Really a one star read but I gave it the extra star for the crazy old skoolness of it all. This hero was a misogynist. He totally hated and distrusted all women and the author never said why. Every love scene, and I use the term loosely, was dubious or flat out non consensual. He was nasty and sneering and you never saw him falling in love with the heroine, not even in that way old Harley's have where you catch glimpses of him being jealous or momentarily tender or what have you. At the end of the book, for the first time I totally believe the man will turn into a wife beater after the last page. And why are the heroines always so ready to pay off their dead father's gambling debts? The author even says the heroine proudly didn't let the debts die with him but insisted on paying. Who does that? Takes place somewhere in Africa and you really only know that because the evil stepmother comes over from Namibia. So the writing is not stellar just ordinary for the times it was written. ( )