Bella
About the Book
There was no doubt about it - Bella Parkinson was a success. The most promising actress in London, she was bright, sexy, hopelessly scatterbrained – and taking the town by storm. Rupert Henriques, dashingly handsome and rich enough to buy her every theatre in London if she wanted it, couldn't wait to marry her.
But Bella had a secret in her past - and the one man who knew it was about to come into her life again. Rupert's sinister cousin Lazlo, for some reason of his own, was trying to prevent her marriage. Before she knew where she was, Bella found herself in real danger …
Jilly Cooper
BELLA
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Epub ISBN: 9781409031970
Version 1.0
BELLA
A CORGI BOOK : 9780552152501
Originally published in Great Britain by
Arlington Books Ltd
PRINTING HISTORY
Arlington Books edition published 1976
Corgi edition published 1977
Corgi edition reissued 2005
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Jilly Cooper 1976
The right of Jilly Cooper to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Corgi Books are published by Transworld Publishers,
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA,
a division of The Random House Group Ltd.
Addresses for Random House Group Limited companies outside the UK can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009
Contents
About the Author
Jilly Cooper is a journalist, writer and media superstar. The author of many number one bestselling novels, she lives in Gloucestershire with her husband Leo, her rescue greyhound Feather and her black cat Feral.
She was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to literature, and in 2009 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucestershire for her contribution to literature and services to the County.
Find out more about Jilly Cooper at her website
www.jillycooper.co.uk
www.jillycooper.co.uk
By Jilly Cooper
FICTION
RIDERS
RIVALS
POLO
THE MAN WHO MADE HUSBANDS JEALOUS
APPASSIONATA
SCORE!
PANDORA
WICKED!
JUMP!
NON-FICTION
ANIMALS IN WAR
CLASS
HOW TO SURVIVE CHRISTMAS
HOTFOOT TO ZABRISKIE POINT
(with Patrick Lichfield)
(with Patrick Lichfield)
INTELLIGENT AND LOYAL
JOLLY MARSUPIAL
JOLLY SUPER
JOLLY SUPERLATIVE
JOLLY SUPER TOO
SUPER COOPER
SUPER JILLY
SUPER MEN AND SUPER WOMEN
THE COMMON YEARS
TURN RIGHT AT THE SPOTTED DOG
WORK AND WEDLOCK
ANGELS RUSH IN
ARAMINTA’S WEDDING
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
LITTLE MABEL
LITTLE MABEL’S GREAT ESCAPE
LITTLE MABEL SAVES THE DAY
LITTLE MABEL WINS
ROMANCE
EMILY
HARRIET
IMOGEN
LISA
&
CO
&
CO
OCTAVIA
PRUDENCE
ANTHOLOGIES
THE BRITISH IN LOVE
VIOLETS AND VINEGAR
To Laura
with love
Author’s Note
I have always wanted to write a novel about an actress and I started writing BELLA in 1969. However, at that time I wrote it as a
novella
, called it COLLISION and it was serialized in
19
. Only now am I able to fulfil my original wish and present the story as a full-length novel – BELLA.
novella
, called it COLLISION and it was serialized in
19
. Only now am I able to fulfil my original wish and present the story as a full-length novel – BELLA.
Chapter One
Bella read faster and faster until she came to the final page then, giving a howl of irritation, hurled the book across the room. Narrowly missing a row of bottles, it fell with a crash into the waste-paper basket.
‘Best place for it!’ she said furiously. ‘How corny can you get?’
She escaped completely into every book she read, identifying closely with the characters. This time she was incensed because the heroine had slunk dutifully home to her boring husband instead of following her dashing lover up the Amazon.
She shivered and toyed with the idea of letting the water out and running more hot in, but she had done this four times already. Her hands were wrinkled and red from the dye of the book, and the sky that filled the bathroom window had deepened since she’d been in the bath from pale Wedgwood to deep indigo, so she knew it must be late.
She splashed cold water over her body, heaved herself out of the bath and stood, feeling dizzy, on the bath-mat. The bath was ringed with black like a football sweater, but the char would fix that in the morning.
Taking her wireless, she stepped over the debris of her clothes, picked up the second post which was lying in the hall, and wandered into the bedroom.
She turned up the music, danced and sang a few bars, then caught sight of herself in the mirror, hair hidden in a mauve bath-cap, body glowing red as a lobster.
The Great British Public would have a shock if they could see me now, she thought wryly.
She pulled off her bath-cap and examined herself more carefully. She was a big girl with a magnificent body and endless legs. Her mouth was wide and her large sleepy yellow eyes rocketed up at the corners. A mane of reddish-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. The overall impression was of a sleek and beautiful racehorse at the peak of its condition.
She opened her letters. One was from a journalist who wanted to interview her, another an ex-boyfriend trying to come back and several forwarded by the BBC from fans:
‘Dear Miss Parkinson,’ wrote one, in loopy handwriting, ‘I hope you don’t mind my writing. I know you must lead such a busy, glamorous life. I think it’s marvellous the way there’s never any breath of scandal attached to your name. Could you possibly send me a signed full-length photograph and some biographical details?’
Oh, God! thought Bella, feeling slightly sick, if only they all knew.
The last letter was practical. It was headed the Britannia Theatre, and was from the director, Roger Field, who had written:
‘Dear Bella,If you’re late again, I shall sack you. Can’t you see how it unnerves the rest of the cast? Stop being so bloody selfish.
Love, Roger.’
Roger, Bella knew, would be as good as his word. She looked at the alarm clock by the bed and gave another howl of rage. It was twenty past six, and the curtain went up at seven-thirty. Dressing with fantastic speed, not even bothering to dry herself properly, she tore out of the flat and was fortunate to find a taxi almost at once.
The Britannia Theatre Company was one of the great theatrical successes of the decade. It specialized in Shakespeare and more modern classics and generally had three plays running on alternate nights and three in rehearsal. Bella had joined the company a year ago and had risen from walk-on parts to a small speaking part in
The Merchant of Venice.
She had recently had her first real break playing Desdemona in
Othello.
The critics had raved about her performance and the play had been running to capacity audiences for three nights a week.
The Merchant of Venice.
She had recently had her first real break playing Desdemona in
Othello.
The critics had raved about her performance and the play had been running to capacity audiences for three nights a week.
Lying back gazing out of the taxi window at the trees of Hyde Park fanning out against a rustcoloured sky, Bella tried to keep calm. From now until her first entrance she would be in a nervous sweat, stage fright gripping her by the throat like an animal. She deliberately always cut it fine because it meant that she would be in such a hurry dressing and making-up, she wouldn’t have time to panic.
And yet, ironically, the only time when she felt really secure was when she was on stage, getting inside someone else’s personality.
The taxi reached the theatre at five past seven.
‘Evening, Tom,’ said Bella nervously, scuttling past the man at the door.
He put down his evening paper and glanced at his watch. ‘Just made it, Miss Parkinson. Here’s a letter for you, and there’re some more flowers in your room.’
Not bothering to glance at her letter, Bella bounded upstairs two steps at a time and fell into the dressing-room she shared with her best friend, Rosie Hassell, who played Bianca.
‘Late again,’ said Rosie, who was putting on eye make-up. ‘Roger’s been in once already, gnashing his teeth.’
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