Even though my cheeks were chilled by the faint spray drifting across from the fountain spot-lit with coloured lights, inside a special warmth filled me, radiating sheer bliss. Next to me Christelle, bundled in a cashmere scarf and bobble, caught my eye and smiled, her bright red lipstick etching her mouth in a serene smile. She winked before turning to mouth something to Guillaume who gave a small give-away start and pulled her closer to him.
I nodded upwards and her gaze followed mine and then, with a mutual smile, we both lifted our faces up to the sky waiting for our angel kisses. Smiling to myself, I snuggled into Marcus who responded by turning me round and putting both arms around me, pulling me closer into his body. A tingle raced through me, sparked by recent memories of his touch. His lips traced a path down from my forehead, kissing the tip of my nose before planting themselves with a searing kiss on my mouth.
This was shaping up to be one of the best Christmases ever although Marcus’s present was as yet un-tested. We’d been somewhat pre-occupied by other things, involving unwrapping each other’s layers, literally and figuratively speaking.
Distracted by a sudden thought, I pulled back and gnawed at my lip. He’d gone all the way to Croydon to buy the perfect present and I hadn’t got him anything. If only I’d got him those cufflinks.
I realised he was looking down into my face, his handsome face softened with a tender look that made me want to pull him close and keep him there forever. Reliable and steady, serious and grave by turns, he was everything that I could ever wish for and hadn’t known I wanted. Suddenly my words came back to me, ‘The best presents are things you didn’t know you wanted but you love them.’ There was one thing that I could give him, to seal this perfect moment. I grabbed the tail ends of his scarf and tugged, before standing on tip-toe to whisper, ‘I love you.’
Acknowledgements
I was inspired to write this book by dear friends, Alan Garner and Julie Price, classical musicians respectively with the Royal Opera House and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. With no knowledge of their world, I wondered what it would it be like to have a job that was as much your passion as your work.
Not having a musical bone in my body, I decided to borrow their work setting but make my heroine, Tilly, a make-up artist, which wasn’t such a stretch as both my parents worked in TV and I’ve spent a lot of time working back stage helping with hair and make-up on many amateur productions as a volunteer.
I had a huge amount of fun doing all the research and massive thanks to Alan through whom I was able to visit the Royal Opera House several times, to see behind the scenes and attend the ‘generals’, which are the ROH’s dress rehearsals, open to friends and family. Special thanks also go to the amazing Claudia Stolze, Head of Wigs and Make-up at the ROH at the time, who let me spend a morning with her team and gave me some invaluable insight into wig-making and what goes on behind the scenes in the make-up department. Her passion and enthusiasm were completely inspiring.
Although based in Covent Garden, my opera company, the London Metropolitan Opera Company, is completely fictional and any mistakes I’ve made describing the running of a theatrical company are all my own.
I’d also like to pay tribute to all the amateur back stage crew around the country who work for sheer love, especially all those volunteers at my local theatre, Pendley Court in Tring, who dedicate hours of their time to bring together some fantastic productions and give so much to the local community.
Keep reading…
If you enjoyed Christmas in Covent Garden, then why not dip in to some of Jules Wake’s other fantastic novels:
From Rome with Love
Escape to the Riviera
From Paris with Love this Christmas
From Italy with Love
About the Author
Jules’ earliest known declaration that she planned to be a writer came at the age of ten.
Along the way she was diverted by the glamorous world of PR and worked on many luxury brands, taking journalists on press trips to awful places like Turin, Milan, Geneva, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam and occasionally losing the odd member of the press in an airport. It gave her the opportunity to eat amazing food, drink free alcohol as well as providing opportunities to hone her writing skills on press releases and to research European cities for her books.
Eventually the voices in her head persuaded her it was time to sit down and write the novel she’d always talked about. Her debut novel, Talk to Me in 2014, was quickly followed by the best selling From Italy With Love, published by HarperImpulse which reached the top ten in the Amazon Kindle charts. This was followed by From Paris With Love This Christmas and more recently, the best-selling Escape to the Riviera published by Avon in June this year.
@juleswake
www.juleswake.co.uk
About HarperImpulse
HarperImpulse is an innovative, award-winning digital imprint. In the four years since launch, we have continually hit digital bestseller lists, hosted the UK’s first online romance festival, published into over ten countries and grown an exciting stable of commercial women’s fiction authors.
Readers, come and say hi to the team and your next read…
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Writers, our vision is to publish the very best in digital-first commercial women’s fiction and we are simply looking for good stories! So, what are you waiting for? To submit, e-mail us at harperimpulse@harpercollins.co.uk.
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