“I’m pregnant,” she whispered.
His face went blank for a second, and then his eyes flashed to her middle, concealed by the oversized robe. She took his hand and guided it through the opening, allowing him to feel the full roundness of her belly.
“How long?” he said huskily, when he had recovered.
“How long do you think? Six months, I was in Puerta Linda with you six months ago.”
“No, I mean when is it due?”
“In three months, Matteo. Can’t you count anymore?”
He closed his eyes. “And you weren’t even going to tell me?”
“I thought you had enough on your mind, what with the revolution and all.”
“Oh, darling,” was all he said as he pulled her into his arms. There was silence for several moments, and then he cleared his throat.
“I can’t believe this,” he began, “I never dreamed, I mean of course I hoped, someday, but then when you left...”
“You’re babbling, jefe,” she said, laughing.
“We have to get married right away,” he said suddenly, letting her go and standing up, heading for the door.
“Are you going by yourself?” Helen asked, enjoying the scene. She had never seen him like this, bewildered, at a loss. He was always in control, in command of any situation, and the thought that she and her news had reduced him to such a state gave her a heady feeling of power.
“Get dressed,” he ordered. “We have to get papers, and I’m not a citizen; there might be a hitch with that. Maybe we should wait until we get to Puerta Linda, but no, that will take too long.”
“Matteo,” she said gently, and waited until he turned and looked at her.
“It’s Saturday; all the registry offices are closed. And the blood tests will take several days. I’ve been pregnant for six months and won’t give birth for another three. I think we have some time.”
“But this is my child,” he protested, as if that answered her objections.
“I understand that. Believe me, no one understands that fact better than I do. But I can’t run off with you right now. I have things to settle, people to tell, the apartment to sublet. It will take me a few days to get my life in order.”
“Of course, of course,” he said, nodding vigorously. “I should have realized; I’m sorry. I’m not thinking straight.”
“No!” she said in an astonished tone, and he grinned sheepishly. He joined her on the couch again, taking her hand.
“Maybe you would like a wedding here, with your relatives,” he said. “Girls dream of such a ceremony, don’t they?”
“Not when they have my family,” Helen said dryly. “Besides, I’m a little far gone for a white dress and a march down the aisle.”
“And the groom is not exactly blue chip aristocracy,” Matteo added.
“I wouldn’t have any other,” Helen said softly, touching his face.
He seized her hand and kissed it. “Then you’ll come back to San Jacinta with me. We’ll have the wedding there.”
“Theresa can be my matron of honor,” Helen said, pleased with the idea.
“And Martin will stand up for me. We can be married in the church I attended when I was a boy; would you like that?”
“I would,” Helen agreed, thinking that her whole life had changed in the space of the few minutes since his arrival.
“I love you, majita,” Matteo murmured, bending to kiss her. She responded eagerly, and soon she was half lying in his arms and he was peeling the robe off her shoulders.
“Wait,” she said abruptly, sitting up.
“What for?” he asked, nuzzling her fuller breasts. “It’s a little late to worry about birth control isn’t it?” he added dryly.
“As I recall, you never did worry much about it,” Helen replied, a smile in her voice, and he groaned, trying to reach her nipple with his tongue as she deftly eluded him.
“I want to change,” she said to him, rising as he reached after her.
“You want to change your clothes so I can take them off?” he asked incredulously.
“Will you be patient?”
“Patience was never my strong point,” he called as she disappeared into the bedroom.
“Tell me about it,” she answered and shut the door.
Matteo drummed his fingers on the coffee table, got up and looked out the window at his two companions and then sat down again.
“What are you doing in there?” he yelled.
The door opened and Helen emerged, carrying a two piece negligee on a hanger. Her expression was mournful.
“What’s the matter?” Matteo asked, puzzled.
“I bought this for you,” she said, extending the set which was made of beige silk appliqued with Alencon lace. “In case you came back for me.”
Matteo glanced down at himself. “I don’t think it will fit,” he said, grinning.
“It doesn’t fit me anymore, either,” Helen wailed. “And I wanted to look so nice for you.”
“You do look nice,” he said, getting up and taking the garments out of her hand. “You always look nice.”
