Invitation to the Prince's Palace

Mel Watson's just a normal girl until a cab ride turns into an invitation to a whole new life. It's not until she hears her cab driver being addressed as "Your Highness" that she realizes she's stumbled into a fairy tale.…

Prince Rikardo can't believe he's collected the wrong wannabe princess. Mel's far from the cynical social climber he planned for—the tempting softness in her eyes makes him wary. For Rikardo's long given up on love: he wants a temporary wife…and proposing to this sweet, ordinary girl feels all too real.

Australian author Jennie Adams is a Waldenbooks bestseller and Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award winner with a strong International fanbase. Jennie's stories are loved worldwide for their Australian settings and characters, lovable heroines, strong or wounded heroes, family themes, modern-day characters, emotion and warmth. Website: www.jennieadams.net

'You're here. I expected to have to wait longer.' Melanie Watson tried not to sound too desperately relieved to see the cab driver, but she was relieved. She'd been saving money to try to start a new life away from her aunt, uncle and cousin. She still didn't have enough, but tonight she'd experienced very clearly just how soul-destroying it truly could be to live among people who postured rather than accepted, who used rather than loved.

The family's gloves had come off and Mel had made the choice to leave now whether she was quite financially ready, or not.

Mel had waited until her cousin had disappeared into her suite of rooms, and until her aunt and uncle had fallen into bed. She'd cleaned up every speck of the kitchen because she never left a job half done, and then she'd ordered a cab, left a note in her room, packed her life into suitcases and carried it to the kerb.

Mel tried to focus her gaze on a suburb painted in shades of silvery dawn. The sun would rise fully soon. The wispy chill would lift. Clarity and the new day