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Sweet Talking Man: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – July 5, 2000
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She was an independent woman-with only one weakness... an irresistible downtown man...
An immovable uptown lady... rich suffragette Beatrice Von Furstenberg was tough enough to trade stocks on Wall Street and smart enough to resist the temptation of passion. Adamant about women being independent-and without a romantic bone in her lovely body-she had sternly refused to give her moonstruck sixteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old suitor. Now the desperate teens have dreamed up a mock robbery and a daring rescue to change Beatrice's mind.
Attorney Connor Barrow, a rogue of an Irishman with a silver tongue, remembers all too well the burning desires of youth. So he agrees to help in a crazy plan that will land him in a world of trouble. Suddenly he is responsible for the most influential lady in the city being locked up in a brothel, furious and threatening his ruin. Neither of them expects that first breathless kiss-a deal that would make the devil himself blush-and, most of all, the ways love can change a man's mind and open a woman's heart....
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBantam
- Publication dateJuly 5, 2000
- Dimensions4.15 x 0.75 x 6.9 inches
- ISBN-100553576194
- ISBN-13978-0553576191
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From the Inside Flap
She was an independent woman-with only one weakness... an irresistible downtown man...
An immovable uptown lady... rich suffragette Beatrice Von Furstenberg was tough enough to trade stocks on Wall Street and smart enough to resist the temptation of passion. Adamant about women being independent-and without a romantic bone in her lovely body-she had sternly refused to give her moonstruck sixteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old suitor. Now the desperate teens have dreamed up a mock robbery and a daring rescue to change Beatrice's mind.
Attorney Connor Barrow, a rogue of an Irishman with a silver tongue, remembers all too well the burning desires of youth. So he agrees to help in a crazy plan that will land him in a world of trouble. Suddenly he is responsible for the most influential lady in the city being locked up in a brothel, furious and threatening his ruin. Neither of them expects that first breathless kiss-a deal that would make the devil himself blush-and, most of all, the ways love can change a man's mind and open a woman's heart....
From the Back Cover
AN IMMOVABLE UPTOWN LADY...
Rich suffragette Beatrice Von Furstenberg was tough enough to trade stocks on Wall Street and smart enough to resist the temptation of passion. Adamant about women being independent -- and without a romantic bone in her lovely body -- she had sternly refused to give her moonstruck sixteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old suitor. Now the desperate teens have dreamed up a mock robbery and a daring rescue to change Beatrice's mind.
AN IRRESISTIBLE DOWNTOWN MAN...
Attorney Connor Barrow, a rogue of an Irishman with a silver tongue, remembers all too well the burning desires of youth. So he agrees to help in a crazy plan that will land him in a world of trouble. Suddenly he is responsible for the most influential lady in the city being locked up in a brothel, furious and threatening his ruin. Neither of them expects that first breathless kiss -- a deal that would make the devil himself blush -- and, most of all, the ways love can change a man's mind and open a woman's heart....
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The darkness had become their friend. The deep purple of the late summer nights hid them in its shadows and muffled the rustle of her skirts, the scrape of his shoes on paving stones, and the pounding of their earnest hearts.
She found him in the sympathetic shadows of the arbor at the rear of the garden, waiting among lush cascades of gloriously overripe roses.
"Jeffrey?"
"Prissy . . . here!"
She located him, then paused to adore him with her eyes. Tall, fair, and undeniably handsome, he was everything a girl's heart could desire.
"I was afraid you wouldn't be able to come," he said in a tense rush, holding out his hands to draw her close.
"Nothing could have kept me from coming to you," she said, sinking against his shirtfront and sighing as his arms folded around her. "Even if she had locked me up, I still would have found a way."
"Locked you up?" Jeffrey gasped and pulled her tighter against him. "I wouldn't put it past her, the old witch. She's nothing short of a tyrant--ordering you about--forbidding us to--"
She reached up to stop his words with her fingertips. "Let's not waste precious time on my poor, wretched aunt. What could she possibly know of love? She's so old and lonely and miserable--she must be thirty years old. . . ."
