The Spanish Duke's Holiday Proposal

“So getting a dog might be on your to-do list?”

“Probably not.” He had other things on that list. Like being forced to move back home when he didn’t want to, despite being needed there, and the guilt of his feelings about all that gnawed at his gut. He couldn’t tell his parents he didn’t deserve to step into his brother’s shoes to take over the family’s estate full-time. That his not being there for Emilio, for not doing more to help him, might be part of the reason he wasn’t alive anymore. That memories of his laughter and jokes, of their closeness and all they’d done together their whole lives, were a constant ache every moment he was back in Spain.

The weight of all that hung heavily on his shoulders, as it had for the past six months, and he didn’t know what he was going to do about it. Didn’t know how he could convince his parents that it would be fine for him to be home just a few months of the year, when they expected him to be there full-time now that Emilio was gone.

As he stared at Miranda’s pretty face and smiling eyes and thought about the disapproving looks his parents had given her, a radical idea struck him, slowly forming fully in his mind. And the more he thought about it, the more he liked it.

Yes, it just might be brilliant, and actually work. But would she possibly agree? He had no idea. But what he did know? Trying to persuade her just became the number one thing on that to-do list.

* * *

By the end of the day, Mateo had become convinced that the idea that had developed in his head earlier was the perfect solution to his problem. If Miranda was willing to go along with it, that was.

After all, what did he have to lose by asking her? He definitely couldn’t suggest it to one of the women he casually dated, because they might read more into it than he wanted them to. But since he and Miranda barely knew one another, he couldn’t imagine she’d read his proposal the wrong way. Plus, she was a Davenport. Someone from a wealthy and powerful family wouldn’t think his lineage was a big deal and because of that, she’d be unlikely to get excited about it, like the women back at home always had. Women who wanted nothing more than to snag a wealthy duke, live a lavish lifestyle, and lord it over everyone who worked for his family, like his sister-in-law had.

Which was just one of the reasons he liked living anonymously in a big city like New York. He could date women for a short time who didn’t want anything from him. No long-term commitments offered or expected, and that’s how he wanted to keep it.

Miranda had said she didn’t have a boyfriend, which he found incredibly surprising, but was more than glad about. She had also said that she’d like to get out of the city for a week or so. Get away from work and the challenges of getting to her apartment while the subway was being repaired. Away from memories of the tunnel collapse and how scary he knew that had to have been for her, even though she’d put on a brave front.

He thought about that again while he waited around for her shift to end. Frustrated with her as he’d been at that moment, now that she was safe and it was over with he had to admire that she’d run in there to help. Search and rescue had been his passion since his days in the Spanish military, but she lived her life on the receiving end of casualties in the ER. Without a doubt, lots of physicians would have waited for the rescue crews to bring out any injured before they got to work taking care of them.

He leaned against the wall of the hospital corridor, his gaze on Miranda standing farther down the hall, talking to the doctor taking over her patients. Did she always take this long to tie up loose ends after her shift was over? He glanced at his watch, impressed that, unlike some of the docs in the hospital who ran out the door the second their shift was over, she obviously wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of before she left.

Restlessly squeezing the back of his neck, he wondered if there was any way she’d agree to his proposal. If she said no, he’d just be in the same situation he was in now, right? But maybe he’d get lucky and she’d say yes, which would solve his problem at least in the short term. At the same time, he’d get to look at her pretty face and enjoy her lively mind during the time they spent together.

He’d always taken a second and third look at her whenever he’d brought in a patient, never dreaming he’d have her lush body beneath his the way it had been in the tunnel, or her nearly naked in his apartment. The memories of how both those things had made his blood pump hard and his breath get short had him turning to look somewhere other than at her before his body reacted all over again.

Miranda finally headed to the locker room and emerged just a few minutes later. Mateo pushed off the wall and moved toward her, watching as her slender fingers slowly buttoned her coat. She looked deep in thought about something, and he wondered if her brain was working overtime about her patients, or if something else was on her mind.

“Miranda.”

She turned, and her amazing blue eyes that had shone through the darkness in that tunnel lifted to his in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought your shift ended quite a while ago.”

“It did. I came to see if you’d like to join me for coffee. A little thank-you for doing such a great job with Emily this afternoon.”

“Oh. Well.” Her tongue moistened her lips, and he found himself fixating again on how soft and full they were. “I was just doing my job, you know.”

“Yes, but you do it very well.” She looked so wide-eyed and shocked he couldn’t help but tease her a little. “It’s just coffee, Miranda. Surely your time in my apartment showed you I’m not a big, bad wolf.”