Persuading Annie Read Online Free PDF

difficult day for Susannah Brooke.
    It had to be a day of action, something she knew George never liked taking, and it would take all her powers of patience, mental agility and rhetoric for it to go the right way.
    ‘How are you, George?’ she asked gently.
    ‘Fine, my dear,’ he answered, in a deep, mellow voice that had melted many a young girl’s heart, reserve and body. ‘I think today’s going to go rather well.’
    ‘You do?’ she asked, encouraged by the mischievous twinkle in his chestnut eyes.
    ‘I do,’ he said firmly.
    ‘You know why?’
    ‘No. Do tell.’
    ‘What colour is this tie?’
    Susannah studied the tie.
    ‘Brown?’
    George shook his head with a smug smile.
    ‘Not just any brown. Chocolate Brown. Melted Bournville Chocolate Brown. Exactly the same colour as my eyes. And I didn’t even tell my man. It was just lucky fluke.’ He touched his aquiline nose with his elegant forefinger, as if to prove his point. ‘Always a good sign.’
    Susannah managed a smile.
    * * * * *
    Susannah had worked for Markhams’ PR for well over three decades, since its heyday. And she had been a friend to the Markhams for almost as long, having met George’s late wife, Caroline Markham, when both of them were nothing more than pretty young, single things in their first secretarial jobs, all those years ago.
    Caroline had been lovely. Modest, beautiful, kind and intelligent – but shrewd as well, enough to know that she should demonstrate all three former qualities before the latter two. And together, she and Susannah had done very well for themselves. In fact, Caroline had excelled in the limited field open to her – for her class, era and gender. She had married her boss. Not just any boss, but chairmanof the PR conglomerate Markhams’ PR, millionaire George Markham.
    Caroline was so universally loved that not a soul begrudged her her good fortune in making such a wonderful match. And of everyone, Susannah was the most delighted for her dearest friend, a generous reaction made easier by the fact that she had followed her only six weeks later, by marrying another wealthy man.
    The two young girls’ friendship had continued to blossom once they were both wealthy wives. But there the similarities in their lives ended. Susannah’s husband had treated her spectacularly. He realised that he had married a clever woman, financed his wife through accountancy school, provided her with a beautiful daughter, watched her become more and more influential at Markhams’ PR, and then died, leaving her more money than she and her child could ever spend, in a new life of uncompromising fulfilment. It was more than many women could have dreamt of.
    Meanwhile, a different story was unfolding for Caroline Markham. The truth of it was that she had been very unhappily married. After all, it would have been too much for George Markham to have cast his eye over his typing pool, spotted the prettiest blonde, made her his bride and realised her worth too. And sure enough, after Caroline’s Happily Ever After ending came the shapeless, shameless sequel of real life, with no plot, little humour and a far less likeable hero.
    Caroline had floated down the aisle to marry a startlingly handsome, intelligent, acerbic young magnate. Yet before their third anniversary she had finally admitted to herself the horrible truth. She was married to an irascible twat.
    She slowly discovered that her husband was not, as all the lowly typists had assumed, the ‘brains’ behind his internationalcompany. Far from it. He had simply had enough money to buy it, and ever since, his minions had had to work their fingers to the bone, untying the knots he regularly tied.
    As for his acerbic wit, which Caroline had mistaken for a sharp mind, it was nothing more than a piercing cruelty he chose not to curb. He was in fact a vain, rude egotist, who had wanted a trophy blonde for a wife and it had been her luck to have been in the wrong place when he was