which h countered. And H would feel like a heel yet still not completely convinced due to what their parents told him and h's spending frequent time with their stepdad before he died 2 months ago. So, their sexual tension and emotional tension was even more now than 7 years ago.

Loved how H realized he'd loved h for awhile and loved her still now, despite being unsure about her affair with their stepdad. He struggled with his pride & feelings and even left h, after she thought they were now back together forever. Loved h's character and how she became stronger from her personal challenges. Yet she didn't compromise her morals for revenge or to forget H & their lost baby. She also didn't regain her softness and vulnerability, when she trusted H again.

Good emotional depth. Some angsty moments helped by their dual POV. Both had regrets re: what they should've done in the past and both determination to relish their 2nd chance after they cleared their misunderstandings.

MEH or the BAD:
Their romance & characters were kinda meh in the first 15% since both were just so mad at each other. Their initial romance 7 years before was pretty much 1-sided on h's part. H thought h sweet but pathetic due to her mom's neglect but didn't see h in a sexual way. Until the night he de-virginized her when she came to his room. He was partly out of it due to him being woozy from his medication & illness. But he was aware enough to know what & who he was doing that night. When he proposed marriage at that time, he wasn't in love with h yet. He did come to really care for h & their baby and was looking forward to being a family together. So, it devastated him to think that she aborted their baby instead of choosing to be with him and the baby. His sleeping with other women the past 7 years was, therefore, understandable since he was disgusted with h at that point.

Sexual History:
18yo h was a virgin when she came over to talk to H about her potential move to the US for work. But H's naked chest & his wooziness sped up their sexual attraction and she was willingly devirginized by H. The broad consequences of being accused of seducing her stepdad & H & her mom walking in on them and then miscarrying her baby turned her off men. She did try dating men but she couldn't go through the intimacy. She focused her energies on work instead. H dated & slept with other women with no intent on anything serious. He'd been seeing a woman on & off for a year for sex and company but nothing more.
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews883 followers
July 3, 2019
Re Mistress for a Night - just a sqiucky spoiler moment.

The premise of this one is that the H and h are step siblings. Her mother was married to the H's stepfather after his own mother remarried and then died.

They have a one night cough syrup fueled fling as teens and the h gets preggers as she loses her unicorn grooming license.

The H is ready to step up on accountability - he was a teensy bit older than the 17 yr old h-but when he gets to his stepfather's house the h has been tossed out for trying to seduce her mother's husband and her name is Slime Slurper Snot Snarfer Who Shall Never Be Spoken of Again.

Later on the H is told that the h terminated the pregnancy and went off with friends and thus the years pass. Then the stepfather dies, the h's mother had died a few years earlier, and the h is in line to inherit a LOT of the stepfather's money.

The H is convinced the h is a baby killing amoral harlot of low character, but that doesn't stop him from plotting his own pump and dump boudoir bouncing moment.

We do learn that the h's mother never wanted the h and resented having to haul a child around with her in life. We also learn that the h did not have a termination, her mother banished her from the stepfather's home and the h had a miscarriage.

Now the h is a competent career lady and she never reconciled with her mother, because surprise! The stepfather was a lecherous skeevy snot pustule and was trying to molest her when her mother walked in on it and took her husband's side over the h.

The h never attended her mother's funeral but then for whatever reason allowed the stepfather pervert to reconnect with her. The H and she have a fling after the will is read and then he dumps her.

While the h is having her mopey moment and the H knows she did not terminate her pregnancy, he STILL believes the h tried to seduce her mother's husband until the last three pages of the book.

But that is okay per DH, cause the H loves her anyway now and wants to marry her no matter how tarty she is.

