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With:
Liz Fielding in Spring Fiona Harper in Summer Trish Wylie in Autumn and Shirley Jump in Winter
Harlequin Romance USA & Canada
September 2008
BUY IT FROM AMAZON
Mills & Boon Romance UK & Ireland
September 2008
BUY IT FROM AMAZON
Check out the Behind the Scenes story of The Millionaire's Proposal... Read What The Reviewers have to Say about The Millionaire's Proposal...
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"The Millionaire's Proposal"
Of all the cities in the world, he chose Paris to propose!
Ronan O'Keefe has everything money can buy. He'd give it all up in an instant to keep the one thing he's losing. The jet-setting playboy is slowly being robbed of his sight.
Alone in New York, Kerry Doyle isn't feeling quite so brave about her trip around the world. Luckily, a millionaire has come to her rescue...
By the time they get to Paris, Ronan doesn't want to let beautiful, bubbly Kerry go. His secret is casting its shadow, but Kerry has lit up his life...
For more books like this one go to my Harlequin Romance page
Visit A Bride For All Seasons Blog
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Little did she know it but Kerry Doyle had managed a bit of a miracle in the twelve hours he’d spent with her. She was a ray of sunshine. And caught in her reflected warmth he’d miraculously forgotten his reason for being in New York this time round. It wasn’t until the end of the night tour on another open topped bus that he was faced with a very visible reminder of why he would never be able to forget; because when the light dimmed his world went dark, and he had to force his other senses into overdrive to keep from showing his weakness in front of her. Thankfully Kerry had been distracted by all the varying photo opportunities afforded to her by the stunning sight of Manhattan lit up against the night sky Ronan didn’t have to look at to know - so indelibly was it imprinted onto his mind after dozens of trips. And by the time they’d returned to Times Square he had enough light to work with to leave her with his pride intact. He frowned as he stepped off the bus, jostling a couple of people in the crowd before he focussed hard on Kerry. He then allowed himself the luxury of studying her face one more time – watching as the newly familiar soft smile formed on her full lips. Resentment built inside him like a tidal wave. In another life he wouldn’t have been letting her go. He’d have suggested Sushi or Lobster or cocktails in one of the bars overlooking the free floorshow that was Times Square at night. He’d have taken her back to The Empire State before it closed so she could see the panoramic view of the city from eighty seven odd floors up and he’d have walked her back to her Hotel - no matter how far it was - and kissed her long and slow before persuading her to spend another day with him. Though being gentlemanly enough to leave after the kiss might have taken some effort - he had a sneaking suspicion kissing her might be something he didn’t want to stop doing in any great hurry. “Are you hungry?” Not in the way she probably meant. Looking at her all day had brought on the kind of hunger he hadn’t experienced in a long time, if ever. As if she’d uncovered something his body was desperately lacking and now that it knew it craved it as badly as the air he breathed, which had certainly added to the general distraction she’d provided from everything else but… He saw the open warmth in her face as the question hung between them and felt momentarily angry at the universe for having to turn her down, “I’ve gotta go. I have an early appointment,” At least he wasn’t telling her a lie. She nodded, turning her face away then leaning her head back a little to smile up at him one last time, one hand resting on the bag at her hip, the other waving out to her side as she raised her voice enough to be heard over the hundreds upon hundreds of people and honking car horns and the yelled voices of vendors selling everything from fake designer label handbags to T-shirts to hotdogs to - “I had an amazing day - thankyou.” And there was that word ‘amazing’ again. Somehow he knew he’d always associate it with her, “You’re welcome. I haven’t been on one of those buses for years. But they’re a good way to get your bearings the first time. Stick to them and crowds and you won’t go too far wrong. No more flirting with strangers mind.” She laughed when he added the last part with an edge of mock severity to his voice, “I’ll keep it in mind. And I might take your advice on the helicopter ride before I leave too.” “You should.” “Another moment to remember…” “Exactly.” He stayed focussed on her and only her for as long as he could manage it without inviting the usual ache behind his eyes, but when it was getting too uncomfortable and he opened his mouth to say the words to let him walk away, she distracted him again by moving in to place a warm kiss on his cheek. It was her fault. Because if she hadn’t done it he wouldn’t have had the opportunity he now had. He might have resisted the temptation to take one last memory with him, but now he couldn’t; turning his head and pressing his mouth to hers before she had time to react. His hand lifted to cradle the back of her head - he took a step in so his body was close enough to hers to feel the added heat in the humid air – and only then