Spotlight: Filthy Rich by Raine Miller
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Message from Author Raine Miller
FILTHY RICH is the first book in my new series called Blackstone Dynasty. My hero, Caleb Blackstone is the head of a billion-dollar corporation and still reeling from the recent death of his father. He is driven in business and very successful, but losing his dad has given him pause that there should be more to life than making money.
Caleb is sort of at a crossroads emotionally, feeling conflicted about the meaning of life when he meets Brooke Casterley at a cocktail party where she is serving. His attraction to her is immediate and truly shocking to him, especially when she speaks to him and he discovers she is British. Caleb has a thing for her sexy English accent and even he doesn’t know why he is so attracted to the aloof young beauty, but smitten he is.
Brooke is working two jobs to make ends meet and struggling financially. She has returned to Boston in recent months to help her grandmother who is in rehab after surgery. Brooke is strong, but she is definitely not looking for a man. She’s got a tragic past and is determined to put that chapter behind her when she meets Caleb at the cocktail party. Caleb stands up for her when a guest at the party propositions her, causing an embarrassing altercation. Brooke dismisses him though, and it isn’t until she sees how determined he is to get to know her that she finally gives him a chance.
This story is clear cut situation where the guy has to work really hard to get his girl, which is a theme I love to write.
Summary
Billionaire Caleb Blackstone lives in the glamorous world of wealth and success, with every material luxury. But the moment he sees Brooke Casterley, none of that matters. Caleb is filled with a raw, undeniable need that he can’t ignore…for a girl who is so completely different from everything and everyone he’s ever known.
Only Brooke isn’t looking for love. She knows all too well just how much damage the wrong guy can do. Still, what sane, broke British girl can resist the charms of an incredibly sexy, chivalrous billionaire? What starts as flirtation quickly turns into all-consuming passion. Nothing could have prepared her for the searing heat of Caleb’s touch—or just how much she craves him.
Their whirlwind romance is the stuff of high-society fantasy—but for every moment of pleasure, there is a cost. Past mistakes and tragedy shadow them both…and falling for him might be the kind of trouble she can’t afford.
Excerpt
I’d worked my way through the room, as I had been taught by my dad—by the best to ever work a roomful of potential deals—when I decided I’d accomplished what I’d set out to do tonight. It was time for me to go. After setting my glass down on an empty table, I started for the door . . . until I saw her.
Just like that. She appeared in my line of sight and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
The beautiful girl from this morning at the Starbucks on Hereford Street.
I knew it was her because how could anyone forget those sexy boots? Her blonde hair wasn’t down like it had been this morning, though. She’d pulled it back into a sleek ponytail . . . but she was serving at this event? I’d seen her go into that design studio next to Starbucks. She probably had two jobs. Industrious . . . beautiful . . . sexy.
I quickly returned for my half-empty glass and snatched it up from the table. I suddenly felt like an appetizer or two.
She saw me approaching and moved closer with her tray. “What are these called?” I asked without sparing her tray a second glance. Bad move on my part, but I was too busy taking in her golden eyes and hair, and everything else I could now see up close. Perfect skin, dark lashes that framed spectacular eyes, and a scar along the hairline of the right side of her face. Something had hurt her at some point in the past, and I found it utterly insane that I was disturbed by it.
She rolled her pink lips together as if she was trying to suppress laughter. “Well, they’ve told me it’s something called a . . . meatball. Very unusual gourmet creation. You should try one. They’re said to be quite delicious.”
That voice of hers was . . . fucking beautiful.
“Okay.” I picked up a meatball and popped it in my mouth. Didn’t taste a thing. I could have been chewing slaughterhouse by-products and I wouldn’t have known. My brain had shut off everything except her beautiful voice.
“You are either messing with me or that blow to your head must have been devastating. I would wager you’ve had a meatball before.”
“I am.”
She lost her smile. “You are messing with me?”
“No, I am devastating—I mean devastated—by the blow to my head.” What in the mother fuck was I even saying to this girl? I sounded like Rain Man minus the IQ. I needed to stop talking.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It looks painful.”
“It doesn’t hurt me now.” I think I smiled and shook my head but couldn’t be sure. Just call me the village idiot because I knew I was acting like one. I did love the sound of her voice, though.
“Another rare and precious meatball?” She offered her tray and studied me this time. She had to be disgusted by my appearance and turned off by my behavior, but she didn’t show it if she was.
“Yes, please.” I took another meatball but I didn’t eat it. “You are British.”
“You are American,” she said with a fast wink, before turning away to serve other guests.
I watched her walk away from me and felt the pounding of my heart vibrating throughout my entire body.
Something had just happened to me.
I wasn’t completely sure what exactly, but I was crystal clear on the reason.
Her.
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Raine Miller finds as much happiness in writing romances as she does in reading them. Ever since she picked up her first romance novel at thirteen years of age, she’s been hooked. Filthy Rich—the first book in her all-new series, Blackstone Dynasty—is Raine’s latest contemporary romance.
Raine lives with her handsome husband, brilliant sons, and two very bouncy (but beloved) Italian greyhounds.
