Settle Down Now: Revised Part One (serialised)

By Leenna Naidoo

Part One of the serialised version of the novel.

Ten years on from the events of Unsettled, Charmaine Donnet, now a billionaire, is in the spotlight in the most humilating way. Her search for Mr Right is turning into a media circus, and Robert Hart is not far off in the horizon...
Part One introduces Charmaine when she learns of Joss’s plans for her, we are left wondering what Joss' ultimate plan for her is really. Meanwhile, Rob is looking for finance for repairs to The Sunflower, and he can't help wondering why the name Charmaine Donnet is so familiar. 

Set in South Africa and the Indian Ocean, with echoes of Rob and Charmaine’s previous life in Scotland, Settle Down Now moves from Durban to Richards Bay to the yacht The Sunflower.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leenna Naidoo/Learning To Surf Publishing
• Release date: Mar 1, 2019

Book preview

2019

Chapter One

Tara Metrovich probably paid her staff in gold. She had a voice to match her face: small pekinese features barely framed by the once more trendy page-boy haircut.

I adjusted the microphone attached to my crisp, white collar, jutting out from my newly tailored peach-skin suit, as I continued wilting under those harsh studio lights.

A sound assistant scurried out of nowhere to smile professionally, fiddle my microphone back into the most uncomfortable position, and instruct, Don't touch the mic, Ms Donnet. It upsets the sound levels, and we're live in ninety seconds.

With another professional smile, she disappeared into the cavernous dark of the studio behind the main lights. Tara Metrovich stopped complaining to a PA and turned to me.

Breathe, darling. And remember to suck that tummy in! she giggled as someone yelled 'thirty seconds!' Now just remember to be yourself, she added.

I smiled back feeling sick. I surely couldn't remember to be anyone else. I wished I was having my morning pot of Earl Grey with the newspaper, out on my balcony enjoying the sunrise, instead of sitting in this overheated studio about to be humiliated by the second most popular talk-show hostess in South Africa.

In three, two, one! called the thirty-seconds voice.

The two giant cameras winked nasty red eyes at us, then continued staring balefully at the set. Off went Tara.

Good morning, Surf City! It's a gorgeous, beautiful start to our day with a special Exclusive treat for you worth billions! Yes, that's right. We finally have that interview we've been promising you with our very own reclusive Durban-grown billionaire, Charmaine Donnet!

And Tara hadn't even taken a breath whilst sucking in her tummy, too. I wondered if Tara Metrovich, née Niemand, wasn't some automated TV mannequin. Then she turned those brilliant eyes on me and I knew she wasn't. Shark was more like it.

Thank you, Charmaine, for joining us this morning. Such a pleasure!

I murmured something I hoped was appropriate but which sounded incomprehensible to me.

So tell us, Charmaine, how does one become a billionaire or billionairess these days? Besides marrying one, like me! Giggle, giggle, snake-stare.

Well, Tara, I guess you just have to wish on a box of chocolates and work hard.

'Wish on a box of chocolates', that's a new one, Charmaine. She leaned forward, her mic shifting and probably giving her sound engineers a group heart-attack. "Whatever do you mean? Is it some New