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The Highest Bidder #2

Exquisite Acquisitions

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For Macy Tarlington, the only good part of seeing her legendary mother's possessions sold at auction is ogling Carter McCay, the tall Texan who buys the famous diamond ring. Even better is seeing him again when he rescues her from the paparazzi like a white knight in a Stetson.

Carter whisks her to safety at Wild River Ranch, hiding her identity by day and lusting after her by night. Yes, he's sworn off love. But with the Hollywood runaway starring in his every fantasy, Carter may find Macy too much temptation—even for a hard-hearted cowboy.

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

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About the author

Charlene Sands

496 books193 followers
Charlene Sands is a USA Today Bestselling author writing over 50 contemporary and western historical romances. Her books have been honored with the National Readers' Choice Award, the Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Award and she's a two time winner of the Booksellers Best Award. Her book, The Texas Renegade Returns, was voted Best HQ Desire of 2014.

She married her high school sweetheart and has a beautiful and growing family. When not writing, she enjoys sunny California beaches, bowling on a Valley Girls team, sipping delicious Mocha Lattes or going on “date” nights of dinner and a movie with her hero-like husband.

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5 stars
28 (21%)
4 stars
43 (33%)
3 stars
48 (37%)
2 stars
5 (3%)
1 star
4 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Susan.
4,817 reviews127 followers
July 2, 2012
Good book. I liked both Macy and Carter. Macy had to sell her mother's things in order to settle her mom's debts and also settle a couple lawsuits against herself. I liked the way she stood up for herself in the actions that caused her to be sued. Carter was hurt by his girlfriend's refusal of his proposal and swore he'd never propose to another woman. He and Macy had noticed each other at the auction and felt an immediate attraction, but never expected to see each other again. When he saw Macy being hounded by the paparazzi, he stepped in and rescued her, then invited her to his ranch to get away. Macy immediately fell in love with the place, and soaked up the peace and quiet. Then she talked Carter into letting her restore a building on his property, which gave her a sense of purpose that she had been missing. I loved the way that Carter and Macy spent time together getting to know each other and sharing their lives and dreams. When they finally gave in to their passion there was a connection that was deeper than just the physical, even though neither wanted to admit it. When Macy reached the conclusion that Carter was never going to love her, she left and went home. It took Carter awhile, and a discussion with one of his employees/friends, before he realized that he loved Macy and wanted her in his life forever. I loved the story of the ring, and the conclusion of the story was great.
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
February 10, 2018
I don’t normally read Harlequin Desire books but took a chance on this one and was really surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Macy Tarlington is the daughter of famed actress Tina Tarlington. After her mom’s death, Macy was forced to sell her belongings to cover the debt her mom left. Those belongings included 3 diamond rings from each of Tina’s marriages. Macy considered those three rings cursed because of the heartbreak each marriage caused her mother.

At the caution Macy notices a tall, gorgeous cowboy. Focusing on him helped alleviate the pain of auctioning off her beloved mon’s belongings. The cowboy came to the auction for one thing, to but a diamond ring. The one he was going to use to propose to the woman that he’d been seeing for the past year.

Things did not go as planned and Carter found himself jilted and rescuing a terrified Macy from the paparazzi. Learning her story, he offered her a bolt hole on his ranch in Wild Water, Texas.

While there, Macy finds a home and she finds friends in the people there. It brings her the peace she needed but it also brought her an amazing time with Carter and the one thing she never expected, love.

I really enjoyed the sweetness of this story and the lack of drama. It was just a good old fashioned romance with a tiny bit of angst thrown in to spice things up.

The secondary characters, Bill, Mara and my favorite guy in the book, Rocky were all well fleshed out and real. Since this is the first book I’ve read in the series, I don’t know if “Bill” is a recurring character, under different guides maybe. But I get the feeling that he is. Now I will have to find the other books and read them to see if my hunch is correct. :D

Glad I read this book, and now I may just give the Desire books a chance.

Profile Image for Mary.
805 reviews32 followers
March 6, 2024
Es una lectura ligerita para pasar el rato. Puede ayudarlos a salir de un bloqueo lector. El final es un poco predecible, pero por lo demás, es un lindo romance.
Profile Image for Evie.
412 reviews200 followers
October 3, 2015
As cowboys go... Carter McCay made me swoon!

Carter is ready to propose and he wants the perfect ring to do so. A dear friend asks a favor of him and he's got no other choice than to go the auction he hadn't wanted to. Then again, he is after the perfect ring and the auction has a choice of three perfect ones. The last thing he expects is for his world to be turned upside down the very next day. He proposes, but his intended declines with a BIG FAT NO. Oh my God!!! I loved this dialogue. I could hear his Texan drawl, every time he said "excuse me". After that let down, he swears he's done and he never ever wants to propose again. He never wants to get married or have kids. Of course that only lasts until he meets Macy. Then things change.

