Highland Fling
Authors: Katie Fforde
Katie Fforde lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and some of her three children. Recently her old hobbies of ironing and housework have given way to singing, Flamenco dancing and husky racing. She claims this keeps her fit.
Praise for Katie Fforde
‘A fairytale-like, gently witty read … Heart-warming – made for sunny days in the park’
Cosmopolitan
‘The mother-daughter bond the women develop is endearing and the heartache caused by a failed long marriage is touchingly conveyed’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Acute and funny observations of the social scene’
The Times
‘A heart-warming tale of female friendship, fizzing with Fforde’s distinctive brand of humour’
Sunday Express
‘Delicious – gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches’
Sunday Times
‘A witty and generous romance … Katie Fforde is on sparkling form … Jilly Cooper for the grown-ups’
Independent
Further praise for Katie Fforde
‘Fforde’s light touch succeeds in making this a sweet and breezy read – the ideal accompaniment to a long summer’s evening’
Daily Mail
‘Old-fashioned romance of the best sort… funny, comforting’
Elle
‘The romance fizzes along with good humour and is a good, fat, summery read’
Sunday Mirror
‘Joanna Trollope crossed with Tom Sharpe’
Mail on Sunday
‘A spirited summer read that’s got to be Fforde’s best yet’
Woman & Home
‘Can be scoffed at one sitting … Tasty’
Cosmopolitan
‘Perfect holiday reading. Pack it with the swimsuit and suntan lotion’
Irish Independent
‘Fforde is blessed with a lightness of touch, careful observation and a sure sense of the funny side of life’
Ideal Home
‘Top drawer romantic escapism’
You
‘Warm, witty and entertaining … as satisfying as a cup of hot cocoa on a chilly night’
Woman & Home
‘Katie Fforde produces gentle cheering comedies that feature heroines whose waistlines are not what they were and who are gifted with humorous self-deprecation’
Sunday Times
‘Katie Fforde writes entertainingly about country life – and love’
Woman’s Journal
‘Lively and engaging’
Woman’s Weekly
‘Perfect for the beach’
Bella
‘Entertainingly written – a fine romance indeed’
The Lady
‘Bright and airy’
Closer
‘A perfect piece of curl-up-on-the-sofa reading’
Real
‘A funny, fresh and lively read’
heat
Also by Katie Fforde
Living Dangerously
The Rose Revived
Wild Designs
Stately Pursuits
Life Skills
Thyme Out
Artistic Licence
Paradise Fields
Restoring Grace
Flora’s Lot
Practically Perfect
Going Dutch
Wedding Season
Love Letters
Table of Contents
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781446428276
Published by Arrow Books 2009
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Copyright © Katie Fforde 2002
Katie Fforde has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent 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
First published in Great Britain in 2002 by Century
Arrow Books
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA
Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099415558
Acknowledgements
I would very much like to thank the following people for their help with this book. All technical errors are my own.
To Paul Baxter, who told me about snow-holes. To Paul and Judy Rose of Roseland Llamas who had me to stay, told me all about unusual fibres, and let me stroke their beautiful llamas. Bridget Postlethwaite for not only telling me all about Virtual Assistants, but becoming my own, excellent, V.A. and helping me with my research. Andrew Rough for showing me round Cam Mill. Steve and Sally Marshfield for lending me books about mills. To Harriet Longman who told me her story, which was difficult for her. To the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team. To Miranda Kirkby, she knows why. To Jane and Ian Peters and the Edge Reelers, who gave me a crash course in Highland dancing, and didn’t grumble when I couldn’t do it. To Polly Stirling for inventing nuno felt and allowing me to use it in my book and to Jane Ford for her invaluable advice about textiles.
As always to my tolerant family, my wonderful agent Sarah Molloy, everyone at Random House who do such a good job for me, in every way, and to others who can’t be mentioned, probably because I have forgotten their names.
Chapter One
‘I gave you a home, for goodness’ sake!’ said Henry.
Jenny put her suitcase in the boot and slammed it shut. ‘I think if you cast your mind back, Henry, you asked me to move in with you several months before I actually did. And then I found out that what you really wanted was a housekeeper!’
‘You were homeless at the time, though.’
‘I had had to sell my flat. It’s hardly the same as living on the streets.’ She frowned. She didn’t want to argue with Henry just as she was going away. ‘Let’s go and have a cup of coffee. I don’t need to set off just yet.’
Henry followed her inside, and watched as she ground beans and set up the machine. Jenny would have preferred a quick cup of instant, but real coffee was one of Henry’s things, and now wasn’t the time to try to convert him to the other kind.
‘I just think,’ he said, as she set down the large, thick dark green and gold cup and saucer before him and added a homemade biscuit to the saucer, ‘that you should put family commitments before your – your…’
Jenny’s good intentions about not having a row were stretched. She sipped her own coffee, thinking it tasted bitter. ‘It’s a business, Henry. Not very large, but important to me. And it’s your family who’ve got cousins coming over from America, not mine.’
‘Practically the same thing,’ he muttered into his shortbread.
Jenny was tempted to waggle the large ring-shaped space on her bare left hand to point out that they were neither married nor engaged, but she didn’t, because she suspected he wanted them to be more than she did. His family did consider her part of theirs, but she didn’t make the same assumptions. There had been many reasons why she had gone to live with Henry, including her feelings for Henry at the time, but since then she had begun to wonder if the deep fondness she felt for him and his domestic dependence on her were really enough to sustain a relationship.
‘Why do you have to go this weekend? Wouldn’t next week do?’
‘I told you. My client wants me up there now. I’ve already delayed going because of your parents’ anniversary party last weekend. I can’t afford to lose him, Henry; I haven’t got that many clients.’
‘You could go out and get a job, like normal women do.’
Jenny was tempted to ask why, if he wanted the sort of woman he considered normal, he was living with her? But instead she said, ‘I could, but I don’t want to. I want to work for myself and control my own destiny. I’m not going to be at the whim of some bloody management consultant or accountant ever again, thank you. Besides, it’s convenient for me to work at home. It means I can do the cooking and collect your suits from the cleaners.’