For that special HP Genuine h validation moment, DH shows the H the error of his ways by leaving convenient postmortem letters for both the H and h where the h's mother and the stepfather admit their nasty ways and guilt - thus absolving the H of the shame of being obsessed with an amoral Jezebel for her own version of an HP HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
June 30, 2021
Jason was shocked at the change in Georgia. Seven years ago she'd innocently initiated their one spontaneous night of passion, become pregnant—then disappeared. Now Georgia was back and Jason intended to discover what had really happened to their baby. If that meant being with her every minute of every day—and night—until she told him the truth, then that's what he'd do...
Profile Image for Kay.
1,934 reviews124 followers
February 10, 2014
3 Stars ~ Georgia's father had abandoned her mother as soon as he discovered she was pregnant, ending their engagement. As a result, Georgia always knew that Vivienne resented her and when she married a wealthy man she had simply pushed her daughter to the sidelines barely remembering she existed. But Georgia had bright spots in her childhood, Jason her stepbrother had taken pity on her and always showered her with attention. It was inevitable that by the time Georgia turned 18, she was well and truly in love with Jason. Under the influence of whiskey and cold medicine, Jason was caught off guard when Georgia came to his room to ask his advice on her future. When Georgia discovers she's pregnant, Jason steps up and promises to marry her but on the night he plans to tell his stepfather, Harold and Georgia's mother of their plans he finds the house in an uproar and Georgia is gone. Harold had been caught trying to seduce Georgia, claiming she had been the one to come on to him. Vivienne, not wanting to end her marriage, decides to believe Harold and Georgia is banished from their lives. When Jason, after days of being unable to get in touch with Georgia at her friends house, he calls Vivienne if she's heard from her, and is lead to believe that Georgia had an abortion and that her friends have taken her away on holidays to recuperate. Jason's shattered and becomes determined to put Georgia out of his mind. Now seven years later, Jason is forced to contact Georgia upon his father's death. Vivienne had died in a car crash a few years before, and Jason wondered why Harold would leave his entire estate to Georgia, making him suspect that perhaps there really was something between them. Georgia always thought that Jason had abandoned her because of the lies Harold had told and she wasn't about to forgive him for not being there for her when she miscarried their child.

I really enjoyed this star-crossed lovers story. Both Georgia and Jason are likeable characters, though I wanted to shake Jason for thinking the worst of Georgia. He redeemed himself quite nicely though for their HEA
Profile Image for Tia.
Author 10 books142 followers
March 11, 2013
I didn't really care for this novel. I couldn't relate to the characters or the whole situation that happened in the novel. It was okay but it could of been much better, imo.
Profile Image for Jane.
428 reviews3 followers
January 17, 2016
I think Georgia would be better off without Jason. Cos that guy always believe the worst of her. Assuming she abort their baby and assuming that she did really have an affair with their step father. Oh my god.. As far as Georgia's mother? Another selfish, self absorbed bitch. She forgives him too easily. Too bad. What I want is to see how he work hard on his apologies rather than just show up suddenly and propose.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for ANGELIA.
1,365 reviews12 followers
January 5, 2025
Kind of a misleading title, as it makes it sound like the H and h struck up some sort of bargain, where she'd play the part of his mistress, and it wasn't that way at all.

This is one of those "big misunderstanding that takes several years to rectify" stories and for that reason, I took away a star, as I think seven years is too much of a stretch. Five tends to be my limit, and even then, I prefer no more than three. It's too difficult to believe the whole soulmate thing if they could stay apart so long, unless one of them was thought to be dead or had amnesia.

Anyway, this story had quite a few things that bugged me. When the H and h, Jason and Georgia, first make love, she's 18 to his 26, he was her stepbrother for three years (they shared a stepfather, Harold, who married first Jason's mother then when she died, he married Georgia's) and he was also half out of it from a combo (a STUPID one) of aspirin and whiskey, so you've got a few YUCK!!! factors here. He did know who she was and what was happening, so you can't accuse her of a form of rape, but still, it was a bit too much!

So was the sudden changeover from siblings to lovers, (though Georgia had fallen for him before they made love, but Jason needed time to sort it all out), as Georgia discovers she's pregnant, Jason decides they'll get married, but when her pervy step pops decides to come on to her, both Jason and Vivienne (Georgia's mother) appear to take Harold's word for it that Georgia came on to him!!

WTF!!!! Vivienne had her own reasons for her behavior (she didn't want to risk her marriage to wealthy, socially prominent Harold, which she deemed more important than her daughter) but Jason - who, after the initial shock, knew Harold had lied - took too long to react the way he should have, which set off a chain of events where Georgia believed he didn't care, loses the baby and moves to New York with her best friend and her family, where the friend's father set up an ad agency and that launched her on an advertising career. Meanwhile, Jason took a phone conversation with Vivienne the wrong way, assumed Georgia had an abortion, and determined to forget her altogether, and concentrate on his London law career. Talk about lack of faith all around!

