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Yvonne Crowe Writer
Amazon
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: CROWE PUBLICATIONS LIMITED
ISBN-10: B00EETACT2
Type: Fiction
Pages: 533
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
The disturbing story about an ugly dysfunctional family and the lengths they will go to in the name of greed and revenge. The writing is expressive and without apology as Yvonne stirs up the readers' emotions, leading them into the characters' lives and motives. The no holds barred sexual content is an essential part of this painful story and I suspect many readers will relate to this story on a personal level.
Without giving away the storyline, the older manipulative man destroys everything he touches, including himself, while the heroine struggles to overcome her past so she can survive the carnage. A former younger lover adds a surprising twist to the story, together with a cast of characters that appear to have come straight from Dante's Inferno, but I suspect are the norm rather than the exception in life.
"This is a chance in a million Elin. All relationships are a tradeoff. Why should you be any different/'
Should Elin heed the words of the psychotherapist?
What promises does Jonas, the older multi-millionaire make to Elin as he pursues her relentlessly?
Driven by a lust for younger women, sex and money, he sees all are within his grasp if he can persuade her to marry him as he can take advantage of an offer from the American marketplace for her business venture that will make her a wealthy woman.
Beset by insecurities and the fear of losing her, Jonas spins his web to ensnare Elin in the ever tightening sticky fibrous strands that inexorably bind her to him as she struggles to overcome her past. As the skeletons come clattering out of the closet, this powerful story lays bare the frailty of doomed relationships.
Is Guy, her former younger, wealthier lover who is driven by a lust for beautiful women and power, a threat to Jonas as he hovers in the background?
What is the Secret of the Deed?
Who accuses Elin of murder and how will she save herself?
This compelling story of pain and betrayal takes many twists and turns until it erupts into a shattering climax.
"Driven by Lust" treads a middle ground between
romance, corporate thriller, and social critique. Good, provocative read. Oleg Medvedkov Best selling Author of Dragon Who Loved Water Lilies and Other Funny Stories.
For readers of Jodi Picoult and E L James
Excerpt
Elin had met Guy Preece during a business lunch and both sets of pheremones had reared up on their hind legs and reached across the table as the magnetism flowing between them had reduced the room to exclude the world at large.
Six months later their paths crossed again and he made his desire for her abundantly clear while holding out an offer of assistance as she struggled to re-establish her business venture. Avoiding him for yet another six months, she had sized up the situation. How badly did she need his help?
Apparently enough to respond to his invitation to the lunch he suggested when she telephoned to feel him out.
Their table at the designated hotel by the sea on the North Shore was set alongside the floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto a large courtyard, which was overhung with huge pohutukawa trees with their promises of the wonderful red flowers at Christmas.
As she had walked towards him along the driveway dressed in red from head to toe, she saw him catch his breath and his dark brown eyes deepened with desire as he drank in the sight of her. It was obvious how much he wanted her and the danger it represented.
Shown to their table they had dallied and when they had selected their food from the buffet, the waiter brought the wine Guy had ordered.
“To us.” His dark brown eyes promised the world as he picked up his glass and toasted them. Hesitantly Elin picked up her glass and touching his felt the desire flowing between them.
This man was a major force in the New Zealand business world and now he was turning his megawatt power on her. Elin felt her insides turn to mush, and buying time she picked up her fork and lifted a piece of potato salad from the selection on her plate as she berated herself. “I’m mad to place myself in this position. I can’t blame him if I buy into the situation.” Angrily kicking herself in the backside for her stupidity, she looked at the man who was trying to get into her knickers.
Casually yet expensively dressed, the clothes told the story. From the expensive well cut beige moleskin jeans and Timberland shoes, to the forest green cotton casual shirt. Color toned, olive skinned, black straight hair, all bespoke the manly image – the sporting man – the huntin’, fishin’ shootin wealthy man’s man.
“God, I bet he shoots ducks in season.” She could just see him sheltering in the blind waiting for the unsuspecting prey to break cover before he aimed and killed them.
