The Brazilian Millionaire's Love-Child

by Anne Mather

Isobel has never forgotten the night Brazilian millionaire Alejandro Cabral took her innocence. The image of Alejandro's sexy body has left a lifelong impression on her--as did his seed. He will never know he has a daughter....Until three years later, when Isobel is led right back to Alejandro--and she's shocked. He's a changed man. He's still utterly sexy, but a terrible car accident has left him scarred, brooding and bitter. What's more, he's deliberately lured Isobel to Brazil because he knows "all" about his child.

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Harlequin Romance

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

Anne Mather is the pseudonym used by Mildred Grieveson, a popular British author of over 160 romance novels. She also signed novels as Caroline Fleming and Cardine Fleming.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.

Reviews

[Verity]

Nothing exciting 'bout this book. The gist of the story is, it's attraction @ 1st sight when H/H meet @ a party. The 30 y/o heroine guesses he's 'bout 25-26 y/o or so, but the hero's age never gets mentioned again, so I'm not even sure if I should categorize this in my 'cougars' shelf. Semi-cougar, mayhap ? LOL... H/H have a 1-nite stand, his cellphone beeps @ the end of their heated encounter, says he gotta fly back to Brazil for emergency. Fast forward 3 yrs later, he finds a way to lure heroine into his mom-in-law's lair. No typo there. Apparently hero got hitched & his wife expired soon after due to drug overdose. He had a horrendous accident - courtesy of the drug junkie - resulting in a scar on his face & torn ligament on his leg. Anyhoo, this trip to his hometown is supposed to be for an exclusive interview w/ a reclusive writer (hero's mom-in-law who has no clue that H/H had hanky panky going on). Hero wants heroine to come clean 'bout the li'l bun in the oven ('cuz U know, condoms are rare commodities when U're boinking a hawt chick in another country). I wouldn't even call it an affair 'cuz it's only 1 time. Heroine initially wouldn't admit that he's her baby's daddy. I thought it's hella creepy & weird that hero found out 'bout the existence of his baby thru' GOOGLE. Yez, he googled heroine's name & saw a pic of her & their bundle of joy who's a dead ringer for his niece. There's not much dwama other than that hero sports a boner when she's in the vicinity 'cuz she's 1 hawt momma. I dunno why I keep buying AM. Even tho' I visualized Rodrigo Santoro, I thought the book was mediocre @ best & the storyline was lame. If U luv 'secret baby' & 'reunion' theme, this is right up your alley. The cute baby only shows up near the end. Nothing stands out. I'm a long-time AM fan & methinks her oldies were much better in plotting & quality. I own AM's entire backlist & will prolly keep buying her even if she keeps turning out forgettable ones like this. I'm a glutton for punishment. @ least her books don't contain li'l lizard / stable gals.

PS : I dunno what they were smokin' up their @$$ when they put up the book description. The heroine's not a virgin. She's a divorcee. Gah ! Didn't they read the content 1st ? Just 'cuz she's tight, it doesn't mean she's pure. Off my soapbox now.

http://x0c.xanga.com/c4580af269710111...

[Jenny]

He doesn't 'take her innocence" as the blurb on the back says since she was a divorcee. I really don't get why the blurb lies!

[thadine]

Alejandro Cabral and Isobel meet at a party one night and immediately have the hots for each other. After many protestations from Isobel that she isn't interested in casual sex and Alejandro responding that he isn't looking for or offering it, they end up having unprotected sex. While lying in post-coital bliss, Alejandro receives an urgent call from his father in Brazil begging him to return as soon as possible to handle an emergency concerning Alejandro's unofficial fiancée, Miranda. He leaves immediately, promising Isobel that he will be in touch. Naturally, Isobel isn't convinced; they've just had sex and now he's running off without even taking the time to have a shower. Skipping ahead three years, Alejandro has never been in touch with Isobel again and she is now a single mother. She goes to Brazil on a work assignment only to discover that Alejandro engineered the whole thing so that he could meet her again now that he has somehow found out about their daughter.

