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Let the games begin!
Bad Boy Zane Masterson, society’s charming heartbreaker, jumps at the chance to switch identities and fix his identical twin’s "boring” reputation when notorious and sexy clothing designer Toni Maxwell makes it clear she’s out to bag the infamous Grey Masterson and won’t take no for an answer.
Toni Maxwell always gets what she wants, and right now she needs a sex scandal of epic proportions to convince an over-zealous ex that their relationship is well and truly over. Grey Masterson is the perfect candidate, even if she will have to hunt him down to work her magic on him.
Switching places is supposed to be a fun diversion, but Zane soon realizes that he’ll do anything to keep Toni, even if it means giving the lady the sex scandal she wants.
Susan Kearney, a native of New Jersey, writes full time and has sold books to the industries' top publishing houses — Grand Central, Tor, Simon & Schuster, Harlequin, Bell Bridge Books, Berkley, Leisure, Red Sage, and Kensington. As an award winning author, Kearney earned a Business Degree from the University of Michigan. Kearney's knowledge and experience spans throughout the romance genre, and her fifty plus books include contemporary, romantic suspense, historical, futuristic, science fiction, and paranormal novels. She resides in a suburb of Tampa—with her husband, kids, and Boston terrier. Currently she's plotting her way through her 54th work of fiction.
Coming Soon!
1
MAN, THAT SUCKER’S HUGE.
Toni Maxwell’s
mouth went drier than the New Orleans summer drought. She’d never expected
anything so big, so in your face. But then how could she think straight under
this kind of pressure? The never- ending heat wave must have fried her brain.
Obviously, she’d been working too hard on her spring collection, because this
couldn’t be happening. Not to her. Not now. She had always expected to hit the
big time—but certainly not like this.
Big was one
thing. This qualified as enormous.
Toni’s nerve
endings danced with agitation and quickly repressed awe. She licked her bottom
lip and told herself that she could not be intimidated. She would not say yes,
no matter how enticing the offer.
Her inner voice
egged her on. Go on. Try it on for size.
"I shouldn’t.”
Oh,
pull-ease! Indulge.
Unable to resist
the seductive temptation, carefully, Toni reached out, barely breathing,
knowing it wouldn’t fit.
It fit
perfectly. As if custom-made for her.
"Awesome ring.”
Her oldest sister, Bobby, wearing pink running shorts, a pink sports bra, and
pink athletic shoes, jogged into the foyer swinging a two-pound weight in each
hand and bouncing up and down on her toes as if fearing that if she rested for
a second, she’d regain one of the thirty pounds she’d lost during the last
year. "Hey, Mickey,” Bobby yelled to their youngest sister in the kitchen. "You
better come have a look.”
"Did you break
another nail?” Mickey yelled back, in her naturally sultry voice, the one that
the brokenhearted men she’d refused to date often called just to hear on the
answering machine. "We’re out of pink nail polish.”
"No, I didn’t
break a nail,” Bobby replied, continuing to bounce and swing her arms. "Toni’s
getting married.”
"What?”
"I most
certainly am not,” Toni contradicted, her stomach clenching in protest. She
should never have opened the damn box in the foyer. After signing for Senator
Birdstrum’s present, she should have run up the stairs to her room where she
could have had a little privacy, but she’d never
expected an engagement ring—especially not after she’d repeatedlyrefused Birdstrum’s proposals. For attending a fundraiser with him on short
notice, she’d thought he might show his appreciation by sending over her
favorite chocolate pralines. But a four-carat engagement ring?
Why didn’t the
senator understand that no meant no? She gulped, attempting to swallow the lump
of welling panic in her throat. And now, before she’d even recovered from her
shock at his determination and fixation on her, she had her sisters to contend
with.
The four Maxwell
sisters shared the two-story house in the French Quarter. Expenses in this part
of the city were high, especially for Toni, who had tapped out her funds to
purchase the swankiest high-tech fabrics for her spring collection. But her new
creations were sure to put her fledgling designer-wear boutique on the map and
in the black— especially since several of the evening gowns had been featured
in Southern Design Magazine. Her reckless decision to open her own
business might soon pay off. According to the article, Toni Maxwell was "on her
way,” although her bank account didn’t yet reflect her recent success. But she
didn’t live with her sisters just to save money—they also liked one another,
most of the time.
