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A Masterful Man
"Mr. Irresistible…!"Steve Warwick makes it clear to Davina from their first meeting that he wants her in his bed! Davina has other ideas…. The last thing she needs right now is a tough, masterful man who thinks he can organize her life for her….But Steve has never met a woman yet who is immune to his charm, and he's decided that Davina will be no exception. So when Steve gets that determined glint in his glittering hazel eyes, Davina knows she's in for trouble!
181 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1994
About the author
Lindsay Armstrong
320 books92 followersGillian Smith (alias Lindsay Armstrong) was born in South Africa. She grew up with three ambitions: to become a writer, to travel the world, and to be a game ranger. She didn't achieve the last one, but her fascination for wildlife and that special something about Africa and its big game still remains with her. When she went to work it was in travel, at an agency and an airline, and this started her on the road to seeing the world.
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
Lindsey met her New Zealand-born husband, who had been working in West Africa, when he was on his way home through Johannesburg. He did go home but in a matter of weeks he was back in South Africa, and six months later they were married. Three of their five children were born in South Africa. Then one in London and one in Australia, after they made the decision to emigrate from South Africa.
It wasn't until her youngest child started school that Lindsay sat down at the kitchen table determined to tackle her other ambition to stop dreaming about writing and do it! She hasn't stopped since. She's not happy unless she has a book under way, and she's discovered she can write through just about anything.
Lindsay and her husband have moved around a lot. They've trained racehorses,farmed, and lived on their boat for six months while they sailed it from the Gold Coast to the Torres Strait and back, an epic voyage! They currently live in Queensland, overlooking the water; they sold their farm, and they're looking around for another boat. She and her husband love to travel and have been back to Africa twice in the past few years. The highlight of one of their trips was a visit to the Serengeti, in Tanzania, where Lindsay did the one thing she swore she would never do: take a ride in a hot-air balloon. She was a nervous wreck as the balloon tottered upright, but will remember it as a unique experience to see the game spreading out on the Serengeti plain beneath her as the sun rose.
"They say you can take someone who was born in Africa out of the bush but you can't take the bush out of someone born there..."
Despite this passion for wildlife and Africa, Lindsay considers Australia her home now and loves the country. She travelled to Sydney to witness the closing weekend of the Olympic Games in September 2000; it made her proud to be an adopted Aussie!
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 16, 2023
Lindsay Armstrong explores the fallout of a forced marriage at 19 to a sociopath. Luckily, the heroine escaped that horrible first marriage, but she is still has scars. This housekeeper heroine is wary of the "masterful" hero because she knows there is a fine line between alpha and bully. The exotic island location and the side characters - especially the "lazy" stepmother who is actually a fine dress designer and helps the heroine - add some color to this straightforward tale.
August 14, 2018
Re A Masterful Man - Lindsay Armstrong does the repercussions of the typical HP blackmail into marriage plot gone very wrong in this HP outing. Grab your google images, we are having a month's stay on Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea and LA gives us lots of interesting travelogue.
The h is 25, divorced from a brutal coprophagic slime pustule sub sewer dweller and taking a months long housekeeping assignment on LHI. She arrives at the airport and is looking around for someone to meet her. The h is very attractive, but very wary of men, especially the HP standard Alpha Manly Bossy H.
After being mildly propositioned for a date by the pilot of the plane the h just flew in on, she is noticed by the H - who also happens to be the Alpha Manly Bossy H who hired her. Sparks fly as the H compares the h to a B-Grade movie starlet and the h figures out that the H is a single guy who will not be good employer of housekeepers material.
Words are exchanged and the h comes perilously close to leaving, except she was on the last plane out coming in and there are no other flights. So the h resolves to make the best of it, especially when the H explains that the h is there to run herd on his grandmother, his stepmother and his eight year old little sister - the stepmother is a famous clothes designer and isn't the greatest parent and grandma likes to sharpen her daggers with the wild running plot moppet as a weapon.