If you can't tell from my tone thus far, I didn't like this book. It turns out that Alejandro was seriously injured in a car accident two months after he left Isobel and that is his excuse for never getting in contact with her. He was worried that his injuries would put her off, so instead he marries Miranda. Talk about lame excuses. The accident occurred two months after he slept with Isobel; as far as I am concerned, if he really cared about her, he would have been in touch with her already especially considering she could have been pregnant (the possibility of which Alejandro acknowledged when he left her). He is bitter that Isobel didn't somehow get in touch with him to tell him that she was pregnant, in spite of the fact that he left her the way he did and didn't even give her his contact details. He figures she could have contacted him via his company's website. Ughh. As for Isobel, she has every reason to be bitter. She was basically left pregnant after a one-night stand with a guy who made all sorts of promises to her. Now she finds out that he pretty much got married straight after, and she realises that Alejandro and Miranda were obviously already involved when he slept with her. Yet what does she do? She is so concerned about Alejandro's manly pride that instead of calling him to account for his actions, she grabs the chance to have unprotected sex with him yet again. To be fair, this time Alejandro believes that he is sterile because the doctors told him after his accident that he may never be able to have children. The reader of course realises that this means one of two possibilities: Isobel will get pregnant forcing a reconciliation between them, or; Isobel will get pregnant in the epilogue. The final reconciliation between Isobel and Alejandro was simply unbelievable, which pretty much sums up their whole relationship I suppose. Alejandro explains why he didn't get in touch with Isobel and she tearily tells him that she has always loved him far too much to ever turn him away even three years ago. It just didn't gel for me. They had a one-night stand. Actually not even that, and yet I am supposed to believe that they were in love? I am not even convinced about the so-called emergency that made Alejandro leave. Miranda was a drug addict and nothing her family did or said could make her see reason, so they wanted Alejandro to come talk to her. Doesn't sound like something he had to get out of bed and fly home immediately for. Definitely not something so urgent that he couldn't take the time to leave his contact details with Isobel. Ughh, I really didn't like this book at all. Alejandro and Isobel are just pathetic.

[Jacqueline J]

Decent enough read although it was one of those books where I was puzzled about which scenes the author chose to include and which scenes she chose to leave out. After they had their night and btw he doesn't 'take her innocence" which the blurb on the back says since she was a divorcee, he goes home and gets in an accident. He thinks he can't have children so of course he wants the child they had together. But he never really seems to actually do anything to achieve that and when he finally does meet her, he barely spends any time with her or seems to make much over her. There were however, scads of scenes with his mother-in-law from his wife who he married for no apparent reason after the whole first getting together with the heroine. He was a bit of a wimpy ninny. And I must say I was annoyed to no end with how the author chose to randomly include Portuguese words and then immediately have the speaker translate them. Two things here: stop with the immediate translations for stuff we can pretty much figure out anyway. And no one who speaks a foreign language as well as the hero would answer a question in Portuguese that the heroine had posed in English so that he could immediately translate into English. Weird. Here's an example:
Are you on holiday?"
"De ferias?" He sounded amused. And then, seeing her look of incomprehension, he explained,"On holiday? In England--in November? Acho que nao. I do not think so."
Why would he even respond at all in Portuguese? Answer: he wouldn't.

[Rebecca]

The hero Alejandro meets the heroine Isobel at a party in her apartment. He is immediately captivated by her grace and seemingly inner sadness. Isobel is still hurting after the breakdown of her marriage, so she is surprised by how much she desires Alejandro. However just after they spend an afternoon together, Alejandro is called back to Brazil on an emergency. He promises to come back to Isobel soon, but he never does. Three years later, Isobel is on her way to Brazil to interview a famous author for the magazine she works for. But she is shocked when she is met by Alejandro, and even more shocked when he tells her he knows about their daughter. Alejandro has waited for so long to see Isobel again, and he desperatly wants to be a part of Isobel and his daughter's lives. But he is worried that Isobel will be repulsed by the permant injuries and scars he now carries after a car crash. Isobel doesn't know what to think about Alejandro being back in her life. Her heart had been crushed when she waited for him to return and now she is afraid to trust him again.

I really enjoyed this book; it has plenty of mystery and emotion, as well as a solid, well executed premise. I liked that the hero didn't resort to blackmail tactics, and that he already knew about his 'secret' child. It's different to the usual secret baby books, and that makes it that little bit more enjoyable in my opinion. I also felt the hero genuinely cared for the heroine, he was sigh-worthy! The book is very passionate and very well crafted. It has a nice flow and manages to feel both gentle and fast paced.

Very enjoyable.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[iamGamz]

It was ok. Isobel met Alejandro at her friends birthday party, which was held in Isobel’s apartment. It was instant attraction for him, she was a bit cold.

They had one spin in the teacup and he got an urgent call telling him to return to Rio. He left her promising to come back to London to see her. He doesn’t and she’s left holding the baby. Literally.

Three years later, she meets him again at the Brazilian home of an author that she is sent to interview. She is badly scarred and walks with a limp. And he’s a widower. The author she is supposed to interview is his mother-in-law.

