Zara Stoneley - The Holiday Swap - The perfect feel good romance for fans of the Christmas movie The Holiday

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HarperCollins Publishers

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2016

Copyright © Zara Stoneley 2016

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover layout design by HarperCollins Publishers

Cover design by Alex Allden

Zara Stoneley 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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and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008201722

Version 2016-08-17

‘A great treat for readers who love their books jam-packed with sexy men and horses’

Bestselling author Fiona Walker

‘Fans of Fiona Walker will love this book’

That Thing She Reads

‘A delightful romp stuffed with fun, frolics and romance’

BestChickLit.com

‘ Stable Mates is up there with Riders and Rivals ’

Comet Babes Books

‘Move over Mr Grey, the Tippermere boys are in town! Highly recommended’

Brook Cottage Books

‘A seductive fascinating novel. Mucking out the horses just got sexy’

Chicks That Read

This book is for you – whether your dreams are small, or mighty visions, believe in them.

‘The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.’

— J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Zara Stoneley’s Books

Dedication

Epigraph

Part 1

Chapter 1 – Daisy. Cheshire

Chapter 2 – Daisy. White Elephants

Chapter 3 – Flo. Paris and Back Again

Chapter 4 – Flo. Heading Home

Chapter 5 - Daisy and Anna. Barcelona

Chapter 6 – Flo. Another Kind of Proposal

Chapter 7 – Daisy. The Morning After

Chapter 8 – Daisy. Saying Goodbye

Chapter 9 – Flo. Barcelona Airport Departure Lounge

Part 2

Chapter 10 – Flo. Tippermere, Cheshire

Chapter 11 – Daisy. New Friends

Chapter 12 – Flo. Scooters Are Easier

Chapter 13 – Daisy. Blue-Sky Space

Chapter 14 – Flo. Home Sweet Home?

Chapter 15- Daisy. Seeing Clearly

Chapter 16 – Flo. Poetry and Wine

Chapter 17 – Daisy. Handbags and Hippy Cats

Chapter 18 – Flo. Living the Other Dream

Chapter 19 – Daisy. Finding Mr Right

Chapter 20 – Flo. Past Mistakes

Chapter 21- Daisy. Heading Home

Chapter 22 – Daisy. Sandcastles

Chapter 23 – Flo. Fanning the Flames

Chapter 24 – Flo. Christmas Eve

Chapter 25 – Daisy. Turkey and Sprouts

Chapter 26 – Flo. Promises to Keep

Chapter 27 – Daisy. New Year’s Eve in Cheshire

Chapter 28 – Flo. New Year, New Start?

Enjoy a Winter Break in Barcelona…

Or Capture a Warm and Fuzzy Feeling in Cheshire!

Acknowledgements

Also by Zara Stoneley

About the Author

About the Publisher

Daisy Fischer wound the baling twine round her finger twice, effectively attaching herself to the gate, before she realised what she was doing, and stopped.

She had to be losing her mind.

Jimmy, her long-term, on-off boyfriend, could not have asked her what she thought he just had. Could he?

She sneaked a sideways glance at him under her fringe, hoping he wouldn’t spot her peeking.

Jimmy was swinging the spade he was holding effortlessly from side to side, showing off his best rugged-man-in-the-country look. Over the years she’d known him he had relaxed into his role a bit; there was the first hint of middle-aged spread spilling over the waistband of his jeans (quite noticeable from this angle), but the forearm on display was still muscular. He was grinning, showing off the dimple she loved.

And he was staring at her bum. Which simplified matters. He didn’t look like he’d just asked her marry him. He looked, well, like Jimmy always looked.

Daisy straightened up, pushing her dark hair behind her ears. She really had to say something, because it was getting to the point of rude if she didn’t. And her back was starting to ache.

He winked. The cheeky wink that had every girl in Tippermere fluttering her eyelashes, even though Jimmy really was more than a little bit too old for most of them. Her mum thought he was too old (and too much of a flirt) for her, but what was eight years between friends?

So what the hell did she say now? If she spoke before thinking this through, one or both of them was going to look pretty silly, and more than a little bit embarrassed. Experience told her it was more likely to be her.

He just could not have said it.

‘Sorry, what was that? I was just trying to…’ The scorch of heat on her cheeks had to give her away, but he didn’t let on. But how the hell had he shifted from asking if she fancied a pint to the question ?

‘I think you need to lighten up a bit, Dais.’

Maybe he hadn’t meant it. Or hadn’t said it. It had been a bit of an embarrassed mumble anyway.

‘I only said I needed to sort this out before I could go to the pub.’ Which she had, immediately after he’d said ‘ fancy a pint? ’, and before he’d said the other bit.

She fished in her pocket for a second piece of baling twine, just to be on the safe side. Safe side as in securing the gate, but also as in buying some more time.

‘But there’s always something with you, isn’t there? People our age should be out getting pissed, not spending the night tying up gates then watching a sloppy film.’

‘I like sloppy films,’ this was better, much safer ground. And she liked tying up gates and messing with horses. She gave the gate a gentle tug. It opened a few inches. Bugger. ‘You know I’ve got to fix this. If Barney goes wandering into Hugo’s food store again he’ll throw a real wobbler. You know what he was like last time.’ The last time that Barney, her very naughty (his previous owner had referred to it as ‘character’) Welsh Cob had escaped from his field he’d managed to break the feed-room door open. Hugo’s feed room door. After eating the entire contents of a bag of very nice carrots, he’d tipped a tub of half-soaked sugar beet all over the floor and trampled it in. Well, the bits he hadn’t eaten.

He’d then wiped his messy nose across the row of pristine stable rugs.

A strange puce-coloured Hugo, with his normally immaculate blond hair stuck up in a very There’s Something About Mary way, had arrived at her door, Barney in tow.