Their
personalities varied, from conscientious but sometimes rash Mickey to workaholic
Toni to bubbly Bobby to Jude, the perennial student. All single, they looked
out for one another in their own Maxwell way, which meant everything from blunt
advice to shared clothing, comfort hugs, ice-cream binges on dateless Friday
nights, and elegant potluck dinners.
Growing up, Toni
had seemed to be her parents’ favorite, but her sisters didn’t mind since she
always worked harder than the other three put together. She’d studied long
hours to make A’s and B’s all through school while working two part-time jobs,
one as a retail store clerk, the other sewing clothes for family and friends.
But Toni could
only remain serious-minded for so long before she had to blow off steam. This
long period of sexual withdrawal was abnormal for her. Back then, as busy as
she’d been, she’d still had time to indulge her passion between her busy days
of hard work. Recently, her hook ups with the opposite sex had dwindled to
zilch, but she fully intended to correct her current predicament. She’d simply
been putting in too many hours designing and selling her creations. All that
work meant no extra energy for even so much as a weekend fling. Her unconscious
had picked up on her body’s shortage of satisfaction, her mind taunting her
while she slept with erotic images of a dream man, which had her awakening damp
and slick. Self-gratification had barely taken off the edge. She suspected the
book she’d just read about actress Lane Morrow’s affair with Grey Masterson, a
New Orleans publishing tycoon, had triggered the dreams. Wild dreams. Fantasy
dreams.
So, she was
eager to meet someone male. Someone hot. Someone who would make love to her for
hours and make up for her abstinence. Someone like sexy Grey Masterson. Senator
Birdstrum, too old, too stodgy, too bland, didn’t fit the bill.
Dependable,
hardworking, the one her siblings relied on when the chips where down, Toni
could always count on her sisters to rally around her when she needed them.
Back in high school on her prom night, her sisters had covered for her until
she’d sneaked in through the three-story window at four in the morning. And
they’d covered for her again during college when, on a whim, she’d accepted her
French professor’s offer to fly her to Paris for spring break. Between her
sexual libido begging to be fed and her too-long-contained reckless nature
primed for action, Toni wanted her sisters’ input.
While Bobby might pretend to be enthusiastic about the engagement ring, Toni wasn’t sure of her sister’s
true feelings. Toni had always suspected that Bobby harbored a bit of an
infatuation for the senator, which Bobby vehemently denied. Still, Toni
wouldn’t hurt her for the world. But even if Toni was wrong about Bobby’s
feelings, she’d still refuse the senator.
What she needed
right now was Mickey’s coolheaded thinking. Her younger sister wouldn’t be
swept away by the romantic proposal from an old family friend Toni had dated
exactly twice and whom she barely knew. The first time Birdstrum had proposed,
Toni had been flabbergasted. When he’d told her she was the perfect woman for
him, she’d been flattered, yet stunned. He’d stated his reasons that they
should marry as if he were presenting a bill for a vote. She was beautiful,
smart, and well connected. He saw her boutique, Feminine Touch, as hip, her
choice of career as clothing designer-retailer as the perfect way for her to
remain busy while he worked in Washington. He’d given her logic—but no passion,
something she most definitely wanted back in her life.
Her self-imposed
celibacy made her now eager to end her exile from the male species. If
Birdstrum was as sexy as Grey Masterson or her dream man, she might have been
tempted to enjoy a fling with him. But there was no chemistry. No zing. Not
even the tiniest arc of lust between them.
And as much as
her life had been lacking in the sexual department, even she couldn’t create
fire without matches. She didn’t mind starting the fire, but she needed a man
who could fan the flames. A man creative in the sack, who knew how to excite a
woman. A man as innovative and attentive as Grey Masterson had been in that
bestselling book. No wonder Lane Morrow’s book had infiltrated her dreams.
She’d denied an essential part of herself for too long, imprisoned herself in
her career, and her subconscious was screaming for freedom. Satisfaction.
