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      Estate agent Zoe Bennett meets a client, Alex Knight, to show him around a derelict Tuscan villa. The perfect vista across the valley of sun-scorched red earth and grape vines outlined against the azure sky is so breathtaking that Alex is determined to buy it and restore it to its former glory. When the viewing is followed by a flirtatious lunch at Zoe’s favourite trattoria, she hopes that the villa may not be the only thing Alex has fallen for that day…

      However, she soon discovers that Alex already has a family, so regretfully tries to move on. Then Massimo, a handsome environmental lawyer, enters the scene, dazzling Zoe with gifts and declarations of undying love – yet she still cannot get Alex out of her mind. When the villa’s beautiful landscape is endangered and Alex stands to lose his dream property, Zoe begins to question Massimo’s motives. But can she save the villa for Alex in time? And will the mysterious and alluring Mr Knight turn out to be her Mr Right after all?

       Also by Kate Fitzroy

      Perfume of Provence

       Dreams of Tuscany

      Kate Fitzroy

       Copyright

      HQ

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

      Copyright © Kate Fitzroy 2014

      Kate Fitzroy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      E-book Edition © June 2014 ISBN: 9781472096289

      Version date: 2018-07-23

       KATE FITZROY

      has two lives. One is lived in a flinty Victorian cottage in Newmarket, where she awakes early each morning to the clip-clop of the strings of racehorses passing under the window. Kate’s other life is played out in a Napoleonic manor set in a sleepy village amongst the vineyards of the Loire Valley, France.

      Her life has not always been so blissful. Widowed at the age of twenty-two, already with two children to love and protect, she fought her way up as hard and steep a path as any of her romantic heroines. Determined to turn adversity to advantage, Kate and her two children left England behind and drove off to the South of France. By teaching English and renovating ruined properties in France and then Italy, Kate more than survived.

      Now happily married to a thoroughly English man and surrounded by a large, loving family, Kate enjoys every moment of every day… CARPE DIEM because TEMPUS FUGIT!

       Contents

       Cover

       Blurb

      Book List

       Title Page

      Copyright

       Author Bio

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

       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

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Extract

       Endpages

       About the Publisher

       CHAPTER ONE

      The waiter placed a perfect cappuccino in front of her with a small flourish. Zoe looked up at him with a fleeting smile of thanks and then returned to her thoughts. She slowly stirred the frothy milk into the rich darkness of the coffee, enjoying the aroma that floated up to her. Sunlight glanced across the café, lighting on the dark marble floor and reflecting on the enormous Gaggia coffee machine behind the bar. The day was perfect but Zoe felt an inexplicable reluctance to enjoy it. She sighed heavily and began to sip her coffee.

      ‘Ciao, bellissima!’ A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts and a chair was scraped back as Paolo Santini, her boss and good friend, joined her at the table.

      ‘Why you look so sad, cara? You too beautiful to be sad and the day is beautiful too…una bella giornata! Un espresso, per favore, subito!’

      Zoe looked up as Paolo shouted across to the barman, waving his arms and filling the space with his energy. She knew he would be like it all day long. Paolo was irrepressibly larger than life. They worked side by side in an estate agency in the town, Zoe’s quiet, calm nature a foil to his exuberance. Paolo’s father had begun the business years ago, mainly handling the selling and buying of parcels of agricultural land in the surrounding vineyards and hills of Tuscany. After his father’s death, Paolo had inherited the agency and quickly realised the potential of selling farmhouses to the English. Zoe had first met him when she was teaching English in the town and had helped out with some translation work. Then Paolo had offered her a full-time job at a salary that doubled her teacher’s wage and she had accepted happily. They worked well together and the business soon flourished. Zoe looked across the table at him fondly and took a

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