Figuring things will be okay with a houseful of ladies to ward off the H, the h agrees to stay, after making the H stop to take pictures of the rainbows over LHI iconic mountains. The H obliges and we start to feel the concussion waves of the lurve force mojo.
The H is fairly blunt in his interest and when the h meets the H's ladies, it is clear that they are all about matchmaking too. The H's grandmother and his stepmother are continually at odds, but both of them are women of very fierce will, the little girl is too, but she soon responds to the h's child management techniques and becomes only semi-feral.
Torquemada could have taken Grand Inquisitioner lessons from the H's grandmother whenshe questions the h on her divorced status as the lady determines if the h is acceptable as a wife for the H. So it clear that there is much matchmaking with the H and h in the air.
The H's stepmother takes a different tact, she is aware of the h's prior marriage and what the pustule was like, but she is very frank that the H is not on her man-eating agenda, he is too complicated and difficult.
The H is pushing for a relationship too, but the h finally explains that she has huge trust issues with men of his type and we learn a little about her marriage.
The h's marriage at 19 was under duress. The h's father got into trouble with some shady deals and the h's potential bridegroom, another shady dealer himself, said he would bail the h's father out if she married him. The h mainly did so to spare her mother her father's abuse, even tho her mum begged her not to.
Turns out the h should have listened to her mum. After being raped on her wedding night and subjected to various sadistic and bullying treatment which the h passively resisted by never reacting to it, the coprophagic pustule couldn't understand why the h wasn't falling at his feet in gratitude.
He began openly cheating on her and making sure she had to entertain the mistresses, then the h's father dropped the news that pustule did not bail him out as promised and he went bankrupt.
Fortunately the h's father died right after that piece of info, the h's mum got a nice inheritance from a female relative and the h got shot of the slime swiller - then the slime swiller had his fall from grace.
Now we are all on LHI taking pictures, trying to herd rambunctious women and children and warding off the roofie kisses of the H.
After two weeks of sight seeing, family brangles and air searches for missing people on yachts, as well as an unpleasant encounter with a muck-raking journalist that the H kicks off the island, the H and h decide to explore the physical side of their attraction - after he has to publicly reject another OW wanna be and the h feels sorry for her.
The h is unsure of where all this is leading, but the usual Golden Shores of Transcendent bliss are arrived at and then disaster strikes. The h gets a letter from her ex coprophage, who threatens the business interests of the H if the h continues to associate with him.
It seems the HP gods did not see fit to strike the pustule down with a toilet seat to the head, so the h decides she has to leave. She cares about the H and she doesn't think it right that her past could destroy his little LHI tourism empires.
The H makes her very angry tho, he had told the airport staff not to let her leave if she wanted. There is a big confrontation and the h puts it all out there that the H is better in bed, but just as bullying and abusive in his manipulations as her ex.
The h leaves and goes home, she decides she is going to start a career in photography and she also realizes she needs to get the ex out of her life for good. There is a little jump in time and the h is arriving back at Lord Howe, seeking out the H.
We learn that the h used the contents of her diary to blackmail the ex into leaving her alone. She threatened to reveal the names of the wives of very high powered men the coprophage used as mistresses, then the men would ruin him, and she will also reveal the details of his sketchy deals in the press if he did not leave her and the H alone.
Like all bullies, the ex backed down once someone stood up to him and the h decided that she loves the H and his kinda Alpha Manly Bossiness is right up her alley.
So when the H gets in and the h is waiting for him, he is really, really happy to see her and he does a very good, " I am sorry I am bossy, but I love you madly and can't live without you and I went and told your ex slime pustule off after you did, but I waited for you to decide you wanted me and come back so you wouldn't think I was pushy" speech.
Which is exactly what the h wants to hear, because she loves the H madly too and really, she was only fighting herself for this whole month-long tumble in true forever love.
