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The Spaniard's Baby Bargain
Billionaire Manolo del Guardo has been dumped - by his nanny. Ariane Celeste is a Sydney TV reporter sent to interview the rags-to-riches tycoon, and she's surprised to find out that he's a devoted father . . . in a fix! Ariane is persuaded to look after the little girl . . . temporarily. But Manolo is a man who knows a good deal, and he wants to keep Ariane. So he wastes no time in making a new bargain . . . that Ariane takes over permanently - as his wife!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Helen Bianchin
383 books231 followersHelen Shirley was born on February 20 1939 in New Zealand, where she grew up, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. She wrote stories for amusement in her early teenage years, and when she left leaving school, she took a secretarial job at a father-and-son legal firm.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
At age twenty-one Helen joined a girlfriend and embarked on a working holiday in Australia, travelling via cruise ship from Auckland to Melbourne. Alas, no shipboard romance, as she spent all four days in her cabin suffering from sea-sickness! After fifteen months working in Melbourne, Helen and her friend bought a vehicle and took three months to drive the length and breadth of Australia, choosing to work in Cairns in order to fund the final leg of our journey to Sydney.
It was in Cairns that Helen met her future husband, Danilo Bianchin, an Italian immigrant from Treviso. He was a tobacco sharefarmer from the tobacco farming community of Mareeba. His English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Six months later they married, and Helen was flung into cooking for up to nine tobacco pickers, stringing tobacco, feeding 200 chickens, a few turkeys, ducks... plus killing, cleaning and cooking the same! Her knowledge of Italian improved, and there were hilarious moments in retrospect. Some of what she endured was cooking on a wood-burning stove, having no running hot water, a primitive shower and toilet facilities, washing uniforms for two soccer teams during the soccer season... floods, horrendous hailstone damage to tobacco crops, hardship, and the stillbirth of their first child. Then, to their joy, Helen's daughter, Lucia, was born. Three years later the couple returned to New Zealand, where they settled for sixteen years. During those early years, they added two sons, Angelo and Peter, to the family.
With multiple anecdotes of farm life in an Italian community to friends, the idea of writing a book occurred. A romance, set on a tobacco farm in Australia's far north, Queensland, featuring an Italian hero. Helen says, "the background was authentic, believe me!" However the hero was rich and owned the farm artistic license! It took her a year to complete a passable manuscript, typed on a portable typewriter at the dining room table. That first effort was deemed too short with insufficient detail. Helen rewrote it. This time it was considered too long with too much extraneous detail. She revised, then sent it to London. Four months later she received a telegram from Alan Boon (Mills & Boon) to say they intended to publish and a contract would be sent in the mail. It was the most wonderful news!
Helen wrote ten more books while living in New Zealand, then in 1981, her family resettled in Australia, on Queensland's Gold Coast. She has since published twenty-five more books. Today, with computer technology, the mechanics of writing are much easier. However, the writing process doesn't change. Helen says that she's having a good day if she can achieve 5 good pages, which she is likely to change, edit and rewrite the following day.
She loves creating characters, giving them life and providing a situation where their emotions are tested and love wins out. For her, the greatest praise is for a reader to say they couldn't put the book down... then Helen knows that she has achieved what she set out to do -- "create a moving enjoyable story which holds the reader entertained from beginning to end."
Helen's hobbies are tennis, table-tennis, judo, reading. She loves movies, and leads an active social life.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 2, 2017
Helen Bianchin Worksheet
Title:
The Spanaird’s Baby Bargain
How did HB arrange for the H/h to be married before having sex?
Hero needed a nanny for his infant daughter. Heroine was a TV reporter who was interviewing him and took pity on him.
Shows of wealth?
Chauffer driven car. Manservant and housekeeper. Extensive grounds. There were DVDs *and* cable television for guests.
Showers?
Heroine took many. And the baby girl got a lot of baths – like every other page she was frolicking in her bath. The HB cure-all is also good for colic. Who knew?
OW?
She stalked the hero at all of his charity events and business lunches, but was no threat to heroine.
OM?
Heroine had a creepy ex-husband with a restraining order.
Hero?
Bog standard HP tycoon. Clawed his way up from nothing. Was duped by his (now dead) ex-wife. Great for orgasms and shopping sprees.
Conclusion?
With the ex now behind bars, all is right in HB world. (As long as the hot water and bath gel hold out)
Title:
The Spanaird’s Baby Bargain
How did HB arrange for the H/h to be married before having sex?
Hero needed a nanny for his infant daughter. Heroine was a TV reporter who was interviewing him and took pity on him.
Shows of wealth?
Chauffer driven car. Manservant and housekeeper. Extensive grounds. There were DVDs *and* cable television for guests.
Showers?
Heroine took many. And the baby girl got a lot of baths – like every other page she was frolicking in her bath. The HB cure-all is also good for colic. Who knew?
OW?
She stalked the hero at all of his charity events and business lunches, but was no threat to heroine.
OM?
Heroine had a creepy ex-husband with a restraining order.
Hero?
Bog standard HP tycoon. Clawed his way up from nothing. Was duped by his (now dead) ex-wife. Great for orgasms and shopping sprees.
Conclusion?
