SIZZLE BY BARBARA BRETT
Where the boardroom meets the bedroom
BLURB:
America’s
biggest publishing prize.She’s the most beautiful and ruthless CEO in the nation. He’s the most dangerous corporate raider in the world. Neither has ever lost a battle in the boardroom—or the bedroom. Now they’re warring for
It’s the glitzy1980s. Fortunes are being made and lost—and
made again. Wall Street is on a roll. One after another, corporations are being
gobbled up by rapacious raiders. And now Sizzle,
the most glamorous and profitable magazine in the world is up for grabs.
British media mogul and corporate raider Harrison Kendricks has set his sights
on this publishing plum, in which the reputations of the rich, the famous, and
the beautiful can be built or destroyed with a paragraph or a photograph. He
has never before lost a hostile takeover. But then he has never before been in
competition with Marietta Wylford, the brilliant and beautiful CEO of Wylford
Enterprises. She needs only Sizzle to
crown the business empire she has built with nothing but her own genius and
ambition, and she is determined to let no one stand in her way. Not even the
mysterious and dangerous Harrison Kendricks....
SIZZLE—a novel of breathtaking power and ambition, set
against the jet-setting world of Manhattan’s elite!
“[A] battle fraught with...the dirtiest of tricks...the stuff that destroys marriages, people, lives.... Sizzle through the summer with Sizzle.”—
“[A] battle fraught with...the dirtiest of tricks...the stuff that destroys marriages, people, lives.... Sizzle through the summer with Sizzle.”—
The Salem News
EXCERPT:
Harrison Kendricks sat down on the other end of the settee
and raised his glass. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” Marietta returned, and sipped her drink.
Though Kendricks had a reputation for never mincing words
and getting down to business immediately, he seemed in no rush to broach the
subject. Through the first drink and then the second, they spoke instead in
generalities—their shared interest in gardens, antiques, the theater. Since he
had suggested the meeting, Marietta was determined that he be the one to
initiate any discussion of a buyout or compromise. She would let him say his
piece, then drop her bombshell.
At
first, she thought he was avoiding the subject because he wanted to disarm her.
But as their conversation progressed, she realized that he had more than
business on his mind. Though the tinted glasses veiled his eyes, they did not
hide them, and she was aware how often his gaze traveled over her. It was like
a visual caress. Harrison Kendricks wanted her. It was possible, of course, that
it was all part of his plan—that, with his gigantic ego, he thought that one
kiss and she'd be eating out of his hand. But even if that had been his primary
purpose, it was obvious he now wanted to satisfy a great deal more than
corporate desires. Besides, what difference did his motivation make? She wanted
him too. She had never made love with such a dangerous man.
She
was aware that Kendricks, probably for the first time in his life, was faced
with a problem in deciding what approach to take. For she had to be as unique
to him as he was to her. She would have to find a way to help him. That gave
her one more advantage.
Talk
of the theater led Kendricks to make some unflattering observations about
American musicals and music. "No one today seems to know what music is all
about," he said.
"Except
perhaps you?" Marietta asked.
He
smiled. "There are a few others, I admit."
She
nodded toward the piano. "Do you play?"
"Yes.
Rather well, in fact. Schumann is my favorite. Does that surprise you?"
"Nothing
anyone does—whether admirable or despicable—ever surprises me."
"So
you're an absolute cynic."
"Not
a cynic—a realist. I see things as they are. For example, I'm very much aware
that you would like to get me into bed."
"Really?'
he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't
play coy. It's out of character."
"All
right. I'll admit that I find the idea of making love to you rather
attractive."
"And
I find it rather attractive too. So I wonder why, busy people that we are,
we're sitting here wasting each other's time sipping drinks and chatting. Why
don't we simply go up to your bedroom?" she said, rising.
"You're
an extraordinary woman."
"If
I weren't, you wouldn't be so interested in taking me to bed, would you?"
He
followed close behind her as she walked across the room. When she paused at the
big double doors, he reached around her and opened them, probably the first
time in his life that he had performed such a courtesy for a woman other than
his mother. Smiling to herself, she passed through them, then preceded him up
the winding marble staircase.
Neither
spoke, but words were unnecessary. They were two of a kind, creatures who had
fashioned themselves in the image of their own wants and needs. They understood
each other as no other person on earth could....
BIO:
Barbara
Brett's love of reading led her to a life devoted to books—as an editor,
publisher and author. She began as a proofreader, then moved up to become
editor of True Romance and True Confessions. Later, she became vice
president and publisher of Avalon Books, which published fiction for the
library market. After that, she started her own company, which published
inspirational non-fiction. She is delighted that many of the authors she
developed over the years have moved up to best-sellerdom.
In
addition to editing and publishing, Barbara was also writing novels. She is the
author of Between Two Eternities, Love After Hours, and, with her husband,
Hy Brett, the mystery Promises to Keep.
Recently she closed her publishing company so that she could devote
herself completely to her own writing.
She is delighted to see Sizzle
published, and she promises to follow it with many more exciting books.
Barbara
and Hy live in Brooklyn. When they aren't writing, they enjoy reading, taking
long walks to see the Atlantic Ocean, and treating visiting family and friends
to Brooklyn pizza and bagels, which, everyone agrees, are the best in the
world.
BUY LINKS:
B&Nhttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sizzle-barbara-brett/1123604122?ean=9780989917339
Smashwords
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: www.brettbooks.com
Amazon.com author page: www.amazon.com/author/barbarabrett
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