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If The Dress Fits: a delightfully uplifting romantic comedy!
Daisy James
She might be the most famous person in the country, but no one even knows her name…Callie’s exquisite, glittering silk gown has been shortlisted for the celebrity wedding of the year. But just as all her dreams are coming true, disaster strikes!Leaving behind the bright lights of London, Callie is forced to return home to sleepy Althorpe. And there’s one man she hopes to avoid – the childhood sweetheart who turned her life upside down. But now she’s back, is it finally time to stop running?Yet, as Callie faces her past, a Cinderella-like hunt begins for that perfect, pearl-embroidered dress, mysteriously submitted without a name…What readers have been saying about Daisy James:‘In The Runaway Bridesmaid, Daisy James delivers a stunning debut novel, with beautifully constructed sentences, swift-flowing plotlines, oodles of love and dollops of delights that were masterfully stirred with engaging characters.’ ― The Nest of Books‘The Runaway Bridesmaid is a great novel that any true romantic will love. A woman torn between two men, romance on the cards and mouth-watering food! What more could a girl ask for!’ ―By The Letter Book Reviews‘One of the finest written romances I have ever read…I will certainly be looking out for any future stories by this exceptionally talented author!’ ― Splashes Into Books‘Sweet and romantic…just the thing when you want a feel-good read to leave you with a smile on your face!’ ― Portybelle
She might be the most famous person in the country…but no one knows her name!
Celebrity actress Lilac Verbois is holding a competition to design her dress for the Wedding of the Year…and Callie’s exquisite, glittering silk gown has been shortlisted. But just as all her dreams are coming true, disaster strikes and she rushes home – forgetting to submit the forms!
Years ago, when Callie left sleepy Althorpe for the bright lights of London, she never expected to return. And there’s one man in particular she’d hoped never to see again, Theo, the childhood-sweetheart-turned-rock-God who turned her life upside down. But now she’s back, she realises it’s finally time to stop running…and face her past.
Yet, little does Callie know, Lilac Verbois has begun a Cinderella-like hunt for that perfect, pearl-embroidered wedding dress, mysteriously submitted without a name…
A heartwarming romantic comedy guaranteed to sweep you off your feet, If the Dress Fits is one story you don’t want miss in 2016!
If the Dress Fits
Daisy James
Copyright (#ulink_bcb03c62-befb-5032-a950-b3bb797dfe58)
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016
Copyright © Daisy James 2016
Daisy James 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.
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, downloaded, 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.
E-book Edition © June 2016 ISBN: 9781474049580
Version date: 2018-06-20
DAISY JAMES is a Yorkshire girl transplanted to the north-east of England. She loves writing stories with strong heroines and swift-flowing plotlines. She has written two novels, The Runaway Bridesmaid and If the Dress Fits, both contemporary romances with a dash of humour. When not scribbling away in her peppermint-and-green summerhouse (garden shed), she spends her time sifting flour and sprinkling sugar and edible glitter. She loves gossiping with friends over a glass of something pink and fizzy or indulging in a spot of afternoon tea – china plates and teacups are a must!
Daisy would love to hear from readers via her Facebook page or you can follow her on twitter @daisyjamesbooks (https://twitter.com/daisyjamesbooks).
A huge thank you to my family and friends for their love and understanding (and tea and cake) when I’m holed up in my writer’s cave. I promise to make it up to you.
And a special thank you to the team at Carina UK, especially my editor, Charlotte, for their support and encouragement as well as the gorgeous book covers! It’s a pleasure to work with such lovely people.
To Mum and Dad,
for instilling in me a love of reading
Contents
Cover (#uc67722d6-a935-58fa-8b27-41f5e17de11d)
Blurb (#uc411714f-2b00-5d5c-b7dd-2d49d29cc9b7)
Title Page (#uf663cdc4-d6f7-5ca6-b696-aa3568aecaad)
Copyright (#u92bf0391-fd1e-5fdb-8f4a-1117c1897081)
Author Bio (#u2c4a848f-4ecf-565e-9f09-ebd8126fe797)
Acknowledgement (#ueb3a7d07-5fe3-5264-9caa-800462bc91ca)
Dedication (#uc5791987-005c-5f70-862c-dbf330d31bfe)
Prologue (#u2bd3a49d-e998-577e-a330-03ec0fee5b4a)
Chapter One (#u27dbe225-5bc9-5632-bdc7-d8b62f9a3dcb)
Chapter Two (#u55f1a9d8-dbd1-5a3c-9a91-7ee3bd985f42)
Chapter Three (#ufcf729d4-1b83-5f9e-a775-ab540a9c6081)
Chapter Four (#u3d893ffa-f327-5a15-91bd-39a830f9ecfe)
Chapter Five (#u89eed2cf-8eb1-5362-af40-60d89357bae5)
Chapter Six (#u57e221c3-f8fa-58c3-bffa-7fdb574d8288)
Chapter Seven (#uf8c391c0-cfa2-536c-a5b1-e3528f4155b9)
Chapter Eight (#u2e302ab8-5ba2-5e5d-b3ef-91aa9221a4c0)
Chapter Nine (#u1cdf5d4a-79ee-57b4-95b4-ced0b27b2edd)
Chapter Ten (#u300b2738-f102-5e7a-93be-1d0b3a8f22f4)
Chapter Eleven (#u45ace689-58a1-5c1c-abf5-706a3fcd1926)
Chapter Twelve (#u01e22aac-9b06-5254-a2d5-80392c94c7ec)
Chapter Thirteen (#ucaf748ca-73bd-5f83-880f-dd4468a3ca33)
Chapter Fourteen (#u0853758a-2ad5-5a6c-b085-eb3cefedeb54)
Chapter Fifteen (#u5b6e6bf1-8e3b-5722-bf9d-707c06e50f1f)