With the ex now behind bars, all is right in HB world. (As long as the hot water and bath gel hold out)
September 25, 2020
The man has a baby by another woman. The woman is no virgin and is being stalked by her ex. I don’t like it when either of the man or woman (or both) already have children by other persons. And I like the woman to be virginal in the Harlequin books. So the storyline of this book is already not what I like. But I thought I’d give it a chance.
This one was quite off putting. When the man and woman have sex for the first time, she compares his big d*ck with the smaller d*ck of her ex. Wtf??
And another time when they make out in the shower, she thinks back to her ex. That is an absolute no no.
What I didn’t like is her childish “I hate you” and then they have sex. Numerous times she tells him she hates him. Nahh. Girl, nobody forced you to be in that marriage.
I didn’t feel passion and romance between them. Or love.
This one was quite off putting. When the man and woman have sex for the first time, she compares his big d*ck with the smaller d*ck of her ex. Wtf??
And another time when they make out in the shower, she thinks back to her ex. That is an absolute no no.
What I didn’t like is her childish “I hate you” and then they have sex. Numerous times she tells him she hates him. Nahh. Girl, nobody forced you to be in that marriage.
I didn’t feel passion and romance between them. Or love.
June 8, 2010
This was an okay read, but the romance never quite jelled for me. Perhaps it's because the hero is named Manolo, which I found distracting. It's like reading about someone named Jordache or Sassoon. Another problem was that Gloria Vanderbilt -- err, Manolo -- doesn't seem to have all that much time with the heroine Ariane, who hangs out so much with his assistant Santos, I got confused about which one was supposed to be the hero.
There is an interesting subplot, in which Ariane is being harrassed by her ex-husband. And hurray for there being no magic-wang fix to the heroine's infertility. That may be a bummer for anyone who chose this book because it was in the "Expecting!" line (Mills and Boon only know why) but I appreciated the realism.
There is an interesting subplot, in which Ariane is being harrassed by her ex-husband. And hurray for there being no magic-wang fix to the heroine's infertility. That may be a bummer for anyone who chose this book because it was in the "Expecting!" line (Mills and Boon only know why) but I appreciated the realism.
December 18, 2021
Normally I would tease my mom about these types of books. I now know the appeal. They are super quick and easy to read. A palette cleanser. I quite enjoyed this one. Is it good? I have no clue what is good or not in this genre but I did have fun reading it.
July 8, 2018
Love this book
Loved the characters and the story line-- a page turner that keeps your interest. This book is one of my favorites by this author. A quick and enjoyable read.
Loved the characters and the story line-- a page turner that keeps your interest. This book is one of my favorites by this author. A quick and enjoyable read.
August 21, 2019
I was disappointed with the ending. I was hoping that her ex-husband had tampered with the fertility results.
May 15, 2022
This book wastes a lot of time that I didn’t think could be efficiently wasted.
January 3, 2023
Very good book
Helen Branch in is very good author. I have read most of her books and I keep looking for more. Enjoy
Helen Branch in is very good author. I have read most of her books and I keep looking for more. Enjoy
January 19, 2026
What a wonderful book!
You will fall in love with the story and the characters! I think you will find that this book is definitely one of the better romance books to read!
You will fall in love with the story and the characters! I think you will find that this book is definitely one of the better romance books to read!
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August 26, 2014لن تبوح
هيلين بيانشين
حين ذهبت اريان سيليست المراسلة التلفزيونية لمقابلة الإسباني مانولو غواردو الثري المطلق لم تكن تتوقع أنه سيعرض عليها صفقة موضوعها طفلة في الشهر السادس من عمرها
ـ ما رأيك بأن تختاري مهنة أخرى ؟
ـ مهنة أخرى ؟مثل ماذا ؟
ـ الزواج مثلا . ابتني تحتاج أما وأنا أعرض عليك هذا المنصب ... مجرد التفكير فيه جعل نبض اريان يتسارع ... فكيف تقبل الزواج من رجل لن يقول لها أبدا أحبك ؟
هيلين بيانشين
حين ذهبت اريان سيليست المراسلة التلفزيونية لمقابلة الإسباني مانولو غواردو الثري المطلق لم تكن تتوقع أنه سيعرض عليها صفقة موضوعها طفلة في الشهر السادس من عمرها
ـ ما رأيك بأن تختاري مهنة أخرى ؟
ـ مهنة أخرى ؟مثل ماذا ؟
ـ الزواج مثلا . ابتني تحتاج أما وأنا أعرض عليك هذا المنصب ... مجرد التفكير فيه جعل نبض اريان يتسارع ... فكيف تقبل الزواج من رجل لن يقول لها أبدا أحبك ؟
January 7, 2013
While the story was okay to read. I didn't really see the big deal behind it. I found it really mellow with hardly any storyline. I didn't feel any romance between hero and heroine or emotion. In fact the only emotion I felt was between the heroine and the baby.
October 28, 2012
Nada especial, pero hay unas escenas muy tiernas que merecen la pena la lectura.
June 19, 2021
Manolo del Guardo needs a nanny fast so he hires Ariane Celeste a TV reporter who is interviewing him for a profile piece on a charity he supports.
July 18, 2014
ÇOk güzeldi yine..Çok seviyorum bu kadının kitaplarını.Özellikle kadınını koruyan erkek kahramanlarını...
February 2, 2015
Good plot!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews