Uptown Girl
Page 35
With a somewhat violent whoosh Bina’s bridal bouquet hurtled through the air toward the terrace. Kate stepped back in time to avoid being seen by the crowd below. To her amazement, the bouquet fell with a splat at her feet. Startled, she and Billy stared at it silently. She felt paralyzed with embarrassment and … fear. Her longing was almost too much to bear. Then Billy broke the moment by stooping gracefully, picking them up and offering the flowers to her. Kate accepted them as if in a dream. She stared down at the bouquet in her hands, then at Billy then back to the bouquet. She said a silent prayer that this moment wasn’t just a coincidence. That it meant something real and lasting. She knew she was blushing, but she forced herself to look at Billy Nolan, even if it gave her away.
‘How did you manage that?’ Billy asked. ‘Was it magic?’
Kate, no matter what the cost, nodded because it was.
‘Kate, will you marry me?’ Billy asked.
Acknowledgements
Perhaps belatedly, as this is my tenth novel, I would like to most sincerely thank those of you who have read my books. I hope they have given you much enjoyment and diversion. It is difficult to make one’s way as a writer, and the reception I have gotten in the UK has always touched and delighted me. I am obviously American, more deeply a New Yorker, but my great grandmother and grandfather emigrated to the States from Liverpool and I have always been an Anglophile. From the time I began writing on the top of London buses to the day when my first novel was accepted for publication in London and I walked out of the doors and down Fulham Road telling myself over and over that ‘I am an author’, I have met with fairness, encouragement, intelligence and humor, all of which have delighted me. I thank you all, and only hope that I have, at times, delighted you.
Almost as importantly, I would like to thank the people at HarperCollins UK. I have been very, very lucky, and I know it is largely due to your efforts. While editors, sales staff, publicists and publishers have shifted and moved on, I would like to thank HarperCollins past and present. Special thanks to Lynne Drew, who both ‘gets’ me and expertly guides me, Nick Sayers, who has bet on me again and again, the legendary Rachel Hore and her gentle but brilliant proddings, Jennifer Parr for her humor, encouragement and attention to detail (not to mention a few great shout lines), Karen Duffy, certainly the best publicity manager in all the world, Jane Harris for her tireless effort on my books’ behalf, Lee Motley for her inspired artistry, Martin Palmer and James Prichard for their unflagging enthusiasm and, of course, to Amanda Ridout, who makes all things possible.
I’d also like to acknowledge the help and support of Val Hudson, Philip Gwyn Jones, David Young, Malcolm Edwards, Imogen Taylor, and my very dear friend Adrian Bourne.
I am sure I have inadvertently left out others who have been wonderfully kind. Your omission is not for lack of appreciation but for lack of functioning brain cells. Please forgive me and know that, despite my momentary lapse, you have my thanks.
About the Author
Olivia Goldsmith is the bestselling author of The First Wives Club, Flavour of the Month, Bestseller, The Switch, Young Wives, Bad Boy and most recently, Insiders. She has contributed to The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, In Style, and the Observer, among other publications. She lives in Manhattan. For more about Olivia Goldsmith, visit her website at www.olivia-goldsmith.com.
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Acclaim for Olivia Goldsmith
‘Full of wisecracks and gossip … Olivia Goldsmith can keep you reading’
Cosmopolitan
‘A bubbly, fizzy story’
Daily Mail
‘Olivia Goldsmith’s forte has always been the writing of revenge novels with great good humor’
Washington Post
‘Goldsmith hands out her characters’ rewards and comeuppances like Jane Austen dealing blackjack … You keep licking your fingers and reaching for the next page as if it were another potato chip’
Newsweek
‘Fizzing with acerbic dialogue and high-level sexual slapstick’
Good Housekeeping
Also by Olivia Goldsmith
The First Wives Club
Flavour of the Month
Fashionably Late
Simple Isn’t Easy
Bestseller
Marrying Mom
The Switch
Young Wives
Bad Boy
Insiders
Copyright
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters, incidents and organizations portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, localities or organizations is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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This paperback edition 2003
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2003
Copyright © Olivia Goldsmith 2003
Olivia Goldsmith asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Ebook edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 9780007387946
Version 2
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