Tuesday, 17 January 2012

“Connor's boots halted abruptly, and they stared at each other”


Secrets Uncovered brought Donna Alward to Bewildered Heart's attention, as she wrote of black moments, stories dealing with darkness and tragedy in a genre and market seemingly afraid of any kind of unpleasantness. Unfortunately, we were only able to track down Hired by the Cowboy, Alward's 2007 Harlequin debut, a relatively frothy love story set in the mythical land of Canada. The book contains only a few of the challenging elements Alward had attempted to convince us she is famous for. In her opening Dear Reader introduction she hints at the drama soon to unfold. 'If you ask any mother, she'll say unequivocally that she'd do anything for her child.' While her dear readers ponder why anyone would bother to ask then, the author sets up the usual dilemmas and contrivances romance fans expect and appear to insist upon, inter-mingled with a handful of those legendary Donna Alward twists.

Alexis Grayson, Alex to her friends (Hi, Alex!), has no friends to count on when she faces her latest personal crisis. No matter, for this tough, resolutely independent young beauty needs no help from anyone. She has made it thus far without any assistance and she has been getting along pretty well for herself, thank no one very much. Despite her sterling record, at the beginning of Hired by the Cowboy, she is unexpectedly pregnant, working for tips at a smoky bar and unconscious in a convenience store. Awakening to the ruggedly handsome face of a stranger, Alex is embarrassed and thirsty, but quickly forgets such pressing matters due to the gentlemanly conduct of this sharp-suited and extremely good-looking chap. He reassures her, humours her curt quips and resolute independence and then buys her a mug of peppermint tea. Alex does not need his help to figuratively get back on her feet no matter how kind he seems and she does not need his help to literally get back on her feet no matter how sturdy his arms. She will work something out, she always does. Remember when she was jobless and alone she still managed to become impregnated with a baby. She is a survivor, in summary.

Connor Madsen does not like wearing suits, would prefer to not be taking meetings in the city and has little understanding of herbal remedies, but one look at this troubled, yet determined, young woman and he is smitten. Connor has problems of his own. Due to a beef scare of some description he faces the loss of the ranch that has been in his family for generations. With no cash reserves to see him through such a bleak financial forecast he requires the money left to him by his parents in a trust fund. However, he can only access this small fortune when he turns thirty, and his feisty grandmother cannot change the rules. If only there was a statute within the contract that allowed him to acquire the money sooner, say if he was on the verge of losing the ranch? No, but what's that? There is a disclaimer that states if Connor were to get married the money would be released. If only there was a woman in as equally dire circumstances as Connor, who might agree to a marriage of convenience in exchange for a place to live and some help through her, for example, pregnancy and destitution. If only Connor had met such a damsel-in-distress mere pages earlier, who was not only beautiful, but had the good sense to reveal her life story and mention how she could be found at a moments notice.

Connor visits the smoky bar and finds Alex too busy working to hear about a life-changing ultimatum, so instead he waits outside all night with a bunch of flowers, because Connor is nothing if not chivalrous and old-fashioned. Walking her home, he explains the situation and proposes a shotgun wedding, to which Alex responds appropriately. Sensing she may be a tougher nut to crack than she first appeared Connor gives her the opportunity to think it over and suggests a trial period of living together at his isolated farm to see how she likes it, because Connor is nothing if not chivalrous and old-fashioned. When the next day comes Alex tentatively accepts the offer, because there is nothing a mother would not do for her child, and also because Connor opens doors for her, worries about her well-being and has thick-eyelashes, the masculine triad of goodness. Soon after they begin the drive to Canadian cattle country and a hearty spot of lunch from Connor's plentifully-stocked refrigerator. They make sandwiches amidst heavy erotic tension and light social awkwardness. Before long, the man must go out to tend to the livestock, so the woman makes herself at home and begins to think what she will make for dinner and how else she can please the man who will pay her to marry him.

Plot points are signalled when Alex finds a photograph, strewn haphazardly for all the world to see on the dresser of Connor's bedroom behind a closed door, and there ends the third chapter. For the publishers at Mills & Boon, Donna Alward's novel offers great potential, while never straying far from convention. The plot itself is a loose reworking of Solicititilation, but within the cuddly confines of Romance Romance the manipulative, misogynistic billionaire becomes a struggling, noble cow-hand and the recently unemployed, yet ambitious, female yuppie becomes seriously down-on-her-luck and pregnant. These superficial alterations are all that separate Hired by the Cowboy from the likes of Taken by the Sheikh or The Billionaire's Housekeeper Mistress. For Alexis the chance to play house, to cook and clean, look after a man and think only of her offspring is a welcome relief, having for years had to live within the gritty urbanity of Ontario. Thus her desire for feminine domesticity has been suspiciously embedded in character to avoid the understandable accusations of sexism. Alexis is an atypical heroine, but not necessarily a convincing one. Her pregnancy might be her defining feature, but it is utilised solely to make her acceptance of Connor's offer believable, much like Stacy's unemployment and tragic past allowed the reader to not judge her harshly for agreeing to The Millionaire's Indecent Proposal. As expected, due to the demands of the subgenres, Alex's situation allows for heightened drama while Stacy's befitted all those oily rubdowns and endless sex scenes.

Even at this early stage the reader will have no difficulty predicting the narrative turns toward this fixed marriage becoming a very real one. The blurb hints at airborne love, but there is no implication of conflict or tension. Has Alex made her biggest ever mistake by marrying the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with? the blurb asks, over-enthusiastically. It appears as if Alward can easily resolve her story without resorting to her favoured tactics of miscarriage, domestic violence or limb-losing. At this point, however, there is the nagging issue of Alex's baby and the matter of said child's conception. As with every Cherish title that involves a single parent, including The Dad Next Door, we are left to ponder where the father is, how he will further complicate the scenario and where has he been all this time? Will Connor seek him out, duty-bound and noble as ever, and will Alward develop a powerful, poignant human love triangle to make those last two hundred pages fly by? With an author seemingly so willing to embrace her every homicidal fantasy we cannot rule out genuine heartbreak, resulting in a happy ending all the more satisfying and fulfilling, but given Harlequin Mills & Boon's history, perhaps the reader should look forward to everything ending neatly without the author giving any thought to properly dealing with the issues raised by the narrative, something we should assume Alward is equally well-known for.

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