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A Christmas Cracker: The only festive romance to curl up with this Christmas!
Trisha Ashley
This Christmas is about to go off with a bang!Things can’t possibly get worse for Tabby. Framed for her boss’s dodgy dealings, she’s landed up in prison. Then Tabby’s boyfriend dumps her and gives her cat away to a shelter.But rescue comes in the form of Mercy. A master of saving waifs and strays, Mercy wants Tabby to breathe new flair into her ailing cracker business. Together, they’ll save Marwood’s Magical Christmas Crackers.But someone’s not happy. Mercy’s nephew Randal thinks Tabby’s a fraudster. Stubborn, difficult and very attractive, her future depends upon winning him round. Standing under the mistletoe, Tabby’s Christmas is set to be one that she will never forget . . .
TRISHA ASHLEY
A Christmas Cracker
Copyright (#u8617280b-4f6d-5b41-95de-5b5d1562e730)
Published by Avon
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2015
Copyright © Trisha Ashley 2015
Trisha Ashley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
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.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9781847562807
Ebook Edition © October 2015 ISBN: 9780008133719
Version: 2018-02-08
Dedication (#u8617280b-4f6d-5b41-95de-5b5d1562e730)
For Grace
Table of Contents
Cover (#u40ecddd0-55eb-5faa-b72f-e2ed6d77bfa0)
Title Page (#u6b7bc6fd-4d89-53fb-8658-545393f37490)
Copyright (#u56d528a0-efa4-5062-907d-c1384642df26)
Dedication (#ue380cc3a-deed-5e1d-b163-5969528aa7f3)
Chapter 1: Bottled (#u3161b96d-21b0-5201-9985-d5a313e51300)
Chapter 2: Picture This (#u2f21d5a8-dc10-5fca-8a4b-abf2d20b4eef)
Chapter 3: Bang to Rights (#u41f882bd-70b4-5c3f-8c88-349bb55b5650)
Chapter 4: The Prisoner’s Friend (#u708c0138-b1c0-586b-a08e-8d842cad5f73)
Chapter 5: Engagements (#ud116efeb-3385-506a-82af-04c25e162b45)
Chapter 6: The Quality of Mercy (#ue1a7e1e0-ca33-5568-a99d-bb55982f07b8)
Chapter 7: Life of Pye (#u3f1bd267-4917-5aac-b859-2f807e2a61b1)
Chapter 8: Clouded Mirrors (#u5b738766-3b3c-59a0-9192-b7283c3e3d21)
Chapter 9: Rumbled (#uce42cdd5-f0d6-5589-a084-37e428e02587)
Chapter 10: Crumbs! (#ue21ffa37-c44b-5016-b8b5-bce6bdce50f5)
Chapter 11: Cat Flight (#uacbe116d-d219-543f-b121-1e8bc8638495)
Chapter 12: Christmas Lists (#u13627dd8-721c-55ca-9b86-c1ad43625287)
Chapter 13: Sleeping Beauty (#u22a6be22-ffd7-5710-a59e-79b0346fa777)
Chapter 14: Cat-Flap (#u9f1b4861-2860-581e-b3ed-5e5bf268eea2)
Chapter 15: Ghost Mice (#ua6b5312f-ac07-5237-89ff-45b874aa94ae)
Chapter 16: To the Point (#u380b5705-80f4-5bd4-9e35-ca44aed033c5)
Chapter 17: Reanimated (#u582f117d-c3ec-5e74-bd4a-130216a1b741)
Chapter 18: Potent (#uc41b91f7-29eb-535a-8764-ceaeb58dfaa4)
Chapter 19: Brief Encounters (#ufc4d6265-0af7-5a3a-8896-fee7f79d69a3)
Chapter 20: Fishy (#ud6bf584a-e5d6-55db-a5a4-f9e4d6a4c84b)
Chapter 21: Well Spiced (#uf817aba9-6693-52aa-bf74-a19ece514330)
Chapter 22: Thin Air (#u09afcbf5-d7b0-54a6-984b-553ee3c61f44)
Chapter 23: Fine-Tuned (#u54928944-0fe4-59e5-a204-dd712bf70e12)
Chapter 24: The House of Mirth (#u861e7468-95db-5274-8467-da33dc88b766)
Chapter 25: Going Spiral (#u4898a51d-ce85-5349-8a15-27feba89638f)
Chapter 26: Lukewarm (#u9cdb2435-2563-5713-a520-4d206968d2dd)
Chapter 27: Queen for the Day (#u244b08fa-9a83-5a74-9a90-1503e4af3bf2)
Chapter 28: Winding Up (#u5bd1ba11-3180-59bd-bba9-ec1399df9e51)
Chapter 29: Thrown (#u9ca4b080-66b2-50d7-a8b5-65a58f0f458f)
Chapter 30: Unfettered and Free (#ua96b56be-70d2-52f6-a937-6415750d73b9)
Chapter 31: Four-Legged Friends (#u91855094-7367-545d-bc1f-268c09190030)
Chapter 32: Out of the Box (#ub61e92a5-7ec9-573d-9542-b5ce60b484d6)
Chapter 33: Give Peace a Chance (#u88981451-4f3b-5db5-8362-d4f78c2b07c3)
Chapter 34: On the Tiles (#ud1b08e16-602f-5d58-b7cf-4a31e2d49c96)
Chapter 35: False Start (#u83ef5af9-1e28-597c-973d-77ba56cc4eb2)
Chapter 36: Charm Offensive (#u9ff3084c-916c-58dd-b4ef-36122341363d)
Chapter 37: An Absolute Cracker (#ufdb67dee-7ab6-51a0-8c0e-a590685cfcca)
