Daddy in Waiting by Karen Potter, Silhouette Romance #1773, June 2005, Rating: C

A man who had donated his sperm to a sperm bank for his own use discovers his sperm has been used to impregnate a client. Matt Hanson is a man on a mission when he findsn out that his sperm has been used against his permission. Genevieve &Jenny& Marie Ames becomes the focus of his attention, believing she carries his child.

Jenny is an unwed mother who takes the bus to and from work and did not invest in a proper winter coat to see her through her pregnancy who only wants a child to love. Love is something that has been in short supply in her life from her wife-swapping lifestyle parents to her cold grandmother. She was tossed from one relative to another while growing up. She is president of a charitable organization, Prescott Foundation, a family business that began at the turn of the century by her great grandmother. Generations of Ames' have been let down by the men in their life and Jenny wanted a child without the heartbreak, artificial insemination seemed the best way to go. She's a hard working woman who believes whole heartedly in the Foundation and the charitable areas it assists (from a half way house to drug addicts and their babies to the neonatal unit at the hospital). It was difficult for me to read about this normally independent, assertive woman give in so easily to Matt's gifts.

Matt Hanson is a man who's amassed his billions buying out companies and reselling them once he's spruced them up. His interest in Jenny Ames initially is to get possession of her baby. He goes so far as to offer her money implying she would accept being a surrogate mother. He had banked his sperm so that he and his ex-fiance (a model) could have children without her having to suffer the difficulties of pregnancy on a body. His sperm were never to be used in the fashion in which clinic used them. He begins to grow fond of Jenny, though, the more he learns about her world and what she's about.

I enjoyed Daddy in Waiting. It was a quick read but a fun one. I've read one other story that dealt with artificial insemination and think it's an interesting plot device. My biggest issue with the book was Jenny's inability to tell Matt no. Has the woman never heard of restraining orders? Or filing complaints if she was that adament that he not help her? Until the baby was born there was no proof the baby was his so I think she could have had some leverage there. I rate it a C.

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