Having had 46 previous bestsellers, Danielle Steel knows a good plot recipe when she's got one--namely, take a smart, beautiful woman who is dissatisfied with her loving but stuffy husband, add a romantic, usually older man with a true appreciation of her inner soul, then sit back and watch the melodrama unfold. In this latest novel, our heroine Meredith Whitman is a career-driven investment banker, our husband Steve a sweet physician, and our other man, Cal Dow, a high-tech business Midas. When Cal offers Meredith the perfect job in San Francisco, Steve encourages her to move across country, and promises to follow her as soon as he can. Meredith and Steve's marriage begins to crack under the pressures of the distance, and soon "irresistible forces" come into play. Don't expect profundity, although Danielle Steel can make even the most sordid affairs seem romantic, or at least entertaining. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

For fourteen years, Steve and Meredith Whitman have sustained a marriage of passion and friendship. Meredith,an investment banker, has achieved partnership in one of Wall Street"s top firms. Steve, a gifted physician,chose an urban trauma ward over big money. The only thing missing in their lives is children. Steve longs for them. But Meredith isn"t ready, especially now that she has been offered a top position at an exciting high-tech company in San Francisco. Meredith is thrilled when Steve urges her to accept. Traditionally, men"s careers force families to move to new cities. But Steve is more than willing to uproot himself, saying he"ll join her as soon as he can. Perhaps in California, he hopes, they can begin their family at last.

Neither Steve nor Meredith had reckoned on the frus-trations of a bi-coastal marriage. Weekends together fall prey to their hectic schedules. Alone in San Francisco,Meredith is spending long hours at the office with her charismatic boss. Steve is working late shifts at the hospital, grabbing an occasional dinner with a new colleague. Almost unnoticed, Steve and Meredith have begun living separate lives. And despite the best of intentions, irresistible forces begin to tear them apart.Danielle Steel explores what happens when lives that fit together like delicately balanced puzzles are shifted and drift apart. Only time can tell who and what they will become as life sweeps them onward. Who survives, how well they survive, and if love survives, is at the core of Irresistible Forces.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21