When famed (but burned out) novelist and playwright Sebastian Grant finally meets the critic who blasted his most recent play in the local newspaper, he plans to unleash his fury. However, when he sees the lovely Daisy Merrick, who wrote the review under a male pseudonym, Sebastian finds himself torn between anger and attraction. The wild redhead who aspires to write her own novel seems to have a prickly disposition and outspokenness that matches his own.

When Sebastian’s publisher assigns Daisy as his new live-in editor, tasked with prodding him to deliver his overdue manuscript, Sebastian resists as much as humanly possible—that is, until Daisy threatens him with a lawsuit on behalf of the publisher. Thus begins their contentious relationship, which starts as enemies, evolves into co-workers, and eventually turns to lovers.  Despite the contract and his promise, Sebastian still secretly hopes to renege on the deal by avoiding the actual writing while simultaneously seducing his beautiful editor.

Their fun verbal sparring and clandestine meetings make this romance an easy read. As in Laura Lee Guhrke’s earlier novel Secret Desires Of A Gentleman  (reviewed on MyShelf.com in October 2008), the heroine lives in a boarding house with a group of other determined young women who set out in Victorian London to find their own fortunes as girl-bachelors—that is, until they find the right men. In Daisy’s case, she discovers fairly quickly that Sebastian is indeed the right man for her, but he has many obstacles to overcome before he can truly love, including a secret addiction, professional jealousy, and deep-rooted insecurity. Luckily for him (and the reader), Daisy’s outspokenness is paralleled with her determination to succeed this time.