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Take This Woman
It was a shock to Kirsten when Lennard died and left her his large house. But the will caused an even greater shock to Lennard's great-nephew. Disillusioned, he expected to find Kirsten no different from the rest. How could Kirsten convince him that it just wasn't so?
- GenresEnemies To Lovers
238 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2019
3.5 stars.
( Review in a few days... )
( Review in a few days... )
November 7, 2016
Re Take This Woman - Well butter my hiney and call me a biscuit. After the recent run of HPlandia trainwrecks, sob stories and sheer bang your head on the wall until the house falls down, we get a Lillian Peake. Normally this means that I am breaking out the triple chocolate Godiva and doubling the Captain budget, but not today. LP must have come off a great holiday when she wrote this one, cause we can call this LP lite.
Srsly, the 32 yr old international banker H is almost nice for most of the book. Now, don't get me wrong, he is a very lechey kind of guy when it comes "kissing the h's body parts with his eyes", but for the most part he doesn't hit her (at all), cheat on her or even yell at her too much. There is one punishing kiss, and our little h was totally punishing kissing him back.
As for the h, she is positively fluffy! And cute! And she has the most marvelous eyelashes which makes her a flirty little minx, but she also has a very kind heart and a MISSION from her beloved dead employer benefactor who left her a WHOLE twenty two room HOUSE - he just did not leave her any money (tho he had a lot,) and the house needs a lot renovation and repair.
Unfortunately our adorable h has all the big business sense of a concussed duckling, but that is okay too! Because she isn't a complete doormat Pollyanna. She has the most interesting habit of popping out with just the right amount of snarky banter with the appropriate eyelash flicker and our H, who has tons and tons of money, can't wait to give things to her and totally renovate her WHOLE HOUSE, WITH FURNISHINGS! He drew the line at her very own attached bathroom without a more personal consideration, but in terms of business savvy, the h's fluttering little eyelashes and little eyelet blouses are getting her a whole lot further than a business degree.
So the story starts with the h being informed that has inherited her deceased employer's grand estate house. The lands around it, including the Home Farm and the orchard, have been left to another. But since the h was her beloved elderly employer's companion and de facto estate manager for the last six years since she was 18, she gets the house because she loves it, it has become her home and her and the BEE had envisioned a nice little fashionable retirement home for other nice adorable elderly people.
The h wants to make that dream a reality in honour of her fallen BEE but there is a huge problem. The BEE was rather arthritic and never went upstairs, the house has got all kinds of roof leaks and damp and big gaps that the wind blows thru. It really needs a complete overhaul and repair job. But the BEE left only a little sum for the h and now that he is gone and she has no job, she is living on her savings just for ordinary living expenses.
The h has gotten an offer from some development company, but she isn't interested in selling. Nope, she is on a mission to make a nice big home with little flats for other nice elderly people who like having nice pretty young things to talk to.
Enter the H, as he has gotten all the estate lands connected with the manor, and the BEE was his late relative, he feels obliged to make an offer on the house and help the h out. He wanders in at a most inopportune time, just as the h is getting her brush off from her long term but overseas boyfriend. There is big tears and some clinging involved before the H can make his house buying offer. But the h doesn't want that, cause our erstwhile H, after his kissing eyeball with h's body moment, said the house should be leveled.
The h wasn't too happy to hear that and snarky put downs with charm ensued. The H is enraptured and the h is furious. The BEE's lawyer tells the h that the H has all the money, she should talk to him about financing her future retirement home plans. The H won't give her the loan she asks for, but he does offer to pay her a salary as the h has continued on managing the rest of the estate in the H's absence.
Since the H also accuses her of running to another man straightaway, (she did not, her best friend's brother lives in the area and has a huge crush on her that she doesn't reciprocate but she isn't mean to him cause he is her BFF's brother,) and showing up at his office with a hangover, the h tells him to jump and storms off home. Only to almost pass out from the initial stages of bronchitis from being exposed to the house's damp and drafts.
The H shows up later on, just in time to realize the h is really ill and kick the BFF's brother out of the h's room. There is no sponging in this one, but there is lots of clinging as the H stays by the ill h's side for two days without a shirt apparently and the h clings to his manly chest, (she needed the warmth,don'tcha know.) The h does manage to recover, the positive ions generated by clinging nipped that bronchitis right in the bud. Now the h has decided to sell the house's library in hopes of funding part of her mission. A buyer is found, and the h gets the money from the sale, but the buyer stipulates that the books remain in the house for now. (What a sneaky H we have here, he bought the books via an intermediary of course.)
Then the H comes up with the idear that if the h will lease him a couple of rooms and he can have an ensuite bathroom, he will pay for the house repairs and all new furnishings. There is some snarky banter, but the h's eyelashes win the day and the h agrees he can use a couple of rooms and add a bathroom as long as there is a legal document in place.
