{"product_id":"affair-isbn-9780553574074","title":"Affair","description":"Charlotte Arkendale knew all there was to know about men. After all, she'd made a career out of steering marriage-minded women away from untrustworthy members of the opposite sex.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet nothing could have prepared her for Baxter St. Ives--an arresting stranger too daring, too determined, too dangerous to be her new man-of-affairs. Still, perhaps he was the perfect person to help Charlotte investigate the recent murder of one of her clients. So she gave him a chance, never realizing that Baxter, a gifted scientist, would soon conduct a risky exploration into the alchemy of desire, with Charlotte as his subject.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut even as he sets out to seduce Charlotte, a twisted killer lies in wait, ready to part the lovers...or see them joined together forever--in death.\"If you start an Amanda Quick book in the late afternoon, you'll probably spend the night with it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e--The Denver Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Amanda Quick is] an exceptional storyteller.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Daily News\u003c\/i\u003e of Los Angeles\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn Alternate Selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eAffair:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Suspenseful...exciting.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Skillful, lively storytelling, with a heroine who'd be compelling in any era.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003eAmanda Quick, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, is a bestselling, award-winning author of contemporary and historical romances. There are nearly twenty-two million copies of her books in print, including \u003ci\u003eSeduction, Surrender, Scandal, Rendezvous, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Affair,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMischief.\u003c\/i\u003e She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Frank.\"I do not see how Marcle could possibly have imagined you to be qualified for this post,\" she said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBaxter had had enough of arguing the point.  \"It is not as if there are a great many men about who can meet your absurd requirements, Miss Arkendale.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe glowered.  \"But surely Mr. Marcle can find me a gentleman who is more suited to the position than yourself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Have you forgotten?  Marcle is halfway to Devon.  Would you mind telling me precisely what it is about me that is so unsuitable?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Other than your lack of skill with a pistol?\" she asked much too sweetly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, other than that failing.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You force me to be rude, sir.  The problem is your appearance.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What the devil is wrong with my appearance?  No one could be more unprepossessing than myself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharlotte scowled.  \"Do not feed me that Banbury tale.  You most certainly are not a potato pudding.  Just the opposite, in fact.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe stared at her.  \"I beg your pardon?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You must know very well, sir, that your spectacles are a poor disguise.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Disguise?\"  He wondered if he had got the wrong address and the wrong Charlotte Arkendale.  Perhaps he had got the wrong town.  \"What in the name of the devil do you believe me to be concealing?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Surely you are not suffering from the illusion that those spectacles mask your true nature.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My true nature?\"  Baxter lost his grip on his patience.  \"Bloody hell, just what am I, if not innocuous and unprepossessing?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe spread her hands wide.  \"You have the look of a man of strong passions who has mastered his temperament with even stronger powers of self-control.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I beg your pardon?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHer eyes narrowed with grim determination.  \"Such a man cannot hope to go about unnoticed.  You are bound to attract attention when you conduct business on my behalf.  I cannot have that in my man-of-affairs.  I require someone who can disappear into a crowd.  Someone whose face no one recalls very clearly.  Don't you understand, sir? You give the appearance of being rather, well, to be quite blunt, \u003ci\u003edangerous\u003c\/i\u003e.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBaxter was bereft of words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharlotte clasped her hands behind her back and resumed her pacing.  \"It is quite obvious you will never be able to pass for a dull, ordinary man-of-affairs.  Therefore, you must see that you would not do at all for my purposes.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBaxter realized his mouth was hanging open.  He managed to get it closed.  He had been called many things, bastard, ill-mannered, and a great bore being among the more common epithets.  But no one had ever labeled him a man of strong passions.  No one had ever claimed that he looked dangerous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was a man of science.  He prided himself on his detached, unemotional approach to problems, people, and situations.  It was a trait he had honed to perfection years ago when he discovered that, as the bastard son of the Earl of Esherton and the notorious Emma, Lady Sultenham, he would be forever excluded from his rightful heritage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had been a subject of speculation and gossip since the day he was born.  He had learned early to seek refuge amid his books and scientific apparatus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough some women initially found the notion of an affair with the bastard son of an earl somewhat exciting, especially when they learned that he was a very wealthy bastard son, the sentiment did not last long.  The weak flames generated in the course of his infrequent liaisons burned for only a very short time before sputtering out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis affairs had become even shorter in duration since his return from Italy three years ago.  The acid burns on his back and shoulders had healed but he was marked for life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWomen reacted to the raw, ugly scars with shock and disgust.  Baxter did not entirely blame them.  He had never been handsome and the acid lacerations had done nothing to improve his looks.  Fortunately, his face had been spared.  He was, however, fed up with the inconvenience of having to make certain that the candles were snuffed and the fire banked before he got undressed and climbed into bed with a lady.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the last such occasion, some six months ago, he had nearly brained himself on the bedpost when he had tripped over his own boot in the inky darkness of the widow's unlit bedchamber.  The incident had put a distinct damper on the remainder of the evening.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the most part, he sought his satisfactions and pleasures in his laboratory. There, surrounded by his gleaming beakers, flasks, retorts, and blowpipes, he could avoid the empty conversations and frivolous pursuits of the Polite World. It was a world he had never enjoyed.  A world that did not begin to comprehend him.  A world that he found excruciatingly superficial and insipid.  A world in which he had never felt at home.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBaxter schooled his thoughts and forced himself to reason swiftly.  Charlotte had plainly dismissed him as a possible man-of-affairs.  A new approach was required if he was to convince her to employ him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Miss Arkendale, there seems to be some discrepancy between your view of my nature and the views of virtually everyone else in the world.  May I suggest we resolve the matter by conducting an experiment?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe went very still.  \"What sort of experiment?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I recommend that you summon the members of your household and ask them for their opinions.  If the consensus is that I can successfully go about my duties unnoticed and unremarked, you will employ me.  If they concur with your views, I shall take my leave and look elsewhere for a post.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe hesitated, clearly dubious.  Then she gave a quick, decisive nod.  \"Very well, sir.  That seems quite logical.  We shall conduct the experiment at once. I shall summon my sister and housekeeper.  They are both extremely observant.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe reached for the velvet bell pull that hung beside the fireplace and gave it a strong tug.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You agree to abide by the results of this test?\" he asked warily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You have my word on it, sir.\" She smiled with ill-concealed triumph.  \"We shall settle the matter at once.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFootsteps sounded in the hall.  Baxter adjusted his eyeglasses and sat back in his chair to await the outcome of the experiment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was certain that he could safely predict the results.  He knew his strong points better than anyone else.  No one could top him when it came to appearing as bland and uninteresting as a potato pudding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwenty minutes later, Baxter went down the steps of the Arkendale town house with a sense of quiet exultation.  He noted that the crisp March breeze, which had been decidedly chilly an hour earlier, now felt fresh and invigorating.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was nothing quite like a properly conducted scientific experiment to settle things, he thought as he hailed a passing hackney.  It had not been easy but he had finally secured his new post.  As he had anticipated, Charlotte Arkendale was the only person in the small household, indeed, very likely the only person in the whole of London, who would ever notice him in a crowd.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was not sure what her peculiar notions concerning his nature said about her except that they definitely verified John Marcle's opinion.  Charlotte was a very unique sort of female.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot at all what one would expect in the way of a blackmailer and murderess, Baxter thought.","brand":"Bantam","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300478505189,"sku":"NP9780553574074","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780553574074.jpg?v=1767721081","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/affair-isbn-9780553574074","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}