Emergency: A Marriage Worth Keeping

Emergency: A Marriage Worth Keeping
CAROL MARINELLI

The Spanish consultant's marriage vow…Spanish consultant Salvador Ramirez and nurse Isla Ramirez had a happy, passionate marriage. But when their young son died in a car accident, Salvador found it impossible to face anyone that reminded him of his child, including his wife Isla….Back at work, Salvador and Isla are pushed together— their E.R. department is built on trust and teamwork and they must pull together to save lives. Slowly, Salvador comes to realize they must do the same to save their marriage. While they may have lost their son, they still have and need each other—and theirs truly is a marriage worth keeping.

“Isla.”

When she didn’t answer, Salvador moved into the en suite bathroom. She lay there staring at his reflection in the dressing-room-table mirror, watching as he quietly undressed and then leaned over the sink to brush his teeth. The vivid, raised scar on his back, so red and angry, was easy to make out even from this distance.

How she longed to touch it, longed to run gentle fingers over it, to ask him how much it hurt. She winced as she imagined the gnarled metal from the car wreckage stabbing into his beautiful back and then the torturous operation to remove it.

But their wounds didn’t only lie skin-deep. Now they had to fight for the survival of their marriage!

A and E Drama

Blood pressure is high and pulses are racing

in these fast-paced, dramatic stories from

Harlequin® Medical Romance™.

They’ll move a mountain to save a life

in an emergency, be they the crash team,

emergency doctors or paramedics. There are

lots of critical situations amongst the

high tension and emotional passion in these

exciting stories of lives and loves at risk!

Carol Marinelli now also writes for Harlequin Presents™!

Emergency: A Marriage Worth Keeping

Carol Marinelli

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CONTENTS

Cover (#ubb42927f-3bb9-5132-8faf-46f2dae1b3ae)

Introduction (#uc2d61f1f-f5d1-5509-957d-bd44d8dc3e3d)

Title Page (#u9740562f-1729-5d5e-a950-9a958b0d7487)

PROLOGUE (#u7969a1a8-fb96-50e0-8f17-742f38a13702)

CHAPTER ONE (#ud709b210-ccd1-54cc-9513-fc9fe7c99a6e)

CHAPTER TWO (#u3863bfa9-e9b1-50a8-9a5c-28b005e4a1bd)

CHAPTER THREE (#u5fae9408-21be-5aef-b98c-50b6232c4668)

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)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#u7969a1a8-fb96-50e0-8f17-742f38a13702)

‘DOES your husband have a temper?’

‘He’s Spanish,’ Isla answered, thinking of that gorgeous, volatile Latin temperament, of Sav’s arms waving in exasperation as he tried to ram home a point, tripping over the words as his mother tongue took over. ‘So of course he’s got a temper.’ Isla gave a nervous smile but it faded as she saw the solicitor’s eyebrow lift a good inch. ‘But he’s never hit me,’ she broke in immediately, annoyed at the connotation. ‘Sav would never hit me—never,’ she said again for effect, but the solicitor remained unmoved.

‘He doesn’t have to hit you,’ Karin said knowingly. ‘Abuse isn’t always physical.’

‘I’m not abused,’ Isla said firmly.

‘But your husband does have a temper?’

‘Actually, having said that, he doesn’t have a temper any more.’ Isla let out a low, mirthless laugh. ‘We’ve moved well past the stand-up row stage.’

‘And where are you now, Isla?’ Karin asked, waiting patiently as Isla took her time to respond, wondering how she could sum up in a short sentence the abyss their marriage had fallen into, the long lonely days rattling around a house that was too big, too quiet, followed by even longer, lonely nights as they lay in bed, firmly entrenched on their own sides and pretending to be asleep.

‘Where are you now, Isla?’ Karin asked again, only more gently this time, watching as her client’s tired, reddened eyes slowly lifted.