Designing Woman — Vera Cowie

Harriet Hilliard is a workaholic. Gifted, ambitious and driven to the limits of exhaustion, her one-woman empire, Harriet Designs, is a deserved success. But at what cost? Harriet's health is suffering and everyone from her doctor to the kind-hearted but crushingly over-protective Piers (her so-called 'sleeping' business partner) is ordering her to slow down. But if she takes the required three month vacation, who could possibly look after the business?

Enter James Alexander. Old friend of Piers', interior designer whizz and noted figure in the industry worldwide. Harriet takes one look at James and writes him off as a self-important, smoothly spoken dandy. But then she takes another look -- and in checking out her temporary replacement at work, Harriet is suddenly face to face with the most disturbingly attractive man she has ever encountered. Into whose hands she has just placed her entire life's work -- and more worryingly, her heart.