“How did it go with your mum and dad?” I asked, because I knew he’d chickened out of coming out to them three weeks on the trot, but he’d said yesterday was going to be the day.
“Um… Chickened out again,” he confessed, and we both laughed.
Spencer arrived with his new girlfriend – who isn’t too bad, actually. OK, I admit, she’s great – bubbly and quirky, and definitely more right for him than me.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” she told me.
“I swear it’s all good,” Spencer added.
Then … the Feminazi turned up!
“It will be very interesting to have some competition up the road,” she said. “But I couldn’t think of a better person to be up against.” She smiled. “I knew you had it in you, Remy.”
“Thanks, Kara,” I gasped.
And it was in the middle of talking to her that I saw him standing just inside the door, smiling at me, still in possession of those bloody gorgeous lips.
Stephen? I thought. And I began to feel angry about all the unreturned calls. In my head I wanted to walk up to him, slap him in the face black-and-white-movie-style and say, “You cad!” But in my heart I couldn’t help thinking, Is that you? Is that REALLY you?
I walked up to him, playing it cool, even stopping to say thanks for coming to a few guests. Then when I was finally standing in front of him, I tried to calm my heart – which was now pounding through my chest – by cracking a joke. “Hi, stranger. I almost didn’t recognize you without the crutches.”
“You did it, Remy,” he said. “And I’m really proud of you.”
He looked at me and my insides started tingling, and all the hurt formed a huge lump in my throat.
“You know,” I began, trying not to cry, “you really should have given me a chance to explain.”
“I’ve thought of nothing else for the last month,” he replied. “And I’m hoping you’ll forgive me, Remy, because I’ve missed you. I’d love us to try again… If you’re up for it, of course.”
And then Stephen Campbell put his mouth on mine and kissed me in front of the entire room.
NOW, I thought, I know the meaning of perfect.
Scan the code to read Remy’s business plan:
Acknowledgements
With thanks to:
KT Forster
Helen McAleer
Gill Evans
Emma Lidbury
Annalie Grainger
Alice Burden and the rest of the PR team
Jo Humphreys-Davies and the marketing team
Kate Beal
Fiona MacDonald
Paul Rhodes
Sean Moss
Jas Chana and everyone at GoSpoken
Mark Hodgson and Blackberry
Ruth Harrison and The Reading Agency
Caroline Odland
Tim Holloway
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Paradise
________________________________________________________________________________
everybody has a secret
When Billie inherits her grandmother’s house,
it’s a fairy tale come true. Maybe she can find
the father she’s never met. But moving back
to her mum’s childhood home dredges up
secrets – and Billie soon discovers that people
may die, but the past lives for ever.
“Billie Paradise is looking for a place to belong,
and finds herself tangled up with the ghosts
of the past… Beautifully written, emotionally
powerful, a novel you won’t forget.”
Cathy Cassidy
________________________________________________________________________________
SOME GIRLS ARE
GLAMOROUS, BEAUTIFUL …
AND DEADLY
If Callie Carson is found kneeling by the dead body of
Katherine Remington-Day with a bloody knife in her hand,
she must be the murderer – mustn’t she…?
Joining the in-crowd is tough.
Leaving is a killer.
LONG REACH
________________________________________________________________________________
“WE FOUND HIM FACE DOWN IN THE MUD AT LONG REACH.
NEAR THE DARTFORD BRIDGE.
LOOKS LIKE HE MIGHT HAVE JUMPED OFF.”
EDDIE SAVAGE makes two shocking
discoveries in quick succession.
One: his brother, Steve, has been working undercover.
Two: Steve is dead.
Eddie Refuses To Believe That His Hero Elder Brother Killed Himself,
And There’s Only One Way To Find Out The Truth: Follow His Footsteps.
There’s a job: to infltrate the notoriously violent Kelly family.
There’s a girl: the boss’s daughter – Beautiful, Sexy, Dangerous.
Before long, Eddie is up to his neck in Kelly business … and sinking fast.
A gritty, glamorous thriller with a heart-stopping, brutal conclusion.
Quick Response bar codes are the ultimate tool for
accessing extra content. First, go to http://gettag.mobi
on your phone to download the Microsoft Tag Reader
application. Then use the app to scan the bar codes
throughout this book.
Scan the code below to watch a video of
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used
fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information
and material of any other kind contained herein are included for
entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for
accuracy or replicated, as they may result in injury.
First published 2011 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2011 Michelle Gayle
Cover design by Walker Books Ltd
Shoes provided by Miss Selfridge (www.missselfridge.com)
The right of Michelle Gayle to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any
form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior
written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-3544-6 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-4063-3545-3 (ePDF)
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