LA gives us a little epilogue a year later, the H and h have a baby girl and going by her coloring and her disposition, the baby is going to put all them to shame in the Alpha Bullying stakes, for another happy rosy glow sparkly HEA.
This one was pretty good, there was a lot of drama and tension and the h was not a doormat. It kinda lost a little steam at the end and we should have gotten the coprophage's congé on page instead of in verbal flashback. But it still was a nice HP outing with great scenery and worth a read if you run into it.
The h is 25, divorced from a brutal coprophagic slime pustule sub sewer dweller and taking a months long housekeeping assignment on LHI. She arrives at the airport and is looking around for someone to meet her. The h is very attractive, but very wary of men, especially the HP standard Alpha Manly Bossy H.
After being mildly propositioned for a date by the pilot of the plane the h just flew in on, she is noticed by the H - who also happens to be the Alpha Manly Bossy H who hired her. Sparks fly as the H compares the h to a B-Grade movie starlet and the h figures out that the H is a single guy who will not be good employer of housekeepers material.
Words are exchanged and the h comes perilously close to leaving, except she was on the last plane out coming in and there are no other flights. So the h resolves to make the best of it, especially when the H explains that the h is there to run herd on his grandmother, his stepmother and his eight year old little sister - the stepmother is a famous clothes designer and isn't the greatest parent and grandma likes to sharpen her daggers with the wild running plot moppet as a weapon.
Figuring things will be okay with a houseful of ladies to ward off the H, the h agrees to stay, after making the H stop to take pictures of the rainbows over LHI iconic mountains. The H obliges and we start to feel the concussion waves of the lurve force mojo.
The H is fairly blunt in his interest and when the h meets the H's ladies, it is clear that they are all about matchmaking too. The H's grandmother and his stepmother are continually at odds, but both of them are women of very fierce will, the little girl is too, but she soon responds to the h's child management techniques and becomes only semi-feral.
Torquemada could have taken Grand Inquisitioner lessons from the H's grandmother whenshe questions the h on her divorced status as the lady determines if the h is acceptable as a wife for the H. So it clear that there is much matchmaking with the H and h in the air.
The H's stepmother takes a different tact, she is aware of the h's prior marriage and what the pustule was like, but she is very frank that the H is not on her man-eating agenda, he is too complicated and difficult.
The H is pushing for a relationship too, but the h finally explains that she has huge trust issues with men of his type and we learn a little about her marriage.
The h's marriage at 19 was under duress. The h's father got into trouble with some shady deals and the h's potential bridegroom, another shady dealer himself, said he would bail the h's father out if she married him. The h mainly did so to spare her mother her father's abuse, even tho her mum begged her not to.
Turns out the h should have listened to her mum. After being raped on her wedding night and subjected to various sadistic and bullying treatment which the h passively resisted by never reacting to it, the coprophagic pustule couldn't understand why the h wasn't falling at his feet in gratitude.
He began openly cheating on her and making sure she had to entertain the mistresses, then the h's father dropped the news that pustule did not bail him out as promised and he went bankrupt.
Fortunately the h's father died right after that piece of info, the h's mum got a nice inheritance from a female relative and the h got shot of the slime swiller - then the slime swiller had his fall from grace.
Now we are all on LHI taking pictures, trying to herd rambunctious women and children and warding off the roofie kisses of the H.
After two weeks of sight seeing, family brangles and air searches for missing people on yachts, as well as an unpleasant encounter with a muck-raking journalist that the H kicks off the island, the H and h decide to explore the physical side of their attraction - after he has to publicly reject another OW wanna be and the h feels sorry for her.
The h is unsure of where all this is leading, but the usual Golden Shores of Transcendent bliss are arrived at and then disaster strikes. The h gets a letter from her ex coprophage, who threatens the business interests of the H if the h continues to associate with him.
It seems the HP gods did not see fit to strike the pustule down with a toilet seat to the head, so the h decides she has to leave. She cares about the H and she doesn't think it right that her past could destroy his little LHI tourism empires.