The repairs begin and tho the h was very attracted before and participated in the big punishing kiss scene, the sight of the H in rugged denims and manly laboring cotton shirt just completely puts her in a big puddle and her heart is lost. For the H's part, not only can he not keep his eyeballs from kissing the h, he can't keep other parts from kissing her either. So because the h won't sleep with him and he has been burnt by a mercenary woman in the past who married his brother rather than him, cause the brother had a bigger bank balance at the time, the H is convinced the h isn't mercenary as she keeps trying to torpedo his land development schemes. The H fires her as his estate manager, gives her a nice check in lieu of back salary and proposes marriage and the besotted h agrees.
They are both happy and the H also signs over the rents and profits from the estate lands for the h's sole use. (How medieval of him, he is giving her an income, just like a dark age potentate.) The h wants to get married quietly at her house and have her local friends from the village in. Her parent's aren't really wealthy and she thinks quieter is more affordable. The H is fine with that, but he is paying for the wedding anyways. However since he is spending a ton on the house and the h's decorating and appliance scheme, (tho she gets to share his bathroom with the power shower,) he figures he can hit two birds with one stone.
So a village wedding is fine, but there needs to be a big London engagement party, cause the H is an international rich banker conglomerate owner and there are some society types that should have the announcement. Plus one society type in particular who dumped the poorer H at one time to latch on to his brother. The h agrees to the City engagement party and it there that the evil wanna be OW strikes.
The wanna be OW is the H's sister in law and she has never stopped chasing the H since his net worth rapidly outpaced his less business oriented older brother. The H had proposed to her, but she dumped him and the OW is specifically invited just so the H can rub her nose in what she isn't getting. Naturally there are attempts at patronizing belittlement's by the OW of the h, but the h rallies and parries them back with style. (She had been practicing her snarky snubs on the H the whole book and now she is getting real world experience in using them. The OW is not amused, but the H is. )
Since the OW can't win on points and the H and h finally get to the magic lurve club moment and it is FABULOUS, The OW wants to win on penalties. So she waits until the H has an emergency business trip and then she tells the h that the H is only marrying her to get his hands on her house and make a subdivision. He is on the board of directors of the property development company that has been making all these plans and offers.
Then the evil wanna be OW quotes the mysterious letter the BEE left for the H that said, "to get the house, you will have to marry the girl." The h puts the worst interpretation possible on this and runs off home. Only to find that her BFF's brother with a crush gets in a wreck and there is no one else to help him hobble around, so he goes to stay with the h. The H reappears about this time and HE puts the worst possible connotation on the BFF's brother's stay and they both tell each other to jump. Except nobody REALLY means it of course. The h doesn't take off the H's ring, but stops the work on the house and she frets about what is going on at the Home Farm, because developers are looking to make up plans.
The H shows up, to take his tenancy of his rented rooms up and there is distant hostilities between the H and h. Until the H breaks and tells the h he loves her and is keeping her anyways. The h is overjoyed, even more so when the H reveals his big Home Farm conversion to a nice elderly people only Retirement Community. It probably won't make any money, but nice elderly people can come and live on Home farm special cottages, complete with care centre and hang out with the nice young h. Whose house is getting fixed and furnished and decorated - but they will still be sharing a bathroom, the H LOVES those power showers. The BFF's brother is wandering about on crutches and his pursuit of a nubile blonde secretary convince the H that there really wasn't anything going on between him and the h, plus his parents are home now, so the h can ship him off.
Also the wanna be OW is a snoop and only told the h about part of the BEE's final letter. The H has been trying to get rid of the OW for years, and he certainly wasn't poaching on his brother's girl. The wanna be OW just thinks she is all that and that the H should give his loser brother a loan. Which he won't do and he doesn't like the OW at all, he figures she will leave for greener pastures soon enough.
The BEE letter was really the BEE's attempt at matchmaking, the letter talks about how wonderful the h is and that the H should hie himself immediately to the family home and fall in love with the h. Which the H obligingly does, as he fell the second his eyeballs kissed the h's chest area. The h is totally delirious with love and joy and the wedding is on for a few days later. We leave the happy couple lurvin it up with the the full force of the club of lurve mojo and a cute HPlandia HEA.
Srsly, the 32 yr old international banker H is almost nice for most of the book. Now, don't get me wrong, he is a very lechey kind of guy when it comes "kissing the h's body parts with his eyes", but for the most part he doesn't hit her (at all), cheat on her or even yell at her too much. There is one punishing kiss, and our little h was totally punishing kissing him back.
