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The Spanish Duke's Holiday Proposal
Robin Gianna
Temporary Christmas fiancée – to future duchess!When paramedic Mateo Alves unexpectedly becomes heir to his family’s dukedom, he’s asked to return home. But Mateo loves his New York career. So when sparks fly between him and beautiful ER doc Miranda Davenport he sees a way to appease his family over the holidays…Miranda can’t believe she’s agreed to be Mateo’s temporary fiancée but as love-child to the head of the wealthy Davenports she knows all about troubled families. Can a magical Spanish Christmas together bring them both the happiness and belonging they deserve?Christmas in ManhattanAll the drama of the ER, all the magic of Christmas!
Temporary Christmas fiancée—to future duchess!
When paramedic Mateo Alves unexpectedly becomes heir to his family’s dukedom, he’s asked to return home. But Mateo loves his New York career. So when sparks fly between him and beautiful ER doc Miranda Davenport, he sees a way to appease his family over the holidays...
Miranda can’t believe she’s agreed to be Mateo’s temporary fiancée, but as love child to the head of the wealthy Davenports, she knows all about troubled families. Can a magical Spanish Christmas together bring them both the happiness and belonging they deserve?
Christmas in Manhattan
All the drama of the ER,
all the magic of Christmas!
A festive welcome to Manhattan Mercy ER—a stone’s throw from Central Park in the heart of New York City. Its reputation for top-notch healthcare is eclipsed only by the reputation of the illustrious, wealthy Davenport family and the other dedicated staff who work there!
With snow about to blanket New York over Christmas, ER Chief Charles Davenport makes sure his team is ready for the drama and the challenge…but when it comes to love, a storm is brewing such as theyve never seen before!
Available now:
Sleigh Ride with the Single Dad
by Alison Roberts
A Firefighter in Her Stocking
by Janice Lynn
The Spanish Duke’s Holiday Proposal
by Robin Gianna
Aristocratic paramedic Mateo Alves needs a temporary fiancée, but will he be able to let Dr Miranda Davenport go when the holiday is over?
The Rescue Doc’s Christmas Miracle
by Amalie Berlin
Risk-taking air ambulance paramedic Penny Davenport has a secret to tell her partner, the cautious, wary Dr Gabriel Jackson—she’s pregnant with his child!
And coming soon:
Christmas with the Best Man
by Susan Carlisle
Navy Doc on Her Christmas List
by Amy Ruttan
Dear Reader (#u808baae1-5595-552b-b227-872da71932ae),
It’s always a pleasure to get to work with other authors on a continuity like this one! The Davenport siblings are certainly interesting, with challenging dynamics and a few family struggles, but they all eventually get their happily-ever-afters. :)
I love it that the editors set my story mostly in Spain. I enjoy researching interesting places, and Spain was no exception. One thing that surprised me is that there really are a large number of dukedoms in the country!
This is the first book I’ve written with the fake engagement trope, which was fun.
ER doctor Miranda Davenport agrees to help Mateo with the ruse—partly because her life history has made her a people-pleaser, and also because she knows what it’s like to feel as if you might not live up to your family’s expectations. Mateo Alves, EMT and member of the Spanish nobility, thinks Miranda is just the woman to stand up to his parents. They’re pushing him to move back home, marry, and take over running the family estate, but he wants to keep his life in New York City. Then he finds out that Miranda might be a great doctor, but her toughness and confidence are a veneer she puts on to cover her vulnerabilities—and he’s placed her in a situation that reminds her of past pain in her life.
Mateo and Miranda help each other reconcile their pasts and see that the things they’ve always believed about their roles in their families aren’t entirely true. They’ve both held close to a deep conviction that they’ve never measured up, and by seeing each other carrying this false belief they learn to let go.
