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It’s always fun to be part of a continuity with seven other authors—especially such a talented group! When I met my characters Joseph and Carey I immediately fell in love. Joe is the kind of hero you want to throw your arms around and never let go. The problem is he doesn’t want to let anyone close enough to do that. He has his reasons, believe me, and they’re doozies. Carey is a glass-half-full kind of girl, even though life has thrown her some tough issues with which to deal. From the moment Joe sees Carey he assigns himself as her guardian—and what a lucky girl she becomes! I rooted for their happily-ever-after right from the start!
His Pregnant Sleeping Beauty is the first time I’ve ever written about a paramedic hero. Fortunately I had some wonderful personal resources, and therefore I feel my scenes are authentic. In fact you could say I’m proud of them. What a tough job first responders have! And writing about Carey took me back to my RN roots. I just love nurse heroines! So I guess you could call me a happy camper all round, being the lucky lady to write their story in Book 6 of The Hollywood Hills Clinic series. Why not check them all out?
Dear readers, if you read a book and enjoy it please consider writing a short review to help spread the word. Or give a shout-out about it on social media. We authors really appreciate that. Oh, and if you’re on Facebook ‘friend’ me, I’d love to keep in touch.
Until next time,
Lynne
PS Visit my website to keep up with all the news: lynnemarshall.com. You can also sign up for my author newsletter there.
LYNNE MARSHALL used to worry that she had a serious problem with daydreaming—then she discovered she was supposed to write those stories! A Registered Nurse for twenty-six years, she came to fiction-writing later than most. Now she writes romance which usually includes medicine, but always comes straight from her heart. She is happily married, a Southern California native, a woman of faith, a dog-lover, an avid reader, a curious traveller and a proud grandma.
This book is dedicated to the two paramedics who helped me make my character, Joe, a true hero. Thank you, John-Philip Maarschalk and Rick Ochocki, for your expert input and help. What would the world be without our first responders?
‘Heartfelt emotion that will bring you to the point of tears, for those who love a second-chance romance written with exquisite detail.’
—Contemporary Romance Reviews on NYC Angels: Making the Surgeon Smile
‘Lynne Marshall contributes a rewarding story to the NYC Angels series, and her gifted talent repeatedly shines. Making the Surgeon Smile is an outstanding romance with genuine emotions and passionate desires.’
—CataRomance
CAREY SPENCER HAD never felt more alone in her life than when she got off the bus in Hollywood.
Joseph Matthews, on that night’s shift for the prestigious Hollywood Hills Clinic, had just delivered one of the industry’s favorite character actresses to the exclusive twenty-bed extended recovery hotel. It was tucked between Children’s Hospital and a smaller private hospital on Sunset Boulevard, and the common eye would never guess its function. Joe had agreed to make the Wednesday night run because James Rothsberg himself had asked. After all, the lady had won an award for Best Supporting Actress the year before last.
As the lead paramedic for the ambulance line he owned, Joe had attended the not-to-be-named-aloud patient during the uneventful ride to the recovery hotel. She’d been heavily sedated, her IV was in place, her vitals, including oxygen saturation, were fine, but she’d had so much work done on her face, breasts and hands she looked like a mummy. When they’d arrived, you’d have thought he’d delivered the President to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center the way the abundant staff rushed to the ambulance and took over the transfer.
Now, at nine p.m., back sitting in the front of the private ambulance, Joe switched on some music. Jazz, his favorite station. Yeah, he owned this bus—hell, he owned all six of them—so he could play whatever music he wanted. But that also kept him thinking about work a lot. It was the first of the month and he’d have to make copies of the June shift schedule for the EMTs and paramedics on his team before they showed up for work tomorrow morning.
“I’m hungry,” Benny, his EMT, said from behind the wheel.
Why was Joe not surprised? The kid had barely turned twenty and seemed to have hollow legs.
Restless and out of sorts, a state that was nothing new these days, Joe nodded. “How about that Mexican grill?” They’d just made their last run on Friday night, without plans for later, so why not?
“You read my mind.” Benny tossed him a cockeyed grin, his oversized Afro flopping with the quick movement.
He turned off Hollywood Boulevard and up N. Cahuenga to the fast-food place by the cross-country bus depot, where a bus had just arrived from Who Knew Where, USA. Benny had to wait to pull into a larger-than-average parking space. Joe mindlessly watched a handful of people trickle off the bus.
A damn fine-looking young woman wearing oversized sunglasses got off. Sunglasses at night. What was up with that? She was slender and her high-heeled boots made her look on the tall side. She wore jeans and a dark blue top, or was it a sweater? Her thick hair was layered and long with waves and under the bus depot lights looked brown. Reddish? He wondered what her story was. Probably because of the shades at night. But he didn’t bother to think about ladies these days. Yet, still, dang, she was hot. And stood out like a rose in a thorn patch.
Benny backed the private ambulance into the space at the farthest end of the restaurant lot, and Joe got out the passenger side, immediately getting hit by the mouthwatering aroma of spicy beans and chipotle chicken. He stretched, eager to chow down. A sudden movement in his peripheral vision drew his attention. Someone sprang from behind a pillar and snagged a lady’s purse strap and wrist, pulling her out of the crowd and toward the nearby alley. It was the woman he’d just been gawking at! The other travelers had mostly dispersed. She put up a fight, too, and squealed, yet the few people left lingering didn’t seem to notice...but he did.
Joe ran to the mouth of the alley. “Hey!” Then sprinted toward the young woman, who was still fighting to hold on to her purse.
The tall but skinny, straggly-haired dude dragged her by the shoulder strap and wrist deeper down the alley. Why doesn’t she just let go? Ah, wait, it’s one of those over-the-torso jobs.
“Hey!”
This time the
