Katie Oliver - The Trouble With Emma

There’s a fine line between matchmaking and meddling …

Stuck in a boring job, living at home with her parents and without even a glimmer of romance on the horizon, Emma Bennet’s life isn’t turning out how she planned. And since hit reality show Mind Your Manors started being filmed at the Bennet household, she’s felt more like a spare part than ever.

Matchmaking her assistant, Martine, is just the distraction Emma needs – and, whether Martine likes it or not, Emma is determined to see her coupled up before long! But when she meets Mark Knightley, the genius behind Mind Your Manors , Emma finds her own heart on the line...

Mark is everything Emma isn’t: quiet, reserved…and forever minding his own business! And suddenly, Emma is determined to prove to Mark that she’s ready to stop thinking about other people’s love lives – and focus on her own.

Also by Katie Oliver:

The ‘Dating Mr Darcy’ trilogy:

Prada and Prejudice

Love and Liability

Mansfield Lark

The ‘Marrying Mr Darcy’ series:

And the Bride Wore Prada

Love, Lies and Louboutins

Manolos in Manhattan

The ‘Jane Austen Factor’ series:

What Would Lizzy Bennet Do?

The Trouble with Emma

The Jane Austen Factor

Katie Oliver

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2016

Copyright © Katie Oliver 2016

Katie Oliver 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 2016 ISBN: 9781474049443

Version date: 2018-07-23

KATIE OLIVER

loves romantic comedies, characters who ‘meet cute’, Richard Curtis films, and Prosecco (not necessarily in that order). She currently resides in South Florida with her husband, two parakeets, and a dog.

Katie has been writing since she was eight, and has a box crammed with (mostly unfinished) novels to prove it. With her sons grown and gone, she decided to get serious and write more (and hopefully better) stories. She even finishes most of them.

So if you like a bit of comedy with your romance, please visit Katie’s website, www.katieoliver.com, and have a look.

Here’s to love and all its complications…

To the fabulous bloggers who’ve read, reviewed, and generously supported my efforts – a heartfelt thank you. Gratitude also to Claire Ellis, Ashleigh Zara, Maria Nestorides, Nadia, Gem, and CJ Matthews; and last (but not least!), thanks to Karen Almeida, Margaret Sheldon Chase, and Jane and Michael Sotelo, my first beta readers.

Thank you, all.

Thank you to the usual suspects – my agent, my editor, and HQ Digital UK – for your unstinting help, support, and belief in me. And most especially, thanks to all of you who’ve read and enjoyed my Jane Austen flights of fancy. I hope I’ve kept you suitably entertained.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

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

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

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Endpages

About the Publisher

“I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.”

—Jane Austen, Emma

Chapter 1

“Miss Bennet! Miss Bennet! You’ll never guess what I’ve just heard!”

Emma Bennet glanced up from her crossword puzzle. Martine Davies, the local girl whose Monday, Wednesday, and Friday visits kept the interior of Litchfield Manor more or less tidy, burst into the kitchen hugging two grocery sacks to her chest and slid them down her hips to the table. Her cheeks were pink with excitement and her dark eyes sparkled.

“Don’t tell me,” Emma said. “You’ve just won the EuroMillions and you’re turning in your notice.”

“I wish. Not that I mind tidying up and doing the weekly shop for you and your dad,” she added hastily. “But if I won a million pounds –?” She grinned. “I’d be gone like a shot.”

“Well, at least you’re honest.” Emma gave her a brief smile and returned to her puzzle.

Martine began pulling groceries out of the sacks – tinned tomatoes, a carton of ice cream, a punnet of raspberries, boxes of Weetabix and Coco Shreddies – and set them on the table. “Wouldn’t it be something, though,” she mused, “to win pots and pots of money, and never have to work again?” She sighed at the pleasure such a prospect brought.

“With money comes responsibility. You need to manage it properly and make it work for you.”

“I wouldn’t know how,” Martine said, and gave a shrug. “I’ve never had two pennies to rub together, myself.” She opened the refrigerator and put the raspberries and ice cream away. “And I reckon I never will…unless I find a rich bloke and convince him to marry me.” She laughed at the absurdity of that particular notion.

“It could happen. Anything’s possible.”

Martine shook her head firmly. “Where would I meet someone like that – in the grocer’s? Havin’ my hair done at Miss Bates’s Beauty Salon?” She snorted. “Not likely.”

Emma studied the girl’s face. With her high, round cheeks, perpetual smile, and glossy dark hair – scraped back now into a ponytail – Martine was pretty in an open, uncomplicated way.

With a few elocution lessons and a bit of guidance on how to dress – she eyed Martine’s tight T-shirt and jeans with barely concealed disapproval – she had the potential to be stunning.

“You meet the right man by going to the right places,” Emma informed her. Not to mention knowing how to dress and speak properly once you’re there , she nearly added, but didn’t. “Garden parties and dances and suchlike.”

“I s’pose.” Martine’s words were doubtful. She grabbed the tinned tomatoes and turned to put them away in the cupboard. “I don’t get invited to places like that, anyway. And even if I did I wouldn’t know what to do. Right now,” she added, “I’d be happy just to meet a nice bloke with a steady job.”