Bond Girl (32 page)

Authors: Erin Duffy

BOOK: Bond Girl

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Thank you to everyone who helped and supported me as I wrote this, and through just about everything else. Your encouragement meant more to me than you will ever know. (And, side note, thank you for buying many copies of this book without the threat of my revoking our friendships or family ties, at least out loud.) Really, you guys are the best.

Thank you to Joanna Adler, Kristen Baer, Eileen Berkery, Kurt Brown, Patricia Byrnes, Megan Collins, Whitney Cox, Avery Duffy, Barbara Duffy, Calleigh Duffy, Cathy Duffy, Karen Duffy, Merri Duffy, Ronan Duffy, Quinn Duffy, Rob Farrer, Lauren Fischetti, Marianne Filipski, Maura Fitzgerald, Harvey Gould, Jordan Keating, Mary Kay Kemper, Christina Kingham, Pat Langdon, Karen Macdonald, Stacey Mon, Greg Mone, Colleen McNellis, Casey Nicholas, Erica Noble, Catherine O'Connor, Kevin Penwell, Susan Puglisi, Jennie Quinn, Katie Regan, Jennie Robin, Kelly Sanderson, Kevin Sexton, Derek Solon, Susan Stewart, Sarah Tilley, Mark Tortora, Lee Ann Truss, Todd Vender, Michaela Wenk, Jeannine Wiley, Kirstine Wilson, and Kelly Zaremba.

Thank you especially to the rest of the Duffys and the Sextons, both the in-laws and out-laws. I am so lucky to have such a large extended family that it is impossible to mention everyone; thank you all. I have no doubt that I will hear about who wasn't mentioned specifically at Christmas. Truth be told, I'm a little scared.

For all of my friends on the Street, who made this life more fun than anyone deserved to have had at work, and whose nicknames are used to protect the innocent: They know who they are . . . and that's all that matters. Thank you:

Agency Ian, B, Bernie, Boss, Brendan, Bury, Charlie, Chanimal, Cleve, Disco-Dot, Doug, FX Ray, Gargi, Guy, Hammer, Harry, Hegs, Hey Tiger, HI RAY!, Jedster, JB, Joe, Joey D, JZ, Keith, Laips, LP, Lynchie, Magantor, Mangia, MB, Microsoft, Milweed, Moose, Muchacho, Murray, Okay terrific, Pado, PT, Ranz, Robo, Rocket, Santee, T, Tank, Team Central Bank, Ted, Tokyo Rose, Silver Fox, Sharptooth, Sobes, Smitty, Sweet Lou, Wayno. Thank you all. I miss you.

A few people deserve special mention. Without them, this book would still be nothing more than the world's heaviest paperweight. I still can't believe it's not. Neither can more than a few people reading this. Most of them are family.

Thank you to my lawyer, Eric Rayman: for spending his time and massively strong brainpower on an unknown author, and for making sure I didn't make any colossally bad decisions. From day one, you believed, and I thank you. You didn't have to. I know.

Thank you to my manager, Will Rowbotham: for convincing me that this project was something worth pursuing, for fighting all the battles I'm too afraid to fight on my own, and for always calling me back. Let's get dark and stormies. Tomorrow. Hell, today, I'm not busy.

Thank you to my agent at William Morris, Erin Malone: for believing in me, and for cutting a seven-hundred-page book down to size. It wasn't easy. You are amazing, and I hit the jackpot when you took on this project. You held my hand through everything, and then sold this book from a coffee shop on your vacation. That, I won't soon forget. Trust me.

Thank you to everyone at William Morrow: especially Jennifer Brehl, the world's best editor, who has the patience of a saint, the mind of a scholar, and the spirit of a teenager, which I love. And to her second-in-command, Emily Krump. Thank you for dealing with me, my stupid questions, and my countless neuroses. Thank you for believing in this book, thank you for your hours of work, and thank you for teaching me that the word
toward
does not have an
s
on the end. Who knew? I didn't. One of many things you taught me. The list is endless.

Last but in no way least, thank you to Kelly Meehan, and the amazingly generous, fantastically talented, and unbelievably kind Adriana Trigiani: This Cinderella does not deserve to have you as her fairy godmother. Without you, I'd never have had the courage to write it all down. You told me to. Thank you, Adri, for everything.

Words cannot express my gratitude. To any of you.

About the Author

ERIN DUFFY
graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a B.A. in English and went on to spend more than a decade working in fixed-income sales on Wall Street.
Bond Girl
is her first novel.

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Credits

Cover design by Mary Schuck

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

BOND GIRL
. Copyright Â© 2012 by Erin Duffy. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN: 9780062065896

EPub Edition February 2012 ISBN: 9780062065919

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