A Secret Affair

A Secret Affair
Barbara Taylor Bradford

From the internationally bestselling author of A Woman Of SubstanceA dramatic and inspiring page-turner that illuminates the power of love.Thirty-three-year-old Bill Fitzgerald is an acclaimed American television foreign correspondent. War-weary and exhausted after a long stint in Bosnia, he travels to Venice to meet an old friend and war correspondent.Whilst with his friend at the Gritti Palace Hotel on the Grand Canal, Bill is struck by the dark beauty of a young woman seated alone. The young woman is Vanessa Stewart: a glass designer from New York, visiting Murano.And that evening, full of warmth and comaraderie, the two begin an illicit, though fateful, love affair.

Barbara Taylor Bradford

A Secret Affair

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A SECRET AFFAIR. Copyright © 1996 by Barbara Taylor Bradford. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Ebook Edition © MAY 2009 ISBN: 9780007330812

Version: 2017-10-27

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

Praise for New York Times

bestselling author

BARBARA TAYLOR BRADFORD

“Her name on a novel…[promises] a good story, simply told, with satisfying outcome…[her books] finding their way into people’s homes and hearts.”

Dayton Daily News

“She’s the envy of all of us who put pen to paper. Don’t miss her.”

Greensboro News & Record

“A master…. A good storyteller.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“You may fall in love…cry real tears…cheer.”

Chicago Tribune

And

A Secret Affair

“Barbara Taylor Bradford can be counted on to tell a good story, and she does in A Secret Affair…. Sweet, sad, and sure to please.”

Chattanooga Times

As always, for Bob,

with all my love

Contents

Title Page (#uac3ff63b-79a3-5934-87b0-92a638174136)

Copyright

Praise

Dedication (#ud63c7539-9e0b-5045-82b1-64c639f04167)

Chapter One

He was closing the small padlock on his duffle bag…

Chapter Two

The light in the piazza was silvery, the sky leaden,…

Chapter Three

They met in the bar of the legendary Gritti Palace,…

Chapter Four

Do you think she’s stood us up?” Frank said the…

Chapter Five

What Francis Peterson had predicted finally came to be.

Chapter Six

That was all too quick,” Bill said, encircling her with…

Chapter Seven

It was an extraordinary day, clear, light-filled. A shimmering day.

Chapter Eight

Vanessa Stewart had always prided herself on her honesty. It…

Chapter Nine