Excerpt
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
Text Copyright © 2009 by
Trish Wylie Cover Art Copyright ©
2009
by Harlequin Enterprises LimitedPermission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used
by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™
are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated
companies, used under license.
Behind The Scenes
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, N
ewspapers,
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.
Location, Location,
Location
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
n
either
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 trus
t
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.
Background Music
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.
Reviews
"MANHATTAN
BOSS, DIAMOND PROPOSAL (4.5) by Trish Wylie: Left at the altar, Clare
O'Connor turned to the best man, club owner Quinn Cassidy, for help. Quinn made
her his personal assistant and rented her his basement apartment, and Clare's
grateful for everything. But now she's having some success as a matchmaker and
is considering going into business. So Quinn makes her a wager: If Clare finds
him a woman who lasts longer than his norm of six weeks, he'll help make it
happen. Clare's in, but suddenly she's seeing Quinn in a new light, and it's
clearly mutual. But can she overcome the past? Excellent characters, sparkling
banter and touches of genuine emotion add up to a winner -- and Quinn's a
keeper." Catherine Witmer -
Romantic
Times