Turns out, Alejandro knows that she gave birth to his daughter. He’s also the one who had her called to Brazil.

Soooo, it was an ok book, BUT, I never believed that these two were really hot for each other. Their chemistry was tepid to lukewarm. They didn’t communicate clearly, their meetings were awkward. It was just not a great story. It left me feeling like Mick Jagger - looking for “sat-is-fac-shun!”

[Nadia]

I personaggi maschili di Anne Mather trasudano sensualità come se piovesse!
Trama scorrevole, ideale per questi pomeriggi estivi in cui anche sbattere le palpebre è una fatica immane.

[Mili Teveez]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH que historia más bonita 😍

[Amy]

Not that great of story. How is it this woman gets seduced on the third occasion of meeting this Brazilian guy, gets pregnant on that one occasion, he leaves for Brazil immediately after the seduction, doesn't see him for almost three years and still claims to "love" him after he leaves without any other communication within that three year time period? Wouldn't a normal woman be a bit upset over that rapid departure and lack of communication in the meantime? I couldn't find myself emotionally attached to either character because I couldn't understand her at all.

[Bukola]

This one didn't do it for me! I just couldn't work with it. Too lame! If you like reunions and love child themes then this one is right up your Alley! Although in my opinion you could get a better Author for that than AM.

I won't be finishing this book neither will I be keeping it! Deleting it off my collection NOW! O_o

[Melanie♥]

Gets only 2 stars because of the seemingly endless pages dealing with with Alejandro's witchy mother-in-law. Sure like her oldies much better!

[Eva Harlowe]

Hooray, another Anne Mather classic featuring a hot Brazilian dude and a lovely English rose. This one is about a woman who has a one-night-stand with a gorgeous stranger that results in a baby girl our heroine keeps a secret from the hero.
Isobel Jameson meets Alejandro Cabral in a house party. He is brought to her apartment by her friend who had designs on him. Unfortunately for her, Alex is more interested in Isobel who is also shyly interested. Isobel is a divorced woman whose husband left her for another guy. This was the exchange:
“No, there was no other woman. It was another man.”
“Yours?”
“No, my husband’s.”
I took this to mean that Isobel got dumped for a dude. Anyway, it's been six years since the divorce and Isobel is thirsty. One rainy night, Alejandro goes over to Isobel’s flat soaking wet and she's like, “Let's get you out of these wet clothes,” so one thing leads to another.
Alex was immediately enthralled with Isobel and tried to stay away from her, but he couldn’t. He is arranged to marry a young lady back in his home country of Brazil. But passion takes over and practicality goes out the window when Alex and Isobel get it on. Right after they do it, Alex’s mobile rings and it's his dad calling about an emergency involving the young lady Alejandro is supposed to marry. Unable to turn away from his duty, Alex goes home and leaves Isobel.
Alejandro had every intention in going back to Isobel in a couple of months, but he is involved in an accident that almost kills him. Now he's got a scarred face and a gimpy leg, which he's kind of bitter about. Three years later, his wife Miranda has died from a drug overdose and he has a weird relationship with his mother-in-law who is possessive of him and treats him more like a lover than her dead daughter’s husband.
Isobel comes to Brazil to interview Alejandro’s mother in law, a famous writer. Isobel’s uncle owns various publications in England and sends Isobel to cover this assignment. Unbeknownst to her, Alejandro is the woman’s son in law and hangs around her villa a lot.
Alejandro and Isobel immediately clash because of their past together. Isobel is bitter because Alejandro had promised to return after a couple of months and he didn’t due to his accident. Alejandro fears that Isobel is repulsed by the scar on his face and all over his body, so he tries to stay away.
Of course they can't stay away from each other because of their primal attraction to each other and what they had experienced together in the past. Alejandro can’t forget and refuses to allow Isobel to forget.
What's different about this book is the baby is not secret. Alejandro finds out from the Internet that Isobel has a child and having done the math, figured that he is the father of her baby. He doesn’t deny the baby, either, and wants to get involved in her life.
Isobel is afraid of being swept away again and losing her sense of self since Alejandro is such an overwhelming personality.
Alejandro is convinced that Isobel finds his scars repulsive so she doesn’t actually want him even though she's never said anything to that effect. In fact, the attraction Isobel initially felt for Alejandro is still there and it’s stronger than ever.
There really isn’t a big conflict that would separate these two people. They're both still attracted to each other, they're both unattached, and Alejandro acknowledges that the baby is his.
Alejandro is kind of a whiny baby who’s like, “My scars, my scars!” while Isobel is like “what the hell are you talking about? What scars?”
Alejandro convinces his mother in law to invite Isobel to interview her just so he could see her again. Even the mother in law, who seemed eerily attached to Alejandro at first, didn't even really become a big hassle.
Isobel goes back to England without telling Alejandro and he goes right after her. He tells her he wants her in his life along with the baby and he loves her.
There really isn't much of a drama here. Besides Alejandro whining about his scars, they're both fairly reasonable people and there really isn’t much to argue about.
I liked Isobel because she's not hysterical and seemed level-headed and she doesn’t fight all that much with Alejandro. Alejandro on the other hand is accepting of the baby and Isobel’s circumstances so there isn't this long, drawn-out thing or an anything push-and-pull.
What I really enjoyed was the initial courtship of Isobel and Alejandro. He's a guy she meets at her friend’s party where they kiss (and the friend gets mad) and even though he didn’t really want to get involved with her because of his arranged marriage, he kept finding excuses to see her.
My question is, did Alejandro ever get back his leather jacket?