Chapter 38: Give Me a Ring (#u3c37ca75-1240-5574-854a-8119fd30b205)
Chapter 39: Sweet Liberty (#u769fd30c-9f9b-5504-bdae-999b76758b19)
Chapter 40: Missed Connections (#u45293ff5-bf55-5905-a80a-c4b55ede565b)
Chapter 41: Spats (#ua7801b3a-c1b9-5fbb-9109-707fe98418b8)
Chapter 42: Not Waving (#ua1749fd3-dadc-5414-a518-4a26906fb8ea)
Chapter 43: Christmas Every Day (#u1dde81ad-7498-5deb-9456-7ab8d4eba843)
Chapter 44: Snowed Under (#ua281d9c0-4afe-5168-9d68-edd20a7f7d85)
Chapter 45: Guilt-Edged (#ua618775d-933f-52cb-8ac4-c0fa2ae8638d)
Chapter 46: Picture Perfect (#u1df91806-4003-5654-a168-93e8b0e363a3)
Chapter 47: True Lovers’ Knots (#u6030e255-df31-5998-88eb-2feb49ea56a3)
Chapter 48: Santa’s Little Helper (#ubc55b1a8-ce45-57bc-b618-f52e3707a72a)
Chapter 49: On the Case (#uf4e66425-af42-532d-986c-eb7f485b89ba)
Chapter 50: Fireworks (#ud25d17fb-7016-5dee-98aa-51acf61a314b)
Chapter 51: True Lies (#u13c5898c-5c75-5ea4-b257-8bbba685a547)
Chapter 52: Daggers Drawn (#ua7ae3680-5192-5de3-9e0b-245b95ee7edf)
Chapter 53: Advent (#u8762f297-8a0b-553a-b97c-0dfda04bf859)
Chapter 54: Box of Delights (#ud6fe3a83-ce0e-5444-8b07-f985b4f4727f)
Chapter 55: Hasty Pudding (#u2ffc9742-ef7c-59d5-a29d-bfca4a02f252)
Chapter 56: The Big Picture (#u2d16fa4b-69cb-5451-a601-eb85f2febe79)
Chapter 57: Crowned (#u594e58b1-4bbe-5b31-979b-b11bf2e7d2d3)
Recipes (#u943b1234-8305-5573-ad2e-353a3a296771)
Keep Reading … (#ubf9484e5-d9b4-5d4b-95f0-cc68bbb0b9a8)
About the Author (#u743c95f0-d998-5179-996a-92981cb63b1d)
By the same author (#u96454af1-5777-59c5-bccf-49b3a2f17c08)
About the Publisher (#ubbe826ef-66c5-523f-964e-0c25e8e8c969)
Chapter 1: Bottled (#u8617280b-4f6d-5b41-95de-5b5d1562e730)
‘You mean you’ve known for ages that your boss at Champers&Chocs was passing off bottles of cheap fizz as vintage champagne, and you haven’t done a single thing about it?’ Kate exclaimed incredulously, her pale blue eyes wide and a cup of herbal tea the exact colour of cat pee suspended halfway to her rose-tinted lips.
Kate was my opposite in looks, being small, fair and cute, though she wasn’t as cute as she thought she was, unless you were really fond of rabbits. And speaking of rabbits, she should long since have put her penchant for pale pink fluffy jumpers behind her, even if the angora had been ethically sourced, which I doubted.
I sighed and stirred my Americano, starting to wish I hadn’t said anything about it because, after all, she and her husband were Jeremy’s old friends, not mine, and she’d been less than welcoming when we’d first got engaged. But sometimes Kate and I would meet up for coffee and, that day being one of those occasions, my worries had spilled out of me the moment we’d sat down.
It wouldn’t have happened if I’d been able to tell my best friend, Emma, but since she’d remarried she’d increasingly been having problems of her own with her husband, Desmond, so I hadn’t wanted to burden her with mine.
Still, at least she wouldn’t have gazed at me in the sad, accusing way Kate was, when I looked up.
‘The idea that anything fraudulent was going on never crossed my mind until I found out by accident,’ I explained. ‘I mean, I don’t think I’d even seen a real bottle of champagne, other than on the TV, until I got engaged to Jeremy.’
‘No, I don’t suppose there are champagne bars on every corner of council estates,’ she said snidely. ‘Just cheap booze shops.’
For the last years of her life, Mum and I had shared a specially adapted council bungalow on a very nice estate, but Kate always talked as if I was dragged up in a slum and had made some giant social leap by getting engaged to a member of the teaching profession.
‘Oh, forget it,’ I snapped.
‘No, you can’t just leave it there without telling me how you found out and why you didn’t report it to the police,’ she insisted.
‘Because I thought it had stopped. It was before last Christmas, when I was packing special orders one evening and my boss and I were the only people there. There was a phone call and I walked into his office to tell him—’