Another thing that bugged me (and this seems to happen quite a bit in these books) is the way both Jason and Georgia, in no time at all and with little effort, become career dynamos! At 26, presumably out of law school only a year, Jason's not only up for a partnership but also being consulted on major cases, as if people a lot older and experienced than he couldn't possibly survive without his advice! And are we really supposed to believe that Georgia, with only a high school education (there's no mention of her going to college when she moved to New York) is qualified for an executive position at the ad agency her friend's dad opened up? Nepotism aside, it doesn't seem likely. Yet we're supposed to believe that, at 25, she's heading a department, making business deals like a pro, and bought a fancy sports car outright, that people twice her age would need bank loans to afford???? COME ON!!!!!

This reminds me of those HR novels, where the H is captain of his own ship at 18, and the h, barely out of the schoolroom, can ride and shoot and yield a sword as skillfully as any man! Sure, and we're all lining up for a chance to buy the Brooklyn Bridge!

I like my fantasies tempered with reality, so please DON'T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE!!!!!

I also got annoyed with the flip-flop, ping-pong of emotions going on. Jason goes from thinking Georgia's a gold-digging tramp (after hearing the terms of Harold's will) whom he feels contempt and disgust for, to knowing she's the only woman who ever touched his heart, to hating her, to wanting her, back and forth, etc. And Georgia does the same: going from stone-cold bitch mode, to warm, gentle young woman, back to "I don't need a man, especially not YOU" attitude, to "Love me, please love me", back and forth, again! There's always a certain amount of love/hate in these books and it's fun to read that, but in this case, it was way over the top and way too much. They kept going from sympathy to snark, and back again! These two characters needed bipolar meds!

What also didn't make sense was the way Georgia was so quick to forgive both Harold and Vivienne, after the crappy way they both treated her. She suffered years of emotional neglect from her mom, because she blamed Georgia for the fact that her father (whom Georgia never knew) dumped Vivienne when she was pregnant with Georgia. She had trouble coping with being a young single mom and treating her crappy for what wasn't her fault. Then, a letter Georgia's mom wrote her right before she was killed in a car crash suddenly makes Georgia forgive everything, and her late mother (as so often happens when someone crummy croaks) instantly goes from sinner to saint! This just proves how unstable her emotions are, same with Jason's.

Georgia - for all her supposed sophistication - has no problem with giving her apartment key to her neighbor (and wannabee boyfriend) Ben (apparently everyone in the building has keys to all the apartments, figure that one out), which he uses at will to snoop around her place (maybe stealing her undies???). He makes excuses to drop by (which she never checks him on), touches her whenever he can ("a comforting arm around a friend", and so on), keeps pestering her to give him a chance to date (and mate) her, stalks around to listen to her phone conversations, and acts jealous and territorial when Jason calls, but she's okay with this?????? I'd have warned him to keep his distance, or he'll get to know the police very well!!!

And Jason casually assumed that Georgia and Ben were lovers, that she also was Harold's mistress, and after they slept together again (which was only the second time Georgia made love, the first also being with him) thought she might resume her relationship with Ben!! Some opinion he had of the woman he then claims to love!!

And Georgia's speeding around in her fancy sports car, showing off, might have been acceptable if she were 18 or 19, but at 25 it was just immature, not to mention pathetic.

After writing all this, I took away one of the stars I gave it, which leaves it a lone star book, so I recommend you don't waste your time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nelly Araneda Contreras.
244 reviews7 followers
February 13, 2020
Que novela más decepcionante, de vez en cuando me gustan leer estas historias para poder suspirar y desconectarme de todo, ya que son rápidas de leer y entretienen mucho. Sin embargo, la trama central de esta novela no tiene mucho sentido, los hechos ocurren sin expectación y sin intensidad, los personajes son muy planos y en sí la historia no tiene ningún giro interesante. No la recomiendo para nada.
Profile Image for Nikki.
2,203 reviews9 followers
March 10, 2024
Eh, not great. Everything in the plot happens to the heroine. At a very young age. Then everyone who wronged her, with the exception of the hero, drops dead. So not a lot of things happening. Pretty boring, skip it.
Profile Image for Shulonie Mccalla.
15 reviews
July 24, 2012
i think this is a great book, im glad everthing came through for the girl though, and the man is sooo persistent!
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