HIS MAJESTY'S MISTAKE - Jane Porter
Harlequin Presents # 3075
Miniseries: A Royal Scandal
ISBN: 978-0-373-13081-8
July 2012
Contemporary Series Romance

Palm Beach, Florida and Kadar (a fictional country somewhere in the Middle East)

Princess Emmeline D'Arcy of Brabant is desperate to find Alejandro, the father of her unborn baby. Surely he's at a club, so, disguised as Hannah Smith, Sheikh Makin Al-Khoury's personal assistant to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance, Emmeline hunts Alejandro at the Mynt Club. Once he learns of her predicament, he will no doubt marry her, give their child his name, and all will be well. No such luck. When Emmeline finds Alejandro, he deliberately ignores her and continues to seduce the young model sitting on his lap. Before Emmeline can do much more than stomp towards the couple, she is stopped by a man. Not just any man, but Sheikh Makin, Hannah's boss. Emmeline knows she is in trouble, but left with no recourse, leaves with Makin, still pretending to be Hannah. Before she has time to formulate a plan to get herself out of this predicament and not get Hannah fired, Makin advises they are leaving immediately for Kadar.

Sheikh Makin is surprised at the change in Hannah. He hasn't seen her in four days, and cannot believe that she faked an illness and he had to chase her down, only to find her searching for the famous polo player and notorious playboy Alejandro Ibanez. This is so unlike Hannah, who is normally calm, controlled and the perfect personal assistant. He's never seen her like this before; dressed fashionably, long hair trailing down her back. Makin is shocked at his new and blazing physical attraction towards Hannah and cannot understand what has come over him. He's also angry and disappointed at Hannah's poor judgment and choice in men.

The second installment in Jane Porter's series, A Royal Scandal, HIS MAJESTY'S MISTAKE is a treat. Conflict, chemistry and complexity abound; despite Emmeline's despair at her situation, she knows she is not in love with Alejandro, so her attraction to Makin is understandable. However, her background is filled with family conflicts that have never been resolved, and Ms. Porter does an excellent job of both identifying those issues and making Emmeline a much more sympathetic character because of them. Sheikh Makin is, perhaps, a stereotypical alpha male, but he has his own demons from his past to battle, giving a nice depth and charisma to his character. The strength of this story is the character development. The plot is almost incidental, whereas in the first book of the series, NOT FIT FOR A KING? the setting and plot were much more central to the success of the story.

Regardless of the reason, HIS MAJESTY'S MISTAKE works and, ultimately, that is what matters. A word of caution though: try to read these two Harlequin Presents back-to-back; the result will be even more satisfying.

Astrid Kinn