Velvet glove - Emma Holly

Audrey Popkin realises she has bitten off more than she can chew when she gets embroiled with icy-cool banker, Sterling Foster. His ideas about how to have fun are more bizarre than any English Literature graduate should have to put up with! One morning she packs her bags and walks out of his luxury Florida apartment, heading back to Washington DC in search of a more regular deal with a more regular guy. But, for a girl like Audrey, this is not as easy as it sounds.

When Patrick Dugan, the charismatic owner of an old-world bar with a talent for mixing the smoothest cocktails, fixes Audrey in his sights, some strange alliances are about to be formed. Within a week Audrey talks her way into a job at Patrick's bar and a room in the apartment he shares with a drag queen jazz singer called Basil - who has a great line in platinum wigs. Audrey soon realises that Patrick is not all he seems. Why is he pretending to be gay? And what is he covering up for his father, a pillar of the local community? Audrey is so besotted with the enigmatic barman that she doesn't realise they are connected by a mutual adversary - a steely, cold-hearted son of a bitch who will take them all down if he doesn't get his little plaything back.

A fast-paced tale of everyday, amoral folk and the delicious cocktails they drink!