"You knew it was coming."

"I had an idea."

"Is this a family heirloom?"

He nodded.

"Am I jumping to wild conclusions, or is this a hint?"

"That's my mother, world famous for her subtlety."

Marisa put the carrier on the floor and walked over to sit next to Jack, slipping her arms around his neck.

"Jack?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I have something to tell you."

THE END .

Doreen Owens Malek is the author of over forty books and lifelong fan of romantic fiction. She lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with with her husband and college student daughter, a mini dachshund and a sun conyer parrot. Her home is situated just a few miles from the spot where General Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolution, Doreen would like to tell you a little about herself in her own words in the hope that it will enhance your pleasure in reading her work.

"I came to writing by a circuitous route, starting out as an avid reader of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and Gone With the Wind and Rebecca and any other similarly themed books I could find. I first worked as a teacher and then attended law school when I desired a more lucrative and independent career. Just after I got my JD my mother died, and the impact of her mortality, and by inference my own, drove me to take a chance. I had always been discouraged from pursuing a writing career by the volatile nature of the business and the relatively poor chance for success. But the realization that I did not have an unlimited supply of time encouraged me to do what I had always wanted to do the most-get published. I sold my fledgling novel to the first editor who read it, and I have been writing ever since. I have written short stories and books, nonfiction and fiction for juveniles and adults, contemporaries and historicals and paranormals, but my favorite literary pursuit is and always has been romance. I've won many awards and have millions of books in print. But nothing is as rewarding as hearing from my readers, so please use this website to communicate your thoughts and criticisms, as I am always eager to learn from you.

I started writing romances because I so loved reading them, hoping that I could duplicate for others the enjoyment and satisfaction I felt as a fan of such stories. A romance novel rarely disappoints me: in an uncertain world filled with tragedy and sadness, reading about an appealing woman finding a strong man to love her and share her life is the perfect escape. I never tire of imagining adventurous scenarios for my characters and detailing their path to fulfillment. I like to read and write stories in which the main characters overcome obstacles to get together, and then stay together because their mutual devotion cannot be denied no matter what else is happening around them. They always HELP each other and reinforce the quaint but enduring notion that love conquers all at least in the fictional universe of my imagination. So pull up a chair and take down a book or pick up a Kindle and join me in a world where the heroes are tough and headstrong but never boorish and the heroines are feminine and sympathetic but never helpless."

See all of.

Doreen Owens Malek's.

Kindle eBooks on Amazon.com.

RECENT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE.

RELEASES BY.

DOREEN OWENS MALEK.

www.doreenowensmalek.com.

Brand new, never before published.

Contemporary Romance.

AMANDA'S BLUE MARINE Available for digital download.

at Amazon.com, and in print at.

www.doreenowensmalek.com.

Amanda's Blue Marine marks the return of Doreen Owens Malek to publishing after a 12 year absence. It is with great pleasure that Doreen presents her new, never before published contemporary romance Amanda's Blue Marine.

When Amanda Redfield, an a.s.sistant district attorney from a wealthy and prominent Philadelphia family, is being hara.s.sed by a mysterious stalker, she meets Brendan Kelly, the police detective a.s.signed to her case. Smart and capable but deeply troubled, Kelly protects Amanda while he works to find her tormentor, but his disturbing presence and rogue behavior disrupt Amanda's settled life. She is helplessly drawn to the s.e.xy and charming but barely controlled cop, and as their pa.s.sion grows she must choose between her prosperous and settled past and an uncertain future with a man whose own life is spiraling out of control. How she draws on her wits and resources to eventually rescue Kelly emotionally in the same way that he rescues her physically makes for a powerful and satisfying love story.

Look for the reissue of the.

enormously popular.

A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE (1989).

available for digital download at Amazon.com.

Taylor Braddock. His name brought back memories of a man so handsome that a young girl had fallen in loveand made a fool of herself. A man so unique he'd spoiled Sharon Philips for any other love.

But now her father's will had joined their lives once again. In a final attempt at matchmaking, Dad left half his California horse ranch to Sharon, the other half to Braddock - provided they were husband and wife.

