Harriet Benson takes her work at the Evensong Agency seriously, but lately, between convalescing from an illness and tending to her father and two young brothers, she’s had to shorten her hours. So when a promising position opens up for part time work, she immediately accepts, despite the fact that her new boss is scandalously indecent—and dangerously appealing.
Though his reputation paints him as a scoundrel, Sir Thomas Featherstone is more proper than anyone would guess. But Harriet’s wit and luscious curves are driving him to distraction. She’s the perfect woman to fill his office requirements, and other desperate needs he’s been ignoring…
Harriet has always held firm to the rule that a secretary must never fall in love with her employer. Only Thomas is determined to win her affections—and he’s willing to risk any cost to make her his…
~~~*~~~*~~~
Fatin, thanks so much for having me here to talk about my latest release, The Unsuitable Secretary! I have a little confession to make, just between friends: I am a typing class dropout. So how, you ask, can I write 13 full-length historical romances, the latest featuring an efficient secretary? My three fingers and home row are virtual strangers, and I’d be fired before lunch time if I had to earn my living typing anything accurately.
But writing TUS is kind of homage to my dad, who always told me to have a “fall-back” career. In the Dark Ages when I grew up, the suitable professional jobs for young women were teacher, nurse and secretary (i.e., administrative assistant in today’s world). I get super-queasy in hospital settings, so that was out. I wanted to teach (and I did), but my father always nagged me to learn how to type, “just in case.” I wish now I hadn’t dropped out of adult ed night school typing class, cause maybe I could write books faster. But I took the class with my college boyfriend, and we’d leave at the break to make out in his car, LOL.
But if I can’t be a secretary, I can write about one, right? My heroine Harriet Benson has none of my impediments—she is a graduate of commercial college at the turn of the twentieth century, trying hard to be a modern woman and a help to her family. While her office skills are excellent, she’s never had total self-confidence as a woman until her employer Sir Thomas Benedict Featherstone makes her an offer impossible to refuse.
Thomas has some issues, too—he’s a virgin!—and he thinks Harriet is just the goddess to solve them. He’s asked her to be his mistress for one week, but we all know a week is not enough. J
Thomas was nothing like reconciling a column of figures or typing a letter. She couldn’t compare him to baking her apple tart, either. She had mastery over the business and domestic sides of her life, but being a mistress called for qualities she might be lacking in.
Never in a million years would she have thought of herself as some sort of Delilah. But if clothes made the man, they made the woman too. Harriet knew she’d cleaned up very well tonight. She could almost see in herself what Thomas saw.
It helped if she removed her spectacles.
It wasn’t that she was ugly. But she’d grown so tall and had felt gawky all her adult life. It had seemed best to call less attention to herself. If her mother had lived, perhaps she could have taught Harriet how to comport herself differently.
But her mother was dead, and her father was downstairs making a nuisance of himself. Harriet hoped Thomas would return to give a report. Once he did, Harriet planned to attack him.
Well, not an attack exactly. But they would finish what they started earlier, because they didn’t have all the time in the world.
Harriet gets the ultimate makeover as she turns Thomas’s life upside-down even as she organizes his office. And Thomas, being an art-lover and connoisseur of the finer things of life, knows shy Harriet is the woman for him. It was a delight to bring this couple together, and I hope readers enjoy their journey.
I’ll give away a download of any Edwardian-set Ladies Unlaced book (In the Arms of the Heiress, In the Heart of the Highlander, The Reluctant Governess or The Unsuitable Secretary) to one random commenter. How’s your typing? Do you know how to take shorthand? Have you ever had a crush on your boss? Do you remember the Dark Ages?
Honorary Mention of Book Sluts 'R' Us Blogger Awards by 
RR@H Novel Thoughts & Book Talk 
HA HA HA…. I married my boss… but we knew each other outside of work before that.
I could never work for my husband! 😉
I learned how to type at high school (or the Dutch equivalent) but I failed my test (too much errors). I can type blind, with all my fingers, and use it every day. So I’m glad that I took the time to learn it, even though I’m very reliant on spell-check!
God bless spell-check, and all the other computer shortcuts!
I can type some, lol never had a hot boss to be able have a crush on it lol
Most of my bosses were women, so there was no chance, LOL.
learned to type in high school and even had a couple of jobs as a secretary. Wish I had learned shorthand. I’m pretty sure they don’t teach that in HS any longer. All my bosses were very old men or women. No crushes there.
Keyboarding is offered, I think–but so many schools don’t have business departments anymore. 😦
I can type and it has come in very handy in my job. I also know some shorthand which is also very convenient as far as note taking, etc. I didn’t learn it in school but from my mom who had it in high school.
I’ve never had a crush on a boss and I can’t remember the dark ages 😉
I’m lucky if I can ever read my notes!
I learned to type in high school typing class on one of those old Royal manual typewriters. I remember fondly the sound of multiple bells ringing signaling the end of the line in five more characters. I am an excellent typist…even today. Typing got me several of my jobs over the years. Took shorthand class in HS but just couldn’t do it. My teacher must have felt sorry for me and my GPA because she gave me a C as my final rather than the D- I actually deserved. LOL
Had a rather serious crush on one of the teachers in the school district where I worked. While we went to lunch a time or two, that was about all. I think he couldn’t overcome our age difference (I was 19 and he was 45+)…sigh…he was very nice too!