did he close his eyes and let his lips drag over hers the way he’d been thinking about doing since he’d met her. Every hair on his body immediately tingled with awareness; she tasted of the iced coffee they’d stopped for, a hint of raspberry flavouring lingering on her lips and practically begging him to sample more with the tip of his tongue. So he did. He had to. For a second Kerry froze, hands floundering on either side of her body while she was caught in the indecision of reaching for him or simply waiting until the world stopped tilting beneath her feet. Oh heavens above but the man had sinfully magic lips! And even while alarm bells rang in her head, they were already being drowned out by the sound of her blood roaring in her ears. When he ran the tip of his tongue over the parting in her lips, she opened up and met him in the middle, feeling his low hum of approval all the way to the tips of her toes. When someone bumped her arm, Ronan’s arm circled her waist – drawing her in against the protective hard plains of his body as he spread his feet wider. And Kerry’s wavering arms automatically lifted in response, her hands settling on his shoulders while she instinctively stood on the balls of her feet to get closer still. She wasn’t even aware of the fact there were other people around them after that. All there was was him and the kissing. Oh my, the kissing. Kerry had honestly thought she’d been kissed before - had she been able to think in a straight line she’d probably have had a look back in her memory to check. But after this – She sighed contently. It was bliss. Ronan tilted her back a little so he could kiss her deeper still. And it wasn’t a hard kiss, or a kiss that said they were seconds away from being horizontal; in fact it was the very controlled softness and warmth of it, as if he was holding back from her - that wrapped tight around her heart and made it ache for more. It was a kiss goodbye, wasn’t it? He was ending the amazing day with an even more amazing kiss goodbye. And knowing that made Kerry ache like she’d never ached. His hand slid forwards so that his thumb was brushing against her cheek when he lifted his head, a small frown deepening the crease between his dark brows as he blinked hard to focus on her. While Kerry in turn looked back at him with drowsy, heavy lidded eyes and somehow, eventually managed the energy to smile. Ronan smiled back a split second before he removed his hand, loosened his arm and stepped away from her, his voice just husky enough for her to know she wasn’t the only one effected by the kiss, “Enjoy your trip Kerry, Kerry Doyle.” She swallowed, smile wavering, “I’ll try.” There really didn’t seem to be much more to say. And she didn’t want to ruin the perfect ending to a perfect day by trying to force out words that currently didn’t exist in her scrambled brain. So she stepped back, turning her head to get her bearings before deciding to simply flag down a cab and head back to her hotel. After all, anything she did alone would only make her miss his company after everything they’d done together, wouldn’t it? She missed him already. When she looked back he was gone and it took a few minutes for her to see his head in the crowd. He obviously wasn’t one for long goodbyes then. What man ever was? And if she was honest, Kerry didn’t think she’d have been able to say it either. So instead she stood still until she couldn’t see him anymore, only then turning in a circle to look at all the wondrous sights around her. It was a different universe. One city with a larger population than the entire island she lived on. And she’d just been kissed senseless in the middle of Times Square by a good looking guy she’d met on a plane less than 24hrs ago. How incredible was that? She laughed, shaking her head at the sheer unexpectedness of it. Kerry Doyle. Kissing what amounted to a stranger in a strange land. It was the stuff of dreams.
From "The Millionaire's Proposal" by Trish Wylie
The Millionaire's Proposal, is a story that would never have existed if it hadn't been for a phone call with my lovely editor Jenny Hutton - she who drags, sometimes kicking and screaming mind you, the best possible work out of me - even when I think I can't do it... Now we have lots of these I should point out and in fairness a great many of them are just as peppered with discussions of hot men and lots of laughing as they are with actual story/book plans - but on this one occasion she invited me to *think outside the box*. I at this stage may have used the phrase *you might wanna be careful what you wish for with me*... and she's met me so she knew what I meant by that...
But without that impetus I
doubt I would ever have tackled a story that would stretch me quite like this
one did.
*Outside the
box* apparently translated in my head as *let's see h
So let's just take our characters out of Ireland for a change - not enough? Okay - let's take them round the world - in 50-55k - AND fit in a plot at the same time. Let's have most of the destinations be somewhere I've never been - check. Oh and let's throw in an absolute doozy of a conflict for the hero shall we??? And have the heroine not catch on until the end of the book. Oh and try to make sure there are hints sprinkled liberally all the way through it for her so when she DOES put it all together she feels like a complete idiot on top of everything else...
