âShirley Jump ⦠has a solid plot
and involving conflict, and the characters are wonderful.â âRT Book Reviews on Miracle on Christmas Eve
âThis tale of rekindled love is right on targetâ
a delightful start to this uplifting, marriage-oriented series The Wedding Planners.â âLibrary Journal.com on Sweetheart Lost and Found
âJumpâs office romance gives the collection a kick,
with fiery writing.â âPublishers Weekly on New York Times bestselling anthology Sugar and Spice
DAWN broke its soft kiss over the lake, washing the blue-green water with a dusting of orange and gold. A slight breeze skipped gentle ripples across the water and whispered the scent of pine through the open window. Carrie Santaro curled up on the cushioned window seat, watching the day begin. In the three days since sheâd arrived at her rented lakeside cottage in Winter Haven, Indiana, Carrie had spent every spare moment in this window seat, soaking up the tranquility and the quiet peace found in being utterly alone. Her sister Mariabella who lived half the year in a seaside town in Massachusetts had told her that life in the States was different from life in the castle.
Sheâd been right. Here, in this tiny Midwestern town with all its hokey charm, Carrie felt free. To be herself, to drop the mantle of her princess life and to be just ⦠Carrie. To be the person sheâd been fighting all her life to be. She hadnât packed a single ball gown, not one pair of high heels. While she was here, sheâd be all jeans and T-shirts and sundresses all the time. Just the thought made her smile.
And while she was here, she decided, sheâd find out who she really was. Maybe with enough distance between herself and the castle, she could finally get the answers sheâd waited a lifetime to hear. After all, hadnât her mother once said that was what had happened to her when sheâd visited this town? Perhaps Carrie could get lucky, too.
Her cell phone rang. She sighed before flipping it open and answering the call sheâd been dreading. âHello, Papa.â
âCarlita!â Her fatherâs booming voice, calling her by the name her parents used when they wanted to remind her of her royal rootsâand royal expectations. To remind her she should be a dutiful daughter, an obedient princess.
Uh, yeah, not.
Sheâd always been a rebel, and never been much for the suffocating mantle of royal life. She was more at home with dirt under her nails than wearing a starched dress to a state dinner. Sheâd taken the etiquette lessons, suffered through boarding school and sat quietly through countless events, trying her best to be what everyone expected of a princess.
Most of the time. And now, she was doing the exact opposite, which had displeased her parents to no end. Carrie was tired of caring. She was ready to live her life and be free of all that once and for all.
âWhen are you coming home?â her father asked in their native, lyrical Uccelli language.
âI just got here,â she answered, reverting to her native tongue, too. It felt a little odd after days of speaking only English. âI havenât even started working yet.â
He pshawed away that notion. âYou have work here. Come home.â
âPapa, we talked about this. Iâll be home in a few months. The wine shop needs an advocate for Uccelli. If we can get the American sales off the groundââ
âWe need you here,â he said. âYour sisters, everyone, needs you here.â
Ever since her middle sister, Allegra, had become queen, her parents had been urging Carrie to be a bigger part of the royal family, to take a more active role in the Santaro family causes and the countryâs needs. Something Carrie had resisted almost from birth. She wanted nothing to do with any of that. Just the thought of being surrounded by all that pomp and circumstance made her feel like she was being suffocated. âTheyâre fine without me. Iâm barely a part of the family activities. The media hardly noticed I left.â