Robin xoxo
The Spanish Duke’s Holiday Proposal
Robin Gianna
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
After completing a degree in journalism, then working in advertising and mothering her kids, ROBIN GIANNA had what she calls her ‘awakening’. She decided she wanted to write the romance novels she’d loved since her teens, and now enjoys pushing her characters towards their own happily-ever-afters. When she’s not writing, Robin’s life is filled with a happily messy kitchen, a needy garden, a wonderful husband, three great kids, a drooling bulldog and one grouchy Siamese cat.
Books by Robin Gianna
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Royal Spring Babies
Baby Surprise for the Doctor Prince
The Hollywood Hills Clinic
The Prince and the Midwife
Midwives On-Call at Christmas
Her Christmas Baby Bump
Flirting with Dr. Off-Limits
It Happened in Paris…
Her Greek Doctor’s Proposal
Reunited with His Runaway Bride
Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
I’d like to dedicate this book to wonderful fellow medical author Amalie Berlin, who helped me brainstorm parts of this story and was always there when I needed to wail about the struggles I had pulling it together. Thanks for always being there, Amalie! xoxo
A big thanks to Dr Meta Carroll for helping me with the medical scenes in this book, per usual! Meta, you are the best! xoxo
Contents
Cover (#u5f27f0a0-7072-5a08-aa68-112f27128f75)
Back Cover Text (#u2572107b-df78-5c1a-bedb-89d48ad47807)
Introduction (#ue7ab492d-3dad-51a0-bb8c-6f3f2cd40a0a)
Dear Reader (#u7580a898-787c-5ae1-9208-c615bbd4dce4)
Title Page (#ud50b3251-f44d-5200-bdb2-60baa3260543)
About the Author (#u7580a898-787c-5ae1-9208-c615bbd4dce4)
Dedication (#u42e677c0-eca6-5875-a5ba-1e3025eb79c3)
CHAPTER ONE (#uee2a5d3c-0d9b-55f1-bb6d-2e3b0254c60e)
CHAPTER TWO (#uefa76ad2-ffb7-5618-adbb-085e3bf79f9b)
CHAPTER THREE (#ueee65251-a071-594d-b24a-806988652d11)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u808baae1-5595-552b-b227-872da71932ae)
FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, can’t you go any faster?
Since it was obvious the massive traffic jam made that impossible, Miranda Davenport bit her lip to keep from exclaiming exactly that. Her cab driver seemed as frustrated as she was, not being able to move more than a few feet at a time as the minutes ticked by, and no amount of impatience by either one of them was going to help her get to the hospital sooner. Even from several blocks away, the blue and red strobe-like flashes from multiple emergency vehicles covered the street, jammed so heavily with cars that could only inch along every five minutes or so.
“Subway tunnel collapse must be bad. Hope it isn’t a terrorist attack,” her cab driver said.
“Yeah. Me, too.” The thought of the subway tunnel collapse being done by terrorists made Miranda shiver, but she also knew that sometimes things like that happened from structural decay, and prayed that was the case this time. She also prayed there wouldn’t be too many casualties, and she clenched her teeth with impatience because it might be critically important for her to get to the hospital ASAP. Excruciatingly long minutes ticked by until she couldn’t stand sitting there any longer.
“Listen, I think I’m going to get out and walk from here.” It was still quite a few blocks to the hospital and her trek home had proved that winter had decided to arrive in New York City with a vengeance. But sitting here barely moving felt torturous when the Manhattan Mercy ER might well be swamped with patients, and they’d called her back, anticipating the worst.
“Hang on a few more minutes, lady. Let me see what I can do.”
Like so many of the drivers whose vehicles filled the street, her cabbie honked his horn, and Miranda nearly clamped her hands to her ears at the cacophony. Growing up in Chicago then living in New York City for the past thirteen years meant the sound of car horns usually faded into the background. But after being stuck in the middle of this traffic mess for the past half-hour, it was starting to give her the mother of all headaches. Or maybe her headache was from not enough sleep after the twelve-hour shift she’d just worked in the ER, not expecting a catastrophe to bring her back before she was even home.
