The Temporary Mrs Marchetti
The rules of engagement…When Cristiano Marchetti proposes to former mistress Alice Piper, the deal has an expiry date. He has six months to fulfil the conditions of his grandmother’s will. But the hotelier has another agenda…exacting revenge on Alice for daring to walk away seven years before!Alice needs the financial security her enemy is providing but soon their every clash is a shockingly tempting encounter. Yet as she uncovers the man beneath the hard-hearted exterior, the future Mrs Marchetti wonders if she could break the rules of their engagement…and walk down the aisle as more than Cristiano’s temporary bride!
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The rules of engagement...
When Cristiano Marchetti proposes to former mistress Alice Piper, the deal has an expiry date. He has six months to fulfil the conditions of his grandmother’s will. But the hotelier has another agenda—exacting revenge on Alice for daring to walk away seven years before!
Alice needs the financial security her enemy is providing, but soon their every clash is a shockingly tempting encounter. Yet as she uncovers the man beneath the hard-hearted exterior, the future Mrs. Marchetti wonders if she could break the rules of their engagement...and walk down the aisle as more than Cristiano’s temporary bride!
Alice brought her gaze back up to Cristiano’s glittering one. ‘You’re surely not going to go through with this…are you?’
A smile that wasn’t quite a smile courted the edges of his mouth. ‘But of course. It is what Nonna wanted. Who am I to disregard her last wishes?’
Alice frowned so hard she might have frightened off twenty ampoules of Botox. ‘What happens if I don’t agree?’
‘To me?’ He gave a careless shrug. ‘Nothing—other than losing a few shares in the company, which will pass to a relative if I don’t comply with the terms of the will.’
Alice wondered how important those shares were to him. Was his easy-come-easy-go shrug disguising deeper, far more urgent motivations? Enough to marry someone he now hated?
She sent her tongue out over lips so dry it felt as if she was licking talcum powder. ‘So…why would you want to marry someone who clearly doesn’t want to marry you?’
His dark-as-night gaze gleamed, making the floor of Alice’s belly shudder.
‘You know why.’
Alice arched one of her brows, trying to ignore the pulsing heat his words evoked deep in her feminine core. ‘Revenge, Cristiano? I thought you were a civilised man.’
MELANIE MILBURNE read her first Mills & Boon at the age of seventeen, in between studying for her final exams. After completing a Master’s Degree in Education she decided to write a novel, and thus her career as a romance author was born. Melanie is an ambassador for the Australian Childhood Foundation and a keen dog lover and trainer. She enjoys long walks in the Tasmanian bush. In 2015 Melanie won the HOLT Medallion—a prestigious award honouring outstanding literary talent.
Books by Melanie Milburne
Mills & Boon Modern Romance
Unwrapping His Convenient Fiancée
His Mistress for a Week At No Man’s Command His Final Bargain Uncovering the Silveri Secret
The Ravensdale Scandals
Ravensdale’s Defiant Captive
Awakening the Ravensdale Heiress Engaged to Her Ravensdale Enemy The Most Scandalous Ravensdale
The Playboys of Argentina
The Valquez Bride
The Valquez Seduction
Those Scandalous Caffarellis
Never Say No to a Caffarelli
Never Underestimate a Caffarelli Never Gamble with a Caffarelli
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
To Sarah Lewer.
Thanks for the inspiration for this novel and thanks also for being such a wonderful beauty therapist and gorgeous person.
XXXX
Contents
THE FIRST THING Alice noticed when she came to work that morning was the letter on her desk. Something about the officious-looking envelope with its gold embossed insignia made her skin shrink against her skeleton. Letters from lawyers always made her feel a little uneasy. But then she looked closer at the name of the firm. Why would a firm of Italian lawyers be contacting her?
She picked the letter up and her breath came to a juddering halt when she saw it was postmarked Milan.
Cristiano Marchetti lived in Milan.
Alice’s fingers shook as if she had some sort of movement disorder. Surely he hadn’t...died? A sharp pain sliced through her, her breath coming in short, erratic bursts, making not just her fingers tremble but her whole body.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
How had she missed that in the press? Surely there would have been an announcement for someone with Cristiano’s public profile? They reported every other thing he did. The glamorous women he dated. The fading hotels he bought and rebuilt into stunning boutique accommodation all over the Mediterranean. The charity events he attended. The parties. The nightclubs. Cristiano couldn’t change his shirt or shoes or socks without someone reporting it in the press.
Alice peeled open the envelope, her eyes scanning the brief cover letter, but she couldn’t make any sense of it...or maybe that was because her brain was scrambled with a host of unbidden memories. Memories she had locked away for the last seven years. Memories she refused to acknowledge—even in a weak moment—because that was the pathway to regret and that was one journey she was determined never to travel. Her legs were so unsteady she reached blindly for her chair and sat down, holding the document in front of her blurry gaze.
