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Carrington’s at Christmas: The Complete Collection: Cupcakes at Carrington’s, Me and Mr Carrington, Christmas at Carrington’s, Ice Creams at Carrington’s
Alexandra Brown
The complete Carrington’s series – three novels in one ebook, CUPCAKES, CHRISTMAS and ICE CREAMS, along with a Carrington’s short story!In CUPCAKES, Georgie Hart loves her job running the luxury handbag concession at Carrington's Department store in the pretty seaside town of Mulberry, but is thrown into disarray when Carrington's is plunged into a recession-busting makeover. And when hot newcomer Tom arrives, who may or may not be the best thing since sliced bread, Georgie must decide where her loyalties really lie…ME AND MR CARRINGTON (short story): Georgie Hart can’t believe her luck. After a romantic Italian get-together, Georgie is brought back down to earth with a bump when she returns to work. But when she’s left open-mouthed by a revelation from one of her well-heeled customers, she wonders if she’s done her usual trick of adding two and two together to make five?Every CHRISTMAS, Georgie adores helping customers in the hunt for the perfect gift for the perfect someone. But Tom, the hunky Mr Carrington himself, springs a surprise: Carrington’s is getting a fresh lease of life in a hot new reality TV show, and as the first show airs, Georgie is shown in a far from flattering light. She fears this will be the worst Christmas ever, but Santa still has a little surprise for Georgie’s stocking this year – she’ll just have to wait until Christmas to find out…As summer rolls around in ICE CREAMS, Georgie Hart and Carrington’s Department Store have got the world at their feet and Georgie is in great demand. The town is holding a big summer festival and she and her mates from Carrington’s are planning on making sure that Mulberry puts on the show of its life! But Georgie is about to get the offer of a lifetime – one that is just too good to turn down and something that will test her loyalties to their limits… Will Georgie be able to pull off it off once again, or has her luck finally run out?
Carrington’s at Christmas: The Complete Collection
Cupcakes at Carrington’sMe and Mr CarringtonChristmas at Carrington’sIce Creams at Carrington’s
Alexandra Brown
Copyright
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2013, 2014
Copyright © Alexandra Brown 2013, 2014
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Alexandra Brown 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: 9780007488247, 9780007552535, 9780007488261, 9780007488285
Ebook Edition © December 2014 ISBN: 9780008115326
Version: 2014-10-17
Contents
Cover (#u13b6f530-4f92-5102-aa17-f96dc4b34afe)
Title Page (#uab571985-3cb2-50fd-9078-88ba6732f846)
Copyright (#u40705a02-33c2-517e-bfae-f176d2e13946)
Cupcakes at Carrington’s (#u90c9720f-0d46-5860-bbd1-eb1b0d203c72)
Me and Mr Carrington (#u444d5b1c-dad8-5b89-94d1-78c8bc251e0a)
