Have you ever thrown a glass of red wine on a man’s silk shirt over lunch and then moved in with him the same evening? Me neither. I usually recommend letting both cool off for a couple of days. But as there’s little time to lose in short category romances, that’s what the heroine of A Convenient Affair has to do.

Lawyer Hannah Lowe needs to find a new apartment since Isobel, the elderly relative with whom she lived, has died. From Isobel, she inherits a carved box that looks like just an old knickknack but which is very important to her neighbor, Cooper Winston, whose family used to own it. She gets into quarrels with Cooper every time they meet because of a past business deal in which Cooper didn’t get his way. Cooper keeps thinking Hannah resembles Isobel, whom he disliked very deeply. Of course, he’s very much attracted to Hannah.

After the red wine incident, Hannah comes home to find the apartment empty as the rented furniture has been returned. As it happens, she also has to find a new job due to conflict caused by the unwelcome attentions of her boss. So she does the only reasonable, logical thing. Does she buy the paper and start going through the ads for apartments and jobs? No. Instead she goes upstairs and proposes a pretend affair to Cooper in exchange for the box, in the hopes that her boss will cease to be a problem. Cooper agrees on condition that she move in with him. Done. Then it’s just a question of keeping the sexual attraction at bay.

I’ve followed Michaels’ career for sentimental reasons. Her early books introduced me to category romance. She has a knack for creating likable characters with whom it’s quite pleasant to spend a couple of hours, and I enjoy the humorous dialogue in her books. Her writing is tight and technically faultless (she’s even written a guide to writing romance novels) and occasionally there are poignant moments I keep returning to. But A Convenient Affair isn’t one of her best. The humor made it an entertaining read but the plot is merely so-so (which is short for “same old, same old”).

The book, in fact, is basically a rewrite of Michaels’ 1987 novel O’Hara’s Legacy which I remember liking very much at the time; the only elements added to the book are things that distract from the romance. Cooper, Hannah and Isobel all do irrational things, there’s a lot of jumping into unwarranted conclusions, leaving things completely to chance, unnecessary bickering and suspicion, and the central plot revelation just doesn’t make sense to me. Also, as I know what it’s like to be poor I was very nearly offended by the way these people were willing to throw good money away.

If you can look past the holes in the plot, A Convenient Affair is a pleasant little book. But I recommend you read O’Hara’s Legacy instead, if you could find it; you’d get the same storyline and much better-motivated characters.