Red Carpet Romeo

by Jenny Gardiner

  Valentina pulled away and laughed. “You know, your sister, when she was pretending to not try to sell me on you, told me that your kissing me all those years ago would have been like kissing your sister. What do you have to say to that?”

  Parker mulled over that for a minute. “Welllll...,” he said, pushing her cape out of the way to clear a path for him to kiss her neck. “I never like to think of my sister when I’m in the middle of trying to kiss the woman I think I love—”

  “Wait a minute—did you just say the woman you think you love?”

  “Aha... I though perhaps you’d miss that comment.”

  “Nothing gets by me,” she said. “Especially the man I think I always knew I loved.”

  “Does that mean what I think it means?”

  “Yes but I want you to finish answering my question.”

  “Back then, of course it would have been when you were still a child. So of course I’d never have entertained the idea of kissing you at that age. It would have been like kissing my sister.”

  He winked at her, then continued to kiss his way along her throat and back up to her mouth. “But trust me, the grown woman before me is nothing like my sister,” he said, his lips paving a warm and tingly trail over her flesh. “Thank God for that.”

  “Because you would never want to kiss your sister?”

  “Because I never want to stop kissing you,” he said. “And if I have any say in these matters, you and I will be busy getting reacquainted for a good long while.”

  “Is that a promise or a threat?”

  “Both,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “Because I’m never going to risk losing you again. I’ve got to make up for a lot of lost time. Do we have a deal?”

  Valentina nodded, linking her fingers with his. “Sealed with a kiss then?”

  “Indeed.” He locked them both in a passionate kiss to indeed seal the deal.

  ~*~

  Thank you so much for reading Red Carpet Romeo! I hope you enjoyed it! If so, please help others find this book:

  Help other people find this book by writing a review.

  Sign up for my new releases email so you can find out about the next book as soon as it’s available and get fun giveaways.

  Like my Facebook page.

  And I love to hear from readers! Let me know what you think about my books! You can write to me at jenny@jennygardiner.net, and visit me on the web at www.jennygardiner.net.

  Blue Collar Romeo

  by Jenny Gardiner

  Chapter One

  Gisele Hornsby kept pinching herself, even as she brushed on a third application of mascara, hoping a bit more make-up might distract from her bloodshot, hung-over eyes. She still couldn’t believe she was here, in Monaforte, a guest for a romantic royal wedding, the plus-one of her brother Parker for the event of the season. It was enough to make even the most hung-over of girls swoon.

  She’d arrived in the fairytale country of Monaforte, a small European principality nestled between Italy and Switzerland, with her brother—college friends with the groom, Prince Luca—earlier in the week, in time for the many pre-nuptial events that were scheduled to take place. They even got to stay as royal guests in an apartment in the palace. Where all the royal people lived! Life could not get any cooler.

  Gisele had spent her first full day touring Porto Castello, the charming and historic capital of Monaforte, with her new friend Valentina Romeo, a royal cousin of Luca’s, and for some as yet undisclosed reason, her brother’s adversary. Gisele was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery as to why Valentina threw daggers at Parker whenever he looked her way, and why her normally chill brother had turned suddenly surly.

  She mistakenly thought tequila would unlock the answer, and proceeded to get both Valentina and herself sloppy drunk in the middle of the afternoon at a quaint little seaside pub, though never did get to the root of the problem before Valentina’s super hot brother Tomasso stopped them before they made complete fools of themselves in public.

  He was at an advantage, what with his jaw-dropping good looks—he was tall, with wavy, dark hair, the most expressive amber eyes, broad shoulders and chest, and a truly perfect tight butt tucked into a sexy pair of jeans. What self-respecting girl who hadn’t been laid in a long while wouldn’t capitulate to the guy? So despite the two women having far too much fun for a weekday afternoon, they relented, paid up the bar bill, and returned to the palace at his insistence, whereupon Gisele promptly passed out for a few hours before the next royal bash was to start.

