T A Williams - What Happens In Cornwall...

For a very British holiday…

When archaeologist Sam realises her relationship is as dead as the skeletons she’s exhuming, she knows it’s time for a girl to make a change. But with bills to pay and a surrogate cat to support, her options are limited… until a discovery on the mysterious Rock Island in Cornwall gives her a reason to escape the drudgery of daily life and seek sunshine somewhere new…

Head to the Cornish coast!

Down in Cornwall, new questions are thrown up at every turn: who is the glamorous, secretive owner of Rock Island – and why are the paparazzi so interested? How has irresistibly brooding, impossibly arrogant history professor James Courtney managed to get so far under Sam’s skin? And will it ever stop raining for long enough for Sam to lose the cagoule and sip a cool drink in the shade? One thing’s for sure: there’s never been a holiday quite like this one!

Enjoy a summer of romance and scandal with What Happens in Cornwall … the perfect retreat for fans of Fern Britton and Lucy Diamond!

Also by T A Williams:

Dirty Minds

The Room on the Second Floor

When Alice Met Danny

What Happens in Tuscany

What Happens in Cornwall

T A Williams

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015

Copyright © Trevor Williams 2015

Trevor Williams 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 2015 ISBN: 9781474036580

Version date: 2018-07-23

TREVOR WILLIAMS

lives in Devon with his Italian wife. He lived and worked in Switzerland, France and Italy, before returning to run one of the best-known language schools in the UK. He has taught people from all over the world, among them Arab princes, Brazilian beauty queens and Italian billionaires. He speaks a number of languages and has travelled extensively. He has eaten snake, live fish and alligator. A Spanish dog, a Russian bug and a Korean parasite have done their best to eat him in return. He has written historical novels, humorous books and thrillers. His hobby is long-distance cycling, but his passion is writing. You can follow him on Twitter, @TAWilliamsBooks, find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevorWilliamsBooksor visit his website: www.tawilliamsbooks.com.

With thanks, as always, to my lovely editors, Clio Cornish and Charlotte Mursell

To Mariangela and Christina with love. Thanks for all your support and patience.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Epilogue

Extract

Endpages

About the Publisher

Prologue

‘They say you can tell the old married couples in a restaurant by the fact that they don’t talk to each other.’

‘Mmh.’

‘I said, couples who’ve been together for ages stop communicating.’

‘Is that so?’

Samantha took a deep breath. He was still shovelling curry into his mouth. She had finished eating ages ago, but he was still hard at it, to the exclusion of all else. She sat back and looked around the room in frustration. It seemed to her as if all the other tables were full of people talking, laughing and enjoying themselves. Everybody except Neil and her. Although they were neither old, nor married, this was the way their relationship had developed over the past year. She sighed inwardly.

Then he paused, laid down his fork and looked up. She felt pleasantly surprised until she saw him raise a finger and call the waiter over.

‘Another pint of lager, please.’ The waiter nodded and went off.

‘You could have asked if I wanted something.’ She knew she sounded petulant, but she was powerless to hide it.

Neil had already picked up his fork again by this time, but he hesitated, shooting her a glance. ‘Well, do you want something?’

‘No, thank you.’

‘Oh for Christ’s sake…’ He returned to his chicken madras. She returned to her thoughts.

She and he were only thirty, but there were times when it felt to her like they were a couple of pensioners. They had been together now for almost four years, living in a microscopic flat while they both finished their postgraduate studies. She had another year to go until she finished her doctorate, but she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that their relationship would be over long before then. A thought crossed her mind.

‘Have you got your suit cleaned, ready for the wedding a week on Saturday?’ This, at least, caused him to interrupt his meal. He looked up and the expression on his face wasn’t happy.

‘A week on Saturday? You mean the seventeenth? But I’m supposed to be going to the races with the boys that afternoon.’ He caught her eye. ‘I told you about it weeks ago.’

‘You did? Well I told you about Moira’s wedding months ago. And I’ve been talking about it for days now. I only bought my dress this week and showed it to you.’ He was looking a bit shifty now.

‘Yeah, well, I didn’t know it was that Saturday.’ He gave up on the curry and laid down his fork. ‘But Guy arranged this races thing ages ago. Do I really have to go to the wedding?’ Now it was his turn to sound like a grumbling teenager.

‘Yes you do, Neil. We replied to the invitation saying we would both be going, so we both go.’

‘ You replied to the invitation.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, Neil, grow up, will you? We’ve been invited, we’ve accepted, and we’re going. And that’s the end of it.’

‘So who gives you the right to decide what I can and can’t do?’ His face bore the familiar stubborn, irritable expression she had been seeing more of lately. ‘It’s not as if we’re married, you know.’

‘So you’re saying that if we were married, I’d be able to tell you what to do?’