City Girl in Training

City Girl in Training
Liz Fielding

Praise for RITA

Award-winning author LIZ FIELDING

About The Bride, the Baby and the Best Man:

“A wonderful story with emotionally driven characters, cracking scenes and a fantastic plot twist.”

—Romantic Times

About And Mother Makes Three:

“Ms. Fielding continues to delight me with her storytelling and rich prose. She is now on my automatic-buy list.”

—Bookbug on the Web

About Dating Her Boss:

“Liz Fielding pens a brilliant tale…as she beautifully weaves together a strong emotional conflict, entertaining wit and two dynamic characters.”

—Romantic Times

Dear Reader,

We’re constantly striving to bring you the best romance fiction by the most exciting authors, and in Harlequin Romance

we’re especially keen to feature fresh, sparkling, emotionally exhilarating novels! Modern love stories to suit your every mood—poignant, deeply moving stories; lively, upbeat romances with sparks flying; or sophisticated, edgy novels with a cosmopolitan flavor.

All our authors are special, and we hope you continue to enjoy each month’s new selection of Harlequin Romance titles. This month we’re delighted to feature another book with extra fizz! In Liz Fielding’s fast-paced, witty novel, meet Philly and laugh along with her (and at her!) as she attempts to become a city girl in London….

We hope you enjoy this book by Liz Fielding—it’s fresh, flirty and feel-good!—and look out for future sparkling stories in Harlequin Romance. If you’d like to share your thoughts and comments with us, do please write to:

The Harlequin Romance Editors

Harlequin Mills & Boon Ltd.

Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road

Richmond

Surrey TW9 1SR, U.K.

Or e-mail us at: tango@hmb.co.uk

Happy reading!

The Editors

City Girl in Training

Liz Fielding

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ONE

The house is on fire and you only have time to grab one item of clothing. Would you choose:

a. the kickin’ hot purple leather miniskirt that turns heads in the street?

b. your expensive go-anywhere black suit?

c. a pair of washed-thin jogging pants that you were wearing when you first met the man of your dreams?

d. the designer skirt you bought in a sale? You’ll never get a bargain like that again.

e. the sweater knitted for you by your grandmother?

‘ARE you sure you don’t want to take this sweater, Philly? Aunt Alice will expect to see you wearing it at Christmas…’ My mother looked up when I didn’t answer and caught me looking at the quiz in the magazine she’d bought me on her last-minute dash to the shops. ‘Save that for the journey, dear,’ she said, as if I were six years old, instead of nearly twenty-three, ‘or you won’t have anything to read on the train.’

I heroically resisted the urge to tell her that while I was the baby of the family, the one who didn’t get a starred first at university, I was quite capable of buying myself a magazine, and instead gave her my full attention. Her question, however, had been purely rhetorical. She’d already unzipped the corner of my case and tucked away the sweater.

It figured.

I’d been haunted by that sweater ever since my Great-Aunt Alice had knitted it for me. It was pale blue and fluffy and I loathed it. I’d planned on putting it in a carton of clothes to be stored in the attic, hoping that a moth would consider it a suitable home for her offspring.