  Her alarm went off with just enough time to get ready for the party, to be held at the country home of Luca’s brother and heir apparent to the throne, Prince Adrian and his wife Emma. As soon as the phone blared its reveille, she made a mental note to switch her alarm from the pre-programmed “marimba” tone to something with a little less sensory overload for her throbbing brain next time. Even though she wasn’t going to have a next time, since she’d also made a mental note to remember that tequila wasn’t the answer and only led to pain and suffering after the fun wore off. For that very reason, she popped a couple of Advil to tamp down the headache that was threatening to ruin her evening, slapped on some face paint, and hoped no one would be the wiser to her flagging state of mind.

  After slinking into a tea-length strapless cocktail dress with a silver beaded bodice and soft black tulle skirt, she twisted her long, blond waves into a soft side-braid, then slid on a pair of black Stuart Weitzman strappy sandals with heels that made her legs look gorgeous. She turned to the side in front of the mirror, smoothing down her gown at her waistline, then applied a coat of dark pink lipstick, fluttered her lashes over her bright blue eyes, pressed her lips together and nodded to herself.

  “Perfect,” she said. “No one will be the wiser that I feel like complete crap.”

  She grabbed her jacket from the closet and stepped into the living room to join Parker, who stood by the door, coat already on and buttoned up, arms crossed, eyes fixed on his watch, tapping his toe impatiently.

  “What?” Gisele said, grinning. “I’m like thirty seconds late.”

  Parker threw her the side-eye. “Thirty seconds give or take five minutes. Besides, if you hadn’t invoked my good name in conversation with your equally drunk friend this afternoon, just think, you could have actually been early. Now we’ll probably not even get a seat on the bus.” The palace was providing transportation to all of the guests to Luca’s country estate.

  Gisele rolled her eyes. “I love you, Parks, but you can be a little fastidious sometimes. Relax, sweet brother,” she said. “It’s all good. There will definitely be a seat on the bus. Plus, I didn’t make anything worse for you, and besides, I got to meet Valentina’s cute brother. I’d say it’s a win-win.”

  He shook his head. “You were never good at keeping score, G,” he said, reaching for her hand and pulling her out the door. “Your sticking your nose into my business means I lose. Now, come on, or I’m going to get stuck sitting on that Valentina woman’s lap and at this rate, lord knows what sort of torture she’d impose on me then.”

  ~*~

  Parker didn’t exactly have to sit on Valentina’s lap, but did in fact have to tuck into the next row up from her, the only seats left on the bus thanks to Gisele’s timing. After a little shuffling at the behest of the girls, Gisele wedged in next to Valentina, which meant Parker got to sit next to Tomasso. Gisele threw a hard glare at her brother.

  “What?” he said, squinting his eyes at her.

  She knit her brows and nudged her head in the direction of his seatmate, trying to convey that she wanted to sit next to Tomasso. But her dense brother just frowned, his lips pursed solemnly to send her a silent message to leave him the hell alone.

  Grrrr. Can’t a girl get a little one-on-one time in a dark bus with a gorgeous Italian man? She was going to have to work on that one a bit.

  Gisele’s eyes opened wide in amazement as the bus approached the estate, which was sur
rounded by a tall brick wall, draped with holly and pine roping entwined with white lights for the holiday season. The bus passed a large, brick guardhouse flanked by stone-faced men with bright red uniforms and tall furry hats—what was with royals and those hats?—then continued along a tree-lined driveway for a mile or so before finally stopping in the pebbled parking area of the palatial Georgian country estate.

  As they lined up to get off the bus, Gisele couldn’t help but press up gently against Tomasso. After all, people were clamoring to get out, there was no room to move. That was her excuse, anyhow, and she enjoyed feeling his solid body pressed to hers in the dark. At least it let her fantasize for a minute what it would be like to be pressed up horizontally with the man, rather than vertical, as she waited to step down from the damned bus.

