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"His Mistress: His Terms"

Rich, gorgeous playboy Alex Fitzgerald has his sights set on Merrow O’Connell. Initially he needs just her interior design skills, but soon they’re on different terms – she’s perfect mistress material!

Alex is determined to break all the rules and have the Irish beauty in his bed – and Merrow can’t argue with the boss! But she’s learned not to let anyone get close, and is determined to stay free and single. So what will she do when the billionaire playboy suddenly wants her to be more than just his mistress…?

For more books like this one go to my Modern Heat page

And you have to wear the green 1920’s dress – it’s gorgeous on you!

Merrow smoothed her palms down over the front of the dress, glad she’d been talked into it. If clothes made the man then they boosted the woman’s confidence no end. It was a law of nature.

Hair down. No up in something chic. No definitely down - men love long hair.

Like she cared what Alex Fitzgerald loved! But down had won, mainly ‘cos it was easier. On one of her usual whims, at the last minute she tied a long silk scarf of the same deep shimmering olive green over her head like a wide Alice band, the ends flowing down her back beneath her hair.

And heels, you have to have heels on. How tall is he? Yum! Okay then, definitely heels…

The heels maybe hadn’t been the best plan in the world, especially when she decided she needed coffee from the far side of bridge at the bottom of O’Connell Street. Because when she had to queue to get her extra large cinnamon latte it meant she had to run back over the bridge to get to The Pavenham for bang on nine - and running in heels while carrying said extra large coffee without ending up wearing it was no easy trick – she even laughed at the ridiculousness of it along the way. But the fact was, getting wardrobe advice from her friends over numerous cocktails the night before meant that coffee was a necessity…

It would serve Alex damn Fitzgerald right if she’d turned up in her work dungarees again. After all, this was work, it wasn’t a date!

Which didn’t really explain why her pulse hiccupped at the sight of him stood outside the old hotel, but then, in fairness, he did look hot. And much more like the Galway Alex she remembered now he was out of a suit again. Instead he had on comfy looking blue jeans and a crisp white shirt, worn loose, unbuttoned at the neck, with rolled up sleeves.

The sun came out from behind a cloud and glinted on his blonde hair. So Merrow glanced heavenwards, shaking her head, “Not helping.”

He adjusted the camera strap he had draped off one shoulder, pacing up and down as he spoke on the phone, his movements fluid, hinting at physical strength and confidence. Mind you, if Merrow had been born a boy and ended up looking like that she’d have been confident too. Add to his looks the fact that she now knew he came from one of the richest, oldest, best-known families in the country and well… the fact that he was gorgeous as well seemed a tad unfair to the rest of mankind…

Just as well he had a tendency towards acting like a bit of an ass really. It was a karmic balance thing, wasn’t it?

As she thought that very thought, he laughed out loud in response to whatever his phone friend said. And even through the sounds of traffic and people she could hear it; the deep, oh-so-male sound dancing through the background noise and translating straight into an answering smile on her face. Well, hell. It wasn’t as if he was laughing for her benefit!

A random person in the crowd bumped her shoulder, causing her to hold her coffee out so she wouldn’t end up cinnamon scented having got safely all the way across the bridge. So, with a smaller smile at the rushed apology, she focussed her attention on dodging the traffic to get to Alex’s side of the road.

He flipped his phone shut, pushing it into the back pocket of his jeans as she approached, any hint of laughter gone from his face as he studied her from top to toe with hooded eyes.

“Good morning!” She pinned a hundred watt smile on her face, “Not waiting long I hope?”

Alex glanced at his watch, “Nope, you’re bang on time. Not that I can say the same thing about Mickey.”

“Rock stars can’t be on time; it’s too conventional for them.”

“Hmmm,” He gave her a sideways glance that translated to Merrow as his believing she’d understand unconventional better than he would, which, in fairness, was probably true. But even so…

She tilted her head, “So, do you want to walk me through your plans while we wait or shall we stand out here and discuss the weather?”

“Maybe we should talk about yesterday first.”

“Or maybe we should try to go one itty bitty day without annoying each other or ending up horizontal?”

