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"Manhattan Boss, Diamond Proposal"

For more books like this one go to my Harlequin Romance page

The words drew her gaze swiftly back to his face, her answer laced with rising anger, “And how am I supposed to find the time to date anyone when I spend so much time with you?”

It stunned the table into an uneasy silence, all eyes focussed on Quinn as he frowned in response, “So I’m your cover now am I?”

Clare frowned back at him, “I’m not hiding behind you if that’s what you mean.”

“But working together and the time we spend together outside of work burns up all the time you could use dating – that’s what you’re saying?”

She opened her mouth, but he’d already shrugged and returned his attention to his plate, digging forcefully with the edge of his fork, “Funny how it hasn’t stopped me finding time to date some in the last year.”

Now there was the understatement of the century! Without looking round the table to confirm it, Clare felt four pairs of eyes focussing on her. Waiting…

She damped her lips before answering, “So long as the relationship doesn’t last more than five or six weeks on a casual basis, right?”

The eyes focussed on Quinn.

Who shrugged again, “You know by then if there’s any point wasting your time or theirs.”

“And you’re too busy to waste any time, right?” Which kind of proved her point, didn’t it?

“Still made the time to begin with, didn’t I?”

Okay, he had her on that one. But before she could get herself out of the hole she’d apparently just dug for herself, he added,

“Maybe I should just save myself some of that precious time by getting you to find my ‘soul mate’ for me. Then I can settle down to producing another generation of heartbreakers and you can stop using me as a stand in husband.”

Clare inhaled sharply, her lips moving to form the name for him that had immediately jumped into the front of her brain.

But Erin was already jumping to her defence, “That was uncalled for Quinn.”

“Yet apparently overdue,” The fork clattered onto the side of his plate before he leaned back, lifting his arms and arching his back in a lazy stretch, “Can’t fix a problem if I don’t know it exists in the first place, can I?”

He said it calmly but Clare knew he wasn’t happy. So she made an attempt at humour to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand;

“And why bother finding a wife when I fill eight out of ten criteria for the job every day, right?” She added a small smile so he’d know she was kidding, “Maybe I’m your cover?”

The corners of his mouth twitched, “Okay then, since we’re in such an unhealthy relationship – you find my mythical soul mate and I’ll not only get out of your way, I’ll get off your case about the matchmaking too.”

Evan’s deep voice broke the sudden stunned silence with words that would seal her fate, “She’ll never in a million years find someone for you to settle down with.”

And that did it - Clare had had enough of her fledgling business being the butt of the guys’ jokes. So it was a knee-jerk reaction.

“Wanna bet?” She folded her arms across her breasts and lifted a brow at Evan. But when Evan held his hands up in surrender, she looked back at Quinn. To find him smiling the merest hint of a smile back at her, as if he’d just won some kind of victory.

So she lifted her chin higher to let him know he hadn’t won a darn thing, “Well?”

“You win you can do matchmaker nights at the clubs and I’ll split the door with you.”

What? Her heart raced at the very idea; a world of possibilities growing so fast in her mind that she skimmed over the fact the offer had been made so quickly. Almost as if he’d planned what to wager before the bet had been made. But she wasn’t blinded enough by the business potential not to ask the obvious,

“And if I lose?”

Quinn cocked his head, “Having doubts about your capabilities already O’Connor?”

“Simply making the terms clear in front of witnesses, and if you’re trying to claim you’ve only been playing the field all these years because you haven’t met the right girl then I guarantee you - I’ll find you a girl who can last way longer than six weeks…”

“Wanna bet?” The smile grew.

Which only egged her on even more, “I think we’ve already established that.”

Though she couldn’t help silently admitting her unknown forfeit was scaring her a little. If her payoff wasn’t so huge, and if he just didn’t have that look in his eyes that said he had her right where he wanted her…

“I’m starting a pool – who’s in?” There were several mumbled answers to Morgan’s question.

None of which Clare caught because she was too busy silently squaring off with Quinn, neither of them breaking the locked gazes that signalled a familiar battle of wills. Well she was no pushover these days, so if he thought she was backing down now they’d gone this far in front of an audience he was sorely mistaken.

“If you lose…”

She held her breath.

“It’s a blind forfeit.”

Meaning he could chose anything he wanted when it was done? Anything? He had to be kidding! She could end up cleaning his house for months or wearing clown shoes to work or – well, the list was endless, wasn’t it?

He continued looking at her with hooded eyes, thick lashes blinking lazily and silent confidence oozing off every pore of his rangy body. And then he smiled, the cocky -

Damping her dry lips she looked round at the familiar faces, searching each one for a hint of any sign they’d see what was happening as a joke and let it slide so she could get out of trouble.

No such luck.

“You could just admit I’m right about this business idea of yours and let it go. Keep it as a hobby if you must. That’d give you more time for dating, right?”

With a deep breath she stepped over the edge of what felt distinctly like a precipice, “No limit on the number of dates. And once you hit the eight weeks without a Tiffany’s box, I automatically win.”

“Fine, but if I say it’s not working with one we move on. I’ll give you,” His gaze rose to a point on the ceiling, locking with hers again when he had an answer, “Three months to find Little Miss Perfect.”

“Six.”

“Four.”

“Five.”

“Four from the first date…”

It was the best she was going to get and she knew it, “Done.”

There was a flurry of activity as their friends sought out a pen, Morgan using the back of a napkin to place their bets. And in the meantime Quinn had Clare’s undivided attention while he slowly made his way round to her, hunkering down and examining her eyes before extending one large hand; his husky edged voice low and disturbingly intimate,

“Shake on it then.”