  They followed in a line up the slate walkway, entering through two oversized doors hung with giant Christmas wreaths. As two butlers greeted guests and collected coats, Gisele tried to stick close to Parker so she wouldn’t feel too out of place, but he no sooner handed off his coat than he disappeared, leaving her standing by the doorway knowing not a soul.

  “I’d offer you a drink, but that’s probably the last thing you want right about now,” she heard a deep voice from behind say.

  She turned to see Tomasso, stylish in a dark blue Ermenegildo Zegna suit she recognized as similar to one her brother had tried on when they went shopping for the wedding. God, she loved a man in a well-fitted, sexy Italian suit.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure if I should reprimand you for spoiling our good fun or thank you for it,” she said, rubbing her temples against the throb of the headache that even the ibuprofen didn’t seem to touch. “But, I think my only choice tonight is to double down against that evil tequila. Maybe temper it with some more genteel champagne?”

  Tomasso reached for two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed her a flute.

  “In that case, here’s to the hair of the dog,” he said, clinking glasses with her.

  “Ugh. I prefer my dogs to be of the four-legged variety, thanks,” she said. “Not the kind that somehow mysteriously penetrate your brain and bark and scratch to get out while you feel as if your eyeballs are going to pop right out of their sockets.”

  “You make drinking shots sounds so pleasant.”

  “Shots are never pleasant after the fact. It’s only while you’re in the middle of doing them they seem like such a great idea.”

  “You could say the same thing about relationships,” he said with a grimace.

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Well, if that’s not the most cynical comment du jour, especially considering you’re here for a romantic wedding.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You don’t buy into that happily ever after nonsense, do you?” he said. “These things are little more than mergers. Sort of like two businesses that think they can work together but when it comes down to it, one of the two ends up suffering for it.”

  Gisele shook her hand as if she’d just touched something hot. “Wow,” she said. “I’m surprised you even bothered to show for this. Why on earth are you celebrating something you clearly don’t see worthy of any such joy?”

  He shrugged. “Let’s see...Because my mother made me?” he said. “Besides, it’s more like a family reunion, and who doesn’t like a family reunion?”

  Gisele pursed her lips. She and Parker had never had the chance to indulge in things like family get-togethers, what with their very broken family.

  “I wouldn’t know,” she said, throwing back a gulp of champagne.

  “Thirsty?” he said, cocking his eyebrow and grinning.

  “I’d just rather tamp down my hangover with good champagne than have attention drawn to the fact that I don’t really have a family with whom I could commune.”

  “Homeless, are you?”

  “More like orphaned.”

  He scrunched his nose. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I was only joking. Didn’t mean to poke fun at you.”

  “Poke away,” she said. “Families come in all shapes and sizes. Mine just happens to be minuscule and be made up of me and my brother Parker.”

  “Well Parker practically seems like family to us,” he said. “After spending so many holidays with him I feel like he’s my brother from another mother.”

  She shrugged. “Great for Parker. Where does that leave me?”

  “I’m sure we can throw you in as honorary family member,” he said. “You’ll be the two-fer.”

  “Gee, that’s flattering,” she said. “Sort of like, ‘well, we don’t know you, and we have no reason to do this but maybe a hint of pity, but sure, why don’t you pretend you’re one of us just for the hell of it.’”

  “Now who’s the cynic?” He winked at her.

  “I guess we’re a great pair, aren’t we?”

  “So when you’re not protecting your sister’s honor, what do you do?”

  “By that do you mean what do I do, or what do I want to do?”

  She toed the ground with the front of her sandals. “I didn’t know I was asking such a loaded question. I don’t know; humor me. How about what do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know what you know about my family—”

  “Well we’re practically related, so obviously I’m completely in the know.” She grinned.

  “Yeah, that. So in that case you know that my brothers and sister and I are carrying on the tradition of Romeos from as far back as the Middle Ages in producing fine Italian wines. And because of that tradition, there is an expectation that all Romeos must follow in these footsteps and help to run the family business.”

  “But you are like that elf who wanted to be a dentist instead of making toys.”