Accompanying the question with another smile didn’t stop Alex frowning, “You see, that’s exactly what we need to talk about. You can’t talk to me like that in front of a client, or the building crew.”

“And you can’t talk to me in the patronizing tone you’d use on a twelve year old and not expect me to retaliate. Your move,” She blew into the tiny hole in the top of her coffee cup, “I know how to behave around clients. And building crews like a bit of banter, especially from a girl; they work harder to impress her that way. If you can’t have a bit of craic at work from time to time then the days can get lo-ong.”

When she glanced up at him from beneath her long lashes he was staring at her with a stony faced expression, “And I remember you having more of a sense of humour before. Did you rent it from somewhere for your weekend in Galway?”

“Do you bait me on purpose?”

“Nope, but it seems to be a talent, doesn’t it? Maybe if you didn’t take yourself so seriously it wouldn’t be so easy…”

“I take my work seriously.”

“And so you should, but not to the point of stuffiness - a little charm can work wonders.”

“You think I can’t be charming?” The gold in his eyes sparkled, “Now Merrow, you know better than that.”

And there it was. That hint of a smile that, when accompanied with the sparkle in his eyes, made every bit of her itch to tease the smile out properly. He’d done that in Galway too. She just needed to remember what it was she’d done then to make it happen… Mmm…

Her forefinger tapped absentmindedly against her coffee cup while she thought. She was fairly sure that was illegal at nine o’clock in the morning, in public, while stood beside the Liffey. Tempting though…

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His Mistress: His Terms, is a story that was getting told no matter what! From the second I typed Merrow's name for the first time it took on wings and with a good dose of magical fairy dust it was written, from start to finish, in three weeks flat!!! Knocking Her Unexpected Baby off it's position as the fastest book I'd ever done...

Having said to just shoot me after the last linked *tough one to write* I did - the masochist in me was determined to work through the curse - so I pitched linked stories to my Editor with the working titles Letting Loose and Getting Even. The first of these; Letting Loose, being Alexander Fitzgerald and Merrow O'Connell's story...

Once I had the go ahead, I went about creating a whole world for these two with collages and wardrobe and cars and hobbies. I chose a 'theme tune' with words that told the story some, I looked up their star signs to see if they were compatible sexually... Yep, I truly went to town on it. And I really do think that helped with the fairy dust... Well - that and the word-count war I had going via Blog with fellow Modern Extra authors Jenna Bayley-Burke and Ally Blake that is - I do LOVE good word count war!

Merrow is, without a doubt, the most confident, independent, in love with life and living heroine I've ever written. She has a great bunch of friends, a somewhat out of the ordinary family, a job she loves and the kind of wardrobe I'd personally kill for... So it was really going to take one hell of a leading man to make her re-think her independence some, wasn't it?

And that's where this picture of Alex came in. Yes - I know - if you're a regular Website visitor then you'll know I've used this picture as an example of one of my hero's before. I guess, if anything, it just goes to prove that a picture can indeed tell more than one story. But unlike the last time I used this as an example this time he was 'cast' as Alex from the get-go. (see the Backwards Casting theory on my Writing Tips Page) And if you had that image to stare at while you worked then I dare you not to be inspired too!

Alex became a very special hero - confident, cocky, sexy-as-all-hell and more than a match for Merrow, who made it her goal to loosen him up. He also, at some point during the writing, became very 'vocal'; causing me more than one sleepless night as he 'told me' where I'd got something wrong or had him say something he never would have said. And he's without a doubt the only hero of mine who has or will ever try to show the heroine how he feels... with a goldfish...

AND WATCH OUT for the follow up story where we meet Alex's sister Ashling and Gabe, the man she's known since childhood, in Claimed By The Billionaire Bad Boy...

Locations in this book:

This book wouldn't be this book without Dublin. Because Dublin is as big a character in the story as Alex and Merrow and their vast array of friends and family are...And I have the weekend I spent there for fellow Irish Author Abby Green's book launch to thank for that! You see, not only did I get to spend time with some of my favourite fellow authors and some of the Editors over from the London offices, I also went armed with my digital camera, determined to refresh my memory on all that Dublin had to offer...

