title: The Magnificent Agony
author: Barrett, Barbara Ann
description: Susan, a beautiful former Hollywood movie actress, and Ted, her handsome husband, a retired Cal Berkeley swimming coach, are the envy of the neighborhood. But within the walls of their glamorous and beautifully decorated home, they harbor a secret. The passion is gone. Their friends, Jack and Beverly Edwards, suspect the truth, but good manners keep their suspicions in the shadows of their curiosity. They know the malaise of a long-term relationship all too well. They love one another but no longer make love. As both couples struggle to maintain appearances, Ted and Beverly fall desperately and secretly in love. At least, they think it's a secret. When Beverly confirms Ted's impossible secret-the same secret that always brought Susan back to him-she doesn't know how to react. Mired in guilt and terrified that Jack and Susan will learn of their affair, Beverly does the unthinkable: she reaches out to her friend and rival. Following a shaky truce, the two women devise an audacious and exciting scheme to save both of their marriages by opening them up. But in order for their new plans to succeed, the two women must convince Jack, a pragmatic and traditional ex-cop, to join in. Susan manages to get him to try, but the first experiment is a disaster. It will take all of their considerable feminine wiles to lure him back for a second session. Can two fading and mature relationships be reborn in the exhilarating new passions of erotic polyamorous exploration?