Read Biarritz Passion: A French Summer Novel for Free Online

screen. Despite staying until after seven the previous night there were eighteen new messages waiting for her, most of them with little red flags by the side.
    She spent the next hour and a half sorting through the most urgent problems. At half past ten she pushed back her chair, deciding a coffee was in order. The machine was on a table in the corner of the general office where her three staff members worked. Unconsciously she massaged her temples as she waited for the water to pass through the filter.
    ‘Headache?’ Jen was trying to make amends for earlier. ‘I’m always getting them when it rains. I’ve got some Nurofen in my drawer if you want.’
    ‘No it’s OK, it just feels a bit fuggy in here. But thanks anyway.’
    Caroline forced a smile. Jen wasn’t bad, she was just, what was the CV term? ‘Lacking in initiative.’ She would perform routine tasks like a hamster on a wheel, it was the thought of actually being responsible for something which threw her into a panic. When Caroline had been ill for a couple of days in January, Jen had immediately declared herself ill as well, leaving the office to George and Sheryl. And that had been a roaring success, hadn’t it?
    ‘I’ll open a window!’
    As if sensing her thoughts, Sheryl sprang from her seat and raced across the room.
    ‘Just an inch!’
    Caroline’s voice was sharp. She looked over at George apprehensively. The eldest member of the team was hunched like a chicken ruffling his feathers against the cold. He sat with his head down, laboriously entering figures into an Excel table on his computer screen. Sheryl tugged at the window with a look of triumph but George didn’t raise his head.
    Caroline’s phone rang. She went back inside her cubicle, leaving the door open, her mind on the permanent feud between Sheryl and George. The two of them had clashed from the moment Sheryl had joined the team eight months ago. She would have to do something about it. Team building, not one of her strong points. Maybe she should invite them all for a drink one day after work? Hand out T-shirts? Sheryl the Thong, Jen the Hamster and George the Chicken. Oh my goodness she was grumpy this morning.
    She picked up the phone.
    ‘Caroline MacDonald.’
    ‘Caro darling!’
    She had been expecting a client or a colleague. With a start of surprise she recognised her sister’s voice.
    ‘Annabel? What’s wrong?’
    The words sprang to her lips automatically. There was a fairly reliable short list of reasons why her sister phoned, all of them to do with emergencies.
    ‘I’m absolutely fine darling! Fine! Did you get my postcard?’
    ‘Just this morning. Sounds like you had a great time.’
    ‘It was wonderful! I’ll tell you all about it this weekend. Listen, I know you’re at work, but som ething rather urgent’s come up…’
    ‘Urgent?’
    Annabel cut in immediately with a little laugh.
    ‘ Don’t start getting all neurotic. Nothing to do with Aunt Maggie. No, it’s, well, it’s something a bit unexpected really…’
    Sh e hesitated, then said brightly ‘It’s about this summer actually. July. Do you have any plans?’
    Caroline was momentarily at a loss for words. Various scenarios ran through her head. Caroline the Kitten-Sitter while her sister was on holiday. Caroline the Foreman, chivvying the workmen who were renovating Annabel’s flat. Or The Tourist Guide. Her sister had a way of inviting people to come and stay, people she met on a cruise, at a wedding in Miami. She was invariably astonished when they turned up on her doorstep with a pile of luggage and said ‘Hi there! We’ve just arrived in London, is the guest room ready?’
    ‘This summer? What do you mean? What sort of plans?’
    ‘Holiday plans, silly. You’ve got three weeks off, I remember you saying.’ Annabel sounded impatient. ‘Have you got anything fixed up yet?’
    ‘Well, I haven’t really made up my mind, there are various possibilities, it’s a bit early, I was