The Magnate's Manifesto (Harlequin Presents) - Softcover
BILLIONAIRE PLAYBOY IGNITES INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT WITH HIS MANIFESTO ON WOMEN
Jared Stone: Visionary, rebel, the tech world's golden boy...and now the most hated man on the planet!
Bailey St. James: Survivor, powerful female executive, the only woman who refuses to bow down to Jared Stone...and the only woman who can save him?
When Jared's manifesto makes him public enemy #1 the only way out is to make Bailey an offer she can't refuse--a very public promotion to VP! Now, with a major deal on the line and tensions rising, can it be long before Jared and Bailey move from spreadsheets to bed sheets?
Jared Stone: Visionary, rebel, the tech world's golden boy...and now the most hated man on the planet!
Bailey St. James: Survivor, powerful female executive, the only woman who refuses to bow down to Jared Stone...and the only woman who can save him?
When Jared's manifesto makes him public enemy #1 the only way out is to make Bailey an offer she can't refuse--a very public promotion to VP! Now, with a major deal on the line and tensions rising, can it be long before Jared and Bailey move from spreadsheets to bed sheets?
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Author:
The day that Jared Stone's manifesto sparked an incident of international female outrage happened to be, unfortunately for Stone, a slow news day. By five a.m. on Thursday, when the sexy Silicon Valley billionaire was reputed to be running the trails of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, as he did every morning in his connected-free beginning to the day, his manifesto was dinner conversation in Moscow. In London, as chicly-dressed female office workers escaped brick and steel buildings to chase down lunch, his outrageous state-of-the-union on 21st Century women was on the tip of every tongue, spoken in hushed, disbelieving tones on elevator trips down to ground level.
And in America, where the outrage was about to hit hardest, women who had spent their entire careers seeking out the C-suite only to find themselves blocked by a glass ceiling that seemed impossible to penetrate stared in disbelief at their smartphones. Maybe it was a joke, some said. Someone must have hacked into Stone's email, said others. Doesn't surprise me at all, interjected a final contingent, many of whom had dated Stone in an elusive quest to pin down the world's most sought after bachelor. He's a cold, son-of-a-bitch. I'm only surprised his true stripes didn't appear sooner.
*****
At her desk at seven a.m. at the Stone Industries building in San Jose, Bailey St. John was oblivious to the firestorm her boss was creating. Intent on hacking her way through her own glass ceiling and armed with a steaming Americano with which to do so, she slid into her chair with as much grace as her pencil skirt would allow, harnessed a morning dose of optimism that today would be different, and flicked on her PC.
She stared sleepily at the screen as her computer booted up. Took a sip of the strong, acrid brew that inevitably kicked her brain into working order as she clicked on her mail program. Her girlfriend Aria's email, entitled 'OMG' made her lift a recently plucked and perfected brow. She clicked it open. The hot sip of coffee she'd just taken lodged somewhere in her windpipe. Billionaire Playboy Ignites International Incident with his Manifesto on Women, blared the headline of the variety news site everyone in Silicon Valley frequented. Leaked tongue-in-cheek manifesto to his fellow mates makes Stone's views on women in the boardroom and bedroom blatantly clear.
Bailey put down her coffee with a jerky movement and clicked through to the manifesto that had already generated two million views. The Truth about Women, which apparently had never been meant for anyone other than Jared Stone's inner circle, was now the salacious entertainment of the entire male population. As she started reading what was unmistakeably, her boss' bold, eloquent tone, she nearly fell off her chair.
Having dated and worked with a cross-section of women from around the globe, and having reached the age where I feel I can make a definitive opinion on the subject matter, I have come to a conclusion. Women lie.
They say they want to be equals in the boardroom, when in reality nothing has changed over the past fifty years. Despite all their pleas to the contrary, despite their outrage at the limits the 'so called' glass ceiling puts on them, they don't really want to be hammering out a deal, and they don't want to be orchestrating a merger. They want to be home in the house we provide, living the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. They want a man who will take care of them, who gives them a hot night between the sheets and diamond jewellery at appropriate intervals. Who will prevent them from drifting aimlessly through life without a compass...
Drifting aimlessly through life without a compass? Bailey's cheeks flamed. If there was any way in which her life couldn't be described, it was that. She'd spent the last ten years putting as much mileage between her and her depressing low-income roots as she could, doing the impossible and obtaining an MBA before working herself up the corporate ladder. First at a smaller Silicon Valley start up, then for the last five years at Jared Stone's industry darling of a consumer electronics company.
