The destinies of three vibrant women, each as stunningly beautiful as they are dangerously ambitious, intersect at Burghley's, the oldest and most venerated auction house in the world - and a seething hotbed of greed, sexual passions and cut-throat intrigue.
MacKenzie Turner - threatened by boardroom and bedroom machinations over which she has no control, whose rampant erotic appetite has her juggling two lovers. Dina Goldsmith - the social-climbing wife of Burghley's new owner, taking the express elevator to the pinnacle of fifth Avenue society. Zandra von Hohenburg-Willemlohe - an impoverished runaway noblewoman who sells herself to the lord of a vast fortune to save the life of her dissolute brother.
But MacKenzie, Dina and Zandra discover the summit of privilege and glamour of Burghley's to be fraught with danger, a glittering prize targeted for the crime of the century - and only MacKenzie can stop the scythe of evil from cutting its deadly swath. But first she must uncover the conspiracy - and then survive the countdown to terror. As the drama races from Manhattan to Mustique to its tension-packed climax, all learn the high price of living the good life, that there really is such a thing as being Too Damn Rich....
"[a}] page-turning plot and deliciously evil villains. A delight." PUBLISHER"S WEEKLY
"A romp…a smash success!" NEWYORK DAILY NEWS
"Judith Gould is a master." KIRKUS REVIEWS
"Mouthwatering." CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Plenty of shocking surprises." COSMOPOLITAN
"[a] great escape. A tale filled with suspense…and exotic characters." BOOKLIST
Sins*
Texas Born
LoveMakers
Second Love
DAZZLE- The Complete Unabridged Trilogy *:
Dazzle The Trilogy Vol. I: Senda
Dazzle The Trilogy Vol. II: Tamara
Dazzle The Trilogy Vol. III: Daliah
Never Too Rich*
Forever
Too Damn Rich*
Second Love
Till the End of Time*
Rhapsody*
Time to Say Good-Bye
A Moment in Time
The Best Is Yet to Come
The Greek Villa
The Parisian Affair
Dreamboat*
The Secret Heiress*
*(Available as an e-book)
www.judithgould.com
Too Damn Rich
By Judith Gould
Copyright 1999 by Judith Gould.
Published by Vesuvius Media, LLC at Smashwords
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
"It is better to live rich,
than to die rich."
—BOSWELL, Life of Johnson
"No one should come to
New York unless he is
willing to be lucky."
—E. B. WHITE (1899-1985)
Once Upon a Time, In the City of London...
A man by the name of Charles Burghley established an auction business. The year was 1719 and His Majesty, King George I, was on the throne. Burghley dealt in silver and porcelains.
His company flourished.
In 1744, a bookseller named Samuel Baker decided to expand his business by turning to auctioneering. His enterprise, too, proved successful, although it was his nephew and successor, John Sotheby, who gave the company its legendary name.
In 1766, James Christie opened the doors to yet another auction house. Since he concentrated on selling pictures and furniture, and did not infringe upon Burghley's area of silver and porcelains, or Sotheby's of books, his venture also thrived.
For nearly two centuries, the three auction houses coexisted happily. When the contents of a major country house were sold, Christie's would send the libraries to Sotheby's, and relegate the silver and ceramics to Burghley's. And although nothing became of it, Christie's and Sotheby's actually considered merging, first in 1934, then in 1940, and again in 1947.
But by 1964 such harmony was a thing of the past. It began with Sotheby's acquisition of the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York, which in a single stroke established it as the first truly international auction firm. In no time, Christie's and Burghley's had gained Manhattan footholds of their own and, like Sotheby's, began to expand operations to dozens of other cities around the globe.
Now, with the entire world's treasures as possible merchandise, competition between the three houses grew fierce. Each expanded voluminously and added departments and experts to handle furniture, art, rugs, books and manuscripts, wine, photographs, musical instruments, coins, arms and armor, and jewelry.
The age-old tradition of sharing the spoils became a relic of the past.
In the heyday of the eighties, with art prices skyrocketing, Burghley's, Christie's, and Sotheby's was each seeing between two and three billion dollars in annual sales—and reaping a hefty twenty percent profit in double-ended commissions from both sellers and buyers. Even with the softening of the art market in the recessionary nineties, when annual sales plunged a billion dollars or so, the profit at all three auction houses was still enormous.
Naturally, with such vast sums involved, the dowdy, genteel auction house went the way of the Edsel.
Auctioneering had entered the era of Big Business. And that is where this story begins....