Georgia Hill - Christmas Weddings

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2017

Copyright © Georgia Hill 2017

Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com

Cover design by Holly Macdonald ©HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Georgia Hill 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.

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Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008211080

Version 2017-09-28

To the people and town of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Thank you for the fabulous holidays.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page Christmas Weddings Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café, Book Three GEORGIA HILL A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2017 Copyright © Georgia Hill 2017 Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com Cover design by Holly Macdonald ©HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Georgia Hill 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. Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008211080 Version 2017-09-28

Dedication To the people and town of Lyme Regis, Dorset. Thank you for the fabulous holidays.

Chapter 1 Chapter 1 It was weird coming back. Weird and cold. Berecombe looked at once comfortingly familiar and slightly distorted, as if seen through a special-effects lens. Alf the Taxi dropped Millie off on the promenade outside the café, helped her with her rucksack and drove off with a cheery wave. Feeling desolate, she looked around her. The sea was churning a dull grey in Lyme Bay and the sky was threateningly low and of a similar hue. In fact, Millie decided, everywhere was grey. The town had lost its bright bunting and bedding plants and was shuttered up for the winter. It was home, but it all looked smaller, inward-looking. After the vibrant noise and colour of Thailand, Berecombe, in the first week of November, was depressing. She shivered violently. She was freezing and bone-weary. Heaving her rucksack onto her back, she made her way to the flat. All she wanted to do was to crawl under a duvet.

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

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

It was weird coming back. Weird and cold.

Berecombe looked at once comfortingly familiar and slightly distorted, as if seen through a special-effects lens. Alf the Taxi dropped Millie off on the promenade outside the café, helped her with her rucksack and drove off with a cheery wave.

Feeling desolate, she looked around her. The sea was churning a dull grey in Lyme Bay and the sky was threateningly low and of a similar hue. In fact, Millie decided, everywhere was grey. The town had lost its bright bunting and bedding plants and was shuttered up for the winter. It was home, but it all looked smaller, inward-looking. After the vibrant noise and colour of Thailand, Berecombe, in the first week of November, was depressing.

She shivered violently. She was freezing and bone-weary. Heaving her rucksack onto her back, she made her way to the flat. All she wanted to do was to crawl under a duvet.

‘The wanderer returns!’ Tessa threw her arms around her friend and ushered her inside. ‘Come inside, pet, it’s brass monkeys out there.’

As usual, the Tizzard family home was in a state of chaos. Several very male-smelling pairs of trainers littered the hall and Millie had to navigate around an airer over which hung a pile of school uniform. She followed Tessa into the kitchen, which was an oasis of calm in comparison and smelled comfortingly of freshly made bread.

‘Cup of tea and then you can tell me all about it. Oh bab, it’s so good to have you back.’

Before Millie could answer there was a frantic scrabbling at the kitchen door. ‘Think there’s someone a bit desperate to see you,’ Tessa said, as she grinned and opened it. A barking woolly blur hurled itself onto Millie’s lap.

‘Trevor!’ Millie surrendered to his ecstatic welcome. ‘Oh, how much have I missed you.’

While dog and mistress became reacquainted, Tessa made tea and, once everything had calmed down, perched herself on a stool. She shoved a mug across. ‘First English cup of tea since you’ve been back?’

Millie nodded and reached over Trevor’s head to pick it up. After the first sip, she sighed in ecstasy. ‘Heaven!’

‘Digestive biccies there. Just don’t let Trev get hold of them. He’s a devil for them. Worse than the kids.’

Millie dunked half and crammed it into her mouth, ravenous. She gave Trevor a sneaky fragment while Tessa’s back was turned. ‘I still don’t understand why you ended up taking him,’ she said, with a full mouth. ‘Back in the summer Jed said he was happy to look after him until I got back. So, he and his brother are living at The Lord of the Manor now? What’s the deal with that?’