Taming the Tabloid Heiress

Taming the Tabloid Heiress (2001)
HarperCollins Publishers
HAS PAMPERED SOCIALITE KIT O’BRIEN FINALLY MET HER MATCH?
New York’s most notorious, not to mention most beautiful, heiress, Kit O’Brien, is trying to get a reputation as a working girl–that is, a journalist. And her first interview subject is none other than handsome millionaire Joshua Parker. Talk about sparks… The two of them apparently could hardly keep their eyes off each other!
Our sources tell us that the reclusive Mr. Parker doesn’t usually grant interviews, but in this case he’s making an exception. Because he knows that what Kit wants from him, first and foremost, is a story.
What he wants from her is another story altogether….
Returning soon…
- Publisher: Harlequin (November 1, 2001)
- Language: English
- Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
- ISBN-10: 0373169000
- ISBN-13: 978-0373169009
- Item Weight: 4.5 ounces
- Dimensions: 4.25 x 1 x 6.75 inches
Check Out What Readers are Saying:
Worthy of headlines!
With a father who is the chair of a Fortune 500 publishing company, Kit O’Brien manages make her own headlines regularly in the tabloids with her outrageous exploits. The most recent disaster resulting in a bowl of dog food being poured into the lap of her father’s favorite godson Blain Rourke, who is also speculated to be her fiancé. Kit’s powerful personality and determination to make a difference seems to backfire frequently, but no more so than when sets out on the Last Frontier cruise.
Kit accepts the assignment for the Last Frontier cruise hoping she can use it as lever to better assignments and a method of escaping her father. He owns the paper she works for, forcing her to publish her pieces under the pseudonym Carol Jones. While her father hopes her work is a walk on the wild side before she happily settles down with Blain to make babies, Kit considers her work a good deal more important. Tired of writing pieces on fluff like wine tasting, she finally landed her first serious assignment. Kit’s first interview is with Joshua Parker, a man who unfortunately has sworn off the press.
With Kit’s perchance for headline splashing, Joshua likewise does not take her seriously. Joshua immediately recognizes the tabloid heiress on the plane that wings them both to the cruise. Nine years of writing the script of Final Frontier has band him something of a cult figure, and he’s ready to sacrifice notoriety for becoming a gentleman farmer. He quickly realizes that Kit doesn’t recognize him from the television show, but as a man in his own right. Too bad he’s sick of headlines, and too bad she needs this interview.
Michele Dunaway pens a lighthearted, delightfully fresh romance in TAMING THE TABLOID HEIRESS. With a sexy hero that will make the reader’s heart go pitter-pat, and a dynamic heroine with a perchance for trouble, Dunaway creates a glittering tale that keeps the senses reeling. Indeed, outrageous antics, mesmerizing sensuality, and irresistible characters that find themselves at cross purposes combine to create a memorable reading experience. Very highly recommended.
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
The Tattler, Thursday, Nov. 21
Mary Lynn’s About the Town
Kit’ten Dogs Fiancé!
Only if you were there would you believe it! (See picture page one.) New York’s most notorious heiress, the antic-loving Kit O’Brien, did it again. This time she upended a bowl of dog food, dumping it over Blaine Rourke, her father’s favorite godson and, as speculated in this column last week, her fiancé. Sources close to the family inform me that her father, Michael O’Brien, C.E.O. of the Fortune 250 company O’Brien Publications, is absolutely furious! One has to wonder how Kit’s going to pacify her father this time. Will she finally give in to his demands and tie the knot? One thing’s for sure, with Kit you never know what antic she’ll pull next.
“So, have you ever made love on a plane?”
The words rolled silkily off his tongue, and Kit O’Brien’s green eyes widened at the audacity of the handsome male passenger who had been seated next to her for the past two hours.
“Are you propositioning me?” Although she blinked, Kit held her gaze steadfast to mask her inward shock. Despite her reputation, never before had a man been so bold, or so brash. Afternoon sunlight flickered through the first-class window as he gave her a wicked grin.
“And if I am?” His full lips curled teasingly, creating a slight dimple in his right cheek.
Kit felt shivers shoot through her body, all the way down her legs to her toes, which were cramped in what masqueraded as sensible flats. The brazen answer that teased provocatively from her mouth before she had any rational thought to stop it ignited the stuffy atmosphere. “I’d have to think about it.”
“You do that and let me know.” He closed his lips slowly over the edge of the plastic cup in a gesture bordering on erotic.
Ooh, he was smooth. She could lose herself in those glittering and glistening, dangerous brown eyes.
But that would be a mistake.
He turned his gaze away, releasing Kit from his hypnotic spell. Even though the possibility of caving in to his outrageous suggestion was gone,
Kit felt little relief. Clamping her mouth shut, she reached forward to return her empty plastic cup to the foldout tray. Her hand shook and the cup wobbled before she righted it. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed her body’s immediate physical response to his provocative words.
He was quite a piece of work, she thought. They had been talking on and off since leaving New York at 11 a.m., but right now since his attention was not on her, Kit tried to relax. Never before had she run across someone quite like him, someone who had sent her senses reeling with just one piercing look.
Whoever he was, he was temptation. A magazine lay across his lap, hiding legs clad in black jeans. A heated awareness prickled Kit’s skin, her equilibrium as disturbed now as when he had taken his seat two hours ago. Then she had gazed, transfixed, until he had pointed with a well-manicured finger at the empty seat next to her.
At that moment, although she had been acutely conscious of her flushed cheeks, she could not break her stare. He had looked down his pointed, perfect Roman nose, and given her the amused knowing smile of a man used to being the center of attention. And, when he stripped off his black sport coat Kit’s mouth dried to sandpaper and her throat tightened. The broadcloth button-down hinted at perfectly formed muscles. When he had moved past her to access the window seat his legs had brushed hers. Kit swore fireworks had ignited from the way her body tingled.
Kit shook from the reverie and attempted to focus. She had no time for erotic thoughts about a man she didn’t know. She had four days before facing her father and his reaction to her latest public stunt. As she attempted to tug her short knit skirt down to her knees, her seatmate shifted, his black Western boots coming briefly into view. She froze.
He was a cowboy, she decided, closing her eyes and letting herself fantasize about her seatmate. He certainly had a primitive, masculine look. Chestnut-colored hair cascaded over his collar to just above his shoulders, and Kit pictured tying his wavy tresses back with a rawhide lace.
No, she shook off that fantasy, replacing it with another. Instead she would take her fingers and tuck the strands gently up underneath a black Stetson. When she was finished with his hair, his rugged and virile hands would stroke her, yet his touch would be gentle despite being accustomed to holding fast the reins of unbroken stallions. She would trace a finger across the stubble of his jaw, and his fingers would slide lower, ready to caress her into absolute ecstasy.
Kit opened her eyes and lowered her lashes so she could venture another glance at his luminous brown eyes and heart-shaped face.