Margaret McDonagh – Dr Devereux's Proposal (страница 1)
Welcome to Penhally Bay!
Nestled on the rugged Cornish coast is the picturesque town of Penhally. With sandy beaches, breathtaking landscapes and a warm, bustling community—it is the lucky tourist who stumbles upon this little haven.
But now Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance is giving readers the unique opportunity to visit this fi ctional coastal town through our brand-new twelve-book continuity… You are welcomed to a town where the fi shing boats bob up and down in the bay, surfers wait expectantly for the waves, friendly faces line the cobbled streets and romance flutters on the Cornish sea breeze…
We introduce you to Penhally Bay Surgery, where you can meet the team led by caring and commanding Dr Nick Tremayne. Each book will bring you an emotional, tempting romance—from Mediterranean heroes to a sheikh with a guarded heart. There’s royal scandal that leads to marriage for a baby’s sake, and handsome playboys are tamed by their blushing brides! Top-notch city surgeons win adoring smiles from the community, and little miracle babies will warm your hearts. But that’s not all…
With Penhally Bay you get double the reading pleasure… as each book also follows the life of damaged hero Dr Nick Tremayne. His story will pierce your heart—a tale of lost love and the torment of forbidden romance. Dr Nick’s unquestionable, unrelenting skill would leave any patient happy in the knowledge that she’s in safe hands, and is a testament to the ability and dedication of all the staff at Penhally Bay Surgery. Come in and meet them for yourself…
Margaret McDonagh says of herself: ‘I began losing myself in the magical world of books from a very young age, and I always knew that I had to write, pursuing the dream for over twenty years, often with cussed stubbornness in the face of rejection letters! Despite having numerous romance novellas, short stories and serials published, the news that my first “proper book” had been accepted by Harlequin Mills & Boon for their Medical™ Romance line brought indescribable joy! Having a passion for learning makes researching an involving pleasure, and I love developing new characters, getting to know them, setting them challenges to overcome. The hardest part is saying goodbye to them, because they become so real to me. And I always fall in love with my heroes! Writing and reading books, keeping in touch with friends, watching sport and meeting the demands of my four-legged companions keeps me well occupied. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I loved writing it.’
www.margaretmcdonagh.com
margaret. mcdonagh@yahoo.co.uk
With special thanks…
To those who helped with my research on retinitis
pigmentosa…your courage is humbling
www.brps.org. uk…
and on Duchenne muscular dystrophy
www. muscular-dystrophy.org
To my fellow Medical Romance authors
involved in this exciting series
And to the wonderful editorial team who conceived the
Penhally project—thank you for believing in me.
Dear Reader
It was an honour to be involved in the wonderful
DR DEVEREUX’S PROPOSAL was fun to write, but also emotional. Both sexy French doctor Gabriel and caring physiotherapist Lauren have issues from their pasts which make them question whether anyone can love them. They also have to face some tough decisions about their futures. Instant attraction flares into an intense affair, but will their love be strong enough to hold them together when the time comes to face the truth? Can they confide in each other and find the answers together? Will knowledge of the past make them stronger and set them free…or will fears for what lies ahead tear them apart? I hope you will enjoy their journey.
2008 has been the year to celebrate the centenary of Mills & Boon, the home of romance. Thank you for being part of it. Here’s to the next 100 years of reading pleasure!
Happy reading
www.margaretmcdonagh.com
BRIDES OF PENHALLY BAY
At Christmas we met pregnant doctor Lucy Tremayne when she was reunited with the man she loves
Then in January we snuggled up for some much needed winter warmth with gorgeous Italian doctor Marco Avanti
February saw Adam and Maggie on a 24-hour rescue mission where romance blossomed as the sun started to set
Single dad Jack Tremayne found a mother for his little boy—and a bride for himself in March
A princess arrived in Penhally when HRH Melinda Fortesque came to the Bay in April
In May Edward Tremayne found the woman of his dreams
Hunky Penhally Bay Chief Inspector Lachlan D’Ancey found love in June
The temperature really hotted up in July, when devastatingly handsome Dr Oliver Fawkner arrived in the Bay…
In August, Francesca and Mike tried one last time for the baby they’d always longed for…
September brought sexy Sheikh Zayed from his desert kingdom to the beaches of Penhally
We snuggled up with dishy Dr Tom Cornish in October
And this month French doctor Gabriel sweeps into the Bay!
A collection to treasure for ever!
DR DEVEREUX’S PROPOSAL
BY
MARGARET McDONAGH
CHAPTER ONE
‘
What had happened to the small Cornish town of Penhally Bay? His one previous visit had been in the summer when he had spent a weekend looking around and finalising details for his year-long contract to work as a GP in the local practice. Penhally had recently been twinned with St Ouen-sur-Mer in Normandy, France, where he had been filling in for the last ten months at his friend François Amiot’s busy medical clinic.
As part of the twinning process, people from different occupations and ways of life were crossing the Channel, exchanging jobs and skills, building bridges and friendships, bringing the communities of the two towns together, socially, commercially and culturally. None of the other doctors in St Ouen-sur-Mer had been prepared to move their families for a year, but for Gabriel it had been too good an opportunity to miss. Taking this post in Cornwall was a heaven-sent chance to put even more distance between himself and the unresolved issues that had seen him leave Paris for St Ouen-sur-Mer in the first place.
Ruthlessly banishing any thoughts of home, Gabriel’s gaze narrowed as he concentrated on the scene of devastation below him. In the summer, Penhally Bay had been an attractive, hilly, seaside town bustling with tourists and basking under sunshine and clear blue skies. The rows of houses, shops and businesses along the curving seafront, painted in an array of pastel colours, had watched over the boats that had bobbed gently in the harbour. Now… He shook his head in disbelief. This cloudy late October day, the scene could not have been more different.
When his new boss, Nick Tremayne, the senior partner at the Penhally practice, had emailed a week ago to confirm the date to begin work, he had mentioned a flash flood, but Gabriel had not fully grasped the seriousness of what had occurred. A man of few words, Nick had not gone into detail, but Gabriel could see that the event had been far more cataclysmic than that one brief email had implied.
After breathing in a lungful of fresh, salty, Cornish air, Gabriel climbed back in the car and drove down the hill to the town. He passed the promontory on which the church and the lighthouse stood, before heading along the seafront that formed a horseshoe round the harbour. At the far western end of the arc were the lifeboat station and the surgery where he would be working from Monday. Halfway around the seafront, he slowed as he neared the bridge. Here, the river Lanson, which flowed down the hill between Bridge Street and Gull Close, effectively cutting the town in two, spilled its waters into the harbour.
This central area appeared to have borne the brunt of the flooding with damage obvious to houses in Bridge Street and around the seafront. The end wall of the Anchor Hotel—on the corner of Gull Close and Harbour Road—had come down under the force of the water. Standing forlorn and closed for business, the remains of the building were shored up with scaffolding, and demolition notices warned that the property was unsafe.