I put my heart and soul into this book and I can only hope it shows.
*Outside the box* is a scary place to be - but lemme tell ya; it's one heck of a rollercoaster ride! And I quite like it out here...
Locations in this book:
Then allow me to take you on a round-the-world-trip... New York, San Francisco, Fiji, Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Paris and then back home to dear old Ireland for a bit of a wedding...
And there's a small mention of the Canadian
Rockies and Hawaii along the way. Sigh. Cannot begin to tell you how much
I
The initial idea for this of course came from my
adventures in the summer of 2007 when little-miss-live-in-the-writing-cave set
forth on her first ever trip to the USA. First stop New York - where I fell
completely and utterly in love with the city. And because writers never ever
stop plotting stories in their heads there was of course plent
Then there's the scene in Battery Park at the
bottom end of the island of Manhattan where Ronan dances Kerry through the
movement sensitive fountains. I sat in that park in front of those fountains in
flipping 97 degree odd heat and thought seriously about dancing in
th
So all the New York stuff is from personal experience. And barring the fountains and the handsome guy to kiss me in Times Square I did most of the things in most of the places Kerry and Ronan do - I like to think of it as field work. And believe me - I hope to do a great deal more of it...
But as well as personal experience I also got to indulge a dream or two on paper. Where would you have sent them if you'd been me? I even asked the lovely lovely gang over at The Pink Heart Society Yahoo Loop for places 'off the beaten track' as Ronan is a travel writer and would know all those places, right? The response was over-whelming! And with members all over the world I got a TONNE of places I now have in a file for future reference. So THANK YOU LADIES!
In the end I added a lot of places I researched
and just thought - WOW - I wanna go there and do that! It's my story after all.
I took them to San Francisco 'cos that's where I'm hoping to be in the summer of
2008 - I took them to the most gorgeous paradise of an island in Fiji because,
heck, do I have to explain why? Then while trying to pin down one place for them
to visit in Australia I thought to myself - would you r
All in all there isn't a single place in this book
I haven't either visited or really, really want to some time in the future. I'm
And how better to wrap up the story than with a proposal by the Fontaine du Medici in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris followed by a dream wedding in Kinnity Castle in Ireland? Really doesn't get much better than that. Now where did I leave my passport?
Soundtrack playing:
For The Millionaire's Proposal I had a '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. B
'Like The Sun' is such a beautifully emotional, 'epic-feeling' song and sums up so much of Ronan's feelings for Kerry that as usual a hint of it made it into the final story!
If you're here AFTER reading the book then you'll get EXACTLY what I mean by that... And if that's the case THANK YOU for reading it!!!
You can order a copy of the album here and I even found a way for you to listen to it...
*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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home | books | bio | ireland | tips | blog | links | Press Info | contact
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Oh and let's not forget to let
our fast paced, full of one-liners and completely and utterly contemporary
Modern Heat voice loose on the Romance line just to see what happens.
Yuh-huh this book is literally cover to cover chock-a-block full of writers
angst. But you know what? It's a book I'm soooo proud of! And I made myself bawl
- not cry or weep or shed a tear - but bawl at the end. That's how real
these people and their emotions were to me.
Everybody
got their passports ready?
wanted
to be ON this trip.
y
to get my imagination working! Hence this story starts with Kerry meeting Ronan
on the plane to New York. A little daydreaming on the plane on the way over
perchance Trish? Possibly...
em. Doesn't take much for you to get where
that idea might have
come from then... Did you dance in the
fountains Trish? Erm - no - I'd have been about three feet taller than
everyone who was. But man it looked like fun!
eally
go all that way to that gorgeous country and only visit the one place? I
wouldn't. With that in mind I tripped across the Great Southern Pacific railway;
taking passengers a-la-Orient-Express all along the coast from Sydney to
Brisbane to the Great Barrier Reef to... well... again - I wanna go!!! And
having taken Kerry to such an amazing place in Fiji Ronan really had to pull
something out of the hat that was on a par with that fantasy. By now,
understandably, I'm a little in love with Ronan myself.
thinking
of making a list like Kerry's as it happens...
ut
if I had to choose one then the song that best matches the story from Ronan's
point of view is from the self titled RyanDan album.