He wants her, and then he winsher…in a game of cards! TV star Rico Mandretti has wowed Sydney with his charm, good looks and love of cooking. However, besides pasta, the wealthy Italian-Australian harbors another passion! Renée Selensky despises him but he can't get her out of his head. If only he could seduce her and thereby forget her… Then Rico wins a game of cards—and Renée into the bargain. Now she's Rico's for a month—as his mistress, in his bed… and at his mercy!
A captivating novel based on the story of the extraordinary real-life American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II—while playing hostess to the invading Germans at the iconic Hôtel Ritz in Paris—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue. “A compelling portrait of a marriage and a nation at war from within.”—Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network Nothing bad can happen at the Ritz; inside its gilded walls every woman looks beautiful, every man appears witty. Favored guests like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walk through its famous doors to be welcomed and pampered by Blanche Auzello and her husband, Claude, the hotel’s director. The Auzellos are the mistress and master of the Ritz, allowing the glamour and glitz to take their minds off their troubled marriage, and off the secrets that they keep from their guests—and each other. Until June 1940, when the German army sweeps into Paris, setting up headquarters at the Ritz. Suddenly, with the likes of Hermann Goëring moving into suites once occupied by royalty, Blanche and Claude must navigate a terrifying new reality. One that entails even more secrets and lies. One that may destroy the tempestuous marriage between this beautiful, reckless American and her very proper Frenchman. For in order to survive—and strike a blow against their Nazi “guests”—Blanche and Claude must spin a web of deceit that ensnares everything and everyone they cherish. But one secret is shared between Blanche and Claude alone—the secret that, in the end, threatens to imperil both of their lives, and to bring down the legendary Ritz itself. Based on true events, Mistress of the Ritz is a taut tale of suspense wrapped up in a love story for the ages, the inspiring story of a woman and a man who discover the best in each other amid the turbulence of war. Praise for Mistress of the Ritz “No one writes of the complexities of women’s lives and loves like Melanie Benjamin. In Mistress of the Ritz, Benjamin brings wartime Paris brilliantly to life. . . . Intense, illuminating, and ultimately inspiring!”—Elizabeth Letts, New York Times bestselling author of Finding Dorothy
Struggling hotel owner Laurel Tolson had had enough of wealthy, arrogant men who thought their money could buy anything and anyone. But then tycoon Chase Bennett swept into her little Montana town and made her an offer as enticing as it was indecent. He'd more than match the price of her entire hotel—if she'd be his mistress for just one month. The idea was shocking, scandalous, yet strangely seductive. But soon she realized that sharing Chase's bed could never be enough. She wanted to share his life, forever….
Years ago, in a desperate move, a suddenly destitute Bella McNamara had agreed to become millionaire Jeremy Harper's mistress for six months. Now the time had finally come for Jeremy to claim her. But he didn't know he already owned every inch of Bella, including her heart. She'd fallen madly in love with the powerful man even before she'd signed herself away. And now she had six very intimate months to put her own plan into action: becoming Jeremy's beloved wife.
Joaquin Alcolar?the most famous entrepreneur in Spain and a playboy who’s brought tears to the eyes of many, many women. Without exception, he has dumped every woman he’s dated after exactly one year?and this Friday marks one year for Cassandra and Joaquin. Will she become another pretty face he never looks back on? Her worries become stronger every day. Finally the fateful day arrives?but what awaits Cassandra is a destiny far beyond cruel and ironic!
A bad bitch never dies and neither will Chloe’s deceitful ways. Ride with author, Tiphani in her third installment of the Mistress Series as she tells a riveting tale about money, lust, and revenge. Between sexin' any man who can help her achieve her over the top goals, and on a crazed path of revenge, Chloe shocks us all with her newfound tricks of the trade. She's come full circle with a new man, new ammo, a fresh mission, and her old mischievous ways. You won't believe what she's got up her sleeve. Chloe somehow regains her strength, and resumes her mission to kill Oshyn once and for all. Everything seems to be going as planned, until Chloe s new man surprises her with a secret that will destroy her forever.
Too late for cold feet Baron Edward Christie prided himself on his reputation for even temperament and reserve. That was before he met Caroline Parker. Wedding a scandalous beauty by special license days after they met did not inspire respect for his sangfroid. Moving her to a notorious lovebirds' nest as punishment for her flighty nature was perhaps also a blow. And of course talk has gotten out of his irresistible clandestine visits. Christie must put his wife aside—if only he can get her out of his blood first. Too hot to refuse. . . Caroline Parker was prepared to hear the worst: that her husband had determined to divorce her, spare them both the torture of passion they can neither tame nor escape. But his plan is wickeder than any she's ever heard. Life as his wife is suffocating. But she cannot resist becoming her own husband's mistress. . . "A very talented debut author." —Romance Junkies Praise for Maggie Robinson's Mistress by Mistake "Sizzles off the page." —Anna Campbell
This book of poems presents a cross-generational conversation between Sally Hemings and the contemporary narrator about what it means to be a black woman in their respective landscapes, while at the same time demonstrating how little the ways in which we talk about black women and black female experiences have changed in more than two hundred years. In these poems, the speakers engage with historical texts, art, literature, and popular culture, while never allowing us to lose sight of their location within their own settings, the twenty-first century and the antebellum South. With an intentionally fraught title, Mistress not only addresses the ways in which that word is perhaps inappropriate to define Hemings, but also about how we tend to oversimplify the ways in which we see women. The title is investigated through a series of poems, in which the speakers contemplate the various definitions of "mistress": extramarital partner, skilled individual, school teacher, authority figure, head of household, etc. In this way, the collection asks readers to complicate their understandings of both the word "mistress" and of black women. This collection seeks to resurrect Hemings from the limited historical narrative she's often provided, while also bucking up against the limited ways in which black women are currently represented in popular culture. Through a series of poems with "mistress" in the title, the book looks at how narrowly we use the word, almost exclusively as extramarital partner, but how the word's different definitions are related to power and strength. When we strip the term of its positive connotations, it mirrors the way that we strip Hemings of the agency she had over her life and the lives of her children.
Cool Jakob Andersen likes working with extremes, and the frozen plains of Norway suit his business style. But with Lydia Sheridan accompanying him on business, his temperature is about to soar…. Jakob wants a seven-day affair, and Lydia is finding her resistance melting away. It's hard to keep saying no when her body is screaming yes! But will it take more than a week to thaw her boss's buried heart? With passion this hot, anything is possible!
In this captivating novel, Mary Balogh, the premier writer of Regency romance, invites you into a world of scandal and seduction, of glittering high society and intrigue, as an arrogant duke does the unthinkable—he falls in love with his mistress. She races onto the green, desperate to stop a duel. In the melée, Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham, is shot. To his astonishment, Tresham finds himself hiring the servant as his nurse. Jane Ingleby is far too bold for her own good. Her blue eyes are the sort a man could drown in—were it not for her impudence. She questions his every move, breaches his secrets, touches his soul. When he offers to set her up in his London town house, love is the last thing on his mind. Jane tries to pretend it’s strictly business, an arrangement she’s been forced to accept in order to conceal a dangerous secret. Surely there is nothing more perilous than being the lover of such a man. Yet as she gets past his devilish façade and sees the noble heart within, she knows the greatest jeopardy of all, a passion that drives her to risk everything on one perfect month with the improper gentleman who thinks that love is for fools.
