Home & Abroad

By Susan Leona Fisher

Mutual Designs (c 14,000 words)

Kay is proud of the company she's created. Kilderscope Interior Design might be a relatively new and small-scale business but her reputation is growing and media coverage is promising. When an oil-rich sheikh requests her company's professional services, she finds he will only deal with a male chief executive. To bring the deal off she needs a suitable man to play the part, so she hires Rob, believing him to be an out-of-work actor. That's her first mistake…

Written in the Beads (c 14,000 words)

June goes to Africa for a working holiday after being dumped by both her boyfriend and her employer in the same week. She meets Sam, who seems to think she's there to find a rich husband. Unwittingly, she's landed in the middle of a conspiracy and a young African woman, knowing herself to be in danger, passes June secret information hidden in beadwork. Can she help bring the fraudsters to justice?

Ferreting About (c 12,000 words)

Nicky is delighted to get through the selection process to join the Eurostar Customer Services Team, thanks to her people skills and her facility with French. When she's asked to see an unaccompanied minor onto the train, it's all in a day's work. But the scheming 12-year-old has not only forged her papers in order to cross the Channel and find the dad she's never met, she also has her pet ferret with her, or at least she did…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Fisher
• Release date: Mar 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215910894

Susan Leona Fisher

Susan Leona Fisher began writing fiction on her retirement, having been a technical/academic writer in her former working life. She was born in London and now lives in the Yorkshire Dales, having lived in various places in between, due to  her clergyman husband’s various postings. Her route to publication was via the New Writers’ Scheme run by the Romantic Novelists’ Association, of which she is a member. She has written 20 historical romances in settings ranging from the ever-popular Regency period to the Second World War. One of them, A Master of Litigation, made the final for historical romance in the Romantic Novel Awards 2018. She has also written several contemporary romances and one non-fiction biography.

Book preview

Home and Abroad

Three contemporary romantic short stories

by Susan Leona Fisher

Copyright © 2023 Susan Leona Fisher

All rights reserved.

The right of Susan Leona Fisher to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the author.

Nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

All characters, events and places in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This edition published by Susan Leona Fisher in 2023

First published in 2015

About the stories

Mutual Designs (c 14,000 words)

Kay is proud of the company she’s created. Kilderscope Interior Design might be a relatively new and small-scale business but her reputation is growing and media coverage is promising. When an oil-rich sheikh requests her company’s professional services, she finds he will only deal with a male chief executive. To bring the deal off she needs a suitable man to play the part, so she hires Rob, believing him to be an out-of-work actor. That’s her first mistake...

Written in the Beads (c 14,000 words)

June goes to Africa for a working holiday after being dumped by both her boyfriend and her employer in the same week. She meets Sam, who seems to think she’s there to find a rich husband. Unwittingly, she’s landed in the middle of a conspiracy and a young African woman, knowing herself to be in danger, passes June secret information hidden in beadwork. Can she help bring the fraudsters to justice?

Beadwork in Africa was traditionally used, among other things, to convey messages to lovers as an important form of marriage negotiation. By the nineteenth century, this form of negotiation had developed into a highly sophisticated courtly art. The beaded panels, commonly known today as love letters were originally composed of geometric abstract shapes in various configurations, but by the mid-twentieth century, this wholly visual system gave way to using written text.

Ferreting About (c 12,000 words)

Nicky is delighted to get through the selection process to join the Eurostar Customer Services Team, thanks to her people skills and her facility with French. When she’s asked to see an unaccompanied minor onto the train, it’s all in a day’s work. But the scheming 12-year-old has not only forged her papers in order to cross the Channel and find the dad she’s never met, she also has her pet ferret with her, or at least she did...

Table of Contents

Mutual Designs

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Written in the Beads

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Ferreting About

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Mutual Designs

Chapter 1

Kay Kilder was a creature of routine. She was also highly organised and demanded the best standards of herself and of the various manufacturers and printers on whom she relied to produce her beautifully designed furnishing fabrics. How she could have come to hire Meg Randall as her office administrator was thus a question still awaiting an answer. She was not noticeably efficient, neither did she have much respect for routine. She was good on the phone, however, a friendly warm tone that both customers and the producers seemed to like. That was why she kept her on, Kay told herself. It was nothing to do with the fact that six previous administrators, or was it seven, had left, one after the other, within the first two years of the business.

Amazingly, Meg had clocked up three years so far, an achievement that coincided with the fifth anniversary of Kilderscope Interior Design. Not that Kay would celebrate. One didn’t mix business with pleasure and anyway, champagne was an unutterable waste of money. So the significant date had passed last month unmarked by anyone, save the bank notifying her that her start-up loan was fully paid off and wishing her much success in the future. She’d also won a prestigious design award last year, which made success more than wishful thinking. The business had been well in profit for the past couple of years and she could have paid off the outstanding loan several times over by now.

As if to remind Kay that Meg made it up as she went along, here she was now. Kay happened to glance up and saw her shadow looming at the opaque glass door. The girl knew this was Kay’s quiet design time, every morning until 11.30, in which period Meg would check the emails and go through any ordinary mail ready to run through them with her boss.

What is it? she asked, as the door opened. She carefully laid down her design pen, annoyed at the interruption to a particularly intricate piece of work.

Thought you’d want to see this straight away, Meg told her, proffering a sheet of A4 under her nose. Came by special messenger a few minutes ago.

Can’t it... Kay began, before spotting the amazing embossed heading to the top quality piece of vellum in Meg’s hand. Curious, she took it and read.