The H makes her very angry tho, he had told the airport staff not to let her leave if she wanted. There is a big confrontation and the h puts it all out there that the H is better in bed, but just as bullying and abusive in his manipulations as her ex.
The h leaves and goes home, she decides she is going to start a career in photography and she also realizes she needs to get the ex out of her life for good. There is a little jump in time and the h is arriving back at Lord Howe, seeking out the H.
We learn that the h used the contents of her diary to blackmail the ex into leaving her alone. She threatened to reveal the names of the wives of very high powered men the coprophage used as mistresses, then the men would ruin him, and she will also reveal the details of his sketchy deals in the press if he did not leave her and the H alone.
Like all bullies, the ex backed down once someone stood up to him and the h decided that she loves the H and his kinda Alpha Manly Bossiness is right up her alley.
So when the H gets in and the h is waiting for him, he is really, really happy to see her and he does a very good, " I am sorry I am bossy, but I love you madly and can't live without you and I went and told your ex slime pustule off after you did, but I waited for you to decide you wanted me and come back so you wouldn't think I was pushy" speech.
Which is exactly what the h wants to hear, because she loves the H madly too and really, she was only fighting herself for this whole month-long tumble in true forever love.
LA gives us a little epilogue a year later, the H and h have a baby girl and going by her coloring and her disposition, the baby is going to put all them to shame in the Alpha Bullying stakes, for another happy rosy glow sparkly HEA.
This one was pretty good, there was a lot of drama and tension and the h was not a doormat. It kinda lost a little steam at the end and we should have gotten the coprophage's congé on page instead of in verbal flashback. But it still was a nice HP outing with great scenery and worth a read if you run into it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2026
The heroine's back story sounds like a separate Harlequin novel, with a forced marriage trope to settle the debts of her parents. Except that her marriage to her ex-husband did not magically make her eventually fall in love, which is a must according to the HPlandia Manual.
Her ex was a monster who was crude and sexually violent. When he found that he could not break through her passive resistance, he proceeded to humiliate her with as many high profile mistresses as he could. To add insult to injury, his promises to help her parents financially were empty because he was nothing more than a high class con man. After her father loses his company and has a fatal heart attack, heroine divorces and spends the last five years before our story starts kind of living a no strings attached, nomadic life, working housekeeper and catering jobs here and there, on short term basis, all the while indulging in amateur photography.
The story begins as heroine arrives at her new gig at a beautiful, quasi-private island, to work for the hero for a couple of months while he is hosting his grandma, stepmother and half-sister.
The author teases the reader with the ominous arrival of a potentially catty other woman in the form of the hero's sultry, eye-candy, former step mom...who turns out to be frank, compassionate, and totally on Team Heroine! So that was a nice change of pace too. The other potential OW is similarly a red herring thrown in there and easily disposed of.
The real obstacle between the housekeeper heroine and her employer hero is her own,understandably vast insecurities concerning sex as well as the reluctance to let another man have any kind of dominion over her.
The romance between the protagonists was pretty steamy but lacking in emotion, for me at least. I found the guy aloof, cold and sometimes unbearably cruel when he flew into rages. He did not hesitate to berate and publicly humiliate the heroine when he did not get his way. So I feel REAL dodgy about heroine choosing another potentially abusive man after already going through the merry-go-round from hell in her first marriage.
I also found it implausible that the proud, repressed, immensely private heroine started spilling the beans about the intimate and painful details of her traumatic marriage within hours of meeting the hero, while she was essentially still interviewing for the job! That did not fly with me at all.
Lindsay Armstrong is certainly an interesting writer who enjoys turning HPlandia tropes on their head. She is also a skilled story teller and really succeeded in making me live through her world building, and follow along a pretty basic plotline (nothing much happens in the dramatic sense. No kidnappings, no car chases, no glittering balls, or seekret babies, to my relief) that was nevertheless rich in characterization and dialogue. But like I said, in this one, I just did not click emotionally with this couple.