And that was where her rapid progression had stopped. As Director of North American sales for Stone Industries, she'd spent the last couple of years chasing a Vice President position Stone seemed determined not to give her. She'd worked harder and more impressively than any of her male colleagues, and it was generally acknowledged the VP job should have been hers. Except Jared Stone didn't seem to think so, he'd given the job to someone else. And that hurt coming from the man she'd been dying to work for--the resident genius of Silicon Valley.
Her blood heated to a furious level; bubbled and boiled and threatened to spill over into an expression of uncontrolled rage. Now she knew why. Because Jared Stone was a male chauvinist pig. The worst of a Silicon Valley breed.
He was... horrific.
She forced a sip of the excessively strong java into her mouth before she lost it completely and slammed the cup back down on her desk. Flicked her gaze back to her computer screen and the 'rules' on women Jared had also gifted the male population with.
Rule #1 - All women are crazy. And by that I mean they think in a completely foreign way from us that might as well come from another planet. You need to find the least crazy one you can live with. If you elect to settle down, which I'm not advocating, mind you.
Rule #2 - Every woman wants a ring on her finger and the white picket fence. No matter what she says. Not a bad thing for the state of the nuclear family or for you if you're already on that trajectory. But for God's sake know what you're getting yourself into.
Rule #3 - Every woman wants a lion in the bedroom. She wants to be dominated. She wants you to be in complete control. She doesn't want you to listen to her 'needs'. So stop making that mistake. Be a man.
Rule #4 - Every woman starts the day with an agenda. A cause, an item to strike off her list, the inescapable conclusion of a campaign she's been running. It could be a diamond ring, more of your time, your acknowledgement that you will indeed agree to meet her mother... Whatever it is, take it from me, just say yes or say goodbye. And know that saying goodbye might be a whole hell of a lot cheaper in the long run.
Bailey stopped reading for the sake of her blood pressure. Here she'd been worrying that the personality conflict she and Jared shared, which admittedly was intense, was the problem. The thing that had been holding her back. Their desire to rip each other apart every time they stepped foot in a boardroom together was legendary within the company, but that hadn't been it. No - in actual fact, he disrespected the entire female race.
She'd never even had a chance.
Five years she fumed, scowling at her computer screen as she pulled up a blank document. Five years she'd worked for that egocentric, son-of-a-bitch, racking up domestic sales of his wildly popular cellphones and computers... For what? It had all been a complete waste of time in a career in which the clock was ticking. A CEO by thirty-five, she'd vowed. Although that vision seemed to be fading fast...
She pressed her lips together and started typing. To whom it may concern: I can no longer work in an organization with that pig at the helm. It goes against every guiding principle I've ever had. She kept going, wrote the letter without holding back, until her blood had cooled and her rage was spent. Then she did a second version she could hand into HR.
She wasn't working for Jared Stone. For that beautiful, arrogant, piece of work. Not one minute longer. No matter how brilliant he was.
About the Author:
And in America, where the outrage was about to hit hardest, women who had spent their entire careers seeking out the C-suite only to find themselves blocked by a glass ceiling that seemed impossible to penetrate stared in disbelief at their smartphones. Maybe it was a joke, some said. Someone must have hacked into Stone's email, said others. Doesn't surprise me at all, interjected a final contingent, many of whom had dated Stone in an elusive quest to pin down the world's most sought after bachelor. He's a cold, son-of-a-bitch. I'm only surprised his true stripes didn't appear sooner.
*****
At her desk at seven a.m. at the Stone Industries building in San Jose, Bailey St. John was oblivious to the firestorm her boss was creating. Intent on hacking her way through her own glass ceiling and armed with a steaming Americano with which to do so, she slid into her chair with as much grace as her pencil skirt would allow, harnessed a morning dose of optimism that today would be different, and flicked on her PC.
She stared sleepily at the screen as her computer booted up. Took a sip of the strong, acrid brew that inevitably kicked her brain into working order as she clicked on her mail program. Her girlfriend Aria's email, entitled 'OMG' made her lift a recently plucked and perfected brow. She clicked it open. The hot sip of coffee she'd just taken lodged somewhere in her windpipe. Billionaire Playboy Ignites International Incident with his Manifesto on Women, blared the headline of the variety news site everyone in Silicon Valley frequented. Leaked tongue-in-cheek manifesto to his fellow mates makes Stone's views on women in the boardroom and bedroom blatantly clear.
Bailey put down her coffee with a jerky movement and clicked through to the manifesto that had already generated two million views. The Truth about Women, which apparently had never been meant for anyone other than Jared Stone's inner circle, was now the salacious entertainment of the entire male population. As she started reading what was unmistakeably, her boss' bold, eloquent tone, she nearly fell off her chair.