Bildar is one of those small Gulf oil states, Meg told her. Johnnie was telling me about it only the other day. A mate of his works on the Emir’s big yacht. He’s called Sheikh Abdullawah—the Emir, that is, not Johnnie’s friend. Anyway the boat is in London this week, came right up the Thames, just like that whale did a couple of months ago.

Kay tried to switch off from Meg’s chatter. She had a way of connecting one thing to another and so on till the topic at the start of her sentence bore no resemblance to where she finished. Kay read through the letter again to be sure she had it right.

This is from the Embassy here in London, she commented. It says the Emir is seeking an interior designer to furnish a particular palace.

Yes, Meg said, her tone rather as if she’d said Duh... to the obvious. As you see, they want the Chief Executive of Kilderscope to attend a meeting next week to consider what is required and whether we can deliver. It must be because we won that textile prize last autumn.

It really grated on Kay when Meg said we like that, when it was her company and her work for goodness sake. Well, I suppose I must go. It’s worded rather like a summons. She didn’t like being told what to do.

"Well, I’m not sure you can actually, Kay. Read the last sentence. The Emir will be glad to receive him during his visit to England."

They obviously don’t know I’m a woman. They’ll soon find out. She noticed Meg’s frown. What’s the matter?

From what Johnnie’s friend Pete says it’s not likely the Emir would be willing to meet with a woman. They only do business with men.

Ridiculous!

But true. Speak to Johnnie, if you don’t believe me. What will you do?

Kay eased herself out of her chair and began to pace the little studio, trying to switch off her anger so she could think clearly. At last, hands on hips, she turned to her assistant.

I’ll have to hire someone to pretend to be this Chief Exec they’re expecting and make sure I go along as designer or something.

Meg’s eyes were wide in astonishment. But who? I’m sure Johnnie would offer but...

No. Kay had met Meg’s latest boyfriend, who was a 22-year-old Cockney. It would be quite ridiculous for me to accompany a boss who’s almost 10 years my junior. No, it’ll have to be someone a bit older with at least a modicum of acting ability.

Johnnie’s got a friend training at RADA. He might know of someone suitable.

Good, maybe someone who’s currently, what is it they say...?

Resting?

Yes. I’d have to pay him, I suppose.

Later on, when Meg had taken herself home and Kay traced her daily route downstairs to the canal-side path and walked the short distance to her flat in the residential block next-door, she wondered what on earth she was doing. Wouldn’t it be simpler just to write back and refuse the offer? She’d plenty of other work coming in after all. But it was all in the domestic market. She’d not yet broken into overseas customers. The kudos, if she brought this off, would be tremendous.

For a moment she allowed herself to day-dream, imagining the article in Design World displaying photos of the luxurious interiors of a newly fitted out sheikh’s palace, with Kilderscope’s contact details prominently displayed, naturally. But first she had to engage in this little deception, which needless to say was totally against her principles, but honestly if one was dealing with people who’d not yet realised that women made up half the human race, then all was fair, after all.

Kay opened the office early the following morning. In anticipation of a suitable poseur being found to play the part, she drafted a response to the Bildari embassy for Meg to type and print out. Then she went on-line to see what might be available to view in the way of oil tycoons’ palaces, before making a start on a presentation pack. She had a brochure with photographs of most of her designs shown in situ, but always took actual fabric samples along as well. These were not for the potential customer to choose from, since every piece of work was uniquely prepared for the client and the contract specified it would not be used for anyone else, but it gave them an idea of what was possible. Unique bespoke quality furnishings was her strap-line. When she did her presentations she stressed that not only would the customer have an individual product, but her designs themselves were unusual and certainly not copies of anyone else’s work. Of course, she’d tell them, she couldn’t guard against the fact that other manufacturers might attempt copies of her designs, but the customer could prevent that by avoiding any publicity.

Meg arrived shortly after nine, late as usual, by which time Kay was back at her designer’s desk, under the substantial sky-light, working on the design she’d abandoned yesterday morning in order to prepare for the potential presentation to the Emir of Bildar. Through the open door, she watched Meg put down her take-away coffee, press the switch of her computer, and chuck her coat over the back of the chair. She grabbed the draft Kay had left on her keyboard and came breezing in.

So you’re going to do it? she asked.

If we’ve got a suitable Chief Exec to front the assault, yes.

No problem there, Meg told her. There’s a guy, Rob something, around thirty, waiting to do auditions in a couple of months for some period swash-buckling thing. He’s spending the next month or two working outdoors to develop his tan, at a place called Welham Park. I’ve not met him but from what Johnnie’s friend says he should look the part.

No one famous?

Maybe the odd TV commercial, Johnnie said, but they were mostly in costume, a chicken or something. I always find those ads so silly. Who believes in a talking chicken? It’s rather like...

Right, Kay interrupted, "so they wouldn’t recognise him. Let’s go for it. Type up the letter and get it printed out. They don’t seem to go in for emails at the embassy. Sign yourself M Randall, Administrator, would you. Let them thing you’re a man too."

Meg laughed. Does that mean I’ve had a promotion?

"No, it just sounds better than Administrative Assistant. But if we bring this off, who knows. You may become Office Manager over a whole lot of administrative assistants!"

Mm...like the sound of that.

Don’t post it till I get back from my little bit of recruitment.

Shall I look up the place on the web? Meg suggested. I think it’s a kind of stately home, about an hour’s drive out of London.

* * * *

Robert Jennings rinsed his hands under the tap outside the greenhouse and stood back to gaze up at the structure, now restored to its Victorian splendour. He’d just spent the morning making use of it, assisting the head gardener—the only gardener