Table Of ContentWelcome to the February 2009 collection of Harlequin Presents!
This month read the final installment of Lynne Graham’s trilogy VIRGIN
BRIDES, ARROGANT HUSBANDS, The Spanish Billionaire’s Pregnant Wife.
Leandro Marquez ruthlessly stops at nothing to wed Molly when he discovers
she’s pregnant with his child! And don’t miss the first part of our fabulous new
series INTERNATIONAL BILLIONAIRES, which starts when shy,
hardworking Holly is swept off her feet by the magnificent Prince Casper in
Sarah Morgan’s The Prince’s Waitress Wife. Expect emotions to reach fever pitch
in Carole Mortimer’s The Mediterranean Millionaire’s Reluctant Mistress when
tycoon Alejandro is determined to claim his secret baby and possess Brynne in
the process. And will an innocent plain Jane convince Sheikh Tair Al Sharif to
let go of his mistrustful nature in Kim Lawrence’s Desert Prince, Defiant
Virgin? Business tycoon Santos Cordero is intent on seducing Alexa into a
marriage of convenience in Kate Walker’s Cordero’s Forced Bride, while sexual
tension heightens when Stefano seeks revenge after being left at the altar in Kate
Hewitt’s The Italian’s Bought Bride. Be prepared for a battle of the sexes in
Robyn Grady’s Confessions of a Millionaire’s Mistress as Celeste and Ben find
they want the same thing in the bedroom…but different things from life! Plus,
look out for Nicola Marsh’s The Boss’s Bedroom Agenda, in which a sizzling
night spent together between Beth and her gorgeous new boss, Aidan, changes
everything!
We’d love to hear what you think about Harlequin Presents. E-mail us at
[email protected], or join in the discussions at www.iheartpresents.com and
www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com, where you’ll also find more information
about books and authors!
Demure but defiant…
Can three international playboys
tame their disobedient brides?
Lysander, the gorgeous, dynamic
Greek tycoon…
Nikolai, the ruthless, charismatic
Russian magnate…
Leandro, the sexy, aristocratic
Spanish billionaire…
Proud, masculine and passionate, these men are used to having it all. But enter
Ophelia, Abbey and Molly, three feisty virgins to whom wealth and power mean
little. In stories filled with drama, desire and secrets of the past, find out how
these arrogant men capture the hearts of these women.
The Greek Tycoon’s Disobedient Bride, December 2008
The Ruthless Magnate’s Virgin Mistress, January 2009
The Spanish Billionaire’s Pregnant Wife, February 2009
Lynne Graham
THE SPANISH BILLIONAIRE’S
PREGNANT WIFE
All about the author…
Lynne Graham
Of Irish/Scottish parentage, LYNNE GRAHAM has lived in Northern Ireland
all her life. She has one brother. She grew up in a seaside village and now lives
in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which is wonderfully
private.
Lynne first met her husband when she was fourteen. They married after she
completed a degree at Edinburgh University. Lynne wrote her first book at
fifteen and it was rejected everywhere. She started writing again when she was
home with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold her first book,
and the delight of seeing that book for sale in the local newsagents has never
been forgotten.
Lynne always wanted a large family, and she has five children. Her eldest and
her only natural child is in her twenties and is a university graduate. Her other
children, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted: two from Sri Lanka
and two from Guatemala. In Lynne’s home, there is a rich and diverse cultural
mix, which adds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life.
The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large and affectionate black cat, bosses
the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy, an adorable but not very bright West
Highland white terrier, who loves being chased by the cat. At night, dog and cat
sleep together in front of the kitchen stove.
Lynne loves gardening and cooking, collects everything from old toys to rock
specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ONE
LEANDRO CARRERA MARQUEZ, Duque de Sandoval, awoke when his valet opened
the bedroom curtains and bid his illustrious employer a cheerful good morning.
His lean, darkly handsome face grim, Leandro doubted that the day ahead would
be the slightest bit different from any other day in recent months. Fresh towels
were laid out in the bathroom for his shower. A custom-made designer business
suit and a monogrammed silk shirt and toning tie were assembled in readiness
for his getting dressed.
Elegant and, as always, immaculate in appearance, Leandro finally
descended the magnificent staircase of the family castillo with all the cool
assurance and dignity of his grand forebears. He knew that he was bored and he
scorned the feeling, well aware that he was bountifully blessed with health,
wealth and success. The walls he passed bore the portraits of his predecessors—
the very flower of proud Castilian aristocracy—ranging from the first duke, who
had been a famous soldier and a contemporary of Christopher Columbus, to
Leandro’s father, a distinguished banker who had died when his son was barely
five years old.
‘Your Excellency.’ Having been greeted by Basilio, his major-domo, and two
maidservants at the foot of the stairs with much the same pomp and ceremony
that the first duque would have received in the fifteenth century, Leandro was
ushered into breakfast where the day’s papers, including the leading financial
publications, awaited him. There was no need for him to ask for anything. His
every need and wish were carefully foreseen by his devoted staff and perfect
peace reigned while he ate, for his preference for silence at the breakfast table
was well known.