This was an extremely powerful man who had been very comfortable with his success as the CEO for one of the independent television channels. Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous on a daily basis, he had successfully managed his reputation for being a very astute, albeit a
thoroughly ruthless, businessman and a marketing whiz kid that had followed him wherever he went. His advice to the clients, most of whom were advertising agencies, who willingly gave him a major portion of their client’s advertising budgets, was to position themselves in the marketplace and add value to their product, not to get into discounting wars.
Some of his clients’ clients, railed against his audaciousness. “Arrogant bastard thinks he knows it all, but shit it’s easy to dish out advice and if it turns out wrong, shrug your shoulders and tell you to try again. He sits on his ass with the money rolling in, while we take all the risks.”
“He doesn’t have to put his money where his mouth is,” were some of the comments.
“Stupid fucks,” he’d replied according to gossip and ignoring them, had resigned to start up his own venture, a television production company.
“My product is for the top end overseas market. That’s where the big bucks are, not here in NZ.”
In addition he was a property developer.
Elin looked down at his large strong hands. Very manly and oh so sure of himself, she wondered what his caresses would be like. Glancing at his strong hands which to her reflected a man in control of his destiny, she remembered the moment he had walked into the room at Williams’ home. It was the first time they met and he had brought a presence with him which simply overshadowed the other man.
Recalling that luncheon she winced at the memory. His gaze had held hers and although she wanted to look away had felt transfixed and slightly powerless. It had been as though an electric charge had shot across the table where the three of them were seated and fused her to him alone.
No wonder David Williams had got an ultra dose of the shits when she had bailed on his business offer to her, as well as the personal relationship he had desired.
Shivering with the realization that she had indeed had a lucky escape there, she looked into Guy’s deep brown eyes smiling warmly at her.
“I need to get up from this table and run from here as fast as I can,” she berated herself. “His face is too round, his mouth too small, his hair too lank? With that small beaked nose he’s not conventionally handsome, but dear God he’s so charismatic.”
Desperately trying to break away from the future she envisaged if she gave into this affair, she felt like a captured bird fluttering its wings, trying to break free and fly away from the predator that had grasped it with its talons.
‘What is this attraction to him? I don’t want my heart broken again.’ The thoughts scampered around in her mind which was becoming more confused by the moment, with the conflicting messages it was receiving.
As he pinned her with a piercing gaze, he made no bones about his intention to come into her life and be part of it. As his soft warm voice caressed her, she mentally kicked herself. “An unreliable, emotionally unavailable married man and you’re still sitting in the chair. Don’t do it,” she cautioned herself but she took little notice. “Use your head for once, not your heart.” Buying time, she looked out the window to the ocean below and watched it rolling gently against the sand.
“I desperately want to dig inside his head and find out what makes him tick and makes him so successful. I won’t get involved,” she promised herself knowing it would not be kept, “because I know it will go nowhere. But I need to learn what he can show me about being successful in business.” Her mind kept justifying her reasons for being there.
“I love aggressive women with brains.” His voice was seductively caressing her. The attraction for them both was the same. They needed the mental and emotional stimulation that this affair would provide. Life on the razor’s edge, one slip and you bled. They would lick the blood from each other’s cuts, the vampire in them both seeking the heady rush it would provide.
This man would not let her be dependent on him, so he would force her to stand on her own two feet. After a possessive, suffocating marriage where her independence was stifled and controlled, was this what she needed? Watch, learn, listen and swim upstream to survive Elin.
His magnetic attraction was enormous and he was so comfortable with his power and success.
New Zealand was populated with male chauvinistic bores. To be winners, the blokes needed a team structure to bond with. This hid a multitude of insecurities and immaturity. In the so called liberated 1980’s, the men were still treating women as second class citizens. Males were uncomfortable with femininity, women and feminism. And the women weren’t much better. Mothering the stupid sods and putting up with all their crap. Without the ability to be comfortable with the opposite sex, relationships were disasters.
“There are two kinds of men in New Zealand Elin.” Guy smiled convincingly at her, a wealth of meaning in those deep brown eyes. “The rugby playing chauvinist and the corporate eunuch.”
Remaining silent she wondered which category he fitted into, or was he intimating there was a third elite group to which he belonged? She loathed the rugby playing icons and knew he had played the game in his early years.
