Dazzled (41 page)

“I know,” he said, smiling. “And you leave wet towels on the bathroom floor, and eat KitKats by biting off the chocolate and sucking the biscuit. You steal my t-shirts, and don’t appreciate the genius that is modal jazz. You suck your teeth and roll your eyes when someone irritates you, and…”

“Yeah, all right! No need to go on!”

“You clip your toenails on the balcony, and you fart in your sleep.”

“Hey!”

“And I love you so fucking much. So will you? Will you marry me?”

What could I say to that undying declaration of love?

“Oh, okay then.”

His eyelids fluttered closed for a second, then he blinked up at me. His eyes were glistening with tears.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and slipped the ring onto my stubby, chubby finger.

He was beautiful, talented and famous – but that wasn’t his fault. As for the rest, well, we were working on it.

And so I packed my bags to head to California – the sunshine state. Oh wait, I think that’s Florida. Ah, you know what I mean – the state with a lot of sunshine. Land of a thousand stars. With him. My fiancé. With Miles. My own personal miracle.

Yeah, pretty mushy, but what did I care? I was in love.

And so was he : )

Without this sounding like an Oscar’s speech, there are a lot of people I really must thank.

The lovely and multi-talented Sam Callahan who got his kit off to be my Miles for the cover; his wonderful sister, Sophie, who pimped her little brother; and Natalie Bell who stood in as Clare at the last minute, and had to spend an evening looking adoringly at Sam (see the website for details ; ).

To Hang Le for her enthusiasm, fabulous cover design and chapter headings; and Picture This Cover for the photography.

To my gal pal team – Lisa, Kirsten, Ana, Dina, Cori, Shirley,
Audrey, Trina and the redoubtable Dorota.

To Michael Seymour, who let me use his real life Ridley Scott anecdote, although you’ll have to guess where this is in the narrative in case I get sued.

To Marianka Swain who channeled her inner Lemon to help me with media training advice.

To Sasha Cameron, whose name has been used in vain, but is a true sport and kind soul.

To the book bloggers who have been so supportive, especially Smitten, Divas and Totally Booked.

To the fb friends who have become real friends, especially Audrey Thunder, Ellen Totten, Ana Carvalheiro, Ana Kristina Rabacca, Karen Wright, MJ Fryer, Showdog, Vip and Toni Mehta, Reese Call, Miranda Bing, Angie Lynch, Soraya Naomi, Christopher Lindsay, Nuw Writer, Lala Loopsie, Steph, Mary Dunne and well, so many more of you.

And, as always, I must thank my hardy fanfic readers, without whom this book would not exist.