The Proposal
Copyright © 2013 Tasmina Perry
The right of Tasmina Perry to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published as an Ebook in 2013 by HEADLINE REVIEW
An imprint of HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
eISBN 978 0 7553 8357 3
Chrysler building illustration © Art’nLera/Shutterstock
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Contents
TASMINA PERRY’S GUIDE TO MODERN MANHATTAN
TASMINA PERRY is the
Sunday Times
bestselling author of novels such as
Daddy’s Girls
,
Kiss Heaven Goodbye
,
Deep Blue Sea
and, most recently,
The Proposal
. She left a career in law to enter the world of women’s magazine publishing, going on to become an award-winning writer and conributor to titles such as
Elle
,
Glamour
and
Marie Claire
. In 2004 she launched her own travel and fashion magazine,
Jaunt
, and was editing
InStyle
magazine when she left the industry to write books full time. Her novels have been published in seventeen countries. Tasmina lives with her husband and son in London, where she is at work on her next novel.
For more about Tasmina Perry, and ideas for glamorous getaways, visit
www.tasminaperry.com
.
Take a journey with
‘A heady mixture of mystery, romance and luxury’
Woman
‘No one can mix a classy cocktail of intrigue, passion and glamour quite like Tasmina Perry’
Hello
‘Decadent and full of surprising twists . . . irresistible escapism’
Closer
‘A well-written tale of mystery and betrayal’
Sunday Express
‘Had me hooked from start to finish’
Daily Mail
By Tasmina Perry
Daddy’s Girls
Gold Diggers
Guilty Pleasures
Original Sin
Kiss Heaven Goodbye
Private Lives
Perfect Strangers
Deep Blue Sea
The Proposal
Just say yes to this unforgettable read and take a spellbinding, romantic journey from the dazzling days of the debutantes in 1950s London to glamorous modern Manhattan.
When Amy Carrell’s wealthy boyfriend ends their relationship just before Christmas, she’s left to nurse her broken heart alone. With nothing to lose, she replies to an advertisement requesting a companion for a mysterious ‘Manhattan adventure’.
Whisked off to New York with eccentric British aristocrat Georgia Hamilton, Amy experiences a glamorous side of the city that she’s never seen before. Along the way, Georgia initiates her protégée in the arts of old-school elegance.
But as Georgia shares her life lessons, Amy discovers a painful secret in her mentor’s past. A secret that shattered her future. A story of love and betrayal that only Amy has the power to put right.
For John
She hesitated before she put pen to paper, her pale hand shaking as it hovered over the form.
Apparently this was the old-fashioned way of doing things – even people her age were internet savvy enough these days to submit a classifieds advertisement online. Instead she had popped into the magazine offices on impulse, having been in Covent Garden on a lunch date with some friends. Familiar people, on familiar territory, London’s traditional publishing heartland. Her own former workplace was just a stone’s throw away, and its restaurants – Rules, Christopher’s, Joe Allen – were where she had spent many happy times, doing deals, drinking with friends. It was her life. And it had been a good one.
So was she now in her right mind doing this? Was it time to finally let go of the past rather than go running headlong into a fantasy of a life she had not even lived?
She looked up and glanced at the woman behind the desk, hoping for an encouraging gesture, or some other sign that she was doing the right thing. But the lady was on the phone and the only other thing she had to spur her on was a nagging voice in her head. The voice that had been reminding her for weeks that if she was ever going to do it, if she was ever going to go there, it was now, whilst she still could.
Today she felt every one of her seventy-two years. Recently she had noticed that society was trying to pull some sort of a con trick on millions of people just like her, that there was something good, something joyful, about getting old. She had seen the adverts around London, in magazines. Smiling white-haired women with beautiful bone structures advertised cheaper road insurance for the over-seventies. Suspiciously well-priced flats in glossy estate agent brochures were luxury retirement bolt-holes only available to the over-fifty-fives. The grey pound was apparently a potent economic force, whilst the term ‘silver surfers’ for those of her generation more internet savvy than herself implied an athleticism she had not felt since the eighties.
But right now there felt nothing good about being old. Her friends were beginning to die. Not many, not yet, but it was happening, and every time she heard more sad news, it was a reminder of her own mortality.
She had been thinking about it so much lately. Thinking about
him
. She wasn’t entirely sure how you could have memories about things that hadn’t even happened. All she had were her daydreams about a life they could have had together if it wasn’t for the one night that had changed her life completely. But lately it had consumed her thoughts to the point that she just had to go to New York – the one major Western city she had never been to. The one city that represented a life unlived.