The Hard Bargain

A Love and the City Novel

By: Julie Tetel Andresen

Narrated by: Ann MacPhail

New York billionaire Arthur Wexler needs a faux fiancée for one Sunday afternoon and one afternoon only. Actor Carla Pereira happily accepts a hefty paycheck for a few hours work. However, she plays her part so well that her role unexpectedly gets an extended run: It now includes a week-long Caribbean cruise on the Wexler yacht with friends and family.

Carla’s no dummy. She knows that, as a poor girl from Hoboken, she’ll never land a permanent part in the Wexler family cast. She does her best not to fall in love with Arthur on the cruise – and mostly succeeds – but now she’s back in the real world and attending to the broken pieces of her miserable family life.

Arthur is surprised when Carla ghosts him, and he now has to confront his own feelings. When he does, he realizes he has to figure out a way to track down the woman whose stage name is Carla Pereira. Even if he can find her and establish a relationship, there’s still the pesky matter of what to say about the hoax Arthur and Carla perpetrated on the Wexler family when they first introduced her by a completely different name. So, just who is this Carla person, and what is she hiding?

©2019 Julie Tetel Andresen (P)2023 Julie Tetel Andresen