[…] Lady Tipper […] shook her head in wounded defiance of all the carpers and whiners.

Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

But if he does know his buttonology, there is much pleasure and profit for him in amateur picture-taking.

The trout slap had given him the idea of how to go about getting what he wanted from Hannah Mayfield.