"At least," he muttered.
She ran her hand reverently across his cheek.
"You are my whole world, Jeffrey."
"You are my moon and my stars, Prissy." He drew a deep breath to counter the constriction in his chest. She was so lovely. He felt a familiar ache begin deep in his loins and groaned softly. "Oh, if only we could marry, sweetness, and be together." He pulled her head against his shirt and closed his eyes. "Forever and ever."
"And ever," she echoed wistfully, closing her eyes as well.
"I would be able to touch your--hands--whenever I please, and hold you like this . . ." His more explicit longings were buried in a passionate kiss pressed on her cool, delicate fingers. "We're like Romeo and Juliet. Forbidden to love."
"And my parents, who were forbidden to love, too. They found a way." She lifted her head, her eyes shining. "We'll find a way, too, Jeffrey."
"Your parents?" Jeffrey set her back just enough to see her face clearly.
"My grandparents forbade their love, so they eloped and fled to Italy." Her voice grew warm and impassioned. "My mother said that they lived as free as gypsies at first . . . on nothing but wine and love." She pushed back farther in his arms and her eyes lighted. "We could do that."
"What? Live on wine and love?"
"No. Elope, like my mother and father."
"Elope?" For a brief moment the possibility was tantalizing. Then a draft of reality blew through his heated senses. "And flee the country?"
"No, we wouldn't have to do that." Her face glowed as she envisioned it. "We could . . . stay with your family until we get a house of our own."
"With my mother?" He envisioned it and winced in spite of himself. "Mother would never countenance such a thing. I mean, she's always planned a huge, society wedding for me . . . it would break her heart if . . . no, no, it can't be an elopement."
"You wouldn't elope with me?" she asked, surprised by his reluctance.
"There's the future to think about." A trace of anxiety crept into his voice. "Elopements are terrible scandals. We have to think of something else."
"But what?" She made fists around handfuls of his sleeves. "We'll grow as old and decrepit as Aunt Beatrice if we wait for her to change her mind." Then she paused, caught by another idea. "Unless we change it for her."
"Change a Von Furstenberg's mind?" He snorted. "We'd have better luck jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge and trying to fly. She despises me, Prissy . . . she acts as if I'm still in short pants. When I asked my father to plead our case with her, she wouldn't even see him. Now he's afraid that if he pushes the matter . . ."
There was no need to describe his father's fears. They both knew that her aunt and guardian, Beatrice Von Furstenberg, could wield her money and power like a sword and mace.
"If she only knew you as I do . . . knew how generous and honorable and brilliant you are." She loosened her grip on his sleeves to caress the arms inside them and lowered her voice. "How manly and brave you can be." She studied his face in the dimness and felt a surge of defiant passion. "She must be made to see it. Jeffrey, we must show her that you are a man to be reckoned with . . . that despite your youth, you are a force in the world of men."
"And how do you propose that we do that?"
She scowled, thinking, and the logic became inescapable. "I suppose . . . she would have to see you doing something daring or courageous."
"Courageous? You mean like . . . fighting a duel or something? Saving you from a burning building? Fending off a band of robbers?"
"Exactly."
She beamed.
He stiffened.
"Dueling is against the law--not to mention deadly. It takes hook and ladder companies to battle fires. And robbers run in packs and carry guns."
"Well, if a building were on fire, you would rescue me, wouldn't you?"
He blinked. "O-Of course."
"Then that's what you have to do, 'rescue' me." Then her eyes flew wide with another burst of inspiration. "No! Even better--rescue her!"
"Rescue her?" He was truly horrified. "What would I rescue her from?"
"Jeffrey." She pulled away and crossed her arms.
"Be reasonable, Prissy. Where is your aunt likely to get caught in a burning building or be held up by a gang of thieves?"
