Catherine Mann - Rich, Rugged And Royal - The Maverick Prince

Rich, Rugged

and Royal

The Maverick Prince

His Thirty-Day Fiancée

His Heir, Her Honour

Catherine Mann

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestseller CATHERINE MANNis living out her own fairytale ending on a sunny Florida beach with her Prince Charming husband and their four children. With more than thirty-five books in print in over twenty countries, she has also celebrated wins for both a RI TA ®Award and a Booksellers’ Best Award. Catherine enjoys chatting with readers online—thanks to the wonders of the wireless internet that allows her to cyber-network with her laptop by the water! To learn more about her work, visit her website, www.CatherineMann.com, or reach her by snail mail at PO Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566, USA.

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Title Page Rich, Rugged and Royal The Maverick Prince His Thirty-Day Fiancée His Heir, Her Honour Catherine Mann www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author USA TODAY bestseller CATHERINE MANN is living out her own fairytale ending on a sunny Florida beach with her Prince Charming husband and their four children. With more than thirty-five books in print in over twenty countries, she has also celebrated wins for both a RI TA ® Award and a Booksellers’ Best Award. Catherine enjoys chatting with readers online—thanks to the wonders of the wireless internet that allows her to cyber-network with her laptop by the water! To learn more about her work, visit her website, www.CatherineMann.com , or reach her by snail mail at PO Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566, USA.

The Maverick Prince The Maverick Prince Catherine Mann

Dedication To my favorite little princesses and princes—Megan, Frances, James and Zach. Thank you for inviting Aunt Cathy to your prince and princess tea parties. The snack cakes and Sprite were absolutely magical!

Prologue Prologue GlobalIntruder.com Exclusive: For Immediate Release Royalty Revealed! Do you have a prince living next door? Quite possibly! Courtesy of a positive identification made by one of the GlobalIntruder.com’s very own photojournalists, we’ve successfully landed the scoop of the year. The deposed Medina monarchy has not, as was rumored, set up shop in a highly secured fortress in Argentina. The three Medina heirs—with their billions—have been living under assumed names and rubbing elbows with everyday Americans for decades. We hear the sexy baby of the family, Antonio, is already taken in Texas by his waitress girlfriend Shannon Crawford. She’d better watch her back now that word is out about her secret shipping magnate! Meanwhile, never fear, ladies. There are still two single and studly Medina men left. Our sources reveal that Duarte dwells in his plush resort in Martha’s Vineyard. Carlos—a surgeon, no less—resides in Tacoma. Wonder if he makes house calls? No word yet on their father, King Enrique Medina, former ruler of San Rinaldo, an island off the coast of Spain. But our best reporters are hot on the trail. For the latest update on how to nab a prince, check back in with the GlobalIntruder.com. And remember, you heard it here first!

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His Thirty-Day Fiancée

Dedication

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Nine

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Epilogue

His Heir, Her Honour

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Epilogue

Copyright

The Maverick Prince

Catherine Mann

To my favorite little princesses and princes—Megan,

Frances, James and Zach. Thank you for inviting

Aunt Cathy to your prince and princess tea parties.

The snack cakes and Sprite were absolutely magical!

GlobalIntruder.com

Exclusive: For Immediate Release

Royalty Revealed!

Do you have a prince living next door? Quite possibly!

Courtesy of a positive identification made by one of the GlobalIntruder.com’s very own photojournalists, we’ve successfully landed the scoop of the year. The deposed Medina monarchy has not, as was rumored, set up shop in a highly secured fortress in Argentina. The three Medina heirs—with their billions—have been living under assumed names and rubbing elbows with everyday Americans for decades.

We hear the sexy baby of the family, Antonio, is already taken in Texas by his waitress girlfriend Shannon Crawford. She’d better watch her back now that word is out about her secret shipping magnate!

Meanwhile, never fear, ladies. There are still two single and studly Medina men left. Our sources reveal that Duarte dwells in his plush resort in Martha’s Vineyard. Carlos—a surgeon, no less—resides in Tacoma. Wonder if he makes house calls?

No word yet on their father, King Enrique Medina, former ruler of San Rinaldo, an island off the coast of Spain. But our best reporters are hot on the trail.

For the latest update on how to nab a prince, check back in with the GlobalIntruder.com. And remember, you heard it here first!

Galveston Bay, Texas

“King takes the queen.” Antonio Medina declared his victory and raked in the chips, having bluffed with a simple high-card hand in Texas Hold’Em.

Ignoring an incoming call on his iPhone, he stacked his winnings. He didn’t often have time for poker since his fishing charter company went global, but joining backroom games at his pal Vernon’s Galveston Bay Grille had become a more frequent occurrence of late. Since Shannon. His gaze snapped to the long skinny windows on either side of the door leading out to the main dining area where she worked.

No sign of Shannon’s slim body, winding her way through the brass, crystal and white linen of the five-star restaurant. Disappointment chewed at him in spite of his win.

A cell phone chime cut the air, then a second right afterward. Not his either time, although the noise still forced his focus back to the private table while two of Vernon Wolfe’s cronies pressed the ignore button, cutting the ringing short. Vernon’s poker pals were all about forty years senior to Antonio. But the old shrimp-boat captain turned restaurateur had saved Antonio’s bacon back when he’d been a teen. So if Vernon beckoned, Antonio did his damnedest to show. The fact that Shannon also worked here provided extra oomph to the request.

Vernon creaked back in the leather chair, also disregarding his cell phone currently crooning “Son of a Sailor” from his belt. “Ballsy move holding with just a king, Tony,” he said, his voice perpetually raspy from years of shouting on deck. His face still sported a year-round tan, eyes raccoon ringed from sunglasses. “I thought Glenn had a royal flush with his queen and jack showing.”

“I was taught to bluff by the best.” Antonio—or Tony Castillo as he was known these days—grinned.

A smile was more disarming than a scowl. He always smiled so nobody knew what he was thinking. Not that even his best grin had gained him forgiveness from Shannon after their fight last weekend.

Resisting the urge to frown, Tony stacked his chips on the scarred wooden table Vernon had pried from his boat before docking himself permanently at the restaurant. “Your pal Glenn needs to bluff better.”