They took their time exploring each other’s backgrounds and she asked him how his big break had come along.
“I didn’t come up through the industry which pissed a lot of people off,” he admitted.
“So what made you perfect for the role?”
“I started off my career in advertising, and then worked my way up from marketing manager of an international company to Managing Director, where I made a lot of contacts. One of the investors in Channel Ten is a good friend of mine and he asked me if I wanted to help get it off the ground and gave me shares. From there on out, it’s history.”
“To riches and fame.” Grinning she raised her glass in a toast.
“There was no money in it at first,” he grimaced, then lent across the table and gently picked up her hand that was lying between them. “You’re just perfect for me. You’re so feminine. We’ll find somewhere to be alone. I know my wife will leave me this time if she finds out I’m having an affair.”
Elin drew in her breath sharply. Was this really what she wanted?
“It’s difficult and the family unit means everything to me but I want you and I’ll find a way.” He continued to hold her gaze.
“I don’t want to be burned.” Warily watching him, she told herself to walk away now. Right now, before there was no turning back.
“I know. I promise I won’t let that happen.”
“How can you avoid that?” Her question lay between them like a small grey cloud on the horizon.
Half of her wanted this man now yet was afraid to open her heart to him. His intense gaze pinned her down and she responded like a moth drawn to the flame, knowing the danger and destined to burn itself. Was this to be her fate before she finally gave up her neuroses?
“I used to see him in the corridors at Channel Ten,” a business acquaintance had told her. “He was a cold, arrogant bastard, who used to stride past anyone who wasn’t important in his eyes. They simply didn’t exist for him.”
It was hard for her to equate that stony faced bombastic bastard of the world of television, with this man who sat opposite her. The ruthless mogul who’d trampled people into the ground in his rise to the top, and his need for power. However, his history was well documented. Just pick up any business magazine.
Was this the same man who sat opposite her and caressed her with his soft voice, his large capable hands gently cradling her smaller ones?
Would he be caring and gallant with her? This was the promise he was making to her now but she was well aware he expected the game to be played with his rules. ‘Well see about that,’ she thought as his velvety words washed over her.
“I know you felt the vibes at our first meeting twelve months ago. Did Williams tell you I tried to find you through him?” he asked, turning on the charm.
Williams had been a vindictive business acquaintance who had been furious at the rapport between Guy and Elin and had vented his spleen on her afterwards.
“No. He wouldn’t do that. What did he say about me?” This would be interesting.
“He wasn’t kind.” Guy grinned and his warm brown eyes twinkled at her.
“I’ll bet he wasn’t. He wanted me to manage his business and have an affair with him. I walked away from it all.” Shuddering at the memory of the coldest, cruelest man she’d ever met, Elin withdrew her hands from Guy’s
“He’s certainly the most difficult person I’ve ever dealt with in business and I have met many.” Guy assured her. “I’m so glad you contacted me again.”
“I was too vulnerable to be associated with him at that time.” Toying with her glass, she jumped when he took it from her and lifted it to his lips. “I wouldn’t have considered an affair with a married man at that time either. Not long afterwards, I saw you afterwards in Rick’s cafe with your family.”
“I know. Why didn’t you come over and say hello.” Offering her the glass again, his fingers brushed hers as he placed it in her hand.
The comment took her by surprise. “I wouldn’t do that with your family there. The signals you were sending me were so overt it was obvious what you were after. If I was your wife, you’d have worn your coffee that day.”
“Yeah,” he laughed.
“It’s been hard out here on my own and I don’t want to be your plaything.”
“You’re special,” he assured her. “I don’t know why but you are. I can’t forget you.”
“Oh please,” emotionally she drew back at the old line. “I need support now, not trouble.”
“I’ll give it to you,” he promised sincerely, meaning it at the time.
“Look I know about your affair with your secretary at the TV station.” She might as well bring it all out into the open.
“Yeah, I had a hot heavy affair with her for two years,” he freely admitted. “Did you see the movie Fatal Attraction?” Waiting till she nodded he continued. “It was like that. She was a part time model as well. Did you see the Lace lingerie ad in the newspaper this morning?” Elin nodded again. “That’s her. She nearly had a nervous breakdown over me.”
