Black Ties and Lullabies

by Jane Graves

[Cocktails and Books]

What's a girl to do when she's bodyguard to one of Texas' most eligible bachelor's, who's fabulously wealthy, and a giant pain in her ass? That's the dilemma Bernadette (Bernie) Hogan find herself in when her boss, Jeremy Bridges, blows off her warnings with one of his "woman of the moment", which causes the two of them to spend some tense time in Jeremy's safe room. Bernie's answer, quit and run for the door.

Just when she figures she's finally gotten Jeremy out of her life, she discovers that those tense moments spent in the safe room had an unexpected outcome....she's pregnant.

Jeremy Bridges is a person who demands to be in control. After his childhood, he vowed he would never let someone else control his destiny again. But a decidedly out of control moment with Bernie has resulted in his impending fatherhood. While he doubts his ability to be a good father, he's determined that he'll be involved with his child. Unfortunately, the only person that tests his control is the woman currently carrying his unborn child.

The story is a lot of push and pull. Neither Bernie or Jeremy are willing to be flexible when it comes down to what they really want. Jeremy will manipulate situations to get the outcome he wants and Bernie will beat someone down with her nagging. I felt like both these characters needed to do a lot of growing up before either of them were going to get what they wanted out of any relationship they had, even if it was only going to be that of 2 people co-parenting their children while leading separate lives (I hear a Phil Collins song coming on).

I was a little disappointed that we never got to fully uncover why Bernie had such a poor self image or what happened with her deadbeat cousin (you just know he didn't keep the job). But the ending was satisfying, if not tidied up a little too quickly for me.

3 Cocktails