Macy is a Hollywood starlet who is broke. Her mom died and as if that weren't enough she's got two lawsuits and many debts to pay. So, she decides to auction all of her mother belongings to settle all debts and be free, while she figures what she wants to do the rest of her life. The paparazzis, annoying as only they can be, don't leave her alone. In her cry of help, Carter comes to her rescue. What should've ended a few minutes later turns into a safe hideaway from the rest of the world for her.

I loved, loved, loved this story. I knew I was going to like it, but never did I imagine I'd like it as much as I did. I don't really read cowboys, not because I don't like I just hardly ever come across any. But OMG, this cowboy and Hollywood (that is Carter's nickname for Macy) made me laugh, aawww, say "you tell her Carter", "well played Macy". I can go on and on, but all I can say again is I'll be reading more of Charlene Sands for sure.


Blurb:
Sold to the Sexy Cowboy For Macy Tarlington, the only good part of seeing her legendary mother's possessions sold at auction is ogling Carter McCay, the tall Texan who buys the famous diamond ring. Even better is seeing him again when he rescues her from the paparazzi like a white knight in a Stetson.

Carter whisks her to safety at Wild River Ranch, hiding her identity by day and lusting after her by night. Yes, he's sworn off love. But with the Hollywood runaway starring in his every fantasy, Carter may find Macy too much temptation-even for a hard-hearted cowboy.
387 reviews5 followers
October 7, 2012
For Macy Tarlington, the only good part of seeing her legendary mother's possessions sold at auction is ogling Carter McCay, the tall Texan who buys the famous diamond ring. Even better is seeing him again when he rescues her from the paparazzi like a white knight in a Stetson.

Carter whisks her to safety at Wild River Ranch, hiding her identity by day and lusting after her by night. Yes, he's sworn off love. But with the Hollywood runaway starring in his every fantasy, Carter may find Macy too much temptation—even for a hard-hearted cowboy.

This book is part of Harlequin's The Highest Bidder series. It is better than the Maureen Child one where the series is set up, but it still likes depth. We learn a bit more about Roark Waverly and the Gold Heart, but again this was just a brief mention. There needs to be a strong connection to the Roark story or else just treat this as a good modern western story. Don't mix the two styles/genres.
Profile Image for Christine Ashworth.
Author 36 books286 followers
August 12, 2012
This book has a little bit of everything in it that I love. Auction houses, New York City, Hollywood, cowboys, huge cattle ranches... Wealthy rancher Carter McCay hits up the auction house to buy one of the famous Tarlington diamond rings. He gets a ring, but not the girl...Macy Tarlington just wants to hide, and grieve, until the hoopla around the auction of her legendary actress mother's things dies down.

Carter rescues Macy from a flock of paparazzi and invites her to escape to Wild River Ranch. She accepts this offer from a stranger, and both of their lives are changed forever. These two wounded people find the space and time on the ranch to heal and, finally, to reach out to each other. This is a jewel of a book, filled with enjoyable secondary characters, surprises and delights as well as two strong main characters. I enjoyed every inch of their romance.
Profile Image for Tali.
470 reviews4 followers
October 4, 2013
A nice story about the daughter of a famous actress, Macy, hiding out on a ranch with a gorgeous cowboy, Carter, and gradually falling in love with him. I understand that this is part of a series, which makes sense given that some parts of the story regarding one of Carter's ex-Marine friends is left completely hanging at the end (somewhat disappointing as I don't tend to read these in order), but apart from that the story is engaging and the main characters are sweet.
4 stars for a pleasant, easy read.
Profile Image for Lori Howe.
294 reviews12 followers
September 9, 2012
Who wouldn't want a cowboy with a fat diamond ring? (sigh). A series of connected stories, but NOT story lines. You will have no problem reading individually without feeling like you've missed something in another book. You can see a hint of a connection if you've read the others, but nothing overt.
Profile Image for Virgínia Mareco.
86 reviews
September 1, 2015
A fluid literature, a novel that entertains, a storyline with some interesting images: a few more hours dreaming about utopias.
In Portuguese, it is entitled: «Sedução requintada».

Uma literatura fluída, uma novela que entretém, um enredo com algumas imagens interessantes: mais umas horas a sonhar com utopias.
Em português, intitula-se: «Sedução requintada».
Profile Image for Ruth Chestnut.
23 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2012
This book by Charlene Sands in The Highest Bidder series is a great read. The sale of the diamond rings and the thought by Macy that they were cursed was a great attention grabber. I thought at first that Bill was a reporter, but glad that he wasn't. You'll enjoy this story when you read it.
Profile Image for Ada .
451 reviews27 followers
April 21, 2014
Muy buena eta historia, me faltaba para completar la serie
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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