‘Stop apologising.’ Edward’s hands were shoved into his pockets and the collar of his grey coat was up.
‘What?’
‘You had a rough day. You drank too much champagne. It happens.’
‘But I … I …’ Threw myself at you. Tried to kiss you.
Heat rushed up and burned Olivia’s cheeks. As if someone like Edward would ever kiss her. She snuck a quick look at him. Today he was even taller and more handsome. Even more unattainable.
Stupid, stupid, Olivia, she berated herself. Always wishing for things she couldn’t have. Always falling for the wrong men. Not that she was falling for Edward. She just wanted to feel his skin. That wasn’t falling for him.
That was just lust. Hot, dirty lust.
Dear Reader
This story has been kicking about in my head for a long time. In the beginning I didn’t know it was a story. It was just a scene of a girl traipsing along a lonely country road in the cold, towing a tower of luggage, while a car crept up behind her. I didn’t know who she was, and for a long time I wondered where she was going.
But one day I was writing another story and this particular girl popped up in it. Suddenly I realised who she was—and where she was heading on that lonely road. I opened a blank page and started writing furiously. It was as if she had finally found a way out of my head and couldn’t wait to get onto the page.
I hope you enjoy meeting Olivia—a vulnerable little peacock with a tough shell—and Edward—the man strong enough to see through to her beauty inside.
These two people wanted me to tell you their story. So here it is. I hope you enjoy navigating through the maze of their love as much as I did.
Love
Jennifer Rae x
Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid
Jennifer Rae
JENNIFER RAE, a journalist and freelance writer for some of Australia’s leading lifestyle magazines, had written plenty of short stories in her teenage years, but it wasn’t until she received a commission to interview a couple of romance-writers for a feature article that she was introduced to the romance genre.
Finally the characters who had been milling around Jennifer’s head since her long years on the farm made sense and she realised it was time to start expanding her short stories into a book.
So with little more than a guidebook borrowed from the local library and a you-can-do-this attitude, Jennifer sat down to release her characters and write her first romance novel. No one was more surprised than Jennifer when her novel was picked up by Harlequin just a few weeks after typing The End.
Jennifer has spent the last twenty years travelling and living in the US and the UK but now calls Australia home.
This is Jennifer Rae’s debut novel for MODERN TEMPTED™ and is available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
For Mick, who never gave up.
Contents
ONE
It wasn’t just cold. It was bones-aching, tits-freezing cold. The white furry coat Olivia had purchased before she’d left home looked fabulous, but it was doing nothing to keep out the December winds that whistled along the rough country road she was now trudging down.
‘Five-hundred-dollar