Having dated and worked with a cross-section of women from around the globe, and having reached the age where I feel I can make a definitive opinion on the subject matter, I have come to a conclusion. Women lie.
They say they want to be equals in the boardroom, when in reality nothing has changed over the past fifty years. Despite all their pleas to the contrary, despite their outrage at the limits the 'so called' glass ceiling puts on them, they don't really want to be hammering out a deal, and they don't want to be orchestrating a merger. They want to be home in the house we provide, living the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. They want a man who will take care of them, who gives them a hot night between the sheets and diamond jewellery at appropriate intervals. Who will prevent them from drifting aimlessly through life without a compass...
Drifting aimlessly through life without a compass? Bailey's cheeks flamed. If there was any way in which her life couldn't be described, it was that. She'd spent the last ten years putting as much mileage between her and her depressing low-income roots as she could, doing the impossible and obtaining an MBA before working herself up the corporate ladder. First at a smaller Silicon Valley start up, then for the last five years at Jared Stone's industry darling of a consumer electronics company.
And that was where her rapid progression had stopped. As Director of North American sales for Stone Industries, she'd spent the last couple of years chasing a Vice President position Stone seemed determined not to give her. She'd worked harder and more impressively than any of her male colleagues, and it was generally acknowledged the VP job should have been hers. Except Jared Stone didn't seem to think so, he'd given the job to someone else. And that hurt coming from the man she'd been dying to work for--the resident genius of Silicon Valley.
Her blood heated to a furious level; bubbled and boiled and threatened to spill over into an expression of uncontrolled rage. Now she knew why. Because Jared Stone was a male chauvinist pig. The worst of a Silicon Valley breed.
He was... horrific.
She forced a sip of the excessively strong java into her mouth before she lost it completely and slammed the cup back down on her desk. Flicked her gaze back to her computer screen and the 'rules' on women Jared had also gifted the male population with.
Rule #1 - All women are crazy. And by that I mean they think in a completely foreign way from us that might as well come from another planet. You need to find the least crazy one you can live with. If you elect to settle down, which I'm not advocating, mind you.
Rule #2 - Every woman wants a ring on her finger and the white picket fence. No matter what she says. Not a bad thing for the state of the nuclear family or for you if you're already on that trajectory. But for God's sake know what you're getting yourself into.
Rule #3 - Every woman wants a lion in the bedroom. She wants to be dominated. She wants you to be in complete control. She doesn't want you to listen to her 'needs'. So stop making that mistake. Be a man.
Rule #4 - Every woman starts the day with an agenda. A cause, an item to strike off her list, the inescapable conclusion of a campaign she's been running. It could be a diamond ring, more of your time, your acknowledgement that you will indeed agree to meet her mother... Whatever it is, take it from me, just say yes or say goodbye. And know that saying goodbye might be a whole hell of a lot cheaper in the long run.
Bailey stopped reading for the sake of her blood pressure. Here she'd been worrying that the personality conflict she and Jared shared, which admittedly was intense, was the problem. The thing that had been holding her back. Their desire to rip each other apart every time they stepped foot in a boardroom together was legendary within the company, but that hadn't been it. No - in actual fact, he disrespected the entire female race.
She'd never even had a chance.
Five years she fumed, scowling at her computer screen as she pulled up a blank document. Five years she'd worked for that egocentric, son-of-a-bitch, racking up domestic sales of his wildly popular cellphones and computers... For what? It had all been a complete waste of time in a career in which the clock was ticking. A CEO by thirty-five, she'd vowed. Although that vision seemed to be fading fast...
She pressed her lips together and started typing. To whom it may concern: I can no longer work in an organization with that pig at the helm. It goes against every guiding principle I've ever had. She kept going, wrote the letter without holding back, until her blood had cooled and her rage was spent. Then she did a second version she could hand into HR.
She wasn't working for Jared Stone. For that beautiful, arrogant, piece of work. Not one minute longer. No matter how brilliant he was.
Award-winning author JENNIFER HAYWARD emerged on the publishing scene as the winner of Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write global writing contest. The recpient of Romantic Times Magazine's Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Harlequin Presents of 2014 Jennifer's careers in journalism and PR, including years of working alongside powerful, charismatic CEOs and traveling the world, have provided perfect fodder for the fast-paced, sexy stories she likes to write.
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- PublisherHarlequin Presents
- Publication date2014
- ISBN 10 0373133014
- ISBN 13 9780373133017
- BindingMass Market Paperback
- Number of pages192
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The Magnate's Manifesto (Harlequin Presents)
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Harlequin Presents
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ISBN 10: 0373133014
ISBN 13: 9780373133017
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