PRIVATE AFFAIRS

From the author of Deceptions (1982) and Possessions (1984), another lanolin romancer--this time involving a marriage blasted in its second decade by the siren call of Fame and Power. It's set mainly in cozy Santa Fe and big, bad Houston. Elizabeth and Matt first meet Keegan Rourke, a Houston heavy complete with a ""square chin with a cleft"" (that hallmark of ballsy power), at their wedding. It is Rourke, who 18 years later, will break up the couple's happy journalistic (and marital) partnership. Meanwhile, they make a tiny splash with their very own newspaper, the Chieftain, where Matt is editor in chief and Elizabeth turns out weekly interview profiles with an emotional whammy--""Private Affairs."" Both adore their children, Peter and Holly, Then: enter the Rourkes. Tony, Keegan's son, is now a media superstar who had an affair with Elizabeth when she was a mere 17. Rourke père is an even bigger wig than he was at the wedding, and lures Matt with a giant offer of a post as publisher of 30 Southwest sheets--a power base of tremendous scope and potential. But what about Elizabeth? Well, there's her ""Private Affairs"" gig, now nationally syndicated. She's a celeb and Matt's a wheel. . .but what has happened to their partnership? Two lustful scavengers swoop in--iron-thighed Nicole for Matt, who is now a power-happy Houstonite; and sly Tony for Elizabeth, who's heard about Nicole. Later, something nasty and fishy is going on with a land deal in a Santa Fe valley; and Tony, given the boot, has his baggy eye on Holly. It all sorts out for the final reunion clinch. Relatively glitteless, but should glide smoothly to a predictably sizable audience.