Pleasure.
With her
business going so well, she intended to take some time to appease her desires
and find the zest missing in her life. Toni had no problem throwing herself
into a one-nighter with the right man. She was young, single, and enjoyed sex.
While she might make her choices with a recklessness that made Mickey shudder,
Toni’s decisions had a way of turning out to be good ones. A new adventure
would replace her erotic dreams with stimulating reality. But first, she had to
extract herself from her unfortunate situation with the senator.
With not even a
droplet of attraction between them, turning down Birdstrum had been a
no-brainer. And ever since he’d proposed the first time, she’d refused more
dates with him, blocked his numbers from her cell phone, and had let the
house’s land-line voicemail answer his calls. Yet he’d continued to send her
flowers and notes that repeated his offer of marriage. She’d never imagined he
would buy her a ring, though. A four-carat diamond engagement ring! The man
must be delusional to think she’d accept. It was downright scary to think that
the senator enacted laws and represented his constituents so well when he had
no clue about her non-feelings toward him. The ring was the last straw. It was
time to put a stop to his antics.
Of all her
sisters, Mickey would understand the cloud of trouble looming on the horizon
and threatening to break over their heads like a deluge. Indeed, Toni could
already imagine her eyes narrowing with some kind of scheme to get her out of
this mess. A mess made even more potentially disastrous by the fact that it
could involve their father, who wanted a job with Birdstrum.
Damn. Damn.
Damn.
The two youngest
Maxwell sisters might not look much alike, but they often thought alike. Toni
was blond, average in height, slender with feminine curves. Luckier Mickey
oozed sex appeal, but didn’t seem to know it. With her blond hair streaked
naturally by the summer sun, a voluptuous figure, and a brain that never quit,
her sister was not only a man magnet—she possessed uncommon good sense.
Toni really
needed some down-to-earth advice. Mickey glided into the room now as if she
were walking down a runway, followed by the wondrous aroma of baking bread
wafting through the air from the kitchen. Mickey was probably whipping up one
of her wonderful Cajun meals, but she still managed to look pulled together in
her hip jacket and slacks, likely bought at a thrift shop, and carefully
protected from splatters with a funky apron.
Before Mickey
could even look at the ring, never mind give advice, Jude rushed through the
front door. "Those idiots called me a tree hugger.”
"Well, you are,”
Mickey said, not unkindly, leaning forward to peek at the ring Toni held in her
shaking fingers.
Jude was wearing
jeans and one of her "Save the Gulf” T-shirts. As a full-time student and
part-time lobbyist for several environmental groups, her lifelong cause—trying
to prevent oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico—had recently taken a back seat
to lobbying for better protection of animals. Jude took in strays the way other
women collected shoes. Thanks to Jude’s charitable heart, the four sisters
lived with an iguana, three cats, two dogs, and a fish tank that currently
housed a turtle.
Jude’s flashing
green eyes flitted to the sparkling ring like a honeybee to a gardenia, and
she skidded to a halt, almost tripping over their white cat. "Oh, my. That’s
not costume jewelry, is it?”
"Senator
Birdstrum’s aide delivered it,” Toni explained. At least with all her sisters
here, she’d only have to tell the story once. Though, God knew, there wasn’t
much to tell.
"He sent someone
else to propose for him?” Mickey asked, her perfectly arched brows drawing over
a frown of disapproval.
"It’s kind of
sudden, isn’t it?” Jude looked from the ring to Toni, then bent and scooped the
cat into her arms.
"He won’t take
no for an answer.”
"Typical man,”
Jude muttered.
Toni sighed.
"And I only went out with him twice.”
"You must have
made quite an impression.” Bobby giggled.
Toni could see
by Bobby’s expression that her sister thought she’d hooked up with the senator.
Toni might have been working too hard this last year, but she had a reputation
for having fun. And if a new guy she met had the right combination of
intelligence, charm, and sex appeal, Toni dived right into the relationship. So
now explanations were in order. "We didn’t have sex.”
"It’s been a
while for you, hasn’t it? You might want to try getting it on again sometime
this millennium,” Jude told her with a straight face, her tone sarcastic. "It’s
good exercise.”