The cab managed to move a couple feet before the driver laid on the horn again, and Miranda knew the poor guy was going to be creeping along in this traffic for a long time. “Sorry, but I’ve got to get to the hospital. Thanks for bringing me this far. Here’s extra for your trouble.” Never having had that “extra” in her younger life was something she’d never forget, and even after all this time it felt good to be able to share the wealth. She shoved a fold of cash through the window to the front seat, then opened her door to exit right in the middle of the street. Not that dodging between stopped cars to the sidewalk brought any risk to life and limb at that moment.
The frigid air sneaking down her neck felt practically sub-zero, and she grabbed her coat collar, ducked her head down against the wind, and hurried toward the hospital. Good thing she had on the comfortable shoes she always wore to work, and her strides ate up the pavement fairly quickly until she came to the dust particles filling the air. Then she stared in shock at the yawning hole where the pavement had collapsed in the street, the subway tracks clearly visible below. Her heart tripped into double-time as she watched numerous firefighters and paramedics running in and out of the tunnel. Then she yanked herself out of her shocked stupor, moving closer to see if she could assist.
“You have any patients that need help?” she shouted above the chaos. “I’m—”
“You need to move to the other side of the street!” a paramedic yelled back. “It’s not safe here.”
“I’m an ER doctor, heading to the hospital. Wondering if you need any help here.”
“No. We’re doing okay. Thanks, but you need to move on.”
“Can you tell me how many injured the hospital might be dealing with?”
“Right now, looks like not a lot. The collapse was only in a small area, and not many people were waiting for the train there.” He swiped a grimy gloved hand against his forehead. “Unless something else happens, we’re hoping for minimal victims. Right now we’re focusing on shoring up the tunnel as we search to see who else might be down there.”
The air Miranda sucked into her lungs in cautious relief was cold and full of the nasty dust, and she coughed. “Okay. Good luck, and be careful in there.”
She pulled her scarf up over her mouth and moved away from the hole to hurry on to the hospital, only to be stopped by police officers who were setting up orange barriers on the sidewalk, insisting she cross over to the other side of the street.
About to argue and tell them her mission, she decided to just do as they asked. There were hardly any pedestrians on the other sidewalk to impede her progress, so she’d be able to walk faster anyway. As she moved across the barricaded street, a sound caught her ears. Something that sounded like someone crying out in the distance, and she stopped, straining to hear. Another faint cry had her heart pumping faster, and she hurried around the barricade in the street to see what was making the sound, abruptly stopping at the sight. Had no one seen this other, small collapse in the pavement? Dust swirled up from a virtual stepping stone of concrete and asphalt, leading down into the darkness.
Had the first responders been so focused on the large collapse that they hadn’t discovered it yet? Did they know someone was in there?
She swung around to get the attention of one of the police officers, but they’d moved too far away to hear her. Heart beating in triple-time, she windmilled her arms to get the attention of the firefighters and paramedics, but in the midst of everything going on, nobody noticed a lone woman in a black coat waving at them. It probably didn’t help that this hole was a good block away from them now.
Would she lose precious time trying to get help? Her heart jerked at the thought of going down into that tunnel, but she had to do something, right? Whoever was in there might be injured, and surely the paramedics would see this small hole any minute. The question was, would they arrive too late, when she was there right now?
Miranda battled down the fear that rose in her throat as she fished in her purse for the small but bright flashlight she always kept there. Stumbling a little, she picked her way through chunks of asphalt and concrete as quickly as she could, leaning over to place her free hand on the jagged lumps to steady herself as she descended beneath the street. The farther down she went, the harder her heart pounded, finally leaving the light of day completely behind her as she headed into the flat darkness.
She peered through the dark, fighting a slightly panicky feeling of claustrophobia. But she was here now, and she’d never forgive herself for being cowardly and climbing back up when, for all she knew, someone could be dying down here.
“Hello? Anyone there? Are you okay? Do you need help?”
A moan and a shout she couldn’t understand came back, which sent adrenaline surging through her blood.