Clare turned in her seat and looked at his outstretched hand, her pulse fluttering and her palms suddenly clammy. She damped her lips again, took another deep breath, and then swiped her palm along her thigh before lifting it and setting it into his; her voice equally as low when she looked up into his eyes,

“Cheat this time and you’re a dead man.”

A larger smile slid skilfully into place a split second before his incredible eyes darkened a shade, long fingers curling until her smaller hand was engulfed in the heat of his. But instead of shaking it up and down to seal the deal, he simply held on, rubbing his thumb almost unconsciously across the ridges of her knuckles. And then his voice dropped enough to merit her leaning closer to hear him; the combined scent of clean laundry and pure Quinn overwhelming her,

          “Don’t have to. Cos either way I win, don’t I?”

Back to books

Manhattan Boss, Diamond Proposal is the book that tested my mettle to the very edges of it's limits. So if you're a regular visitor to this site and you've been on book pages where I said it was a *tough one to write* or the characters gave me a run for my money or it was like giving birth to a pineapple complete with spiky head then I take it all back...

This one almost made me quit writing...

Now, understandably, being both a writer and a female I needed to understand why this happened so I could not only cope if it happened again (please God NO) but so I might learn from it for characterization at a later date. And a lot of it will come down to that whole thing of biting off more than you can chew. Not so much in terms of plot as real life. I wrote this book while doing a publicity tour the likes of which I'd never done before so I was on the go a lot - TV, Radio, Newspapers, Writer's Workshops, public appearances... all sounds terribly glamorous doesn't it??? And I LOVED it but oh my was it tiring for the uninitiated! But just TRY to write a heavily character driven book at the same time - I dare you! NOT easy.

Neither is it easy when you have an emotionally inept hero. Don't get me wrong, Quinn Cassidy was quite the guy with the ladies. But when it came to falling in love... he was waaayyyy out of his comfort zone. So he fought, tooth and nail. And THAT wasn't easy to write - TRUST ME. Especially when the man can't even use the 'L' word in ordinary conversation...

That said, it's probably one of the 'lightest' books I've written in a long while. There's plenty of one liners, Quinn is hilarious at times, Clare O'Connor can give as good as she gets...And the poor souls who tried to help me through the horrors of this writing experience by proof reading when I couldn't see the words anymore told me it read like a rom-com movie on the page, so I'm hoping that's a good sign. As for me, I plan on spending a long time recovering from the experience of writing it before reading it again.

I can only hope the suffering doesn't show in the finished product... Sigh.

Locations in this book:

Now THIS was easier! New York, New York! Though the title of the book might have been a bit of a giveaway for that...

As with my last book which kicked off in New York I've been reliving my first ever trip there through my characters. Only this time I made it entirely in New York with a third generation Irish-American hero and a gal from Ireland who followed her fiancé to the States only to be jilted at the altar. In fact I'm thinking that these books might one day become known as my New York period in the same way that artists have landscape periods or still life periods...my next Modern Heat is set in both New York and Martha's Vineyard... well it is if the writing angst doesn't continue that is.

In this one we bounce from Manhattan to Brooklyn with the kind of backdrops only New York can give you. Which is FAB cos with such a character driven story I really needed a setting that was so real to the reader that they could fill in a lot of the finer detail themselves. Having said that there are still several things to give their imagination a bit of a jump start ;)

The outdoor movie in Bryant Park being a classic example. I was childishly thrilled by the very idea of this when I was in New York and bitterly disappointed when it rained on the one night I could have gone to see the movie. So I sent Quinn and Clare there instead, and made it something neither of them had ever done before, because I think sometimes when you live in a city you forget the wondrous things around you. Hence why I let them travel home on the Subway too - not very romantic some people might say but I like to think I've done something a little memorable with it...

Naturally we had the Brooklyn Bridge mentioned several times - though Clare was contemplating jumping off it at one point when Quinn was making her crazy. And again - such an iconic landmark that you can't help but have your mind fill in a version of it the minute it's mentioned. It is, of course, a National Monument in the States and sooooo impressive close up! I've stood beneath it so trust me on this one.

And then there's Quinn's house in Brooklyn Heights. Having toured round Brooklyn there was no way in heck these two were living in anything but a Brownstone. I LOVED them and they were just so very very New York to me or at least the version of New York I'd been sold by the likes of The Cosby Show. And when the tour guide told us how much those houses now sell for...well... perfect for a self made millionaire I felt. Especially if the guy was raised in Brooklyn had done good and yet never wanted to leave his roots behind him...

All told I think this story would never had gotten written if it hadn't been for New York. It's just such a wonderful wonderful city that I can see myself revisiting there again and again both on and off paper. Roll on Summer 2008 I say!

Soundtrack playing: 

For Manhattan Boss, Diamond Proposal I had another 'soundtrack' I put together on my laptop with songs that evoked a sense of the emotions and 'place' of this book. So there was more than one song. But if I had to choose one then the song that best matches the story from Quinn's point of view is from Shayne Ward's album Breathless.

'Until You' is a song that really tells how a guy feels when confronted with the love of his life. You've only to look at the lyrics to see what I mean:

"It feels like nobody ever knew until you knew me, feels like nobody ever loved me until you loved me, feels like nobody ever touched me until you touched me, Baby nobody nobody until you..."

You can order a copy of the album here

*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.

There are no reviews for this book as of yet - but if you've read it and you enjoyed it - then drop me a line and you might see your review right here!!!

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