Sophie Pembroke: The Kiss Before Midnight: A Christmas Romance

SOPHIE PEMBROKE

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

HarperImpulse an imprint of

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2014

Copyright © Sophie Pembroke 2014

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Sophie Pembroke 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 © November 2014

ISBN: 9780008123154

Version 2014-12-09

Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

For my magical mum on her 60th birthday this December 25th. Wishing you many more happy years of mince pies, fortune telling fish and Christmas miracles.

Contents

Cover

Title Page The Kiss Before Midnight SOPHIE PEMBROKE A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright HarperImpulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77–85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2014 Copyright © Sophie Pembroke 2014 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Sophie Pembroke 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 © November 2014 ISBN: 9780008123154 Version 2014-12-09 Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Dedication For my magical mum on her 60th birthday this December 25th. Wishing you many more happy years of mince pies, fortune telling fish and Christmas miracles.

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

Also by Sophie Pembroke…

Sophie Pembroke

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

CHRISTMAS EVE EVE

Molly Mackenzie couldn’t help but think that free Prosecco in the office, while awesome in theory, might just end badly. She’d only been at the company for six months, and the bosses had already found reasons to celebrate at least once a fortnight on average. But usually they went down to the local pub, where the only electronics that stood to get damaged by spillages was the karaoke machine.

Molly knew she was still getting used to the idea of nine to five office work, but she hadn’t honestly expected it to involve more alcohol than working in a hotel with two fully stocked bars.

“It’s Christmas Eve Eve!” Jenna announced, sloshing bubbles over the side of her plastic cup as she hopped up to sit on Molly’s desk. She leant back against the cubicle wall, and it groaned ominously.

“I’m not sure that Christmas Eve Eve is really a thing.” Molly grabbed hold of the flimsy partition to try and keep it upright.

“Of course it is!” Jenna straightened up with indignation, and the cubicle wall creaked back into its usual position. “It’s the eve of Christmas Eve, and well worthy of celebration. Hence the Prosecco.”

Who could argue with that kind of logic? Grinning, Molly lifted her own plastic glass to tap against Jenna’s, sending another waterfall of bubbly over the edges of the overfilled cups. It might be miles away from her dad’s traditional mulled wine, but it was tasty. Molly licked her fingers. No point wasting good Prosecco.

“Ooh, I think you’re giving Bobby from accounts ideas,” Jenna said, eyes wide.

Molly lowered her hand from her mouth. Quickly. “No time for ideas,” she said, checking her watch.

“Are you sure?” Jenna asked, doubtfully. “He’s pretty cute, you know.”

Molly glanced over as casually as she could in the direction of the accounts team. They’d set up some sort of Prosecco fountain with a tower of plastic cups. Not exactly the Great Gatsby champagne saucer tower, especially since the glasses seemed to be held together with zebra print paperclips. Any interest the pretty cute Bobby had displayed had disappeared in the face of experiments with alcohol, and the chances were Jenna had been making it up anyway. Another thing Molly had learned over the last few months; if there was an office drama to be drummed up, Jenna would usually be behind it.

“I’m sure,” Molly said. “Besides, even if I was interested, my train leaves in an hour. I need to head out soon.” Especially given the light snow that had started falling half an hour ago. Her mum had been texting her weather updates all day. The last thing she needed, two days before Christmas, was to get stuck in the snow on a train somewhere. Almost home, but not quite.

She would miss her dad’s mulled wine and mum’s mince pies, for one thing.

Last Christmas, she’d been living at home, but a training course in Manchester had meant she only got home on Christmas Eve – the same day her brother Tim had arrived from Edinburgh. Their sister Dory had flown in from New York with her surprise new boyfriend on Christmas Day.

This year, Mum seemed very keen to have them all home and safe before the twenty-fourth, to avoid any last minute surprises. Especially since it was the first time in seven years that Molly wouldn’t be working either Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve at the Liverpool hotel that had taken her on part-time at sixteen.

Tim was easy; he’d moved back in with their parents when his contract ended in Edinburgh that summer – conveniently two short weeks after Molly moved to London. And Dory and Lucas’s flight should be landing any time now.

It was going to be the perfect family Christmas.

Jenna groaned. “God, how long are you going to be gone again?”