"Easy for you to
say. You have a boyfriend.”
Toni had been so
wrapped up in the store she’d been on a sexual diet, and she missed everything
about lovemaking. Touching and caressing. The scent of honest male sweat. The
relaxation that came with losing oneself with another person. Good sex was like
European chocolate, flavorful and yummy, and her mouth suddenly watered with a
craving that she needed to satisfy soon. But she didn’t want her sister’s pity.
"I’ve never really been interested in him. I only hung out with the senator at
Dad’s urging.”
Their father
specialized in drawing up budgets for the governor in the Department of
Professional Regulation. But she well knew that he aspired to move to
Washington, D.C., and work for the powerful Senator Birdstrum, head of the
House Committee on Ways and Means. Her father’s dream was one of the reasons
she’d agreed to date the senator. However, this was one time she should have
said no to a favor for the father she adored.
Toni might like
to have fun, but she had her standards. A guy had to appeal to her. From vivid
descriptions in Lane Morrow’s book, she could imagine indulging her fantasies
with a man like Grey Masterson, but never with Birdstrum.
But how could
she have predicted that Senator Birdstrum, who otherwise seemed normal in every
way, would become fixated on her? Toni breathed in, then let out a frustrated
sigh. "Apparently Birdstrum’s been telling mutual acquaintances that we’re
engaged. I assured a customer just this morning that it was only a rumor.”
"You can’t marry
him,” Mickey told her.
Toni resisted
swearing under her breath and petted the cat Jude held instead, but took little
comfort from his warm purr of affection. "Of course, I can’t marry him.”
Her sisters
nodded, all three in agreement. Between the four of them, they would think of
some way out that wouldn’t jeopardize the family’s interests.
Charming,
arrogant, and honest, Birdstrum was a capable senator. He also refused to
accept her refusal to marry him. She’d already told the man no. She didn’t know
what else to do. Her father would never get the job he coveted in Washington if
she dealt too harshly with the powerful senator. On top of that, Mickey could
lose the cooking-school scholarship the senator had arranged for her, and Jude
would lose her best lobbying connection.
The senator’s
diamond ring had come out of left field. And now she was in a real
old-fashioned pickle. What the hell was she going to do?
Mickey led them
all into the kitchen where they gathered around an antique table with four
chairs from different periods from New Orleans’s past, all covered with soft,
yellow seat cushions which gave the room a homey feel. After they’d moved in
last year, they’d patched and polished the lovely mosaic tile floors, dark wood
paneling, and original ceiling medallions, and refurbished the antique wood
ceiling fan. From the kitchen they could see into the now darkened dining room
filled with potted palms, a fluted iron post railing, and flickering gaslights
which they could turn on when guests arrived to show off the turn-of-the- century
chandelier. But the sisters preferred to camp out in the kitchen where they
could also look outside through beveled-glass windows to the draping weeping
willow tree over their home’s private courtyard.
There had to be
a way to avoid the senator, but in her bleak frame of mind the only way out
seemed to be to flee the state. In reality, though, she knew she couldn’t leave
her home. She loved living here and couldn’t imagine just disappearing and
giving up her home, her sisters, her business.
Mickey did most
of the cooking, and the scent of the bread she took out of the oven combined
with the gumbo simmering on the stove normally made Toni’s mouth water. But as
one sister ladled soup and another sliced the warm homemade bread, her
unsettled stomach warned her not to eat. Not until she figured out a solution
to her dilemma.
"There’s no
avoiding the senator without leaving the state. But I’m not going.”
Jude set a bowl
of gumbo in front of her. "Why should you leave?”
"I’m not sure
what else to do. Last week, the newspaper ran a small article about the
senator’s engagement. Although he didn’t mention my name, that won’t last long
now that he’s delivered the ring. I’m afraid of what he’ll do next.”
"Why don’t you tell the newspaper that he’s insane?” Jude suggested.
"I can’t ruin
his career just because he sent me a diamond ring. He’s a good senator. And I
don’t want to hurt Dad’s chances of getting the Washington job with Birdstrum.”
