The Jayne Ann Krentz book is Sweet Fortune, one of the first romances I read and loved.
Plot summary:
"The free-spirited rebel of her powerful family, Jessie Benedict was determined not to marry her father's protégé, Hatchard. But no one was taking "NO!" for an answer: not Jessie's mother and stepmother, ex-wives affectionately known as "The Moms"...not her father, Vincent, whose two spectacularly failed marriages left him somewhat lacking as a matchmaker. And certainly not Hatchard, the infuriating match in question, a chip off Vincent's workaholic block, compellingly masculine and an entrepreneur extraordinaire. Jessie Couldn't deny that Hatch was hot, all right -- hot for the empire he planned to build using her inheritance!Posted later...Jessie has plans for her own career as a detective -- starting with the rescue of a teenage girl from a dangerous cult. Hatch does make her heart beat deliciously fast, but she's not taking orders from any man. Imagine her surprise when he turns out to be not only a friend and ally, but a strong, tender lover who, in the end, knows how to get to "YES!" for an answer. "
I also finished and loved Sweet Fortune. It had a completely different feel than Falcon, thank God, otherwise I would have died due to too much angst. It gets a B+.
It had the vintage Krentz elements that I love, like a vulnerable hero who really needs the heroine, a lightish suspense subplot and likeable characters, but there were a couple of things which kept it from being an A. First of all, it bugged me how Jessie kept being manipulated by everyone; it was a bit too much. And I wanted to kill them all when they breezily assumed Jessie and Hatch were getting married, and completely ignored her when she said they weren't. Maybe it's just me, but this makes me feel very frustrated... it was the same feeling I had with Crusie's Crazy For You.
The best part was the ending, how both Jessie and Hatch renounced to what they were supposed to care about most in the world, each showing the other he/she was the most important thing in their world. The scene where Hatch is completely conviced he's ruined everything, and Jessie's going to leave him now, is especially poignant. Beautiful!