Тилли Бэгшоу – Friends and Rivals (страница 1)
TILLY BAGSHAWE
Copyright
HarperCollins
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright © Tilly Bagshawe 2012
Tilly Bagshawe asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
FIRST EDITION
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007326532
Ebook Edition © September 2012 ISBN: 9780007341894
Version: 2016-08-31
For my children: Sefi, Zac, Theo and Summer.
Contents
Keep Reading page for THE INHERITANCE
About the Publisher
CHAPTER ONE
Catriona Charles sucked in her stomach as hard as she could and yanked on the zip of her burgundy velvet dress. It had fitted her perfectly when she’d bought it in Oxford four weeks ago, but now voluptuous folds of flesh seemed to be creeping out everywhere, like excess pastry flopping over the top of a pie dish. Tomorrow, without fail, she would go on a diet. No more Hobnobs. Or cheese. And she would cut out booze for a month. Well, perhaps not a whole month. Two weeks would probably be enough to make a difference.
‘Can I help? Two hands are better than one.’
Ivan Charles, Catriona’s husband of fifteen years, walked up behind her. Pulling the two sides of fabric together, he pulled the zip to the top and fastened the hook and eye.
‘There.’ He smiled triumphantly. ‘You look gorgeous.’
He was right. With her tangle of honey-blonde hair, full, sensual lips and intelligent green eyes, not to mention a pair of breasts that many girls half her age would have given their eye teeth for, at thirty-eight Catriona Charles was still an extremely attractive woman. Admittedly two kids, a fondness for gin and tonic and cheese on toast and a loathing of physical exercise in all its forms had allowed her figure to blossom a little