  Tomasso knit his brows. “Huh?”

  “You know, from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, that Christmas special. The song,” she held out her hands to prepare him for it, then started singing, “Why am I such a misfit?”

  “Okay...”

  She placed her hand on his shoulder. “No, really. Clearly you missed the show so I’ll give you the brief run-down. Rudolph has a red nose, which means he’s an outcast. He meets Hermey, an elf who hates making toys and wants to be a dentist. They set off on an epic adventure, yada yada, and they all live happily ever after once they tame the Abominable Snow Monster.”

  One side of Tomasso’s mouth curved up into a grin. “There goes that happily ever after nonsense again.”

  “Of course. You can’t have a Christmas special without a happy ending,” she said. “So did you want to be a dentist, then?” She burst out laughing at her own joke.

  “Um, no,” he said. “Should I?”

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Sometimes Parker gets really mad at me that I have no filter. Which means I can be the life of the party but sometimes I just blather on a bit longer than I should. So go ahead, you tell me what it is that you want to do.”

  Tomasso glanced to either side. “I’m wondering if there is someplace we can sit down because at this rate this is going to be till midnight until I actually get a chance to speak.”

  Gisele frowned. “Seriously, I’ll shut up,” she said, pretending to zip her mouth shut and swallowing the key, then reconsidering the gesture. “You know that never made much sense to me, swallowing the key, because your mouth is already zipped shut, right? So how would you open it to swallow the key? And then once it’s swallowed, how can you ever open it again?”

  Tomasso grabbed two more flutes of champagne as another tray passed them by.

  “As I was saying,” he said, dipping his head and looking at her like he thought she was nuts. “I’d rather be working with my hands. I realized I’m quite a gifted woodworker, and I like it. Whereas before, I sort of hated every day I was stuck living this proscribed life over which I had no true control. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great life. And I’m fortunate for my ancestors who built up this successful business as they have. And it’s not that I don�
�t like wine; I love it. I’m just sort of bored and looking for something that ignites a fire in me.”

  Gisele eyed him from head to toe. Speaking of igniting a fire... This man was awfully easy on the eyes. And he seemed like he had a heart—at least to the extent that he wanted to honor his own wishes and desires and not simply capitulate to expectations.

  “Wow,” she said. “I really respect you for that. Oh, wait—” She pretended to unzip her mouth and pull out the key. “Sorry, that was a joke Parker and I shared when we were kids. I am so in the habit of doing that. Okay, so my mouth is unlocked now, I can go on. As I was saying, good for you, doing what speaks to your soul. You only get one life; you’ve got to live it the way you want to.”

  He nodded. “I’m glad you understand,” he said. “Because the rest of my family doesn’t seem to grasp it so much.”

  “Yeah, well, now that I’m honorary family and all, just leave it to me to smooth over the ruffled feathers.”

  He laughed. “They’ll get over it,” he said. “I know my mamma already understands. I worked so hard when we built our new corporate headquarters, and finally she could see the fruits of my labor.”

  “So tell me about this,” she said, placing her hand on his. “I’d like to hear all about it.”

  He reached for her elbow and guided her toward an alcove with a small love seat, then motioned for her to sit down, then he took the spot next to her.

  “I want to be sure I’m not boring you too much,” he said with a small laugh. “This way if you start to nod off, you won’t have far to fall.”

  Gisele waved her hand at him dismissively. “Nonsense. I can’t wait to hear about it.”

  “So my eldest brother Sandro, who really became our surrogate father after our papà passed, had ambitious plans to build a grand headquarters for Cantine dei Marchesi Romeo wines, one that would attract tourists, a destination venue. As the plans progressed it became even more grandiose, and the final outcome was a collaboration with the premier architects and building specialists the world-over who helped to create this gorgeous building. It’s environmentally friendly, designed to blend in harmony with the landscape. Whenever possible, we used natural resources in the building and decorating of it. It’s really a work of art in the Tuscan countryside, and the inside, mamma mia, it’s breathtaking.”