I’m an occasional series romance reader; every so often I just get in the mood for one. If I don’t have any sitting on my shelf waiting for review, I’ll go pick one up, which is always a fun process for me. I’ll peruse the shelves full of secret babies and rich bosses, reading the back covers until one strikes my fancy. This month it was Leanne Banks’ Billionaire’s Proposition. The cover touts a bizarre sounding plot-line, with the heroine agreeing to work for the hero, and the hero agreeing to provide the sperm for her to have a baby. It sounded silly, but intriguing. Happily, I quickly discovered that the book is much better than the cheesy cover blurb lets on. If not for a miscue at the end, it would have been a near-perfect category read.

Gannon Elliott attends his grandfather’s New Year’s Eve party and discovers that his grandfather, a publishing scion of some renown, is retiring. He has several children who run magazines in his publishing empire, and the fairest way he can think to decide his successor is to watch the magazines’ performance over the coming year. The editor in chief of the one with the largest increase in profit will become CEO of the publishing empire. Gannon works for Pulse, an edgy news magazine headed by his father. He’d like nothing better than to see his father win the CEO job, and one of Gannon’s key strategies is to rehire Erica Layven, a former Pulse employee who has been working for another Elliott publication, HomeStyle.

The complication is that Erica is Gannon’s ex-lover. They had a hot and heavy romance about a year ago, one that Gannon was determined to keep secret. When news started leaking out, Gannon broke up with her. It’s been very hard for Erica to move on, and she has no desire to work in close quarters with Gannon again. However, she’s had some complications in her own life in the meantime. Her doctor has told her that she has endometriosis. If she wants to have children, she needs to do it soon. Since Erica isn’t dating anyone who is good husband material, she needs to consider artificial insemination. She knows that Gannon comes from a good family; rashly, she tells him she’ll come back to work at Pulse if he’ll agree to father her child. Gannon agrees, but is a little vague about the whole baby deal. He gives her a contract for the job, but tells her a contract involving the sperm will be forthcoming when his personal attorney returns from vacation.

Erica has missed the intense atmosphere of Pulse. She thrives on the energy and excitement, and fits in well with her former team. The only problem, of course, is Gannon. Now that they are working in close proximity again, she can’t stop thinking about them and the times they shared together. Gannon is similarly distracted. He knows he should be focusing on work right now, but he can’t stop thinking of reasons to see Erica, and soon their lives are entwined. He’s helping her with her mentoring volunteer work, and they are working on projects together after hours. Before they know it, they’ve pretty much picked up where they left off. But just when both of them are starting to think this is all for real, rumors start, and Gannon gets cold feet once again. Can they really make this relationship work?

For the most part, this books works really well. It was, in fact, a far better read than I was expecting. The title of the book is cheesy, with a far-fetched premise, but once I started reading, it was a whole lot easier to buy. The heroine’s desire for a baby was believable, and given the fact that her biological clock was ticking much faster than average, her actions were understandable as well. I bought into the whole scenario. Gannon’s actions also made sense, at least initially. His family clearly placed a strong emphasis on upright behavior, and sleeping with employees was highly frowned upon. Since he wasn’t yet ready to marry Erica, he felt that breaking up with her was the best thing to do. It was hard for both of them, but it was understandable.

Although I’ve read one of Banks’ single title books, I’ve never read any of her series romances. I was impressed with this one in many ways. The writing is concise and crisp, and there is just enough workplace detail to keep the story moving along. It actually worked better for me than the single title book I read. It’s not easy to pack a believable, sexy romance in a short format, but Banks really does it well. It helps that the initial set-up for the story (the early, aborted relationship between Erica and Gannon) took place before the book began. Banks is able to jump right into their characters and concentrate on the here and now.

This was looking to be a B+ read for me until the end, when Gannon inexplicably backslides. His sudden reversion to his earlier behavior made no sense, and it almost bordered on cruel. This didn’t ruin the book for me, but it did dampen my enjoyment somewhat.

That said, this is the type of fun, quick read I like to see in a series romance. It’s also the beginning of a continuity series about the Elliott family, with contributions forthcoming from several different authors. I’ve never followed a continuity series, but I intend to give this one a shot.