Rebecca Winters - The Vineyards Of Calanetti

Dani pushed on her door. “I thought you said this would only take a minute.”

“I said two minutes. What I actually said was I promise I will be pulling out of this driveway two minutes after I pull in.”

Dani walked up the familiar path to the familiar door and sighed when it groaned as Louisa opened it. “Whoever bought this is in for about three years of renovations.”

Louisa laughed before she called out, “Hello. We’re here.”

Rafe stepped out from behind a crumbling wall. Dani skittered back. “Louisa! This is your friend?”

“I didn’t say he was my friend. I said I knew him.” Louisa gave Dani’s back a little shove. “He has some important things to say to you.”

“I bought this house for you,” Rafe said, not giving Dani a chance to reply to Louisa.

“I don’t want a house.”

He sighed. “Too bad. Because you now have a house.” He motioned her forward. “I see a big kitchen here. Something that smells like heaven.”

She stopped.

He motioned toward the huge room in the front. “And big, fat chairs that you can sink into in here.”

“Very funny.”

“I am not being funny. You,” he said, pointing at her, “want a home. I want you. Therefore, I give you a home.”

“What? Since a marriage proposal didn’t keep me, you offer me a house?”

“I didn’t say I was giving you a house. I said I was giving you a home.” He walked toward the kitchen. “And you’re going to marry me.”

She scrambled after him. “Exactly how do you expect to make that happen?”

She rounded the turn and walked right into him. He caught her arms and hauled her to him, kissing her. She made a token protest, but, honestly, this was the man she couldn’t resist.

He broke the kiss slowly, as if he didn’t ever want to have to stop kissing her. “That’s how I expect to make that happen.”

“You’re going to kiss me until I agree?”

“It’s an idea with merit. But it won’t be all kissing. We have a restaurant. You have a job. And there’s a bedroom back here.” He headed toward it.

Once again, she found herself running after him. Cold air leeched in from the window and she stopped dead in her tracks. “The window leaks.”

“Then you’re going to have to hire a general contractor.”

“Me?”

He straightened to his full six-foot-three height. “I am a master. I cook.”

“Oh, and I clean and make babies?”

He laughed. “We will hire someone to clean. Though I like the part about you making babies.”

Her heart about pounded its way out of her chest. “You want kids?”

He walked toward her slowly. “ We want kids. We want all that stuff you said about fat chairs and good-smelling kitchens and turning the thermostat down so that we can snuggle.”

Her heart melted. “You don’t look like a snuggler.”

“I’ll talk you into doing more than snuggling.”

She laughed. Pieces of the ice around her heart began to melt. Her eyes clung to his. “You’re serious?”

“I wouldn’t have told Louisa to bring you here if I weren’t. I don’t do stupid things. I do impulsive things.” He grinned. “You might have to get used to that.”

She smiled. He motioned for her to come closer and when she did, he wrapped his arms around her.

“I could not bear to see you go.”

“You said Paul only asked me to marry him as a stopgap measure.”

“Yes, but Paul is an idiot. I am not.”

She laughed again and it felt so good that she paused to revel in it. To memorize the feeling of his arms around her. To glance around at their house.

“Oh, my God, this is a mess.”

“We’ll be fine.”

She laid her head on his chest and breathed in his scent. She counted to ten, waited for him to say something that would drive her away, then realized what she was really waiting for.

She glanced up at him. “I’m so afraid you’re going to hurt me.”

“I know. And I’m going to spend our entire lives proving to you that you have no need to worry.”

She laughed and sank against him again. “I love you.”

“After only four weeks?”

She peeked up again. “Yes.”

“So this time you’ll believe me when I say it.”

She swallowed. Years of fear faded away. “Yes.”

“Good.” He shifted back, just slightly, so he could pull a small jewelry box from the pocket of his jeans. He opened it and revealed a two-carat diamond. “I love you. So you will marry me?”

She gaped at the ring, then brought her gaze to his hopeful face. When he smiled, she hugged him fiercely. “Yes!”

He slipped the ring onto her finger. “Now, weren’t we on our way back to the bedroom?”

“For what? There’s no bed back there.”

He said, “Oh, you of no imagination. I have a hundred ways around that.”

“A hundred, isn’t that a bit ambitious?”

“Get used to it. I am a master, remember?”

“Yeah, you are,” she said, and then she laughed. She was getting married, going to make babies...going to make a home—in Italy.

With the man of her dreams.

Because finally, finally she was allowed to have dreams.

* * * * *

The Vineyards of Calanetti

Saying “I do” under the Tuscan sun…

Deep in the Tuscan countryside nestles the picturesque village of Monte Calanetti. Famed for its world-renowned vineyards, the village is also home to the crumbling but beautiful Palazzo di Comparino. Empty for months, rumors of a new owner are spreading like wildfire … and that’s before the village is chosen as the setting for the royal wedding of the year!

It’s going to be a roller coaster of a year, but will wedding bells ring out in Monte Calanetti for anyone else?

Find out in this fabulously heartwarming, uplifting and thrillingly romantic new eight-book continuity from the Mills & Boon ®Cherish™ series!

A Bride for the Italian Boss by Susan Meier

Return of the Italian Tycoon by Jennifer Faye

Reunited by a Baby Secret by Michelle Douglas

Soldier, Hero … Husband? by Cara Colter

His Lost-and-Found Bride by Scarlet Wilson

The Best Man & the Wedding Planner by Teresa Carpenter

His Princess of Convenience by Rebecca Winters

Saved by the CEO by Barbara Wallace

Award-winning author JENNIFER FAYEpens fun, heartwarming romances. Jennifer has won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, is a Top Pick author and has been nominated for numerous awards. Now living her dream, she resides with her patient husband, one amazing daughter (the other remarkable daughter is off chasing her own dreams) and two spoiled cats. She’d love to hear from you via her website, www.jenniferfaye.com.

To Michelle Styles, an amazing friend, who taught me so much, including that the important part of writing was what I decided to do after the dreaded “R”. Thank you!

CHAPTER ONE

“CAN I SMELL YOU?”

Kayla Hill’s fingers struck the wrong keys on her computer. Surely she hadn’t heard her boss correctly—her very serious, very handsome boss. “Excuse me. What did you say?”

Angelo Amatucci’s tanned face creased with lines as though he were deep in thought. “Are you wearing perfume?”

“Uh...yes, I am.”

“Good. That will be helpful. May I have a smell?”

Helpful? With what? She gave up on answering an email and turned her full attention to her boss, who moved to stand next to her. What in the world had prompted him to ask such a question? Was her perfume bothering him? She sure hoped not. She wore it all the time. If he didn’t like it or was allergic to it, she thought he’d have mentioned it before now.