So absolutely all the places named in Dublin really do exist - there's Grafton Street at night, when Alex throws Merrow over his shoulder and marches her back to the apartment above his offices in Merrion Square - there's the statue of Oscar Wilde reclining on a rock in the park in the middle of Merrion Square - there's the mention of Ashton Quay beside the River Liffey where the fictional hotel project Alex and Merrow are working on is located - and there's the O'Connell Street Bridge from the excerpt above - a little piece of fairy dust all on it's own when I realized near the end of the book that I had Merrow O'Connell on the O'Connell Street Bridge... Told ya there was magic in the air! All real locations folks, and all in the story, every last one! Which kinda made a mockery of all the times I'd told myself there wasn't that much room within the word-count restriction to add that kind of ambience. Hey, I'm learning as I go along - right???

But there was more. We had Alex's grand childhood home, with the rich history of a family that was practically Irish Royalty thanks to the fairy dust. There was a hint of the seas that surround my little island as Alex races sail boats in his spare time, first meeting Merrow pre-book while he was racing one weekend and she was on a hen-weekend at the Galway Oyster Festival (again a real event) With all my manic researching I could even tell you all about Alex's vintage Aston Martin, the very type of model that James Bond drove in the films...though not the real one obviously, because as Alex told me, even a Fitzgerald had to draw the line somewhere...

And still we weren't done! Cos then we headed off to the Dingle Peninsula where Merrow's parents run their, erm, retreat... The sea having an influence here too as the unusual name they gave their daughter is from the old Irish Fairy story of a mermaid from the sea; The Merrow, who wore a sealskin coat in the ocean and once on dry land, if a Fisherman found the skin, he would hide it and force the Merrow to stay with him, no matter how much she longed for the sea... (there's probably a sub-text in there somewhere, but frankly I was already astounded enough by where this book had taken me!)

You need more? Well, I might have mentioned the wardrobe Merrow has that I would kill for?! Both of these dresses make it into the story as well - the fifties Prom Dress at Alex's parents house, the sixties plaid mini-dress featuring strongly when Merrow decides to loosen Alex up properly...

All part of the world that Merrow and Alex lived in for three glorious weeks of my life. *Sigh*. Fairy dust folks - sprinkled liberally over this story from beginning to end. Every single one of these details (barring the tale of The Merrow) woven into the story inside 50,000 words. So, if you read this book and the fairy dust doesn't translate, even a little, then please don't tell me... or I may decide to become a road-sweeper instead...

I miss this story already.

Soundtrack playing: 

This book being this book we even had a 'theme tune' so very perfect that lines or phrases from the lyrics sneaked into the story too...

Again it came from Take That's album, Beautiful World and this time the track was 'Ain't No Sense In Love' - the first verse pretty much sums it up - but then the whole song gives the tone of the story I feel...

"I’m afraid of the morning, I’m afraid of the light, You should come with a warning, Yeah, you should be wearing a sign, Oh you’re such a beautiful trouble, So you better beware, One look and I was in right over my head, O-oh this misery!, But there’s no place on earth I’d rather be…"

So look out for the phrases when you're reading! If you can - get hold of the album so you can listen to the words I did while writing... Enhancing the fairy dust element in your own home so to speak... ;)

You can order a copy of the album here And I'm that good I even went and found a way for you to hear it:

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

*All Photographs are used to give a visible representation of the Authors 'view' and are in no way representative of the people or places in real life beyond the realms of the Authors imagination.

"His Mistress: His Terms is the perfect recipe for a winter's day...take one insatiable hero, a feisty heroine, add in a good helping of quirks and blend in seamless emotional conflict, and you've got a winner!" Donna Alward - Harlequin Romance Author

"Trish Wylie has done it again! Effervescent, engrossing and feel-good, His Mistress, His Terms is a sparkling romantic comedy that you just will not be able to put down. In Merrow, Trish Wylie has created her best heroine yet – vivacious, sassy and thoroughly likable, she’s more than a match for the gorgeous Alex, a hero so sexy, that he’ll make you swoon!" Julie Bonello - Cataromance.com

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