The smile washed away from her face. The way he had delivered that last sentence it was almost a boast.
Already knowing the reply, she asked, “What’s her name?”
“Jackie, I’m unlucky if she rings me once a year now.” Nonchalantly he brushed his past lover aside.
Elin flinched at his words. What a cold, callous thing to say about someone he had been so deeply involved with. Withdrawing her hand, her mind raced. ‘Christ I don’t know if I want to be involved with this man.’
“I have such a rapport with you.” He toyed with her fingers lying on the table by her wine glass. “I feel as though I’ve known you forever. I love talking to you. I want you.”
Power oozed out of him. A mind as keen and sharp as King Arthur’s sword Excalibur, which he had used to cut and slice his way through the corridors of power he had dominated, was now focused on her. What chance did she have?
Looking closely at him again, she knew he was not to be trusted but for her that didn’t matter as some deeper emotion reached out its tentacles to ensnare her in its web. The strength of steel beneath the surface, combined with undercurrents of his overstated need for her, reached out and drew her in.
Somehow he overwhelmed her and she couldn’t eat any more, so put her fork down, the food on her plate hardly touché.
“I’ll get your coffee. How do you take it?” he queried, rising from the table. She found this such a disarming gesture; one that reached out and tenderly plucked at her heartstrings.
“Cream and one sugar please.” Watching him go up to the buffet table, she considered running out now before it was too late.
Returning he placed her cup in front of her, sat down and smiled as he lifted his own. “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay all afternoon.” Reluctantly he glanced at his Rolex watch, “but I have to, I’ve got an appointment.”
His voice was seductive and boy did he know how to use it while pinning her with his hooded gaze, which she found so damnably attractive. Instinctively drawing back, she felt as though she had been zapped by some more highly evolved being skilled in the art of mind power. At that moment he had the pulling power of Antonio Banderas as Armand in the movie Interview with a Vampire, with everything such an encounter promised. Feeling the heat rising from her sexual domain, she reached out to grab her glass of water and took three large sips hoping to put out the fire that promised to consume her.
‘The bastard knows what he’s doing,’ she panicked and found it disconcerting as she sat there steaming.
Lingering, stealing yet another fifteen minutes, they rose and strolled out of the restaurant. As they walked to their respective cars he put a hand on her arm. “I want to kiss you but its too open here.” The main road was just beyond the bushes lining the car park.
“I know.” She looked up at his eager face.
“Stay with me for a moment,” he begged and opened the door to a large burgundy Range Rover.
Hesitating, her heart beating like a frightened bird’s caught in the mouth of a feral cat, he sensed her reluctance.
“Please,” he implored.
Doubtfully she looked at the high four wheel drive. “These vehicles aren’t made for high heels.”
“I know.” He helped her in tenderly, then walked around to his side and climbed in himself.
Gesturing at the interior, she queried archly to buy time and quell the panic she felt. “All part of the manly image? Very much the huntin’, shootin’, fishin’ successful business entrepreneur?”
“Something like that.” He drew her to him and covered her mouth with his.
Shocks ran through her. Feeling as though she’d been invaded she tried to draw back. Pulling her closer, he penetrated the shields she’d built around herself. His mouth clung to hers and she felt desperately afraid. Suddenly a feeling of revulsion arose.
“God you’re lovely,” he muttered as she felt his wet mouth surrounding hers. “I desperately want you.”
She launched into a nervous meaningless conversation to cover the rising panic she felt. Anything to avoid the physical contact he was intent on. Pulling her to him again, he drew her into a long wet kiss that seemed to go on forever. Embraces that she would come to know so well, and fear.
She felt trapped by sexually driven Scorpio exuding a sensuousness that threatened to overwhelm her own Piscean vulnerability.
Drawing back nervously she reached for the door handle as he said, “Oh Elin,” and wriggled in his seat. Again she felt the repulsion and panic rise. Looking at her watch she lied to him, “I have an appointment. I’m late.” Flinging open the door, she climbed out and fleeing to the safety of her yellow Japanese pot drove away leaving him stunned.
Perplexed he watched her go, then started his motor, quietly confident. He always called the tune and he was determined to have her.
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