Authors: Doreen Owens Malek
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 passion 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 title.
Winter Affair
(Contemporary Romance): 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): 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 return 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.
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 passion 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 title.
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.
Devil’s Deception
(1985) 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.
The Harder They Fall:
Helene Danforth had loved her late fiancé, though he’d never stirred the passion she knew was in her. So when she found herself alone, unmarried and pregnant with his unborn child, she realized she had to do something to make things right. She never expected that Martin’s brother Chris, a Wyoming rancher and rodeo champion, would offer her marriage; she never dreamed she’d be hungering for Chris’ long, lean body...
Chris Murdock swore to give his bother’s child a secure life, but he wasn’t about to let the “innocent” Miss Danforth lure him into her gold digging trap. But Chris soon discovered that he had no defenses against his own fiery longings…
Panther’s Prey
Turkish Delight: He rode from out of the Turkish wilderness atop a magnificent charger. Dark and mysterious, Malik Bey swept Boston-bred Ameba Ryder into an exotic world of sultans and revolutionaries, magnificent palaces and desert camps. Amy wanted to hate her virile abductor, to escape his heated glances forever. But with his suave manners and seductive charm, the hard-bodied rebel was no mere thief out to steal the proper young beauty’s virtue. And as hot days melted into sultry nights, Amy grew ever closer to surrendering to unending bliss in Malik’s fiery embrace.
OTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCES
BY DOREEN OWENS MALEK
The Highwayman
A tempestuous story of love and betrayal in Elizabethan Ireland
The Lion and the Lark
A Roman officer and his Celtic captive transcend the barriers of war to find an undying passion
The Raven and the Rose
A Roman centurion and a Vestal Virgin forge a forbidden liaison, while a noblewoman falls in love with her Celtic slave
Torchlight
A mine owner’s daughter in post Civil War Pennsylvania
is irresistibly drawn to the union organizer working to destroy her father’s company
The Highwayman
The Noblewoman and the Irish Patriot: It was a bold and perilous plan—disguising herself as a boy and stealing aboard a ship bound for the far-off shores of Ireland. But from the moment orphaned Lady Alexandra Cummings arrived at besieged Inverary Castle, her life and heart were no longer her own. Captured by rugged Irish rebel Kevin Burke, the daring English noblewoman became a pawn in a dangerous game of treachery and betrayal.