[Anuradha]

The blurb says the guy is a Brazilian hunk and the girl is an innocent. She is more of an idiot than an innocent actually. She's had a gay husband fumbling his way through during her failed first marriage !!

Now pushing 30, divorced, she is ripe for an affair. And the hero, a Brazilian businessman who is visiting London on business finds her in a party. He pursues her a couple of times and she readily sleeps with him. A super coincidence phone call arrives from Brazil within moments after they DO IT. And the guy has to leave.

He doesn't return, she is pregnant. Come on , you know the trope. 3 years pass. She gets a mysterious work assignment in Brazil. Of course secretly arranged by the hero. Why did it take him 3 years to go about getting the girl back into his life you may ask.

Well, he's been busy you see. He gets back to a drug addict child hood friend. She crashes the car with the hero in it. He is crippled for a while, and is supposedly impotent too. Then to add more mess to the already messy situation, he marries the addict. Of course she takes a few months to conk off. And now about 3 years later, our man is free to take up with the English dumbo , our heroine.

He now sports a scar on his face. He thinks that's repelling her. But our heroine can never string a thought in her head beyond the idea of sleeping with the hero. So that's what they do best.

There is a daughter conceived, who appears in front of the readers just 10 pages before the HEA. Finally the hero comes to London looking for his ready made family. And the kiddo simply doesn't care for his scar, and befriends him easily. All worries over. Just a HEA and a true to formula epilogue remain. The 'impotent' hero gets her pregnant again. And the world is a rosy place all over again.

Anne Mather, you can do better, when you aren't churning out these trashy formula fictions. But at least there is no incest in this AM story, am glad about that !!!

[May Grider]

What I liked about this book: pure escapism and interesting locales. Also, Anne Mather writes like a fussy English lady (with a bit of sex thrown in). Cell phones and computers make appearances, but otherwise, the society and situations described could be back in the 1950’s-60’s. I like all the HP writers who gives me this impression, and I don’t tend to like the ones who don’t.
I liked the second chance romance, of course, a staple of HP plots. If you don’t like that trope, you’d have to quit reading HP’s pretty quickly. In this case the hero has changed drastically (in his opinion) from the person he was at their first meeting, which gives a gothic, Mr. Rochester quality to the story.
What I didn’t like: at one point, the hero forces a “punishing kiss” on the heroine which bloodies her tongue. Not cool. Also, continuity. Carlos the ranch manager is at one point a friend from university days. Then later he is described as an older man (older than the hero.). Come on, HP! I know Ms. Mather is (or was) one of your major writers but some editor got a bit too complacent and missed that one.

[*CJ*]

"The Brazilian Millionaire's Love-Child" is the story of Isobel and Alejandro.

Actually, a pleasant read.

Hero and heroine meet at a house party, where he is instantly attracted and she is wary. She is divorced, he is a billionaire. He pursues her, they have a one night stand and he disappears, promising to return..

Three years later, the heroine goes to Brasil for a work trip, only to realize she is meeting the hero's mother in law, and the hero knows about his child!

Actually a nice hero who was not un-necessary mean, and who had genuine reasons for ghosting her instead of bad excuses. Could he have done more? Yes, did he- nope. Anyways, the heroine was very one dimensional but stood her ground, nice sex scenes, some family drama and a happy ending.

Unsafe
2.5/5

[Helen Moulden]

Not a huge fan of bits of other languages in a story. I get confused. Not to say I don't try to understand the words (thankyou Mr Google). An interesting story but a bit empty in some ways. How old was he anyway? I know she was nearly 30 and she thought he only looked 25. He said that he and Miranda were schoolfriends and she was only about 20 when they married. I am confused.