As for the h, she is positively fluffy! And cute! And she has the most marvelous eyelashes which makes her a flirty little minx, but she also has a very kind heart and a MISSION from her beloved dead employer benefactor who left her a WHOLE twenty two room HOUSE - he just did not leave her any money (tho he had a lot,) and the house needs a lot renovation and repair.
Unfortunately our adorable h has all the big business sense of a concussed duckling, but that is okay too! Because she isn't a complete doormat Pollyanna. She has the most interesting habit of popping out with just the right amount of snarky banter with the appropriate eyelash flicker and our H, who has tons and tons of money, can't wait to give things to her and totally renovate her WHOLE HOUSE, WITH FURNISHINGS! He drew the line at her very own attached bathroom without a more personal consideration, but in terms of business savvy, the h's fluttering little eyelashes and little eyelet blouses are getting her a whole lot further than a business degree.
So the story starts with the h being informed that has inherited her deceased employer's grand estate house. The lands around it, including the Home Farm and the orchard, have been left to another. But since the h was her beloved elderly employer's companion and de facto estate manager for the last six years since she was 18, she gets the house because she loves it, it has become her home and her and the BEE had envisioned a nice little fashionable retirement home for other nice adorable elderly people.
The h wants to make that dream a reality in honour of her fallen BEE but there is a huge problem. The BEE was rather arthritic and never went upstairs, the house has got all kinds of roof leaks and damp and big gaps that the wind blows thru. It really needs a complete overhaul and repair job. But the BEE left only a little sum for the h and now that he is gone and she has no job, she is living on her savings just for ordinary living expenses.
The h has gotten an offer from some development company, but she isn't interested in selling. Nope, she is on a mission to make a nice big home with little flats for other nice elderly people who like having nice pretty young things to talk to.
Enter the H, as he has gotten all the estate lands connected with the manor, and the BEE was his late relative, he feels obliged to make an offer on the house and help the h out. He wanders in at a most inopportune time, just as the h is getting her brush off from her long term but overseas boyfriend. There is big tears and some clinging involved before the H can make his house buying offer. But the h doesn't want that, cause our erstwhile H, after his kissing eyeball with h's body moment, said the house should be leveled.
The h wasn't too happy to hear that and snarky put downs with charm ensued. The H is enraptured and the h is furious. The BEE's lawyer tells the h that the H has all the money, she should talk to him about financing her future retirement home plans. The H won't give her the loan she asks for, but he does offer to pay her a salary as the h has continued on managing the rest of the estate in the H's absence.
Since the H also accuses her of running to another man straightaway, (she did not, her best friend's brother lives in the area and has a huge crush on her that she doesn't reciprocate but she isn't mean to him cause he is her BFF's brother,) and showing up at his office with a hangover, the h tells him to jump and storms off home. Only to almost pass out from the initial stages of bronchitis from being exposed to the house's damp and drafts.
The H shows up later on, just in time to realize the h is really ill and kick the BFF's brother out of the h's room. There is no sponging in this one, but there is lots of clinging as the H stays by the ill h's side for two days without a shirt apparently and the h clings to his manly chest, (she needed the warmth,don'tcha know.) The h does manage to recover, the positive ions generated by clinging nipped that bronchitis right in the bud. Now the h has decided to sell the house's library in hopes of funding part of her mission. A buyer is found, and the h gets the money from the sale, but the buyer stipulates that the books remain in the house for now. (What a sneaky H we have here, he bought the books via an intermediary of course.)
Then the H comes up with the idear that if the h will lease him a couple of rooms and he can have an ensuite bathroom, he will pay for the house repairs and all new furnishings. There is some snarky banter, but the h's eyelashes win the day and the h agrees he can use a couple of rooms and add a bathroom as long as there is a legal document in place.
The repairs begin and tho the h was very attracted before and participated in the big punishing kiss scene, the sight of the H in rugged denims and manly laboring cotton shirt just completely puts her in a big puddle and her heart is lost. For the H's part, not only can he not keep his eyeballs from kissing the h, he can't keep other parts from kissing her either. So because the h won't sleep with him and he has been burnt by a mercenary woman in the past who married his brother rather than him, cause the brother had a bigger bank balance at the time, the H is convinced the h isn't mercenary as she keeps trying to torpedo his land development schemes. The H fires her as his estate manager, gives her a nice check in lieu of back salary and proposes marriage and the besotted h agrees.
They are both happy and the H also signs over the rents and profits from the estate lands for the h's sole use. (How medieval of him, he is giving her an income, just like a dark age potentate.) The h wants to get married quietly at her house and have her local friends from the village in. Her parent's aren't really wealthy and she thinks quieter is more affordable. The H is fine with that, but he is paying for the wedding anyways. However since he is spending a ton on the house and the h's decorating and appliance scheme, (tho she gets to share his bathroom with the power shower,) he figures he can hit two birds with one stone.