Christmas at Carrington’s (#ua2489ba6-8504-5b4c-a359-4837a4aa0a03)
Ice Creams at Carrington’s (#uc6c845cf-80e0-570e-8d02-0ede2909d00b)
Keep Reading: The Great Christmas Knit off (#u88a7c4b4-5613-52ac-8cba-843c15bfff24)
About the Author (#u29d78575-1792-5f56-98e7-d919537aadcf)
Also by Alexandra Brown (#u2aff1a36-d320-5e0a-a882-532a73633fd4)
About the Publisher (#u30f2513c-4082-5100-b671-d3354ee27d15)
ALEXANDRA BROWN
Cupcakes at Carrington’s
For Paul and QT
Contents
Cover (#u90c9720f-0d46-5860-bbd1-eb1b0d203c72)
Title Page (#ud3c8d499-a52c-51c9-b2ab-7b097acb2407)
Dedication (#u76389f62-1284-5abb-933d-b5dfcd7ec0fb)
Chapter 1 (#u577c9f8c-e9e5-5803-be56-7ad5b37cb94b)
Chapter 2 (#ubf310fb5-bb69-579f-919f-215e23bf8c02)
Chapter 3 (#u4d39726d-2fe9-52d3-8409-fce4dbee1ad2)
Chapter 4 (#uf9ab8501-6aa9-5124-a3dd-726973ea07e3)
Chapter 5 (#ue457f791-acda-5c55-a031-c2160cabfa40)
Chapter 6 (#u0a185729-3a9a-548e-aab3-80e5a5ed74da)
Chapter 7 (#u496848b7-30fc-53bb-bd65-469d54973e3e)
Chapter 8 (#u1c6372d1-2ce5-5f7c-904e-83dd775ce470)
Chapter 9 (#u3aa43038-a4ec-5755-a358-3eda2b0cd258)
Chapter 10 (#uaf4b2e88-a5ad-59e9-afd6-dc319c137ae9)
Chapter 11 (#uaabe89e2-8bc0-5711-acc7-cc8c54914e26)
Chapter 12 (#u27886fa4-5afb-5dda-9b6d-ea427d8bd42c)
Chapter 13 (#ua7bad87b-2f6b-564c-991f-0099d5ff59ff)
Chapter 14 (#u0b4013bc-a9c3-56ea-b129-d064fc025300)
Chapter 15 (#ucc7b3750-5350-51c9-94ee-70633087d6dc)
Chapter 16 (#u6fa11473-fdae-51b2-8fb4-8202b8749003)
Chapter 17 (#u8f047895-5407-5ae2-8de0-021fdbd78413)
Chapter 18 (#ucd873aac-5b47-53a9-89cb-0c72701c9152)
Chapter 19 (#udfbb9f09-f030-543e-bb88-00c89cd11fc7)
Chapter 20 (#u2489c6ae-9646-538a-aef7-dce100815b33)
Chapter 21 (#u56a5a4f4-1beb-58d8-a9b6-00c7b134d145)
Chapter 22 (#u5300ab69-3c4e-5aab-a3ea-6378ea1c3a7c)
Chapter 23 (#u7ed7e616-48de-56be-b639-ed0ebbab7718)
Chapter 24 (#u8088e015-390e-50e7-8adb-54cce9366ac3)
Chapter 25 (#ufdc9fac3-20cc-50d5-9929-a256895c7ca2)
Chapter 26 (#u4b887d1b-a8fb-56c7-93f2-26c7654c1e0d)
Chapter 27 (#u7251043c-fb4c-5eb6-b620-a9c2c4782c82)
Chapter 28 (#u1702b0ee-9311-5ab0-83bf-8b054451d724)
Chapter 29 (#uad8c7926-12e5-5918-81cb-6faad6444c4b)
Chapter 30 (#u61b14344-d628-55ad-9589-6d58a6bda61c)
Chapter 31 (#u832989c1-e7cc-5228-9e0a-96d65e31fd99)
Chapter 32 (#uaf6860a4-689f-544a-b216-9e9a1db69dcb)
Chapter 33 (#uff7cb4d4-b7aa-5233-9213-c3f00d255057)
Chapter 34 (#u2751f55c-4595-5f1d-a806-b3439765b138)
Chapter 35 (#ua064df4e-35b5-50dc-b87f-4298e0fb855e)
Chapter 36 (#ucbe4c76c-4d1c-5aaf-95ac-07bf8051c322)
Chapter 37 (#u523d7501-bf59-520b-bedf-6b1d9c5ec51c)
Epilogue (#u9ace1bd3-35e8-58a4-bb6e-4678200bdf99)
In Conversation With Alexandra Brown (#uae5f5f70-816b-5ce5-8e34-152c8bda5c08)
Acknowledgments (#udcef2637-ffd8-599e-a8e3-6fd827d923a2)
Footnotes (#u1e6ea753-4ba5-5f24-ab73-c90a7f4023cf)
1
It’s Tuesday morning in Mulberry-On-Sea, and Eddie is glaring with disapproval at my New Look heels as I step inside the staff lift and close the metal concertina cage door.