Mickey poured
lemonade, then took a seat. "Come on, eat. We’ll put our heads together and
think up a way out.”
"Don’t take this
the wrong way, but why does he want you, anyway?” Jude asked.
Toni shrugged.
"He thinks our family is solid, that my past won’t embarrass him, and because I
have a hip career, he thinks marriage to me will help him attain the young
votes in his upcoming election.”
Jude swore,
Bobby sighed, and Mickey shook her head.
Toni appreciated
her sisters’ support and suggestions—she did— but they weren’t helpful. "If I
make an enemy of the senator, my business will likely go down the tubes, too.
Birdstrum has powerful friends, lots of influence in this city. If he puts out
the word, women will avoid my boutique.”
Bobby tore off a
piece of bread and dipped it into the gumbo. "So, if you can’t refuse, then we
have to think of a way to make him change his mind.”
Toni raised a
questioning eyebrow. "Not a bad idea coming from someone who only wears pink,”
she teased. "But how do I get him to back out?”
Her sisters
might squabble among themselves, but against an outsider, they pulled together.
Unfortunately, they had yet to come up with a usable scheme.
"We could set
him up with another woman,” Jude suggested.
"I don’t think
so,” Toni shook her head. "The senator doesn’t have feelings for me. Actually,
I’m not sure he’s capable of having feelings for anyone.”
"You could claim
you’re engaged to someone else and only dated the senator because you had a
fight with your real love,” Bobby suggested, hungrily eyeing the bread, but
stoically denying herself.
"Who could I
claim as a fiancé? Between coming up with new designs and opening the retail
operation, I haven’t dated anyone in the past year.”
"Two years,”
Bobby corrected, "but who’s counting?”
Toni restrained
a frustrated sigh. One of the reasons Birdstrum wouldn’t take no for an answer
was that there was no other man in the picture. If her sisters were worried
about the lack in her sex life, it must be really obvious. When had she stopped
paying attention to men? She liked men and they liked her. Except for her
recent drought, she’d never gone too long without some special man in her life.
But compared to her sisters, she now lived the life of a saint.
Last year,
Mickey’s heart had been broken and she’d sworn off men, but she’d come in last
week after a date with a happy grin and smudged lipstick. Jude had her steady
guy, and since Bobby had lost weight, she’d been something of a party girl.
Sure, they’d all gone through ups and downs with various men over the past few
years, but Toni had been alone way too long. She needed to find a man. Needed
to put energy into going out, looking good, having fun, working off some sexual
steam. Toni was ready for a mad, passionate love affair, the kind that made her
flushed with lust and lighter than air. But first she had to lose Birdstrum.
"What about Alan?” Mickey suggested. "His looks could make anyone jealous.”
Alan had been
Toni’s high school sweetheart. Gorgeous but with no sense of humor, they’d both
gone their separate ways after he’d taken her virginity the night of the junior
prom. She hadn’t planned on having sex that night, but her curious and reckless
nature had taken over and she’d never regretted her decision. Alan had been
sweet, careful, and experienced. He’d shown her a very good time. "I don’t
think Alan’s wife and two kids would appreciate him trying to act as if he’s my
fiancé.”
"Okay, so Alan’s
not a good choice. What about one of your college boyfriends?” Jude suggested.
"The redhead was cute.”
"And also
unavailable. He’s attending Stanford Law School.” Not only had the redhead been
cute and smart, he definitely knew how to please a lady. They’d met during a
study session for history that had turned into a passionate all-nighter. Once
again, she’d made a hasty decision that had turned out quite well. During the
two years she’d spent with him, she’d matured into a woman who knew how to
please herself as well as her lover. Ever since college, redheaded men always
made her feel warm inside.
Bobby sipped her
lemonade and tossed a napkin over the bread, probably so she didn’t have to
face temptation. "Paul Summers?”
"He went to
Tibet to find himself and study with his guru.” What Toni didn’t mention, but
hadn’t forgotten, was that Paul’s study of yoga had extended into the bedroom.
He’d been a master of self-control, and she’d benefited both physically and
emotionally from that experience.
"Steven Pascal?”
"He’s gay.”