Ooh! I had a Royal typewriter too! My dad bought it at the Salvation Army and I typed a lot of term papers on it in high school!
*chuckling* How funny! I learned to type in high school, and mostly because it would be one of those skills you can use anywhere–this was in the early 80s, aka THE DARK AGES, so no computers. As luck would have it, I took to it quickly and it has served me very well indeed–I have been an admin a number of times since then, as a matter of fact.
Earlier I forgot to say that that is a lovely, lovely cover. I have no idea whether the dress is accurate to the period, but the cover? I like! 😀
The dress is NOT accurate, LOL. I had a little argument but I lost…and I’m glad. It really is a pretty cover!
It is NOT accurate, LOL. I had a little argument over it, but I guess I’m glad I lost…it’s very pretty!
I was a shorthand/typist/secretary all of my working life. I had a horrible crush on one of my bosses when I was 16 (yes, we left school early then). He was 33, married, short, fat and bald. I laugh now when I think about it. Thank God that nothing ever came of it. 🙂
Even short fat bald guys deserve love…but probably not from you, LOL!
I learned how to type when I was 16. I took it as a summer class. But I had already started teaching myself on an old Underwriter typewriter (they’re antiques now). I come from pre-Dark Ages. It was wonderful learning in class with an electric typewriter. I had my speed close to 90 in the old Dark Ages, but just recently had a test typing at 72 w.p.m. So still not so shabby.
No, I never took shorthand, although my sister did. I spent many years as a secretary, admin assistant, marketing assistant, etc.
I’ve never had a crush on a boss. Oh my, I was married when I was 22. However, I’ve had crushes on school teachers. And lately, it would appear, I get crushes on some of the heroes in the novels I read.
I think the Edwardian era was a great time for women, however different than the Regency era where they were just starting to ‘think’ about striking out on their own. In the Edwardian era, they started having the means to do it–financially and mentally independent. I like that.
I would love to receive the Ladies Unlaced Series by Maggie Robinson.
I’ve really enjoyed writing this Edwardian series. My 2 previous ones were set in the Regency, and it’s been a thrill to put people in cars and on telephones!
I typed a reply, but apparently lost it. 😦 I hate that.
Anyway, I learned how to type in high school at 16. I actually started teaching myself with a self-teaching exercise book at home on an old Underwriter typewriter. One of those pre-Dark Ages things that are collector items now.
When I went to class I had to relearn to type on an electric typewriter. LOL. I type 72 w.p.m., so I’m still not doing too shabby. I see by many of the comments that typing came in very handy. I must agree. It opened many a door for me as it did for those gals in the Edwardian era.
I would be delighted to win a set of Ladies Unlaced by Maggie Robinson. Gals during that time not only were gaining the education needed to take care of themselves, but were capable of working when society opened to the idea of women working.
In Junior high I took a typing class… I was fair at it… short hand… maybe my own version… never had a crush on a boss…
I made up my own shorthand, but as I said above, I have trouble reading it!
I’ve worked as an administrative assistant for many years and I learned to type in high school and college as well. I learned shorthand but never had a need for it in the jobs I had, so have pretty much forgotten it. Yes, I remember the “dark ages,” when I had to type things with carbon paper on a typewriter, and was thrilled when I finally got a computer. Never had a crush on my boss, worked for the same guy for 25 years and he could be an s.o.b. at times. Then I had either women or men young enough to be my son as a boss, and now have a lovely woman, so no crushes ever. 😀
I took typing and shorthand in senior high school back in the Dark Ages,
in the early 1950s when I was a teenager. My typing is somewhat better
than the “hunt and peck” system but I remember very little of the short-
hand which I never used. My background is in nursing so I always worked
with women, no crushes there! Although there were a couple of doctors
who had crushes on me, there was never any follow-up on those situations!
To further pinpoint the Dark Ages of my life, I was born before the begin-
ning of W.W.II !
type well; yes; no; no
Took Typing and shorthand in highschool – used my typing skills during a 25 year career at a police department. Shorthand was used very little once the computers came on scene. No to the last two questions.
I had short hand for part of the year in high school but I didn’t do well in it and dropped out. I didn’t really learn to type until about eight years ago and took a college keyboarding class. I had typing in high school also but just wasn’t that ineterested in learning how, just got by. Things changed so much that typing was something you really need to know how to do.
I am wicked good at typing but never did learn shorthand. I do remember the dark ages. I keep telling my kids that they have no idea how easy they have it!
When I was in high school, typewriters were the only means of business communication, so of course I took a typing class. I was never very fast, but I’m so grateful that I learned to use a standard keyboard. I’ve spent my entire work career parked in front of a computer and knowing how to type has made it easier to do my job.
How fun, Maggie! My typing’s decent, but nowhere near as good as it used to be 😉 (I think I used to manage around 100wpm, but that’s a thing of the past!) I never did learn shorthand, alas. (I did take typing in high school, but I don’t recall a shorthand class, and I was too lazy to study that on my own!) As for crushes on bosses, I sadly haven’t had any crushworthy bosses yet… Looking forward to The Unsuitable Secretary 😉