[Jennell Brown]

I didn't like it and I agree with a lot of the other reviews. The main characters barely spent any time together, how could they possibly love each other? I didn't like the man guy either, he just doesn't know when to quit.

[Sall]

A great light positive entertaining read.

[NicoleMagaisa]

I thought the book was really nice I mean it sooo sensual and amaizing I wish I could repet it again but what annoyed was that we didn't
get to know about the baby boy 's name.

[Tenaya]

Es un libro tipico de Anne Mather. Me gusta.

I read both the Spanish and English version. Typical Anne Mather fare. I knew what to expect.

[Dalimar]

Isobel es una periodista que no ha querido saber mas del amor,despues que se disolviera su matrimonio con su primer esposo,pues este era gay,razon por la cual ella no habia disfrutado del sexo en su vida.Pero la desilusion fue tan grande que se dedico en cuerpo y alma a su trabajo para la revista del tio que la crio.Una amiga le pide su casa para celebrar su cumpleaÑos y en esta fiesta conoce a Alejandro.Ambos se sintieron atraidos inmediatamente,pero ella no queria una relacion y el sabia que en Brasil le esperaba su amiga Miranda,que era en parte su responsabilidad.Por las reacios a tener una relacion,el pasion pudo mas y pasaron la noche juntos y Alejandro partio a su pais sabiendo que no volveria a encontrarse con Isobel.

Tres aÑos mas tardes,a Isobel le encargan entrevistar para la revista a una escritora que vive anonimamente,por lo que ella llega a Brasil ansiosa por al fin poder entrevistar a dicha autora y en el camino no solo se encuentra con que la autora es todo un personaje no muy agradable si no que tambien es la suegra de Alejandro,quien recientemente se ha quedado viudo.Pues Miranda ha muerto por una sobre dosis de drogas.Un vicio que siempre tuvo pero que ni aun casandose con Alejandro pudo superar.


Isobel ,sigue sintiendo la misma atraccion que antes por Alejandro,aunque su cuerpo este lleno de cicatrices y cojee.Pero quiere huir de el para protejer a su hija,la bebe que nacio fruto de la noche que pasaron juntos,pero es muy tarde pues ya el sabe que tiene una hija.Pero no se cree merecedor ni del amor de Isobel ni el de su hija,por sus cicatrices.


Como historia,esta muy bien contada,ya son dos personas en sus 30 y tantos aÑos,pero creo que le hubieran puesto un poco mas de estusiasmo a los personajes,los describio muy frios.Pero para un aburrido dia como hoy que no he tenido nada que hacer,esta muy buena para pasar el rato.

[Debra]

After a night of living Alejandro leaves Isobel. Her innocence taken and her heart broken. All that is left is a piece of him he left in the form a a little girl. Now three years later she is in his country to do a story on a writer. Unknown by her, his mother-in-law. Life has not been good for Alejandro. This story is full of ups and downs before their love can be. I have read several books by Anne Mather and will look for more.

[Tia]

The heroine and hero met at a party and eventually became lovers. Then the hero was called back to Rio, to never be seen from again. However the heroine discovered she was pregnant and bared him a daughter. Four years down the road they meet again and he now knows she's had his daughter.

There is obviously a bit more to the story but it was a lovely book.

[Tonya Warner]

A brief one-night-stand with Alejandro leaves Isobel alone, forgotten, and pregnant. Three years later, Alejandro is back in her life, but a vastly different man than before and he want her and his daughter in his life.



A good story.

[Xondra Day]

This was a good Presents with lots of drama and angst. It started a little strange at first with the hero being instantly obsessed with the heroine, but the rest of the story played out nicely. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

[Stephanie]

I just loved this book it was a great read and one that kept me enthralled. A definite great quick read

[Pam]

I really thought the book was good. Loves both hero and heroine the story was alright too.

[Kesha]

This book is so slow and boring. I can already tell its not gonna be to my liking.

[Jen]

Three words: LADY GAGA, much?

[RomLibrary]

Isobel has never forgotten the night Brazilian millionaire Alejandro Cabral took her innocence. The image of Alejandro's sexy body has left a lifelong impression on her--as did his seed. He will never know he has a daughter....Until three years later, when Isobel is led right back to Alejandro--and she's shocked. He's a changed man. He's still utterly sexy, but a terrible car accident has left him scarred, brooding and bitter. What's more, he's deliberately lured Isobel to Brazil because he knows "all" about his child.