Chapter Sixteen (#u7c6ae7f4-e871-5b47-b140-3b01856a55fb)
Chapter Seventeen (#ucab59323-9c50-5713-9138-cfe76f98d9b1)
Chapter Eighteen (#u4aa43ae3-58dd-5a11-9db9-f520070e9233)
Chapter Nineteen (#ub080d9ad-0b0f-543a-8ff0-e2fb4ebae169)
Chapter Twenty (#u68d5f3c3-266e-533e-8abb-bc9cde3d3013)
Chapter Twenty-One (#u7b4129b7-669c-514c-b01a-634957b09486)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#uacee4e7b-738d-5773-9328-969cca1034b3)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#ubd066c43-e378-5d52-ab13-d3fcd588d2b5)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#u98bca29c-47fd-5726-84c1-f6f62058f800)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#ub3c8f765-0834-55de-9db7-3e5cd14c63eb)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#uc62ecd2e-b7e5-5db5-97d7-3c1e3da89921)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#u213b39ff-d45e-5e0a-ad18-c8b48c8cc169)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#u0cf6451a-9e9d-5204-9ec9-81e5eb1b5109)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#ud84016d2-3c23-5105-9db0-664f68750e16)
Epilogue (#u306c51e7-7126-553a-8d42-0fc456905f8e)
Excerpt (#udc9ee24c-4d38-58ce-8e37-e4f0b142308b)
About the Publisher (#ua4ced815-d6c6-5158-be46-04685fd9350a)
Prologue (#ulink_047060d2-1acd-5b31-b065-46476138e722)
Twelve years ago
‘Do you think I should get my nose pierced, Callie?’
‘No way! Your mum would kill you.’
‘My mum is not the boss of me.’
‘She is when you’re fourteen years old and you have to sit opposite her at the dinner table every night as she tuts and rolls her eyes at you and generally despairs about what teenagers call fashionable nowadays. Or worse, she could bang on about all those infections people get from body jewellery that she comes across every day on the wards. Gross.’
‘Killjoy. Hey, turn the radio up – I love this song!’
‘Boring! Robbie Williams is old enough to be your dad! What is he, like, forty?’
‘Thirty. So what, if he’s gorgeous?’
Callie spun from her stomach into a sitting-up position – no mean feat when she had just finished painting both her fingernails and toenails in a delectable shade of fuchsia – and cast her eyes over the posters plastered across every spare inch of Nessa’s bedroom walls. She even had a Robbie Williams pillow, for God’s sake. Crushfest or what?
Nessa finished her off-key rendition of ‘Millennium’ on a high note. With a theatrical swoon, she dropped down from her bed onto the sheepskin rug next to Callie, her bare feet swinging in the air behind her, her chin cupped in her palms as she studied Callie’s pencil sketch.
‘Wow, that’s stunning, Callie. I’m definitely booking you to design my wedding dress.’
‘For when you marry Robbie, right?’
‘Yep. Look.’
Nessa reached underneath her bed and hauled out a large square box decorated with a collage of wedding scenes she’d cut from sheets of wrapping paper. On the lid Nessa had glued a glossy photo of her idol.
‘So you’ve relegated Seb to second place, have you?’
‘Your cousin is gorgeous, Callie, but, well, this is Robbie Williams we’re talking about!’
Callie giggled. These Sunday afternoons at Nessa’s house were what she looked forward to all week. They’d established a routine whereby each week they’d add something new to their wedding scrap boxes. This week it was veils and headpieces and that morning she’d found a heavenly tiara in one of the Sunday supplements. She passed the cutting over for Nessa’s valued opinion.
‘What do you think?’
‘Exquisite taste as usual, Callie-Louise, fashion designer to the stars. And I see Theo is still in residence.’ Nessa pointed to the picture sellotaped to the lid of Callie’s own wedding scrap box. ‘There are loads of other guys to choose from, you know.’
‘But I’m dating Theo. And I’m going to marry him!’
‘No one meets their soulmate when they’re fourteen, Callie.’
‘I’ve known Theo since I was ten, Nessa. He’s been Seb’s best friend and partner in crime since the day they liberated Gordon the gerbil from his home in Miss Porter’s reception class.’
‘But you’ve got to spread your wings, try a few more before you buy.’
Callie tossed a fluffy cushion at her best friend. ‘Hey, stop dissing my boyfriend. Anyhow, you’re just jealous!’
‘You got me there. It’s true – he’s hot!’
Nessa collected her imaginary microphone, flung her auburn curls over her shoulder, and struck a pose on top of her duvet, her recently applied emerald nail polish glittering in the afternoon light that bleached through her bedroom window.
‘Listen up all you music fans out there! Mr Theo Dalton Drake, seventeen-year-old heartthrob and lead singer in up-and-coming teenage rock band The Razorclaws, is taken! Yes, you heard right! The hunk with hair the colour of sand washed in warm summer sunshine, the cutest chin this side of Leeds and a body to die for has fallen for his childhood sweetheart, Callie-Louise Henshaw.
‘When asked to comment, Miss Henshaw clasped her chest and informed the braying paparazzi, ‘Oh my, I just knew we were destined to be together when – aged only ten – our eyes met across the headteacher’s office after we’d been found snogging in the bushes. Stay tuned, Peeps, for details of our helpline number!’
Callie rolled her eyes at her BFF, but her smile was as wide as an actress’s in a toothpaste commercial.
Chapter One (#ulink_273a5ab4-4ea0-5755-ae82-bb62b4a9f45f)
