Can a holiday romance ever have a happy ending? Escape with Kate to the sun-drenched city of Rome where a love affair is just about to begin…When Kate’s husband Matt dumps her on Friday 13th she decides enough is enough – it’s time for her to have some fun and so she hops on a plane to Rome. A week of grappa and gelato in pavement cafes under azure blue skies will be just what the doctor ordered.
What she doesn’t count on is meeting and falling for sexy policeman
Alessandro. But the course of true love doesn’t run smoothly – Alessandro has five meddling sisters, a fearsome mama and a beautiful ex Orazia. They’re all certain that Kate is not the girl for him.
Can Kate and Alessandro’s love last the distance? Or will she return home with the one souvenir she doesn’t want – a broken heart …
Fall in love with the colourful cafes and the cobbled piazzas of Rome and follow Kate’s dreams and her heart in this enchanting escapist read. Perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Carol Matthews.
Title: Rome is Where the Heart Is.
Author: Tilly Tennant
Published By: Bookouture
Publication Date: 9th March 2017
We are delighted to be able to share an extract from Rome is Where the Heart is thanks to Tilly Tennant and Bookouture.
Chapter One
Kate Merry had long suspected that Friday the thirteenth had it in for her. It couldn’t be personal, of course, but something had brought her to its attention and each time it came around she seemed to be the default victim. There had been flat tyres, burst pipes, redundancy notices, the dreadful skirt-in-pants debacle of one particular Friday the thirteenth in 2004, along with various smaller but no less galling offences over the years. Even as a child she had been on the Friday the thirteenth bad-luck radar, falling victim to a tricycle clash in the playground of her primary school that had resulted in a broken toe. But all those past days of misfortune would be eclipsed by the Friday the thirteenth when she was thirty, a day that would change her life forever. Kate wasn’t to know this when she opened her front door after a long day at work to find her husband standing in the hallway with his suitcases. But although this was by far the worst Friday the thirteenth ever, it also marked the day when lady luck had finally had enough of taunting her.
She stared at the suitcases, and then noticed the taxi with its engine idling, just outside the front door. There was an obvious explanation but it was one she didn’t want to believe – couldn’t believe at all.
‘What’s going on?’
‘I’d have thought it was obvious.’ Matt’s reply was casual, cold even, but Kate could tell by the way he couldn’t meet her eye he’d been caught red-handed in a way he wasn’t prepared for.
‘If it was obvious I wouldn’t have asked.’ Kate’s tone was crisp and belied her churning stomach.
‘I’m going to stay at Connor’s for a bit, sort my head out.’
‘Connor’s? What do you mean, “sort your head out”? What’s to sort?’
‘Us. . . at least, what I think about us.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘What do you think it means? You can’t say you didn’t see this coming.’
Kate stared at him. ‘See what coming? What are you saying, Matt?’
‘I need a break.’
‘What? A holiday? A week off? What the hell does that mean?’
‘I need to be away from you, that’s what it means.’ He rubbed a hand through dark hair that was already grey at the temples. He looked tired and drawn – a far cry from the bright-eyed eighteen-year-old she had married, the man who had been in her life since they’d started high school together. If she was really honest with herself she too had felt they had been stuck in a rut and they were a long way from the bubbly couple they’d once been. But this seemed so extreme. Things weren’t that bad, were they? Shouldn’t they at least talk about it first? Despite what he’d just said, she hadn’t seen this coming, hadn’t imagined for a moment that his complaints and grumblings of discontent meant anything.
‘You’re leaving me?’
‘It’s just space – you know? It’ll be good for both of us – it’ll help us both to decide what we want.’
‘I want you! I don’t need space to decide that! At least come in and talk to me before you do anything else. Twelve years of marriage has got to be worth that, hasn’t it?’
‘Kate, we’ve done nothing but talk and it’s got us nowhere.’
‘No, we haven’t! Not properly. You’ve never mentioned leaving! How is that talking?’
‘You wouldn’t have listened even if I had,’ he replied quietly. ‘And when were we supposed to get the time to talk when you’re never around?’
‘I have to work! I have commitments outside our marriage. Am I supposed to forget all that and be at your beck and call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?’
‘You’re always with your sisters—’
‘You’re saying I can’t see my sisters?’
‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ he fired back irritably. But then he checked himself, paused, and when he looked at her, Kate could see how much this was hurting him. So why was he doing it? ‘It’s too late,’ he said finally. ‘The rot is set in and I don’t see a way back from here.’
‘So when you said you needed a break that was a lie so that I’d let you walk out of the door without a fight? It was just so you could stop the meter running on that taxi waiting for you outside?’
‘I didn’t want to hurt you.’
‘Oh, right. Because this way isn’t hurting at all.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘I suppose what you were actually hoping for was to be gone before I got in from work, so that you could take the coward’s way out and not have to face me at all?’
Matt shifted awkwardly, his gaze dropping to the antique tiled floor of their hallway. Kate let out a hollow laugh.
‘How inconsiderate of me to finish work early today. What would I have arrived back to? A note on the table? A text? Dinner in the oven? Nothing?’
He shook his head, but he couldn’t look her in the eye.
‘Is there someone else?’ she asked in a low voice.
‘No.’
‘You expect me to believe that? This, all of a sudden? If there’s nobody else then why are you leaving?’
‘There has to be another woman?’
‘Of course not – not if it was any other man we were talking about. But I know you, Matt, better than you know yourself, and I know that you need someone; you’re not built for life alone.’
‘Well maybe I changed! Maybe I’m not quite the pathetic needy man you seem to think I am.’
‘I never said you were pathetic and needy, but I don’t believe for a moment that you’re up to life on your own. It’s just not the sort of person you are.’
‘Believe what you like. I’m leaving and it’s down to nothing apart from the fact that you and me don’t work any more. This marriage is dead in the water, and it has been for a long time now.’
‘So that’s it? We don’t try? We don’t fight for it? If there’s no one else then there’s no reason why we can’t work it out.’
‘There’s no fighting to be done, and I don’t want to work it out. I’ve grown up, Kate; I’m not the man you married. We were too young, and we thought we could survive growing up but we couldn’t. That’s all there is to it.’
Kate stared at him, tried to be strong and calm, but inside there was a mess of emotions that couldn’t be contained. ‘You selfish bastard,’ she said, fighting back tears. ‘We’ve known each other since we were eleven and that’s all I’m worth? We’ve both grown up but I’ve grown up living a life that includes you. I’ve gone out of my way to make you happy, considered your feelings in everything I’ve ever done since we got together and you throw it back in my face without so much as an explanation, without one attempt to make it work when the going gets a little tough? You’re bored and now you want out, and you don’t give a shit about the consequences, or what it means for your wife, who has lived her life with you always at the forefront of every decision? I thought you were better than that. It just goes to show that you never really know anyone at all.’ He didn’t say another word. He didn’t even say goodbye. Matt picked up his suitcases and left, and he never slept under their roof again
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them.
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. It was followed by Mishaps and Mistletoe, The Man Who Can't Be Moved, the Mishaps in Millrise series and the Once Upon a Winter series. In 2016 she signed to the hugely successful Bookouture with the first book of her Honeybourne series out June 2016. She also writes as Sharon Sant, where she explores the darker side of life. Find out more about Tilly and how to join her mailing list for news and exclusives at www.tillytennant.com
