Princess Licia, heir to the throne of Oristano, a small principality on the Italian Riviera, has been on display in recent tabloids. Determined to make a lady of their daughter, her parents send her to the world-reknowned Emory Cooking Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Their theory? She may never cook a meal, but there's something about chopping, dicing, sauteing and flambeing that brings out the nurturer in a woman.

A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and royal cooking assignments, masterchef Geoffrey Hanks is stunned to find the beautiful princess in his class.
His first instinct is to turn in his chef's hat and run. The reason?
Ancestors of royalty have been known to say, "Off with his head" at the slightest provocation. What if this delicious princess's parents have incorporated that handy refrain into their protocol?

Can love grow under such "throny" conditions?

Bryce finds more than his lost love. Who is the little girl rapidly stealing his heart? Meanwhile, Leanna has her own angst. Can she keep Bryce from finding out about their child until she’s ready to tell him in her own way?

Mark, on the other hand wears the well-known Runyon name with style. He just needs to overcome his suspicion that Nicky has befriended his grandmother, Ellen, to get this job, and maybe to get to him. Now, where could he have gotten an idea like that? And can these two fine, but vastly different, people ever find true love?

He saw some onlookers perched at the balconies in restaurants - for a fee of $150, he overheard someone say. Such madness. He tried not to think of his own craziness. Why was he doing this? He was doing it on a dare – by himself to himself. If he’d lost Jessica and had been laid off from his job, only to be shipped off to Mexico, he could take part in bull running and survive. How many men could do that?