скачать книгу бесплатно
The Summer Of Sunshine And Margot
Susan Mallery
The Baxter sisters have only ever had one another – until one fateful summer when Sunshine and Margot turn disastrous luck into destiny… Etiquette coach Margot Baxter knows precisely how to manage wayward clients…until she comes face-to-exquisite-face with Bianca, an aging movie star notorious for her shock-and-awe tactics. Schooling Bianca on the fine art of behaving like a diplomat’s wife is the greatest challenge of Margot’s career. Soon secrets unravel that bring them closer together and force Margot to confront the truth: change doesn’t just happen. She has to be brave enough to demand the life – and love – she’s always wanted. For years, Sunshine has been the good-time sister, abandoning jobs to chase after dreams that will never come true. No more. She refuses to be "that girl" again. This time, she’ll finish college and dedicate herself to her future. And she 100 percent will not let her life get derailed by a man again…no matter how tempting that man may be. Master storyteller Susan Mallery weaves threads of family drama, wit, heart and a wish-you-were-there setting into one of the most satisfying books of the year! Praise for Susan Mallery‘Susan Mallery never disappoints and with Daughters of the Bride she is at her storytelling best. ’Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author ‘Heartfelt, funny, and utterly charming all the way through!’Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times bestselling author, on Daughters of the Bride ‘A compelling contemporary fairy tale that culminates in a satisfyingly happy ending. Readers will snap up this escapist summer read. ’Booklist on When We Found Home ‘The characters will have you crying, laughing, and falling in love…. Another brilliantly well-written story. ’San Francisco Book Review on The Friends We Keep, 5 Stars ‘It’s not just a tale of how true friendship can lift you up, but also how change is an integral part of life…. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Debbie Macomber, and Elin Hilderbrand will assuredly fall for The Girls of Mischief Bay. ’Bookreporter
The Baxter sisters have only ever had one another—until one fateful summer when Sunshine and Margot turn disastrous luck into destiny...
Etiquette coach Margot Baxter knows precisely how to manage wayward clients...until she comes face-to-exquisite-face with Bianca, an aging movie star notorious for her shock-and-awe tactics. Schooling Bianca on the fine art of behaving like a diplomat’s wife is the greatest challenge of Margot’s career. Soon secrets unravel that bring them closer together and force Margot to confront the truth: change doesn’t just happen. She has to be brave enough to demand the life—and love—she’s always wanted.
For years, Sunshine has been the good-time sister, abandoning jobs to chase after dreams that will never come true. No more. She refuses to be “that girl” again. This time, she’ll finish college and dedicate herself to her future. And she 100 percent will not let her life get derailed by a man again...no matter how tempting that man may be.
Master storyteller Susan Mallery weaves threads of family drama, wit, heart and a wish-you-were-there setting into one of the most satisfying books of the year!
Praise for Susan Mallery
“Susan Mallery never disappoints and with Daughters of the Bride she is at her storytelling best.”
—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Heartfelt, funny, and utterly charming all the way through!”
—Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times bestselling author, on Daughters of the Bride
“A compelling contemporary fairy tale that culminates in a satisfyingly happy ending. Readers will snap up this escapist summer read.”
—Booklist on When We Found Home
“Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations. Her engaging and comically touching Mischief Bay series continues to satisfy lovers of women’s fiction.”
—Library Journal on A Million Little Things
“The characters will have you crying, laughing, and falling in love.... Another brilliantly well-written story.”
—San Francisco Book Review on The Friends We Keep, 5 stars
“It’s not just a tale of how true friendship can lift you up, but also how change is an integral part of life.... Fans of Jodi Picoult, Debbie Macomber, and Elin Hilderbrand will assuredly fall for The Girls of Mischief Bay.”
—Bookreporter
“An emotional and humorous look at the bonds between the women in an endearingly flawed family.”
—Kirkus Reviews on Sisters Like Us
“Mallery brings her signature humor and style to this moving story of strong women who help each other deal with realistic challenges, a tale as appealing as the fiction of Debbie Macomber and Anne Tyler.”
—Booklist on California Girls
Also by Susan Mallery
California Girls
When We Found Home
Secrets of the Tulip Sisters
Daughters of the Bride
Happily Inc
Not Quite Over You
Why Not Tonight
Second Chance Girl
You Say It First
Mischief Bay
Sisters Like Us
A Million Little Things
The Friends We Keep
The Girls of Mischief Bay
For a complete list of titles available from Susan Mallery, please visit www.susanmallery.com (http://www.susanmallery.com).
