When executive desk toys first began to appear, they tended to be ornamental gadgets made from such endlessly fascinating materials as sand and magnets. The Newton's Cradle or Executive Ball Clicker, which demonstrates physics principles of momentum and energy, has been sold since the 1960s.

His survival in the open ocean was a miracle; he had fully expected to die.

The memories of his ordeal had ridden shotgun with him the whole trip, but it was easier here, easier to worry about his father and Kate and this stupid marriage pact than to face what he'd left in Texas.

to strengthen one's grip on a company