A summer at the chateau
Leaving her cheating ex-boyfriend behind Rosie Fielding heads away from London to spend a blissful – and boy-free - summer basking in the Cote d’Azur sunshine. Surely the Mediterranean sea breeze will soften memories of the disastrous anniversary dinner-than-never-was?!
During a chance visit to a nearby perfumery Rosie meets the owner, Jean-Michel de Fleurenne, who’s distillery is in desperate need of her PR expertise. Everyone knows you should never mix business with pleasure…but in Provence the rules seem almost impossible to stick to…
Rosie has fallen instantly in love with the Provencąl landscape. The rich citrus aromas of the fruit trees, and scent of the wild lavender are blissfully intoxicating and have done wonders in banishing any and all memories of her ex and the tall, blonde Other Woman! However, they say French is the language of love – and thoughts of a certain, impossibly handsome, French Perfumier are becoming harder and harder to ignore…
Also by Kate Fitzroy
Dreams of Tuscany
Perfume of Provence
Kate Fitzroy
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
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London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014
Copyright © Kate Fitzroy 2014
Kate Fitzroy 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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E-book Edition © June 2014 ISBN: 9781472095220
Version date: 2018-07-23
KATE FITZROY
has two lives. One in a flinty Victorian cottage in Newmarket, where she awakes early each morning to the clip clop of the strings of racehorses passing under the window. Kate’s other life is played out in a Napoleonic manor set in a sleepy village amongst the vineyards of the Loire Valley, France.
Her life has not always been so blissful. Widowed at the age of twenty-two, already with two children to love and protect, she fought her way up as hard and steep a path as any of her romantic heroines. Determined to turn adversity to advantage, Kate and her two children left England behind and drove off to the South of France. By teaching English and renovating ruined properties in France and then Italy, Kate more than survived.
Now happily married to a thoroughly English man and surrounded by a large, loving family, Kate enjoys every moment of every day… CARPE DIEM because TEMPUS FUGIT!
Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
About the Publisher
Rosie sighed as she flicked impatiently through the pages of a magazine. A half-hour delay to the departure of her flight to Nice had just been announced. The two precious days that she had snatched from the jaws of her over-demanding work were already shrinking into a bad idea. After fighting her way through Friday-afternoon traffic to get to the airport on time, she now had to sit and wait. Why hadn’t she just gone home and tried to relax?
Rosie blinked away tears as she imagined being back at her flat alone. Alone and miserable after her break-up with Luke. How could he? The words swam around in her head unanswered. She knew she had been working too hard lately to give enough time to their relationship. But, how could he? They had been together a year and last night had been the anniversary of their meeting. She had been looking forward to their planned dinner date. In her lunch hour she had decided to rush out and buy a new dress to surprise him. That was when she saw him with another woman. Rosie closed her eyes now, as she sat waiting in the departure lounge. In her mind’s eye, Technicolored in every detail, she saw Luke and the tall, beautiful blonde girl in a café. Not just sitting close, but wrapped in each other’s arms, Luke nuzzling the girl’s long neck and stroking her hair. Rosie shuddered and her eyes flashed open. Once again she was back in the airport. Waiting, hurting, but determined not to cry.
She shifted angrily in her seat, her foot tapping nervously. This is not happening, she thought to herself as a wave of stress welled up inside her.
“Probably