Transplanting Holly Oakwood (30 page)

“Thank you”, she said, following him through the curtain into the hallowed domain of the executive traveller. At least she’d be able to drown her sorrows on expensive champagne before having a nap.

He put her cabin bag into an overhead locker and she slid across two empty seats to the window. Thank God she’d be sitting alone. A chattering companion was the last thing she needed. She pushed her handbag under the seat, put on an eye mask to shut out the light and wrapped a blanket around her.

Some time later the smell of food penetrated her consciousness and she stirred. She willed herself to drift back to sleep, but the smell of dinner and the noise in the cabin pulled her back to consciousness.

Slowly she became aware of breathing beside her and cursed silently. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Her tears had bonded the light plastic of the eye mask to her skin, and she peeled it away carefully to peek at the passenger sitting beside her.

He shifted in his seat and as their eyes met, her pulse quickened, her heart hammered in her chest and a wave of vulnerability washed over her. He smiled hesitantly, and a frown creased his forehead. Her eyes searched his face, and his expression told her he felt stripped bare and vulnerable too, and she knew, before he spoke, why he was here.

“I couldn’t let you go.” He took her shaking hand and held it to his warm lips. “Not now or ever.” With the confidence of a man who knows what he wants, he pulled her towards him and kissed her.

The End

Thank you for reading Transplanting Holly Oakwood. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please leave a review online, or touch base with me through my website and blog:

http://www.dijoneswrites.com

You can also follow me on Twitter
@dijoneswrites

If you enjoyed this book, I hope you’ll read my second novel,
Meeting Miss Mollie
, which is due to be released very shortly. You can read more about it on my website.

About Di

Born in Liverpool, I started my working life as a librarian, and have worked in a variety of jobs since, but none were as much fun as the one that allowed me to write and get paid for it. That was a few years ago, and each year it’s become more and more apparent what I want to do is write full time, a dream that first occurred to me at seventeen.

Like my characters, I love my family and friends, beautiful shoes, anything sparkly, the ‘occasional’ drink, parties, and a good belly laugh. I’m addicted to shopping, chocolate, bubble bath and anything else that smells nice, and the sort of TV programmes you’d never publicly admit to watching.

I’ve lived in England, Canada, and the United States, but now call New Zealand home. I live in a lovingly renovated home overlooking Auckland’s beautiful Waitemata Harbour, with my trusted friends Bronson Boxer and Dolce Dane. They keep me fit and exercised, scare the burglars away, sit loyally by my side throughout my late night writing sessions, and hang on my every word when I read final drafts aloud. They truly are my biggest fans, and I theirs!

I love my life, but not so much that there’s not room to live a load of other lives, through the hearts and minds of my characters, all of whom I adore, and some of whom I’m fortunate enough to call friend.

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Table of Contents

Transplanting Holly Oakwood

Dedications

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-NINE

FORTY

FORTY-ONE

FORTY-TWO

FORTY-THREE

FORTY-FOUR

FORTY-FIVE

FORTY-SIX

About Di