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An Engagement For Two
Marie Ferrarella
A recipe for love!Dr Mikki McKenna’s dedicated her life to her patients determined never to fall in love. But restaurateur Jeff Sabatino can’t get compassionate Mikki off his mind. He’d move mountains for minutes with her…
Recipe for love:
two reluctant souls and a dash of matchmaking!
Dr. Mikki McKenna’s dedicated her entire life to her patients. But when it comes to herself? The devoted doctor’s vowed never to repeat her parents’ mistakes, and that means never falling in love. But restaurateur Jeff Sabatino can’t get his mother’s compassionate internist off his mind. He’d move mountains just for minutes with Mikki. Have the Matchmaking Mamas once again cooked up a romance?
USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and seventy-five books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com (http://www.marieferrarella.com).
Also available by Marie Ferrarella
Christmastime Courtship
A Second Chance for the Single Dad
Meant to Be Mine
Twice a Hero, Always Her Man
Dr. Forget-Me-Not
Coming Home for Christmas
Her Red-Carpet Romance
Diamond in the Ruff
Dating for Two
Wish Upon a Matchmaker
Ten Years Later…
A Perfectly Imperfect Match
Visit millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more information
An Engagement for Two
Marie Ferrarella
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07725-5
AN ENGAGEMENT FOR TWO
© 2018 Marie Rydzynski-Ferrarella
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, 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 publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To
Charlie.
Bet You Never Thought
When You Sauntered
Into My Second Period
English Class That
First Day
That Half a Century Later,
We’d Still Be Together,
Did You?
Contents
Cover (#uf60d5fc4-cd30-5784-aeca-790a41fe2b88)
Back Cover Text (#ua990c2fc-b4ed-5c04-9c7b-b0b9c817e6da)
About the Author (#ubf140702-4d54-5b42-b2ea-49ba22b96726)
Booklist (#u82f46e51-1b3b-5f82-a5de-6f511fed126b)
Title Page (#ua288b57a-2af4-5181-8cab-371e4d2f53da)
Copyright (#u4662dd9a-05c6-5f69-b2da-4eafb966ca93)
Dedication (#u47bf18bb-85b0-5df7-9a8e-e8d7e02e8ac1)
Prologue (#u8c4a4be1-a8e8-51eb-8185-c543f57b90f8)
Chapter One (#u6c6b4767-a80f-5c65-b9d4-aa938c744f09)
Chapter Two (#u62353f95-68f5-55a7-86d8-5015ee953f2b)
Chapter Three (#ub4e361b1-984e-55bc-9a24-a4ffc5a294a5)
Chapter Four (#u3fe13364-2160-509f-9cec-03e173cb0db0)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)
“Hi, Mom.”
Maizie Sommers stopped short as she entered the ground-floor office of the real estate business she had lovingly nurtured and guided into a thriving enterprise over the last decade and a half. She was just returning from helping a young couple find the home of their dreams, something that always gave her an immense amount of pleasure.
The very last person she expected to see in her office, sitting in front of her desk, was her daughter, Nikki. Nikki, a pediatric physician and her only child, was responsible for Maizie initially dipping her toe into the—at that point—very unfamiliar waters of matchmaking.
She and her lifelong best friends, Cecilia Parnell and Theresa Manetti, had done so well finding a match for Nikki that they were encouraged to continue in their endeavors and find perfect matches for Cilia’s daughter and Theresa’s children.
When that worked out, they decided to continue matchmaking as an occasional hobby.
The hobby caught fire, and while all three women went on to maintain the separate businesses they had built over the years, matchmaking became very near and dear to their hearts—as was their determination to remain quietly behind the scenes. They were in it for the satisfaction, not the recognition—and certainly not the money since there was never any charge.
Maizie and her friends were quite proud of the fact that the couples they had brought together over the years never knew they were being skillfully guided to come together.
But that certainly wasn’t the first thought that entered Maizie’s mind when she saw her daughter sitting there.
“Is something wrong with Lucas or one of the children?” Maizie asked, giving her daughter a quick kiss hello.
Concerned, she dropped into the chair behind her desk, scrutinizing her daughter’s face and looking for some sort of indication as to what had brought Nikki here in the middle of the day.
“What makes you think there’s something wrong with one of them?” Nikki asked.
“Well, let me see. You’re a highly regarded pediatrician whose hours are only slightly shorter than God’s. You’re a wife and the mother of three very energetic young children. That alone uses up every moment of your day and night, and I haven’t seen you since Ellie and Addie’s party,” Maizie reminded her, mentioning the twins’ fourth birthday last month. “My guess is that only an emergency of some sort would bring you here to see me in the middle of the day.”
Nikki sat up a little straighter in the chair, although she was unconsciously knotting her fingers together. “Well, you’re wrong.”
Maizie continued to watch her daughter’s hands. “Good.”
“It’s not an emergency,” Nikki emphasized.
“Happy to hear that.” Although, Maizie thought, something was definitely wrong. Those were not the hands of a carefree, untroubled person.
“Not exactly,” Nikki amended.
“Ah.” Now they were getting to it, Maizie thought. “And what is it, exactly?” she asked her daughter.
Just then her phone rang.
Nikki looked at the landline on her mother’s desk. “You want to get that?” she asked.
“No,” Maizie answered. She didn’t want her daughter using the call as an excuse to suddenly change her mind and leave. “That’s why God created answering machines.”
Nikki appeared guilty. “I feel bad, taking up your time like this.” She looked at the phone. The call had obviously gone to voice mail. “You worked really hard to get here.”
“One delayed call isn’t going to torpedo my business, Nikki. Besides, Susanna, my assistant, is due back from lunch soon. She can call whoever it is back. You are, and always have been, my first priority,” Maizie insisted. “I’ve expanded that to include Lucas and the children, but you are still in first place. Now, what’s this all about? And why are you about to twist off your fingers?” She nodded at her daughter’s hands.
Stilling her hands, Nikki sighed. “I don’t quite know how to say this, Mom.”
“One word at a time is usually the way to do it,” Maizie encouraged. “At this point in my life I’ve heard just about everything,” she added, “so just spit it out, my love.”
“I know—” Nikki began and then she paused, at a loss how to continue.
“You know what, dear?” Maizie asked, waiting.