So a village wedding is fine, but there needs to be a big London engagement party, cause the H is an international rich banker conglomerate owner and there are some society types that should have the announcement. Plus one society type in particular who dumped the poorer H at one time to latch on to his brother. The h agrees to the City engagement party and it there that the evil wanna be OW strikes.
The wanna be OW is the H's sister in law and she has never stopped chasing the H since his net worth rapidly outpaced his less business oriented older brother. The H had proposed to her, but she dumped him and the OW is specifically invited just so the H can rub her nose in what she isn't getting. Naturally there are attempts at patronizing belittlement's by the OW of the h, but the h rallies and parries them back with style. (She had been practicing her snarky snubs on the H the whole book and now she is getting real world experience in using them. The OW is not amused, but the H is. )
Since the OW can't win on points and the H and h finally get to the magic lurve club moment and it is FABULOUS, The OW wants to win on penalties. So she waits until the H has an emergency business trip and then she tells the h that the H is only marrying her to get his hands on her house and make a subdivision. He is on the board of directors of the property development company that has been making all these plans and offers.
Then the evil wanna be OW quotes the mysterious letter the BEE left for the H that said, "to get the house, you will have to marry the girl." The h puts the worst interpretation possible on this and runs off home. Only to find that her BFF's brother with a crush gets in a wreck and there is no one else to help him hobble around, so he goes to stay with the h. The H reappears about this time and HE puts the worst possible connotation on the BFF's brother's stay and they both tell each other to jump. Except nobody REALLY means it of course. The h doesn't take off the H's ring, but stops the work on the house and she frets about what is going on at the Home Farm, because developers are looking to make up plans.
The H shows up, to take his tenancy of his rented rooms up and there is distant hostilities between the H and h. Until the H breaks and tells the h he loves her and is keeping her anyways. The h is overjoyed, even more so when the H reveals his big Home Farm conversion to a nice elderly people only Retirement Community. It probably won't make any money, but nice elderly people can come and live on Home farm special cottages, complete with care centre and hang out with the nice young h. Whose house is getting fixed and furnished and decorated - but they will still be sharing a bathroom, the H LOVES those power showers. The BFF's brother is wandering about on crutches and his pursuit of a nubile blonde secretary convince the H that there really wasn't anything going on between him and the h, plus his parents are home now, so the h can ship him off.
Also the wanna be OW is a snoop and only told the h about part of the BEE's final letter. The H has been trying to get rid of the OW for years, and he certainly wasn't poaching on his brother's girl. The wanna be OW just thinks she is all that and that the H should give his loser brother a loan. Which he won't do and he doesn't like the OW at all, he figures she will leave for greener pastures soon enough.
The BEE letter was really the BEE's attempt at matchmaking, the letter talks about how wonderful the h is and that the H should hie himself immediately to the family home and fall in love with the h. Which the H obligingly does, as he fell the second his eyeballs kissed the h's chest area. The h is totally delirious with love and joy and the wedding is on for a few days later. We leave the happy couple lurvin it up with the the full force of the club of lurve mojo and a cute HPlandia HEA.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2020
Couldn't get into it. Seemed like a decent story but I was bored after a couple chapters and bored with heroine rhapsodizing about the falling-down-around-her barn of a house.
October 21, 2019
She needed cash -- not compromise
Giving in to millionaire Scott Baird's sensual charms filled Kirsten's fantasies from the moment they met. Doing so, however, would confirm Scott's cynical view that women easily traded their lovemaking for cold cash.
And, unfortunately, money was what Kirsten needed--to restore Tall Trees, the mansion she'd unexpectedly inherited from Scott's great-uncle, but which Scott insisted she should sell.
Although he refused her a loan, Scott did offer a curious compromise--tenancy in exchange for making Tall Trees habitable. As if Kirsten needed a man she couldn't resist sharing the same leaky roof
Giving in to millionaire Scott Baird's sensual charms filled Kirsten's fantasies from the moment they met. Doing so, however, would confirm Scott's cynical view that women easily traded their lovemaking for cold cash.
And, unfortunately, money was what Kirsten needed--to restore Tall Trees, the mansion she'd unexpectedly inherited from Scott's great-uncle, but which Scott insisted she should sell.
Although he refused her a loan, Scott did offer a curious compromise--tenancy in exchange for making Tall Trees habitable. As if Kirsten needed a man she couldn't resist sharing the same leaky roof
January 26, 2026
I was prepared, halfway through it, to say I disliked this book, but it was redeemed in the end. Still only 3 stars cause there was too much bickering!
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