Nikki Moore - Skating at Somerset House

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Harper Impulse an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2014

Copyright © Nikki Moore 2014

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2014

Nikki Moore 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.

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Ebook Edition © November 2014 ISBN: 9780008126841

Version: 2017-10-10

For anyone who loves Christmas… and for those who aren't so keen on it either!

For my family and friends; thank you and Season's Greetings x

And to Holly Martin, who won a competition and leant me her first name.

Nb. While the beautiful setting for this book is real, the events are not, and some elements of the story contain necessary poetic licence.

Contents

Cover

Title Page A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication #LoveLondon Series Skating at Somerset House Also by Nikki Moore Nikki Moore About HarperImpulse About the Publisher Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2014 Copyright © Nikki Moore 2014 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2014 Nikki Moore 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. Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress. Ebook Edition © November 2014 ISBN: 9780008126841 Version: 2017-10-10

Dedication Dedication Dedication #LoveLondon Series Skating at Somerset House Also by Nikki Moore Nikki Moore About HarperImpulse About the Publisher For anyone who loves Christmas… and for those who aren't so keen on it either! For my family and friends; thank you and Season's Greetings x And to Holly Martin, who won a competition and leant me her first name. Nb. While the beautiful setting for this book is real, the events are not, and some elements of the story contain necessary poetic licence.

#LoveLondon Series #LoveLondon Series Skating at Somerset House New Year at the Ritz Valentine’s on Primrose Hill Cocktails in Chelsea Strawberries at Wimbledon Picnics in Hyde Park

Skating at Somerset House

Also by Nikki Moore

Nikki Moore

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

Skating at Somerset House

New Year at the Ritz

Valentine’s on Primrose Hill

Cocktails in Chelsea

Strawberries at Wimbledon

Picnics in Hyde Park

Noel Summerford hated Christmas.

The intense, harried craziness drove him half nuts every year. The pressure to buy everyone presents they didn't want and would never use. Shoving, rippling crowds on the streets forgetting their manners, desperate to cross every item off their shopping lists. People parting with their hard earned cash at rip-off prices that would reduce to near zero as soon as it hit Boxing Day. Endless turkey dinners with dry overcooked white meat, lashings of sickly cranberry sauce and stodgy stuffing. Unwanted, twee greetings cards with their cutesy reindeer or Santa cartoons. Cheesy, artificial music piped into every shop for months, seasonal tunes playing on every radio station until he thought his ears would bleed, especially as the girls in the office insisted on turning the music up to near deafening volumes. His female colleagues wearing silver bauble earrings and pressuring the men to dress in novelty ties and festive knitted jumpers made him grind his teeth, but worse was how they clambered up on desks in ridiculously high heels to hang decorations from the beige walls and white-tiled ceiling. It was an annual health and safety nightmare, given that he was the Corporate H&S Officer for a high-street retail giant.

Yes, Christmas was definitely his least favourite time of the year, and his preference would be to hide in his man-cave for the whole of December. He therefore couldn't think of anything worse than ice skating – or in his case falling on his arse countless, humiliating times – at Somerset House. It was London's favourite outdoor ice rink according to The Evening Standard magazine, or so Matt had informed him. He could admit that the main sandstone neoclassical building, set in a square shape around the central courtyard, was quite impressive with its graceful columns, Victorian style black lampposts, mini white-encrusted trees in massive gold leaf pots and grand entrances on the Strand and the Embankment. Right now that was contrasted against the modern single-storey, white-framed, temporary buildings that housed Tom's Skate Lounge, the Cloakrooms/Box Office and main skate entrance. Mint green and teal SKATE posters were displayed prominently and matching Fortnum & Mason flags flapped in the winter breeze. You couldn't deny there was a great buzz to the place with all the noisy, excitable visitors chattering and skating, both locals and tourists from the sounds of it. But Noel was a disaster on the ice, and the giant Christmas tree in a huge wicker hamper was overdecorated and overdone… as well as a sharp reminder it was only a few days until the dreaded C-day. There was no escaping it.