Sweet Talking Man (Mass Market Paperback)

An immovable uptown lady...

Rich suffragette Beatrice Von Furstenberg was touch enough to trade stocks on Wall Street and smart enough to resist the temptation of passion. Adamant about women being independent--and without a romantic bone in her lovely body--she had sternly refused to give her moonstruck sixteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old suitor. Now the desperate teens have dreamed up a mock robbery and a daring rescue to change Beatrice's mind.

An irresistible downtown man...

Attorney Connor Barrow, and rogue of an Irishman with a silver tongue, remembers all too well the burning desires of youth. So he agrees to help in a crazy plan that will land him in a world of trouble. Suddenly he is responsible for the most influential lady in the city being locked up in a brothel, furious and threatening his ruin. Neither of them expects that first breathless kiss--a deal that would make the devil himself blush--and, most of all, the ways love can change a man's mind and open a woman's heart...

Beatrice Von Furstenburg is a hard-nosed business woman who was given the reins of Consolidated Industries on the death of her elderly husband much to the dismay of it's otherwise male board of directors. She's also guardian for her niece, 16 year old Priscilla, who is madly in love and wants to marry her 18 year old beau. Beatrice claims not to have a romantic bone in her body and repeated tells them they're too young and stupid to marry. Frustrated, they hatch a hairbrained scheme intended to change Beatrice's low opinion of Jeffrey but the scheme goes terribly wrong and the teens must look to Jeffrey's estranged cousin to get them all out of this mess!

Connor Sullivan Barrow is focused on running for Congress and wants nothing to do with "precious Jeffrey" or his problems. But he winds up involved and once he meets Beatrice, he's helplessly intrigued. "I was always taught to beware a touch of red in a woman's hair. It bespeaks a strong will. But, speakin' personally, I like a strong bit of will in a woman. Always a site more enjoyable than a strong bit of won't". And so starts the charm offensive! On the outside, she's unmoved, but on the inside, she must admit that his "smile was pure alchemy" and she starts to slowly fall.

But the road to romance is quite rocky for these two. She pushes him to endorse the suffrage movement, his bosses in Tammany Hall tell him never to see her again. She has to contend with a mutiny in her board of directors and he has to choose between her and his political future. And then there is his hostile estranged WASP grandfather who never forgave Connor for marrying a "shanty Irish" girl so far beneath him (she ultimately died) and for turning his back on the family and it's banking interests. And almost every problem in their relationship seems to be splashed in the headlines of the newspapers, compounding the problems these two face.

I really had fun reading this story, as with all the author's other stories. The lead couple was smart, sexy, conflicted and utlimately perfect for each other. You hoped Beatrice would lighten up and you adored Connor all the while hoping, along with Beatrice, that his "sweet talk" was sincere!

Another enjoyable, fun and romantic read from Betina Krahn!