I think it was a Harlequin. Something about a businessman and his mistress. The mistress was his former secretary. He gave her the choice of either being his secretary or mistress. Told her she couldn't be both. She chose to become the mistress as she was secretly in love with him. Her name was Cleo and she had really long beautiful hair. Their affair ended when Cleo accidently got pg and he accused her of doing on purpose. He was so upset/furious, he either hit her or started to hit her which resulted in her walking out. He realizes too late that he truly loves her and goes after her. But, by then, she is too wary of his profession of love and doesn't believe him. He has to prove to her somehow that he does love her. And that is all I remember. I don't remember his name at all. I read this when I first started reading romance about 20+ years ago. I appreciate any help you can give me.

Pam

A Question Of Pride by Michelle Reid?  A Harlequin Presents from1989

The H is Max the h is Clea and has beautiful long black hair.  She is Max's secretary, gets pregnant, when she tells him he starts to hit her (she forgives him, I never did, LOL ) but she faints so he doesn't actually hit her.  She quits her job.  She was never his mistress, though, they were lovers.  She was financially independent.

Her mother has recently remarried and has also just become pregnant.  They both have baby boys at the same time at the end of the book.   If this sounds familiar it might be your book.

Edited to add that the only one offhand I can think of where she has to choose between mistress or secretary and then gets pregnant is The Way Home by Linda Howard.  From the anthology, To Mother With Love, 1991     And assorted reprints since then.

I checked and The Way Home is also in the Bouquet Of Babies anthology.  I think both are available here.

I think that is it Bronwyn. The part about her mother remarrying and also being pg sounds really familiar. I thought her name was Cleo, but Clea is close enough. I still don't remember his name being Max, but the rest of it sounds about right. Thanks. I have been looking for this for a while.

Pam

man that sounds good except for the hitting part..I don't like hitters dang it!

It is good. He doesn't actually hit her. I think it was knee-jerk reaction and he caught it before he actually did it. She faints anyway and he is very remorseful, so she does forgive him. However, she is still wary of his change in atitude, so she makes him grovel for a while.

Pam

Pamela, try going to RomanticTimes.com and go to the message boards, then to Book Slueth, the ladies there are awesome! They have always figured out which books I was trying to remember

Is this the one you're looking for? The heroine's name is Anna though. It's by Linda Howard, and it's called The Way Home. Here's a synopsis I found. I've read it and it sounds very close to what you're looking for.

The Linda Howard novella does not disappoint. Nobody does better alpha heroes than Howard, but rarely has she so poignantly explained why her hero is the way he is than in “The Way Home.” Saxon Malone makes it clear to Anna Sharp what there relationship will be in the first paragraph of the Prologue: “You can be either my secretary or my mistress, but you can’t be both. Choose.” He also makes it clear that he will never marry Anna or anybody. Anna, deeply in love with Saxon, chooses to be his mistress.

Two years later, Anna knows little more about the man she loves than she did at the start of their relationship. She knows he is a highly successful businessman and engineer; she knows that he is a passionate and caring lover; she knows that he remains deeply afraid of intimacy and dependency. And she knows that their relationship may well be over. Anna is pregnant. She cannot continue as Saxon’s mistress and she does not believe he will marry her.

The book is definitely A Question of Pride by Michelle Reid. However, The Way Home by LH does sound interesting. I put it on my wish list. Thanks for all the advice.

Pam