"Well, I don't know, but . . ." Mounting frustration caused her to blurt out: "I bet it could be arranged."
His hands and his jaw both dropped. "Prissy! You want to arrange for your aunt to be set upon by some thieves and cutthroats . . . so I can rescue her?"
Phrased so bluntly, the idea set Priscilla back for a moment.
"It does sound a little crazy." Then her inherited determination asserted itself. "But think about it, Jeffrey. If you rescued her from danger, she would owe you a debt. And you know how fanatical she is about debts--paying them as well as collecting them. She would have to let us see each other. And once we've begun to court, I'm sure we could convince her to let us marry."
"But thieves, Prissy . . ."
Her gaze again swept that mental tableau and her fertile mind began to work again.
Product details
- Publisher : Bantam; Reprint edition (July 5, 2000)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0553576194
- ISBN-13 : 978-0553576191
- Item Weight : 8 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.15 x 0.75 x 6.9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #5,828,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,475 in Feel-Good Fiction
- #11,195 in 20th Century Historical Romance (Books)
- #20,317 in Action & Adventure Romance (Books)
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So Jeffrey goes to find his black-sheep relative, Connor Barrow, who is running for Congress with the help of Tammany Hall. Connor feels sorry for the boy and suggests two heavies to help him. However, the robbery is a debacle and the rest of the story is about how Beatrice and Connor try to straighten the mess out without losing their careers.
A good story line but not as romantic as it could have been!
Beatrice Von Furstenburg is a hard-nosed business woman who was given the reins of Consolidated Industries on the death of her elderly husband much to the dismay of it's otherwise male board of directors. She's also guardian for her niece, 16 year old Priscilla, who is madly in love and wants to marry her 18 year old beau. Beatrice claims not to have a romantic bone in her body and repeated tells them they're too young and stupid to marry. Frustrated, they hatch a hairbrained scheme intended to change Beatrice's low opinion of Jeffrey but the scheme goes terribly wrong and the teens must look to Jeffrey's estranged cousin to get them all out of this mess!
Connor Sullivan Barrow is focused on running for Congress and wants nothing to do with "precious Jeffrey" or his problems. But he winds up involved and once he meets Beatrice, he's helplessly intrigued. "I was always taught to beware a touch of red in a woman's hair. It bespeaks a strong will. But, speakin' personally, I like a strong bit of will in a woman. Always a site more enjoyable than a strong bit of won't". And so starts the charm offensive! On the outside, she's unmoved, but on the inside, she must admit that his "smile was pure alchemy" and she starts to slowly fall.
But the road to romance is quite rocky for these two. She pushes him to endorse the suffrage movement, his bosses in Tammany Hall tell him never to see her again. She has to contend with a mutiny in her board of directors and he has to choose between her and his political future. And then there is his hostile estranged WASP grandfather who never forgave Connor for marrying a "shanty Irish" girl so far beneath him (she ultimately died) and for turning his back on the family and it's banking interests. And almost every problem in their relationship seems to be splashed in the headlines of the newspapers, compounding the problems these two face.
I really had fun reading this story, as with all the author's other stories. The lead couple was smart, sexy, conflicted and utlimately perfect for each other. You hoped Beatrice would lighten up and you adored Connor all the while hoping, along with Beatrice, that his "sweet talk" was sincere!
Another enjoyable, fun and romantic read from Betina Krahn!
Things don't go as planned. Jeffrey is late for his date with heroism, and as a consequence poor Auntie ends up a hostage in a brothel. Little does she know, things happen for a reason: she'd soon be meeting the man who could awaken her long-buried passions.
I found Krahn to be a funny, intelligent storyteller, immensely readable. Her mastery of plot is to be admired, as is her historical knowledge. Her romantic leads had sensational chemistry, and her love scenes were erotic but tasteful--neither too purple or too vulgar. I closed the book with a smile on my face.