‘You know I just saw Sam outside. That cupcake queen totally blanked me,’ he says, preening into the mottled mirror on the lift wall.
‘Oh you know Sam. She probably had her mind on other things like giant macaroon mountains or gold glitter sprinkles.’ The mention of Sam highlights my rumbling stomach so I make a mental note to pop up to her café on the fifth floor, Cupcakes at Carrington’s, for a red velvet cupcake with butter cream icing. My favourite. Mm-mmm. And a good catch-up on all the gossip of course. Sam overhears all kinds of stuff. When Cynthia from the florist down on Sunray Crescent was having it away with Trevor, the town sheriff, she was the first to know. Trevor’s sister is a regular in the café and blabs all the juicy details to her mate over a cream horn and a steamy hot chocolate. ‘I take it you had a good weekend?’ I add, glancing at Eddie in the mirror as I bouf up my shoulder-length brunette bob. Last night, I used those giant sleep-in rollers, but after getting caught in a sudden downpour on my way to work, it now looks more floppy spaniel ears than big hair fabulous.
‘Yes, so-so … went to an impromptu Sex and the City themed party on Sunday,’ he replies, in his best diva voice.
‘And let me guess, you were channelling your inner Samantha?’ I laugh, shaking my head. Eddie adores her character.
‘Of course.’ He waves an imperious hand in the air before turning towards me. ‘And I’m so glad I took Monday off. The pornstar cocktails were divine, but there’s a limit, even for me,’ he says, clutching the side of his head.
‘Never mind the pornstars, tell me about the men.’ I’m keen to hear about another one of his scandalous weekends, if only to take my mind off the one I spent alone.
‘Oh, wall-to-wall Carries of course,’ he sniffs.
‘Aaand …?’ I smile, fishing for more information.
‘Aaand what?’
‘You know … your “Smith” – was he there too? Come on, tell all, you know you want to.’ I give him a playful nudge of encouragement. He hesitates.
‘Nope.’ He looks away. ‘But it’ll be Valentine’s Day in six weeks or so. And … well, if he doesn’t want to spend it with me then it’s his loss,’ he adds with a flourish, before pulling a face.
‘I thought you two were totally loved-up?’ I say, steering the conversation away from the most romantic day of the year. It’s not that I don’t like being single. I do. Sometimes. And I’m only twenty-seven. But Valentine’s Day can be tricky. Especially when everyone else is bound to be whooping it up with ten-course taster menus followed by cosy strolls along the seafront under velvety moonlit skies, and I’m home alone with a bar of chocolate to keep me company. And unless my love life takes a serious upturn – I’ll be doing the same again this year. I think of the last Valentine’s Day I spent with Brett nearly two years ago, it was our third together. I’d felt happy and loved-up, blissfully unaware that I was going to be dumped within a few weeks. He left me for someone else – a tall blonde with big hair and a sylph-like figure compared to my average height and bootylicious curves, as Brett used to say. My heart constricts a little, but I’m over him. I force myself to concentrate on Eddie’s love life instead.
‘So did I.’ Eddie shrugs.
‘So what’s changed then?’
‘Well, not returning my calls for starters.’
‘I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. He’ll probably call you today,’ I say, knowing how sensitive Eddie can be.
‘Maybe …’ He looks away.
‘So what do you know then, Ed?’ I ask, quickly changing the subject. Eddie is the boss’s boy assistant – his BA. Unusual I know, but Walter Davenport, who’s the managing director of Carrington’s department store, where we work, didn’t earn his nickname ‘The Heff’, as in Hugh Hefner, for no reason. Whisper has it that after Walter’s wealthy heiress wife found out about his dalliance with yet another girl less than half his age, she imposed a lifelong ban on him having female PAs. This cued the arrival of Eddie, who is a voracious gossip queen. Rather fittingly he’s privy to all kinds of useful – and indeed sometimes useless but delicious anyway – snippets of information.
