Jennifer Faye - Best Man for the Bridesmaid

THE DeFIORE BROTHERS

A recipe for dating DeFiore men …

Take two Italian brothers with a pinch of playboy charm

Add two American sisters with a liberal dash of feistiness

Simmer under warm Italian skies until perfectly combined

Serve with lashings of love.

To start: The Playboy of Rome

Dante DeFiore is passionate about life, women, and the tasty Italian food he creates. And with the arrival of feisty American TV star Lizzie Addler he finds her almost too tempting to resist! As the temperature soars in the kitchen the passion between Lizzie and Dante simmers until they reach boiling point.

Has this Italian playboy finally met his match?

The main: Best Man for the Bridesmaid

Stefano DeFiore is proud and reserved—he likes the quiet life. So planning a wedding for his celebrity chef brother is his idea of hell. But when bold and colourful Jules Lane enters his world—chief bridesmaid and sister to the bride—Stefano decides to take his best man duties seriously … including doing all he can to make Jules’s time in Italy simply heaven.

To finish: happily ever after?

Best Man for the Bridesmaid

Jennifer Faye

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Award-winning author JENNIFER FAYEpens fun, heart-warming romances. Jennifer has won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice 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: JenniferFaye.com.

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For Linda

To an amazing lady who has a heart as big as Texas.

Thanks for your guidance and support over the years.

This one is for you!

Contents

Cover

The DeFiore Brothers THE DeFIORE BROTHERS A recipe for dating DeFiore men … Take two Italian brothers with a pinch of playboy charm Add two American sisters with a liberal dash of feistiness Simmer under warm Italian skies until perfectly combined Serve with lashings of love. To start: The Playboy of Rome Dante DeFiore is passionate about life, women, and the tasty Italian food he creates. And with the arrival of feisty American TV star Lizzie Addler he finds her almost too tempting to resist! As the temperature soars in the kitchen the passion between Lizzie and Dante simmers until they reach boiling point. Has this Italian playboy finally met his match? The main: Best Man for the Bridesmaid Stefano DeFiore is proud and reserved—he likes the quiet life. So planning a wedding for his celebrity chef brother is his idea of hell. But when bold and colourful Jules Lane enters his world—chief bridesmaid and sister to the bride—Stefano decides to take his best man duties seriously … including doing all he can to make Jules’s time in Italy simply heaven. To finish: happily ever after?

Title Page Best Man for the Bridesmaid Jennifer Faye www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author Award-winning author JENNIFER FAYE pens fun, heart-warming romances. Jennifer has won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice 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: JenniferFaye.com .

Dedication For Linda To an amazing lady who has a heart as big as Texas. Thanks for your guidance and support over the years. This one is for you!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID...

Jules Lane lifted her chin and smiled broadly.

Her steps grew quicker as she made her way past the other departing passengers. At last she was in Rome. Rome, Italy, to be exact. She continued to grin and resisted the urge to pinch herself just to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

On the other hand, this wasn’t exactly a vacation. She was here for an important job—to help plan her foster sister’s wedding. This wouldn’t be Jules’s first time down the aisle. She’d been a bridesmaid more times than she could count on one hand.

However, this time around she had the privilege of being the maid of honor. It was a role she eagerly anticipated. She liked to take charge—to provide order to chaos. She wasn’t a closet romantic. She didn’t dream about finding Prince Charming. She didn’t fantasize about her “big day.” But she did have a thing for pretty dresses and cake—cake was definitely her weakness.

Actually now that she thought about it, Lizzie, her foster sister, hadn’t been into romance, either...at least not until she’d flown here three months ago for a television show—a reality segment about cooking. Cupid sure seemed to have hit the mark with Lizzie and Dante.

For most of Jules’s life, Lizzie had been the keeper of her secrets, her protector and her only family. Jules loved her with all her heart. But that security came with a steep price tag for both of them—learning at an early age that they only had each other to lean on.

Now it was time for a change—if only Jules could find a way to tell Lizzie her news.

Jules sighed as she made her way through the Leonardo da Vinci terminal. She’d find the right time. She just had to have patience.

The strap of her carry-on dug into her shoulder, and she struggled to adjust it. The black-and-white cloth bag was weighted down with a wedding planner, a big bag of sour candies and plenty of bridal magazines with dog-eared pages and sticky notes. She had everything necessary to plan the perfect wedding—except for one very important but necessary ingredient: caffeine. But no worries—Lizzie had been raving about the delicious coffee Rome had to offer.

Considering no details about the wedding had been tacked down, there would be long conversations over this now-infamous coffee. First, they had to nail down a wedding date. Jules was thinking a spring wedding next year. It’d be perfect as Lizzie had mentioned something about an Italian vineyard as the backdrop. Talk about some amazing photos.

This wedding-planning stuff shouldn’t be too hard. After all, Jules had most of it memorized by this point. Now she’d be able to put all of that knowledge to good use.

Boisterous voices filled the terminal as friends greeted each other. An American family called frantically for their son, who stood ten steps away checking out the cell phones that a beautiful woman with long dark hair and a brilliant smile was eager to show the teenager. Jules took it all in as she strode through the congested concourse, following the signs to the baggage claim.