Her ex was a monster who was crude and sexually violent. When he found that he could not break through her passive resistance, he proceeded to humiliate her with as many high profile mistresses as he could. To add insult to injury, his promises to help her parents financially were empty because he was nothing more than a high class con man. After her father loses his company and has a fatal heart attack, heroine divorces and spends the last five years before our story starts kind of living a no strings attached, nomadic life, working housekeeper and catering jobs here and there, on short term basis, all the while indulging in amateur photography.
The story begins as heroine arrives at her new gig at a beautiful, quasi-private island, to work for the hero for a couple of months while he is hosting his grandma, stepmother and half-sister.
The author teases the reader with the ominous arrival of a potentially catty other woman in the form of the hero's sultry, eye-candy, former step mom...who turns out to be frank, compassionate, and totally on Team Heroine! So that was a nice change of pace too. The other potential OW is similarly a red herring thrown in there and easily disposed of.
The real obstacle between the housekeeper heroine and her employer hero is her own,understandably vast insecurities concerning sex as well as the reluctance to let another man have any kind of dominion over her.
The romance between the protagonists was pretty steamy but lacking in emotion, for me at least. I found the guy aloof, cold and sometimes unbearably cruel when he flew into rages. He did not hesitate to berate and publicly humiliate the heroine when he did not get his way. So I feel REAL dodgy about heroine choosing another potentially abusive man after already going through the merry-go-round from hell in her first marriage.
I also found it implausible that the proud, repressed, immensely private heroine started spilling the beans about the intimate and painful details of her traumatic marriage within hours of meeting the hero, while she was essentially still interviewing for the job! That did not fly with me at all.
Lindsay Armstrong is certainly an interesting writer who enjoys turning HPlandia tropes on their head. She is also a skilled story teller and really succeeded in making me live through her world building, and follow along a pretty basic plotline (nothing much happens in the dramatic sense. No kidnappings, no car chases, no glittering balls, or seekret babies, to my relief) that was nevertheless rich in characterization and dialogue. But like I said, in this one, I just did not click emotionally with this couple.
June 29, 2017
This started out gangbusters with one of the crankiest, quick on the trigger heroines who takes no guff off the hero and his leering ways. A bickerfest between the two was amusing at first, but got old. I want you. I hate you I want you. I hate you The H likes to leer, but the h will have none of it based on an abusive and threatening ex-husband.
The h is housekeeper to the H's menagerie of female relations and has to endure interference and blatant nosiness from the three generations. It works out because all three generations are pushing for the H and h to get together.
The evil ex pops up briefly, but the heroine dispatched him with her diary chock full of bad deals and mistresses. I don't see a long-term HEA as if the couple is bickering this much now, what's going to happen when he forgets their anniversary.
The h is housekeeper to the H's menagerie of female relations and has to endure interference and blatant nosiness from the three generations. It works out because all three generations are pushing for the H and h to get together.
The evil ex pops up briefly, but the heroine dispatched him with her diary chock full of bad deals and mistresses. I don't see a long-term HEA as if the couple is bickering this much now, what's going to happen when he forgets their anniversary.
August 20, 2011
The h is 25 years old, divorced, gorgeous and a housekeeper. She's determined to stay single or at least not to be taken over by an overpowering, masterful male. She had a disastrous first marriage, which she was basucally forced into by family circumstances. Her husband was abusive and sadistic.
The h's new temporary job is to be housekeeper for a month on a beautiful tropical Island. Her boss she believes is a married man with a child. She was hired by an agency and he thinks he's getting a middle aged married woman. They were both unpleasantly shocked when he went to pick her up at the airport. He's single, and the child is his much younger half sister. They immediately strike sparks and if there had been a flight back to the mainland that day the h would have probably left.
