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The Cosy Christmas Teashop: Cakes, castles and wedding bells – the perfect feel good romance
Caroline Roberts
‘Cakes, castles and oodles of charm: this book is huge fun and pure escapism’ Cathy BramleyFrom sleigh bells to wedding bells . . .After a rocky start, Ellie Hall baked her way into everyone’s hearts at Claverham Castle – even the miserly Lord Henry was won over – and the run-down teashop regained its old sparkle.Now Ellie has upgraded cupcakes for fairytale masterpieces as the proud caterer for an ever-growing list of weddings at the castle. The teashop team love baking to the tune of happy ever afters, but can they pull together when a certain bridezilla pushes them all to boiling point?Christmas is just around the corner, and a last minute booking threatens to snow the team under. Ellie and her hunky hubby Joe have their own Christmas dreams to chase, but they’re determined to pull through and give this special couple the winter wonderland wedding they deserve.Will Christmas at the Cosy Teashop be a showstopper to remember?
Copyright (#u1b319481-55ae-553e-9c12-fcb00b411bb7)
HarperImpulse an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2016
Copyright © Caroline Roberts 2016
Cover design by Alexandra Allden © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016
Cover images © iStock.com (stairs and street light); Shutterstock.com (all other images)
Caroline Roberts 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.
Source ISBN: 9780008212681
Ebook Edition © October 2016 ISBN: 9780008212674
Version 2017-10-28
Dedication (#u1b319481-55ae-553e-9c12-fcb00b411bb7)
For my home county of Northumberland – stunning scenery, wonderful people
Table of Contents
Cover (#u9f77589d-8df2-5c74-8664-92050de7d385)
Title Page (#u4e541a9a-818a-5cbf-93bb-008752cdc4af)
Copyright (#u5f7c3be1-2949-5e0a-a7d8-876f52dce8b5)
Dedication (#uffc94cca-49b2-5c69-a180-0c9fc90c9e6f)
Prologue (#ubcbbd290-3da8-56a9-9067-e1156ca30fa7)
Chapter 1 (#u9e5a48bb-01f1-5b3e-a0af-d0b6ba45c86c)
Chapter 2 (#u4801e181-c61b-5d1f-b47a-79fe29fe2252)
Chapter 3 (#u46740686-e601-5994-9a2c-853e1110b94a)
Chapter 4 (#ua512740d-daf7-5bde-bcad-c20250206b8f)
Chapter 5 (#u1d773627-9849-5f2d-948c-f43cf99bff83)
Chapter 6 (#u90f8999f-d0aa-5a77-bc1c-95d20d8aa33e)
Chapter 7 (#u44dcbf2c-ae70-502a-be97-c6590b9e865a)
Chapter 8 (#u617a1b2f-fdff-5525-a413-83c4ba17f988)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 32 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 33 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 34 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 35 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 36 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 37 (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Keep Reading … (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Caroline Roberts (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#u1b319481-55ae-553e-9c12-fcb00b411bb7)
Five years ago, Ellie Hall arrived at the beautiful, yet slightly crumbling, Claverham Castle, with her ambitions of running her own teashop. Armed with only her hopes and dreams, her love of baking, and her late Nanna’s Be-Ro recipe book, she took on the teashop lease, leaving behind her close-knit family and dull insurance job. Starting her rollercoaster adventure, she learnt on her feet, making a whole host of new friends, as well as falling in love with the rather gorgeous estate manager, Joe.
A wedding, a fire, and the revelation of a family secret later, we return. Welcome to Ellie’s world. Welcome to the Cosy Teashop in the Castle …
1 (#u1b319481-55ae-553e-9c12-fcb00b411bb7)
‘There’s a coachload of fifty people due in twenty minutes.’
Ellie turned to see Joe smiling at her; he must have slipped quietly into the teashop kitchen.
‘You’re kidding.’ He was often teasing her, it might just be a wind-up. She’d hardly stopped today as it was. It had been a very busy August Bank Holiday Monday – the end of the school summer holidays. Good for the till, but tough on her feet. She felt like she’d been juggling all day; keeping up with the lunch orders, whizzing up a couple of extra lemon drizzle cakes in between, when it looked like they might run out, despite having baked lots of extra cakes and cookies all week in the build up to the weekend.
Joe was shaking his head, looking serious. ‘Nope … Deana’s just had a call from the driver. All good for business though.’
‘Right then, well I’d better get my skates on and see how we’re doing for cakes out in the teashop.’ Ellie wasn’t quite sure what she could rustle up in twenty minutes, but there might be something stored in the freezer. Cupcakes came to mind, she often kept a spare batch of vanilla ones just in case; she could ice them pretty fast if she needed.
‘You better had. But first …’ He came close, put his arms around her from behind and kissed the nape of her neck, just where the bare skin showed beneath her ponytail.
It sent a little quiver down her spine. ‘I haven’t got time, Joe. You can’t tell me that, and then expect a kissing session.’ She turned to face him, trying to look cross.
‘Why not?’ He smiled cheekily.
The smile that still got her. ‘Ah, okay then. Just one kiss. A short one.’
She pressed a pert kiss on his lips, and went to pull away. He pulled her closer, his arms around her. Kissed her again, warm and tender, and teasingly good.