"Kevin Mc—”
"Don’t even
think it.” Kevin McPherson had made her pulse pound and her knees weak. They’d
met in a bar after a football game. He’d been great in bed, but the Tulane
backup quarterback’s vocabulary had been limited to two things: football and
sex. If he’d had a brain, she would have married him in a minute. However,
she’d enjoyed their time together way too much to hold his lack of intellect
against him. Toni held up her hand to forestall any further suggestions.
"There’s no one suitable from my past.”
When she’d
graduated college, she’d considered her social life normal. She’d never been
overly concerned that she hadn’t yet found the right man to share her life. Now
with still another three years until she reached her thirtieth birthday, she
had plenty of time to meet that special someone. And thirty was by no means her
deadline. Toni knew what passion felt like, that heady, giddy, floating-on-air
feeling, and she’d be damned if she’d settle for less than the best. She wanted
a man who she could respect, a friend to share her life with, a lover to have
blazing hot sex with, a soul mate to snuggle up to at night—unfortunately the
senator didn’t come close to her stringent requirements.
"How long until
the senator returns to New Orleans?” Mickey asked.
Toni shrugged.
"Why?”
Mickey grinned.
"Well, what do politicians hate above all else?”
"Losing an
election?” Jude guessed.
"Admitting to
doing drugs?” Bobby added.
Toni frowned at
Mickey. "Answering questions about adultery?”
Mickey’s eyes
sparkled with amusement. "Politicians hate scandals. If you create a scandal,
you’ll no longer be perfect in his eyes.”
Mickey’s idea
had merit. Toni’s hopes rose. All her life she’d played by the rules, been the
good girl, the responsible daughter, the conscientious sister. She’d had
several discreet flings, of course, but for the
most part had reined in her reckless nature. But her method of dealing with the senator—up-front honesty—wasn’t working.
It was time to switch her modus operandi. "So, what kind of scandal are
we talking about?”
"To work in New
Orleans, the scandal has got to be juicy,” Jude chimed in.
"Oh, I like
that, the hotter the scandal the better.” Bobby sighed dreamily.
"One that won’t
hurt anybody,” Mickey added.
"I’ve got it.”
Toni grinned with satisfaction, knowing her idea could get rid of the senator
and accomplish her goal of jumping back into the dating scene all at the same
time. "I’m going to create a sex scandal.”
Mickey rolled
her eyes. "Create a sex scandal? I thought you’d conquered your reckless
streak. You’d better think this through.”
"And just how
are you going to create a sex scandal?” Bobby asked, her eyes glimmering with
encouragement.
"I need to hook
up with someone famous. Someone hot. Someone in the news. Get my picture taken
with him.”
"In bed?” Mickey
asked.
"Only if I like
him. A scandal is mostly innuendo and rumor and manipulating the press. I’ve
just got to find the right guy.”
"Don’t we all,”
Bobby muttered.
"Poor Senator
Birdstrum,” Jude said. "He won’t know what hit him. When our Toni puts her mind
to something, she always carries through.”
Mickey grinned.
"Yeah, and, amazingly, things always seem to work out.”
"But I still need the right man.” Toni glanced at
page one of yesterday’s newspaper, did a double take, then picked it up
with triumph. "Someone like Grey Masterson.”
"He’s perfect,”
Jude agreed.
"Perfectly
yummy,” Bobby said.
Mickey grunted.
"I just read that actress’s book about him.”
Toni grinned.
"So did I. The man’s nothing if not sexually creative.”
Jude leaned over
and stared at Grey Masterson’s photograph. "I agree he’s the perfect man for a
sizzling all-nighter.”
Toni didn’t
bother to contain her enthusiasm. "Why limit myself to one night when I could
have two or three?”
"But how are you
going to meet him?” Bobby asked.
"I’ll get
creative.” At the challenge of arranging a meeting with the gorgeous newspaper
publisher, excitement burned through Toni’s veins like bubbling hot wine. She
couldn’t wait to make up for two years of sexual abstinence. She only hoped he
was as sexy in person as he looked in the newspaper. She was going to have fun
with Grey Masterson. Lots of fun. Hot, sweaty fun.