This book is not for anyone who dislikes bickering, bantering, or smart mouthed females who use a sharp tongue to keep men away. I like this kind of h so liked the book alot. The h has a lot of baggage and despite the H's arrogance and occassional impatience and bad temper, he shows alot of patience in dealing with and overcoming the h's barriers. Obviously everything concludes with a HEA.
The h's new temporary job is to be housekeeper for a month on a beautiful tropical Island. Her boss she believes is a married man with a child. She was hired by an agency and he thinks he's getting a middle aged married woman. They were both unpleasantly shocked when he went to pick her up at the airport. He's single, and the child is his much younger half sister. They immediately strike sparks and if there had been a flight back to the mainland that day the h would have probably left.
This book is not for anyone who dislikes bickering, bantering, or smart mouthed females who use a sharp tongue to keep men away. I like this kind of h so liked the book alot. The h has a lot of baggage and despite the H's arrogance and occassional impatience and bad temper, he shows alot of patience in dealing with and overcoming the h's barriers. Obviously everything concludes with a HEA.
April 8, 2024
Upping rating because setting is fantastic, so beautiful and LA describes it with love. (I spent a couple hours looking at photos and inn prices.)
LA develops both h and H fairly well and the secondary characters are fun too.
I particularly enjoyed the realistic outcome of a forced, blackmailed marriage. Instead of insta-lust turning to insta-love the h hated her creepy, evil ex husband and he was horrible, cruel, sadistic, and once he escaped he wants to destroy her and her new love, and if she had one, her pet dog.
LA develops both h and H fairly well and the secondary characters are fun too.
I particularly enjoyed the realistic outcome of a forced, blackmailed marriage. Instead of insta-lust turning to insta-love the h hated her creepy, evil ex husband and he was horrible, cruel, sadistic, and once he escaped he wants to destroy her and her new love, and if she had one, her pet dog.
August 15, 2018
This was actually a good read. I quite enjoyed it
August 23, 2020
A lovely classic filled with all the angst, the big overbearing H and the scrappy but somewhat meek h. I loved it.
The main characters were what you expected. Lots of tension, sexual and otherwise. They sparked off of each other and had a great love/hate thing going. The secondary characters were great fun and added so much more dimension to the book. The grandmother, her daughter-in-law and their absolute dislike for each other were one heck of a comedic team. They made the book much more interesting.
The main characters were what you expected. Lots of tension, sexual and otherwise. They sparked off of each other and had a great love/hate thing going. The secondary characters were great fun and added so much more dimension to the book. The grandmother, her daughter-in-law and their absolute dislike for each other were one heck of a comedic team. They made the book much more interesting.
April 27, 2023
Rather taken with the bronzed musculature in the cover artwork, I quite enjoyed this one. Steve Warwick, the eponymous masterful man is your old school H with a bit of self awareness and humour thrown in. The h, Davina, a passionate amateur photographer and divorcee takes a job as Housekeeper on Lord Howe island. The H's warring grandmother, stepmother and half sister add some colour, as do the many descriptions of Howe landscapes, flora and fauna. The h's first marriage was a business thing to save her father. Ex husband was horrible and as the attraction was one sided essentially raped her and dismissed her as frigid. She is, therefore, reluctant to be dominated by a man again, reluctant to marry in haste and just generally reluctant. In every way except keeping the Hs advances at bay. They have a powerful physical attraction from the off and the cover references an early scene where they end up enmeshed in the surf a la Burt and Deborah in From Here to Eternity. Anyway, it dragged in parts and some things by contrast felt a bit half baked and rushed but it was still a decent read.
April 11, 2011
Lindsay Armstrong's thirty-second romance novel, A Masterful Man, is set on Lord Howe Island, just off the coast of NSW. Davina Hastings arrives to do a temporary housekeeping job for Steve Warwick. Stung by a previous marriage to a nasty man, she wants nothing to do with Steve, but he has other ideas. Another delightful Australian romance from Lindsay Armstrong!
July 29, 2013
Rating 3.25 stars
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