A phone was brought to him. His mother, the dowager Duquesa, Doña
Maria, was on the line asking him to lunch with her at the town house in Seville
later that day. It didn’t suit him. He would have to reschedule business
appointments at the bank. But Leandro, uneasily aware that he spent little time
with his relations, gave reluctant assent.
As he sipped his coffee his brilliant dark eyes rested on the full-length
portrait of his late wife, Aloise, on the wall at the other end of the room. He
wondered if anyone else in the family even appreciated that in forty-eight hours
the anniversary of Aloise’s death would take place. Aloise, his childhood friend,
who in dying almost a year earlier had left a gaping hole in the settled fabric of
his life. He wondered if he would ever get over the guilt induced by her tragic
demise and decided that it would be wise to spend that day away from home
working in London. Sentimentality was not one of Leandro’s failings.
He spent a very busy morning at the Carrera Bank, an institution that had
been handling the same clients’ fortunes for generations and where his own
services as one of the financial world’s most fabulously successful investment
bankers were much in demand. Strikingly intelligent and gifted in the field of
wealth preservation and asset management, Leandro had been marked out early
as a genius at analysing world money markets. Juggling complex figures gave
him considerable pleasure and satisfaction. Numbers, unlike people, were easy
to understand and deal with, he acknowledged wryly.
When he kept his luncheon appointment he was surprised to see that his
mother’s sister, his aunt Isabella, and his own two sisters, Estefania and Julieta,
were also present.
‘I felt that it was time to talk to you,’ Doña Maria murmured with a
meaningful look at her only son over the appetisers.
Leandro elevated a questioning ebony brow. ‘About what, precisely?’
‘You’ve been a widower for a year now.’ It was Estefania who responded.
‘Is there a point to that obvious statement?’ Leandro enquired drily.
‘You’ve spent enough time in mourning to satisfy the conventions. It’s time
to think of remarriage,’ his mother informed him.
His lean, strong face rigidly controlled, Leandro stared steadily back at the
older woman. ‘I don’t agree.’
Julieta, his younger sister piped up, ‘Nobody is going to replace Aloise,
Leandro. We don’t expect that and neither can you—’
‘But you must put the family’s unbroken line of inheritance first,’ Doña
Maria declared with gravity. ‘There is presently no heir to the title or the estate.
You are thirty-three years old. Last year when Aloise died we all learned how
fragile and fickle life can be. What if something similar were to happen to you?
You must remarry and father an heir, my son.’
Leandro compressed his handsome mouth into a bloodless line that would
have encouraged less determined opponents to drop the subject. He had no need
of such reminders when he had spent his life being made aware daily of his
many responsibilities. Indeed he had never known an hour’s freedom from the
weighty burden of expectations that accompanied his privileged social status and
great wealth. He had been raised in the same traditions as his ancestors to put
duty and honour and family first. But an exceptional spark of rebellion was
finally firing inside his lean, well built body.
‘I’m aware of those facts, but I’m not ready to take another wife,’ he retorted
crisply.
‘I thought it would be helpful if we drew up a short list of potential brides to
help you,’ Doña Maria contended with a wide smile that struck her angry son as
bordering on manic.
‘I don’t think that would be helpful. Indeed I think it’s a ludicrous idea,’
Leandro replied coldly. ‘When and if I remarry, I will choose my own wife.’
His aunt Isabella, however, would not be silenced. She put forward a
candidate from a family as rich and prominent as their own. Leandro dealt her a
look of scorn. His mother was, however, even quicker to name her own selection
—a young widow with a son and, therefore, what the older woman termed a
proven fertility record. An expression of unhidden distaste crossed Leandro’s
classic dark features. He knew exactly why that point was being made.
Unhappily, talk of fertility records reminded him of livestock breeding. His elder
sister, Estefania, was not to be outdone and, oblivious to the disbelieving glances
of her relations, suggested the teenaged daughter of a personal friend as being
perfect bride material. Leandro almost laughed out loud at that idea. As he was
well aware, marriage could be a most challenging relationship, even for those
who might seem very well matched as a couple.
‘We’ll hold a party and invite some suitable women,’ Doña Maria
announced, continuing on her theme with the stubborn insensitivity of a woman
determined to have her say. ‘But not the teenager, Estefania. I really don’t think
so young a woman would be appropriate. A Marquez bride needs to be mature,
well versed in etiquette, educated and socially accomplished, as well as being
from a suitable background.’
‘I will not attend any such party,’ Leandro declared without hesitation. ‘I
have no intention of remarrying at this point in time.’
Julieta gave him an apologetic look. ‘But at least if you went to the party you
might fall in love with someone.’
‘Leandro is the Duque de Sandoval,’ Doña Maria countered in a deflating
tone of ice. ‘Thankfully, he knows who he is and he has no nonsense of that
variety in his head.’
‘There will be no party,’ Leandro decreed, implacable outrage igniting
steadily beneath his cool façade at their comments. He could hardly credit that
his own relations could be so crass or interfering. But then he was willing to
