The Proposal Plan by Charlotte Phillips Read Free Book Online Page A

building that housed Jolly’s department store. Designer and high street in one vast place, with chandeliers and lots of steps up and down to different departments. As theystepped out of the lift and walked into the lusciously carpeted personal shopping suite Lucy was surprised to see him kiss the cheek of the impeccably dressed assistant who greeted them. Surely that was a bit overfamiliar, wasn’t it?
    ‘Lucy, this is Amanda,’ Gabriel said.
    Lucy nodded uncertainly at the perfectly groomed blonde woman in her understated suit and heels.
    ‘Amanda, thanks so much for fitting us in,’ he said warmly, and led the way into the suite, walking next to the woman as Lucy lagged a few paces behind them feeling drab in her jeans and sweater. ‘Getting married soon, could do with a makeover…’ she heard him say and her eyes widened. What a cheek!
    Amanda showed them both to a huge squashy leather sofa, and then disappeared through a side door. The moment they were sitting down and she was out of earshot, Lucy elbowed Gabriel hard in the ribs.
    ‘Ow!’
    ‘Serves you right!’ she said in an angry stage whisper. ‘Could do with a makeover? There’s nothing wrong with the way I look!’
    ‘Calm down, Lu.’ He held his hands up inmock surrender. ‘I’m just keeping her sweet. Just making sure she realises we’re not, you know,
together
. Do you have any idea how booked up this place gets? Told you I’d call in a favour. I knew Amanda would squeeze us in, time being of the essence and everything.’ He winked at her.
    She rolled her eyes skyward in exasperation. ‘You mean I’ll be getting dress tips from one of your conquests? You must be joking!’
    He made an urgent shushing gesture, which infuriated her all the more. ‘Keep your voice down! She’s not a conquest, since you ask, but she is a friend of a friend and—’
    ‘Oh, great. She just isn’t a conquest
yet
, then. Big difference.’
    ‘Will you just chill out? She’s excellent at her job and you want to try on some new stuff. Where’s the problem?’
    She shook her head impatiently at him and then pasted a polite smile on her face as Amanda reappeared with an armful of clothes and began hanging them on a rail at the side of the room.
    She threw a glance Lucy’s way and smiled. ‘Size eight,’ she said. ‘Possibly a ten in jeansand definitely petite.’ It was a statement, not a question.
    Lucy nodded in admiration. ‘You’re good,’ she had to admit.
    Amanda came over to the sofa and smiled at them. ‘That’s what I’m paid for,’ she said. ‘Follow me, Lucy. I’ll pull some things together for you to try and we can get an idea of what suits your body type best and what colours work well for you, that kind of thing.’ She shifted her gaze to Gabriel. ‘Make yourself comfortable, Gabriel. There’ll be some drinks along in a minute.’ She flashed him a brilliant smile. Gabriel smiled back at her and stretched out in the corner of the sofa, his arms behind his head.
    Lucy followed Amanda into the curtained fitting-room section of the suite. None of the horror of the communal changing room here, thankfully. No desperate shrugging into clothes and deliberately avoiding eye contact with everyone else, all of them doing exactly the same thing. Instead a large, private square room with a clothing rail down one side and a mirror down the other. A much larger bank of mirrors was placed outside, of course, by the sofas, where you could have a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of yourself as you walkedaround, and where your guest could watch and give you feedback. In her case that meant Gabriel. She felt absurdly shy. It was ridiculous, she told herself. She’d known Gabe all her life practically. And anyway, it shouldn’t matter what he thought about how she looked; this was all aimed at Ed, after all. She shrugged out of her plain T-shirt and took the first item off the hanger.
    Gabriel surreptitiously got out his smart-phone. Not entirely to