Holly Martin - One Hundred Christmas Proposals

Title Page One Hundred Christmas Proposals Holly Martin

Copyright

Author Bio HOLLY MARTIN I live in sunny Bedfordshire in a house with round windows. I studied media at university which led to a very glitzy career as a hotel receptionist followed by an even more glamorous two years working in a bank. The moment that one of my colleagues received the much coveted carriage clock for fifteen years service was the moment when I knew I had to escape. I quit my job and returned to university to train to be a teacher. Three years later, I emerged wide eyed and terrified that I now had responsibility for the development of thirty young minds. I taught for four years before History Off The Page came to my school to do a Tudor day. I now drive round the country in my little white van, dressing up as a Viking one day and an Egyptian High Priestess the next. I love to write. The characters do exactly what I want them to do, most of the time. Sometimes they do seem to go off and do their own thing without my permission. It is complete escapism into a world where I have full control. I’ve been writing for five years now, every spare second I have, I’m scribbling ideas in a notebook or typing a scene on my laptop. Changing Casanova, my first novel, was shortlisted for the 2012 Festival of Romance New Talent Award. My short story, One Hundred Proposals won the Belinda Jones Travel Club short story competition and was published in the Sunlounger anthology alongside some of my favourite authors including, Belinda Jones, Miranda Dickinson and Rosie Blake. My debut novel, The Sentinel, a YA fantasy adventure story, was published in 2013. I won the Carina Valentine’s competition at the Festival of Romance in 2013 and my first chicklit book, The Guestbook was published by them in February 2014 and subsequently went on to reach No.5 in the Amazon UK chart. My second book One Hundred Proposals was published in June and was recently shortlisted for Best Romantic Read at the Festival of Romance. The Guestbook was also shortlisted for two awards, Best ebook and Innovation in Romantic Fiction. You can contact me on hollymartin.writer@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @hollymartin00

Acknowledgements For my mom, my biggest fan, who reads every word I have written a hundred times over and loves it every single time. To my family, my dad, my brother Lee and my sister-in-law Julie, for your support, love, encouragement and endless excitement for my stories. To my gorgeous friends Victoria Stone, Megan Wood and Kirsty Maclennan for all your support, tweets, the endless promotion, the excitement and your love. You are truly amazing. To Becca who read bits of this when I had my doubts and for falling in love with it. To my best friends Gareth and Mandie, for your endless support, patience and enthusiasm. For my twinnie, the gorgeous Aven Ellis for just being my wonderful friend, for your support and encouragement, for cheering me on and for keeping me entertained with wonderful stories and pictures of hot men. I couldn’t do this without you. For Sharon Sant for listening to me moan and stress and panic with endless patience and for all your support and friendship. And some other gorgeous people who have encouraged, supported, promoted, got excited or just listened; Erin McEwan, Lisa Dickenson, Jaimie Admans, Dan Thompson, Sharon Wilden, Kim Nash, Kelly Rufus, Pernille Hughes, Rosie Blake, Simona Elena, Katey Beeden, Maryline, Jo Hurst, Dawn Crooks, Jenny Marston, Laura Delve, Janet Emson, Pat Elliott, Agi, Alba, Ana, Jess Bickerton, Kate Gordon, Kiri Mills, Louise Wykes, Shaun, Stacey Hargreaves, Maggie Woodward, Trish H, Jac, Verity and Jodie. To all those involved in the blog tour and cover reveal. To anyone who has read my book and taken the time to tell me you’ve enjoyed it or wrote a review, thank you so much. To the wonderful supportive Carina authors, you guys are the very best. And finally to all at Carina who have helped to bring this book to publication, my wonderful editor Lucy Gilmour, for making the book so much better, the digital team, the design team for this incredible cover and anyone else there who has helped to make this book a reality. Thank you, I love you all.

Dedication For my Mom

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter One

‘Suzie! Ninety-three,’ Harry shouted from the office and I hurried in with two mugs of tea.

‘You’re kidding?’ I leaned over his computer screen to see a confirmation for an ice sculpture proposal, with the sculptures dotted along a favourite walk showing different landmarks in the couple’s life – leading up to a sculpture of a man proposing to a woman. That was beautiful and it definitely had Harry’s unique fingerprints all over it.

He pulled me down onto his lap and I quickly put the mugs down so I didn’t slosh hot tea all over him. Wrapping his arms round my waist, he nuzzled into my neck, peppering light kisses across my collarbone.

‘Have I told you today how much I love you?’

I smiled hugely. ‘You tell me every day, several times a day in fact.’

‘I only speak the truth.’

I pressed my hand against his chest and then kissed the gap between my finger and thumb, right above his heart.

‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted – why don’t we go back to bed for a little bit.’ He waggled his eyebrows playfully.

‘It’s nine-thirty.’

‘Hmmm.’ He resumed his kissing, pulling the jumper off my shoulder gently so his mouth could continue unhindered.

‘In the morning.’

‘So?’

‘You’ve answered one phone call, I’ve made tea, it’s hardly a constructive use of our time.’

‘I worked hard on that phone call.’ He snaked his hand up my thigh. He had been like this ever since he had proposed to me six months before. The final proposal that is, not the hundred proposals before that. He had always been touchy feely, but since I’d said yes he had taken the tactility to new levels. Whenever we were within touching distance he would stroke my hair, hold my hand, ply me with kisses and hugs – it was like he physically couldn’t be apart from me. And the sex was incredible. I guess we were still in the honeymoon stage of not being able to keep our hands off each other. I loved it.

His computer pinged with the arrival of another email and he paused slightly in his kisses but after a second’s hesitation he resumed where he had left off. His computer pinged again with another email.

‘Well if someone hadn’t had the bright idea of doing One Hundred Christmas Proposals I’d be taking you back to the bedroom and…’ I whispered in his ear exactly what I wanted to do to him and laughed when I saw him blush. ‘But as it happens, we’ve never been busier so unfortunately there’s just no time.’

Harry scowled as I stood up and sat behind my desk.

‘If you’re good I might give you a quickie at lunchtime.’

His face lit up for a second then the frown came back. ‘There’ll be nothing quick about it.’

I fired up my laptop and stared at all the unanswered emails that had come in on the company account overnight. Our company the.PerfectProposal.com had boomed in the last ten months, ever since Harry had started his mission to find me the perfect proposal last Valentine’s Day. Over five hundred thousand people had logged on to read the final proposal post and our phone had barely stopped ringing since. To prove the point, the phone rang between us but before I’d even made a move to answer it, Harry snatched it up.

‘The Perfect Proposal, Harry speaking.’ I smiled. He was so smooth and professional. He nodded as he quickly typed something into his computer and scrolled through a few web pages.