An estranged couple find each other again, get over their misunderstandings, mature and grow up and fall in love again. Seven years ago, British fashion model Natasha had married Ben when she was fresh out of her French prep school. She had been seventeen at the time, and Ben had been twenty-five, a feckless artist in Chelsea who stood to inherit an enormous fortune from his great-uncle as his last living heir - but only if he married. Ben was fun and handsome and had no intention of getting married, but he fell into an infatuation with Natasha and she fell powerfully for him. Ben thought Natasha was twenty - she had lied - and asked her to marry him for convenience, so that with his fortune he could also help her modeling career. Dazzled and hopeful Natasha agreed. But on the night of their wedding, the couple got into a fight over petty, childish matters, and Natasha's true age came out. Shocked and disgusted, Ben left without consummating the marriage, but also not ending it. He moved to America for a while, and then worked in several African countries, improving his art work, but never really spoke to Natasha again. Apart from one phone call, she never again heard from him. Natasha continued to live in London under her maiden name, and built a very successful career as a fashion model.
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When one of Natasha's photos becomes extremely popular in magazines and ads - it is sexy and provocative - it comes to Ben's attention. Natasha's modeling agency gets word that Natasha has just been hired for a very high profile photo shoot with noted French designer Thierry. When she flies to Paris for the shoot, however, she runs into Ben. While Natasha is shocked and horrified - because she always loved him and had just begun to recover from that wound - Ben is surprisingly gentle and friendly. Natasha spurns him, and Ben apologizes for his treatment of her, and says he would like for them to at least be friends. Slowly, they begin to be re-acquainted with each other, but now as mature adults. It is a new and strange experience for Natasha, who has repressed her sexuality and femininity for years and never hoped to meet Ben again. He seems to have a hidden hurt, something Natasha suspected even in her younger days, but she begins to piece together details of his lonely life, from Ben and from his valet, Baxter. They are interested in each other but hold back, though Natasha's repressed sexual feelings come to the fore for the first time in a long while.
After the photo shoot they both go back to London, and Ben settles in the city, ostensibly for his new art studio, while Natasha goes back to modelling. Natasha is able to give Ben advice on his artwork and his studio arrangements, which pleasantly surprises him. When he finds out that her father died some months back, he goes to her apartment to console her and they almost end up in bed, but old hurts surface and Natasha tells him to leave. Before he does they have a heart to heart, and Natasha is shocked to learn that Ben arranged her entire Thierry photo shoot. Also, she learns that Ben was raised by cold and unfeeling relatives as a kid because his parents died, and so when he was a young man he had never really learned how to love and how to have committed relationships. Natasha goes on to meet Baxter in a tea shop and learns the secret hidden hurt, that Ben's parents had a dysfunctional, cold, separate and sometimes abusive marriage.
Overcome with love, Natasha goes to Ben's studio and leaves a letter there explaining that she understands everything. The next day, Ben shows up at her door and tells her that he loves her. He had never really found or understood himself until the intervening seven years, and he now he knows. He suspects he always knew. Thrilled and happy, Lyn accepts him.
Best part of story, including ending:
I liked the glimpse of the 80s fashion and modeling industry in the UK.
Best scene in story:
The scene where Natasha models in Paris and she experiments with more sexual poses, it was fun to read and showed her developing confidence.
Opinion about the main character:
I thought she was too desperate.
