The Tuscan Tycoon's Wife
Tuscany: from rags to riches!Selena is tough and independent, scraping just enough money to survive. When she falls for Leo Calvani she thinks he's a kindred spirit–apparently he lives a simple life in rural Italy and, like her, he's illegitimate….But she arrives at his home only to discover it's the largest house in the district, that he owns two villages and his uncle is a count! This is not the Leo she thought he was. But then a new discovery comes to light–Leo is proved not to be illegitimate after all, which makes him the count's heir! It's Selena's worst nightmare. There's no way she could ever be a countess…
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Harlequin Romance>® presents a brand-new trilogy from bestselling author
LUCY GORDON
The Counts of Calvani
These proud Italian aristocrats are about to propose!
The Calvani family is a prosperous, aristocratic Italian family headed by Count Francesco Calvani.
He has three nephews:
Guido—charming, easygoing and wealthy in his own right, Guido is based in Venice. He’s heir to the Calvani title, but he doesn’t want it….
Marco—aristocratic, sophisticated and very good-looking, Marco is every woman’s dream, managing the family’s banking and investments in Rome….
Leo—proud, rugged and athletic, Leo is a reluctant tycoon, running the family’s prosperous farms in Tuscany.
The pressure is mounting on all three Calvani cousins to marry and produce the next heirs in the Calvani dynasty. Each will find a wife—but will it be out of love or duty…?
Find out in this emotional, exciting and dramatic trilogy:
The Venetian Playboy’s Bride (#3744)
The Italian Millionaire’s Marriage (#3751)
The Tuscan Tycoon’s Wife (#3760)
Dear Reader,
I’ve saved my favourite Calvani until last. The Tuscan Tycoon’s Wife is the story of Leo, Guido’s half brother and Marco’s cousin. He is like nobody else in the family, a countryman who would hate to live anywhere but close to the earth, far away from the fashionable cities, in the beautiful Tuscan hills.
Where the others are sophisticated, he is uncomplicated; a gentle giant with a huge warm heart that loves but does not judge. Many women would like him as a brother. But Selena isn’t “many women.” She’s the one woman Leo can’t forget, a hard-living rodeo rider who can challenge him on any level. Tough on the surface, lonely inside, she touches his heart because he can see how much she needs him—even if she can’t see it herself.
She thinks he’s as poor as she is—and that’s fine by her. It’s when she finds that he’s not only rich but aristocratic that the trouble starts…. The only person who understands her feelings is Liza, Count Calvani’s longtime love and eventual countess. It’s Liza’s intervention that reconciles the lovers, and brings the whole family together for the happy ending that unites them all.
Enjoy!
This book is dedicated to Janet Stover, 2001 World Champion Barrel Racer and Olympic medalist, who told me all about barrel racing, and rodeos.
CONTENTS
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 ONE
‘SELENA, you need either a miracle or a millionaire.’
Ben eased himself out from under the battered vehicle, monkey wrench in hand. He was lean, elderly, and had spent thirty years as a garage mechanic. Now those thirty years were telling him that Selena Gates wanted him to revive a corpse.
‘This thing’s had it,’ he said gloomily surveying the van, which was actually a Mini Motor Home, with the accent on Mini.
‘But you can make it go again?’ Selena begged. ‘I know you can, Ben. You’re such a genius.’
‘You stop that,’ he said with an unconvincing attempt at severity. ‘It doesn’t work on me.’
‘Always has so far,’ she said, with perfect truth. ‘You can make it go, can’t you, Ben?’
‘For a bit.’
‘As far as Stephenville?’
‘Three hundred miles? You don’t want much! All right, it’ll probably just about make it. But what then?’
‘Then I’ll win some money in the rodeo.’
‘Riding that washed up brute?’
‘Elliot is not washed up,’ she flared. ‘He’s in his prime.’
Ben grunted. ‘Been in his prime a few years, if you ask me.’
Any mention of her beloved Elliot touched a nerve, and Selena was about to defend him fiercely when she remembered that Ben, good friend that he was, was fixing her van on the cheap, and calmed down.
‘Elliot and I will win something,’ she said stubbornly.
‘Enough for a new van?’
‘Enough to get this one fixed as good as new.’
‘Selena, there ain’t enough money in the world to get this ramshackle old bus fixed as good as new. It was falling to bits when you bought it, and that was way back. You’d do better sweet-talking a millionaire into buying you a new van.’
‘No point in me chasing a millionaire,’ Selena sighed. ‘Haven’t got the figure for it.’
‘Sez who?’ Ben demanded loyally.
‘Sez me!’
He regarded her tall, ultra-slim figure. ‘Maybe you’re a little flat-chested,’ he admitted.
‘Ben, under these old jeans I’m flat everything.’ She grinned with rueful self-mockery. ‘It’s no use. Millionaires like their women—’ with both hands she traced the outline of a voluptuous figure. ‘And that’s something I never was. Haven’t got the hair for it either. You need long, wavy tresses not—’ she pointed to her boyish crop.
It was a startling red that blazed out like a beacon, telling the world, ‘I’m here!’ There was no way to overlook Selena. Smart, cheeky, independent, and optimistic to the point of craziness, she was her own woman. Anyone who challenged that soon learned the other lesson of that red hair. Beware!
‘Besides,’ Selena said, coming to her clincher argument, ‘I don’t like millionaires. They’re not real people.’