A quick wedding. A quick divorce. A quick sale of the ranch. It seemed simple. But time had only fueled their pa.s.sion. Could Taylor erase ten years of pain and show Sharon that loving him was her destiny?

MARRIAGE IN NAME ONLY.

Best seller from 1995.

Years ago Ann Talbot had been forced to leave Heath Bodine without a goodbye. Now she was back, and though Heath still had the power to make her insides quiver with longing, he had changed. Yes, he was proposing marriage. But not out of love-out of revenge. And Ann knew she had no choice but to say yes.

Heath intended to make Ann pay for running out on him. But no matter how much he tried to deny it, living under the same roof and sharing the same bed with her was going to prove his undoing. Because he didn't just want her body, he wanted her heart as well...

NEW DIGITAL RELEASES.

JUNE 2012.

AN INDIAN AFFAIR.

(Contemporary Romance).

He chased fugitives for a living, but she was the biggest bounty of his life.

He was a half breed, as hard and proud as his Seminole ancestors, bitter about his elegant Bostonian mother's abandonment of him, and a bounty hunter, tougher than the criminals he tracked. Andrew Fox was dangerous to the men he hunted for a living and to the women he chased for pleasure. He needed no oneuntil Lucinda Warren came to town.

Shy, reserved Lucinda was as civilized as Fox was wild. He knew she was wrong for himand he fought against his pa.s.sionate need for her. She was the most precious prize he had ever captured, and to keep her he was, finally, willing to pay the highest price of allhis love.

GABRIELLE'S BULLY.

(Young Adult Romance).

There's a new boy in Gaby's school....

and he will change her life forever.

She never would have noticed him, except that he was in her trigonometry cla.s.s and that he dressed like a throwback to 1962. Soon she began to notice other things...that he was a star athlete, that he wouldn't allow himself to be pushed around by the cla.s.s bully, that he liked to read poetry, and most important of all, that she was falling in love with him.

At first this discovery was pure happiness. But all too soon their relationship swept them into deep waters. Now Gaby wasn't at all sure that she would be able to cope with her newfound tumultuous feelings and continue to see the boy she loved.

SEASON OF MISTS.

(Young Adult Paranormal Romance).

First Book in the Collection of.

Cupid's First Strike Teen Love in the 80's.

When seventeen-year-old Cory met Tom she knew at once that he was everything that she had always wanted; he was gentle, understanding and funny. Every time she saw him, she fell more deeply in love. She wanted to cherish this newfound happiness, but she was tormented by the mystery that surrounded him like the autumn mists. Why did he always insist on meeting her in the same place? Why didn't he want to meet her friends? Why wouldn't he ask her out on a real date?

Could she love a boy whose lips told her he loved her but who eyes held secrets he refused to reveal?

MAY 2012.

DEVIL'S DECEPTION.

(Contemporary Romance).

His presence in her life had been a lie....

how could she now trust his love?

Devil's Deception has a mafia princess for a heroine and an FBI Bureau Chief for a hero, so the story gives new meaning to the notion of "opposites attract." Brett Devlin is a fed planted in the home of Angela Patria in the guise of her bodyguard to get the goods on her drug smuggling uncle. When Devlin finds himself instantly attracted to the lonely, withdrawn beauty who is Patria's innocent niece, his life becomes complicated very quickly. It is Devlin's job to be with Angela at all times since he is supposed to be protecting her, and this task makes it impossible for him to conceal his growing feelings for the woman he is deceiving on a daily basis. How this dilemma is resolved and the embattled couple wind up together makes for a satisfying read, and watching straight arrow Devlin unbend enough to fall for the gangster's ward is touching as well as amusing.

DANGER ZONE.

(Contemporary Romance).

He was a loner with no loyalties....

until her love transformed his life.

Danger Zone has a tough, cavalier loner for a hero in Steve Colter, and the fun in this story is watching Karen Walsh worm her way gradually into his mercenary's heart and break down his defenses. He tries hard to resist her and maintain his independent existence but the reader can tell from word one that he will eventually surrender. The story takes them around the globe but never far from each other's thoughts, and when at the conclusion Colter transforms his life to keep Karen with him it is gratifying and fulfilling but not a surprise. The story also features a wise and witty best friend for Karen in Linda Folsom, a savvy Brit with a wicked sense of humor who keeps the saga humming along on the rare occasions when Colter is offstage. All in all it's a fast moving and absorbing tale.