Susan Mallery
The Summer of Sunshine & Margot
ISBN-13: 9781474098984
The Summer of Sunshine and Margot
Copyright © 2019 by Susan Mallery, Inc.
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
Version: 2019-06-06
Susan Mallery is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship and romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree—forty million copies of her books have been sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.
Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two ragdoll cats and adorable poodle who think of her as Mom.
Visit Susan online at susanmallery.com (http://susanmallery.com).
Contents
Chapter One (#u7c1d6a00-8aa5-57bf-8810-67e605ff6750)
Chapter Two (#ue5cdb038-741a-573e-9aeb-7586ff63ba19)
Chapter Three (#u558b3f35-419f-5301-ba92-50f523759907)
Chapter Four (#ufe6d9de1-a8cd-59c6-ac59-f023a73033d0)
Chapter Five (#u874aefbf-2b07-5c76-b37a-b0d2f7a40794)
Chapter Six (#u05d919ea-625a-5e32-9846-d286fa7021ce)
Chapter Seven (#u1b562eb0-cc79-5532-b7de-62bf4c60f4cd)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Reader Discussion Guide (#litres_trial_promo)
Author’s Note (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)
Margot’s Shortcut Coq Au Vin (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One
Social interactions fell into two categories—easy or awkward. Easy was knowing what to say and do, and how to act. Easy was witty small talk or an elegant compliment. Awkward social interactions, on the other hand, were things like sneezing in your host’s face or stepping on the cat or spilling red wine on a white carpet. Or any carpet, for that matter. Margot Baxter prided herself on knowing how to make any situation fall into the easy category. Professionally, of course. In her professional life, she totally kicked butt. Personally—not so much. If she was being completely honest, she would have to admit that on most days her personal life fell firmly in the awkward category, which was why she never mixed business and pleasure and rarely bothered with pleasure at all. If it wasn’t going to go well, why waste the time?
But work was different. Work was where the magic happened and she was the one behind the curtain, moving all the levers. Not in a bad way, she added silently. It was just that she was about empowering her clients—helping them realize it was all about confidence, and sometimes finding confidence required a little help.
She turned onto the street where her nav system directed her, then blinked twice as she stared at the huge double gates stretching across a freeway-wide driveway. She’d been told the private residence had originally been a monastery built in the 1800s, but she hadn’t expected it to be so huge. She’d been thinking more “extra-big house with a guest cottage and maybe a small orchard.” What she faced instead was a three-story, Spanish-style former church/monastery with two turrets, acres of gardens and an actual parking lot for at least a dozen cars.
“Who are these people?” she asked out loud, even though she already knew the answer. Before interviewing a potential client, she always did her research. Overdid it, some would say, a criticism she could live with. Margot liked being thorough. And on time. And tidy. And, according to some, annoying.
Margot pressed the call button on the electronic pad mounted perpendicular to the gate and waited until a surprisingly clear voice said, “May I help you?”
“I’m Margot Baxter. I have an appointment with Mr. Alec Mcnicol.”
“Yes, Ms. Baxter. He’s expecting you.”
The gates opened smoothly and Margot drove through onto the compound. She parked in one of the marked spots, then took a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts.
She could do this, she told herself. She was good at her job. She liked helping people. Everything was going to be fine. She was a professional, she was trained and she was calm. Calm-ish, she added silently, then reached for the glasses she’d put on the seat next to her briefcase.
Margot stepped out of her car and smoothed the front of her slightly too-big jacket. The outfit—gray suit, sensible pumps, minimal makeup—was designed to make her appear professional and competent. The glasses, while unnecessary, did a lot to add gravitas to her appearance. She was thirty-one, but in shorts and a concert T-shirt, she could pass for nineteen. Even more depressing, in said shorts and T-shirt, she looked ditzy and incompetent and just a little bit dumb, and that didn’t reassure anyone.
She walked up the stone path to the enormous front door. Although she knew nothing about Spanish architecture, she wanted to trace the heavy carved wood doors where angels watched over Christ as he carried the cross toward a hill. Yup, the big-as-a-stadium building really had once been a monastery and apparently the monks had been sincere in their worship.
Before she could get her fill of the amazing craftsmanship, the doors opened and a tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired man nodded at her.
“Ms. Baxter? I’m Alec Mcnicol. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
She stepped inside and they shook hands. She had a brief impression of two-story ceilings and intricate stained glass windows before Alec was leading her down a hallway into a large office lined with bookshelves and framed maps of lands long forgotten.
