Jewell Kincaid hopes to land the position at Bulwark Mutual Funds that'll get her $6,000 a year more than her current wages. She doesn't expect BP Roth, a fund manager who makes his employees flinch and cry. Luckily, the position she’s applying for is with a different fund manager - until she sticks up to BP Roth and he becomes determined to have her work for him. Good news: this job has the responsibilities she’s accustomed to - and pays more. $10,000 more. For that amount, she'll put up with almost anything, even BP Roth. Problem: her body doesn’t care he’s gruff and impatient. Her attraction towards him is strong; keeping a professional distance increasingly difficult. Surely there can be no future for them? There are already too many rumors about them. Adding more would be career suicide...

Benjamin Prescott Roth is a hard man. He doesn’t believe in love, except in relation to his sister. His father is an abusive drunk; his mother a spineless woman who never protected her children. He’s made his own way. After his sire ranted he’d always be a financial burden, he didn’t take a cent from him, gaining full academic scholarship and working his way through graduate school. His father hates him because Benjamin was born deaf. He’s learnt sign language, how to speak and lip read. Now with a successful career, his disability hasn’t held him back. He admires Jewell’s gumption in standing up to him. This, combined with her qualifications and knowledge of sign language, make him determined to have her as his executive assistant. Only later he realizes hiring her was imprudent. She’s the best assistant he’s ever had, but his policy is never to get involved with an employee. His attraction to Jewell puts his strength of will to the test.. It seems inevitable his desire for her will eventually win out...

Precious Things, my first tale by Katelyn Hughes but not the last, is a fabulous story with brilliantly developed characters who come to life on the page. Benjamin is scared by his past, unwilling to trust in love. Jewell has a painful background, though comes from a loving and protective family anyone would love to be part of. Unusually, the hero is deaf. I haven’t read a novel where a main character had a disability/impairment. The way this was detailed got and kept me interested in the story, and wondering whether Ms. Hughes has first-hand experience with deafness. The problems faced by Benjamin as a result of his impairment are numerous and well detailed, yet the reader isn’t allowed to feel pity for him. He is very successful despite his disability and isn’t a man who would want sympathy. Tragedy dogs his footsteps, striking a resounding pang in your heart. Will he let Jewell through his walls, or will he turn from her in his time of need, hurting them both in the process? Precious Things is thoroughly enjoyable and a credit to Ms. Hughes!

Reviewed by: Elizabeth