After Paris
Contents (41)
- ALSO BY NICOLE KENNEDY
- Contents
- 1
- Hôtel de Crillon, Paris, 1999
- 2
- TWENTY YEARS LATER
- Friday a.m.
- 3
- Paris, 2003
- 4
- Friday p.m.
- 5
- Paris, 2008
- 6
- Saturday a.m.
- 7
- Paris, 2008
- 8
- Saturday p.m.
- 9
- Paris, 2015
- 10
- Sunday a.m.
- 11
- Le Gare du Nord
- 12
- London, 2018
- 13
- After Paris
- 14
- One Month After Paris
- 15
- Three Months After Paris
- 16
- Six Months After Paris
- 17
- Nine Months After Paris
- 18
- One Year After Paris
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
After
Paris
ALSO BY NICOLE KENNEDY
Everything’s Perfect
After
Paris
NICOLE KENNEDY
www.headofzeus.com
First published in the UK in 2022 by Head of Zeus Ltd,
part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Nicole Kennedy, 2022
The moral right of Nicole Kennedy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB): 9781800240162
ISBN (XTPB): 9781800240179
ISBN (E): 9781800240193
Cover design: Helen Crawford-White
Head of Zeus Ltd
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG
WWW.HEADOFZEUS.COM
For Cara, Jemma and Katie
Contents
Also by Nicole Kennedy
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements
About the Author
An Invitation from the Publisher
1
Hôtel de Crillon, Paris, 1999
‘She’s disappeared!’ Teddy huffed, and Alice arranged her mouth into a smirk. Unease had restructured his already exquisite features, rendering his face pensive and brooding; his cerulean eyes glazed sulkily, his full berry lips pouting. It was so unfair that he looked so good, all the time, even now as his distress escalated. She didn’t fancy Teddy – Lordy, he was practically her brother – but she could appreciate fine art when she saw it and Teddy Astor, with his fine-boned nose and sharp-lined cheekbones, was a subject worthy of the Old Masters. Pity he was such a pain.
‘I’m sure she’ll turn up. She’s hardly going to miss le Bal,’ Alice replied, a yawn in her voice, as though Teddy’s problems were just so tedious to her and there wasn’t a delicious justice in him being stood up at the society function of the year. Chunky, he’d called her. Chunky. And she hadn’t forgotten it.
‘She might. She’s French,’ he said, as if that explained everything.
Around them the lobby bustled with activity – women dripping with pearls, the press dripping with long-lens cameras. ‘There must be someone high profile here,’ Alice observed. The list of debutantes was always a closely guarded secret, adding to the mystery and glamour of the event. Teddy ran a hand through his hair nervously and the effect was so enthralling Alice had to look away. She was fortunate she was impervious to his charms. ‘What are you doing out here, anyway?’