APRIL 2012.

MONTEGA'S MISTRESS.

(Contemporary Romance).

The fires of revolution.

fanned the fire of their love....

Helen Demarest's peaceful, orderly existence was shattered forever the night Matteo Montega burst into her life. Armed and wounded, Montega was a man on the run with a secret mission to complete. At first frightened, then fascinated, Helen had chosen to help her midnight intruder and thus was drawn into the web of danger and intrigue that surrounded him.

From the Florida beach where they first met to his Central American homeland, Montega showed Helen a new world filled with pa.s.sion, risk and the commitment to dare everything for a goal she came to share. But when the adventure was over and he had his victorywould she have won or lost?

WINTER AFFAIR.

(Contemporary Romance).

Can the pa.s.sion of unlikely lovers.

overcome a tragedy from the past?

A twilit hush had settled over the cemetery, and the sighing of the wind in the trees and the hiss of falling snow combined to enclose two strangers in a still world.

Leda Bradshaw was visiting the grave of her beloved father. Kyle Reardon was paying his last respects to a man everyone believed he had wronged.

Leda knew Reardon was accused of destroying both her father's business and his life. She knew the townspeople scorned him as an outcast. She knew he was the one man she should avoid at all costs. But one glimpse of the pain and determination in his bleak gray eyes told her he was also the one man she could never turn away from.

AN INDECENT MARRIAGE.

(Contemporary Romance).

Revenge is a dish.

best served...HOT.

The town of Bright River held too many sad memories for Jessica Portman. She'd returned for one reason to oversee the takeover of her ailing father's mill by a rival company. She intended to finalize the deal and go back to Italy.

Then she met the owner of J.C. Enterprises, Jack Chabrol the boy she'd left behind. Only Jack was no longer a boy; he was a man a man bent on revenge. He had never forgiven Jessica for leaving him to marry someone else, nor had he forgotten the love they'd once shared. Jack was determined to possess Jessica, and she had only one defense against his anger: her love.

(MARCH 2012).

DIGITAL RELEASES.

MEN OF INTRIGUE: A TRILOGY.

750 Pages of Romance Reading Entertainment!

Men of Intrigue: A Trilogy is a three book anthology of my bestselling romances from the nineteen-eighties a.s.sembled in one volume. I have combined them because the stories share the common theme of adventurous heroes who get involved through fate and circ.u.mstances with ordinary (not!) women. All three heroines rise to the occasion when the men they love must follow through with their destinies despite the pa.s.sion and commitment they've found with their partners. I absolutely love these books and had a great time with them. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Doreen Owens Malek.

MEN OF INTRIGUE: A Trilogy.

Montega's Mistress (1986) tells the story of a Central American revolutionary who discovers love with a sheltered American heiress when, badly injured, he stumbles into her family's isolated resort home in Florida. Matteo Montega relies on Helen Demarest for his very survival as she nurses him back to health, but then must leave her to pursue overthrowing the corrupt government in his native country. How their lives reconnect and take them to the jungles of fictional Puerta Linda to share an unlikely but compelling pa.s.sion is a timeless tale of devotion with an unexpected and delightful conclusion. Matteo and Helen are an irresistibly appealing couple, and you'll root for them to overcome the odds and get together in the end. BTW, love the t.i.tle.

Danger Zone (1987) has a tough, cavalier loner for a hero in Steve Colter, and the fun in this story is watching Karen Walsh worm her way gradually into his mercenary's heart and break down his defenses. He tries hard to resist her and maintain his independent existence but the reader can tell from word one that he will eventually surrender. The story takes them around the globe but never far from each other's thoughts, and when at the conclusion Colter transforms his life to keep Karen with him it is gratifying and fulfilling but not a surprise. The story also features a wise and witty best friend for Karen in Linda Folsom, a savvy Brit with a wicked sense of humor who keeps the saga humming along on the rare occasions when Colter is offstage. All in all it's a fast moving and absorbing tale.