Contract For Marriage
Barbara DeLeo
Entangled Publishing
September 14, 2012
132 pages
Amazon~B&N
provided by publisher
RBM’s Disclaimer
5/5 Books

Pregnant and alone after her ex-lover’s death, magazine editor Ruby Fleming’s not about to give up her home to the man who broke her heart—until she discovers her mother left half of the estate to somebody else, and she realizes she’s trapped.

Property tycoon Christo Mantazis wants the one thing his riches can’t buy—the villa where his mother has lived and worked as housekeeper for forty years. That it’s the same house he was banished from after being caught making love to the owner’s irresistible daughter stirs up old memories and now he wants her more than ever.

When Christo offers a marriage of convenience, Ruby knows it’s the only way for them to get what they want. Ruby needs her baby to have the link to its past, Christo needs his mother to retain her home, and for him to have the child he could never father.
But it’s another need—to have Christo again—that Ruby must resist at all costs.

Author Barbara DeLeo

About the Author: 
Barbara DeLeo’s first book, co-written with her best friend, was a story about beauty queens in space. She was eleven, and the sole, handwritten copy was lost years ago much to everyone’s relief. It’s some small miracle that she kept the faith and now lives her dream of writing sparkling contemporary romance with unforgettable characters.

Degrees in English and Psychology, and a career as an English teacher, fuelled Barbara’s passion for people and stories, and a number of years living in Europe gave her a love for romantic settings.

Discovering she was having her second set of twins in two years, Barbara knew she must be paying penance for being disorganized in a previous life and was determined to get it right this time. It’s amazing what being housebound with four preschoolers will do for the imagination and she decided it was time to follow her writing dream. Funnily enough, those first manuscripts had not a single child in them.

Married to her winemaker hero, Barbara’s happiest when she’s getting to know her latest cast of characters. She still loves telling stories about finding love in all the wrong places, but now without a beauty queen or spaceship in sight.

Connect With The Author:
Website~Facebook~Twitter

My Review:
Amazing. That is just simply one of so many words that can describe both this book, and the writing talent of Ms. DeLeo. She created a book that not only captivated me, but was filled with characters that steal your heart in an instant. She modeled her characters with flaws, yet made them perfect for their roles. Her plot line, while being a “marriage of convenience”, was still unique and pulling.

Ruby Fleming was amazing. I loved her character. She was flawed, of course, with a past that anyone would have wanted to move on from. She left her New Zealand childhood home a decade ago after her heart was broken, and now that she’s found herself pregnant and the unborn baby’s father deceased, she’s heading home to make amends with her mother and raise her child in home that can be filled with happiness and love. Sadly, she doesn’t get that chance, but she does come face to face with an unexpected will and the past.

Christo Mantazis has gone from a broken hearted, homeless immigrant’s son to a billionaire businessman. He’s returned home to New Zealand from Greece, to the estate he grew up on beside Ruby, the woman he fell in love with 10 years ago. But, he’s guarded now. After childhood cancer left him unable to have children of his own, he wants nothing more than to have a child….even if it’s someone elses. When he learns her secret and why she wants the estate that should rightfully belong to his own mother, he finds himself opening up and willing to do anything to keep Ruby in his life…..even if it means signing a contract and living by strict rules.

These two characters were filled with so much emotional turmoil that it became my own. I wanted to reach out and hug the sexy Christo, and tell sweet Ruby that everything would be okay. The attraction between them was evident from the start but they kept fighting it. It was awesome to watch! By the end of the story, though, I didn’t want to say goodbye…I fell in love with descriptions of the estate, the passion that was evident between Christo and Ruby and even Stella, Christo’s mom stole my heart!

I have quickly become a forever fan of Ms. DeLeo with just this one book. It’s beyond 5 Book worthy and so far, one of the best books I’ve read in October….and well, frankly, all of the 2012 so far. I am anxiously awaiting to see another fabulous book just like this one released by this skillfully talented author! Fantastically done, Ms. DeLeo! Bring on the next one, please .