“Oh, how can you say that?” she demanded, refusing to be comforted. “I certainly didn’t look nice in the camp, running around in Rafaela’s clothes.”
“You certainly did.” Matteo held the set out at arm’s length and examined it. “Do you mean to tell me you’ve had this hanging in the closet since you got back, in case I showed up?”
“Yes, and now I look like an elephant in it. An elephant in a silk dressing gown.”
Matteo embraced her, letting the negligee fall to the floor.
“Sweetheart, I don’t care.”
“Well, I do,” she responded, stiffening in his arms. “I wanted to be so glamorous, and I feel so... maternal.”
“You’re beautiful. Beautifully maternal.” He undid the sash of her robe, and this time she offered no resistance, closing her eyes as his lips left a heated trail on her skin.
“Look at you,” he whispered. “We’ll have to have more children.”
“One thing at a time,” Helen answered, then went limp as he lifted her in his arms.
“You’re heavier than you used to be,” he teased, hefting her as if weighing a bundle.
“And to think you used to worry about my weight,” Helen replied.
“I’ll always worry about you, princesa,” he murmured, kissing her neck as he pushed the bedroom door open with his foot. Then he stopped short and said, “Oh, oh.”
“What is it?”
“A bed, a real bed with clean sheets. I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make love to you in a real bed. I’m not sure I’ll remember how. Cots and dirt floors are one thing, but this... I don’t know.”
“Very funny,” Helen replied, and then they both looked up as loud knocking commenced at the outer door.
“Your friends must be wondering what happened to you,” Helen said to Matteo.
He set her down on the bed and said firmly, “I’ll be right back.”
She lay staring at the ceiling, thinking about how perfectly happy she was, until he returned.
“What did you say to them?” Helen asked.
“I told them to take a coffee break, that I was going to make love to my fiancée and would be a while.”
“You didn’t!”
“Sure, why not? It’s the truth.” He undressed while she watched, tossing his clothes on the corner armchair and then joining her on the bed.
“I suppose we have to be careful,” he said to her, taking her in his arms.
“Yes, but not too careful,” she replied, and he laughed.
Matteo made love to her gently, but thoroughly, and as they lay together afterward Helen said, “Tell me what our life in Puerta Linda will be like.”
“Well, I’d like to say that it will be luxurious and carefree, but that would be a lie.”
“Matteo, if I wanted that I’d live with my mothe
r.”
He stirred, settling her into the crook of his arm. “It will be hard to build a country from scratch,” he said honestly, “and you probably won’t see that much of me in the beginning.”
“That will be a lot more than I’ve seen of you since I left Tres Luces,” Helen said tartly. “I think I’ll be able to take it.”
“And you’ll be busy,” he said, kissing her forehead, “with the bebe.”
“Bebe?”
“That’s ‘baby,’ in Spanish.”
“Thank you. I never would have guessed.” After a moment she added thoughtfully, “I think I’d like to teach. That’s what I was planning to do before you arrived today.”
“What about your paper?”
“It’s finished.”
“So you haven’t spent all your time pining away for me,” he said, turning her onto her back and looking into her face.
“I pined,” Helen said seriously. “I pined plenty.”
“So did I.”
“Really? I assumed you didn’t give a thought to me until you had taken over the government and then you said, ‘Gee, what about Helen? She was a swell girl. I wonder how she’s doing?’”
He let her go, sitting up on the edge of the bed. “If you assumed that you were wrong,” he said quietly.
Helen propped herself up on her elbows, tucking the sheet about her, putting her hand on his shoulder.
“Matt, I was kidding,” she told him.
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that it was very hard for me to let you go, do what I did; and you were on my mind every day, whether you believe it or not.”
“I believe it,” she said softly.
He turned to look at her. “What if you had stayed and were hurt while carrying the child?” he asked.
“You did the right thing; I’m not arguing with you,” Helen said, taking his hand and pulling him back down on the bed. “Though you couldn’t have convinced me of that when I left.” She smoothed the dark hair from his forehead. “I thought I would never see you again,” she went on softly. “Do you know what that did to me?”
“I think so,” he responded, and kissed her. The kiss deepened, and he lifted his mouth from hers to inquire, “Can we, again?”
“Are you asking my permission?” she said, smiling.
“What about the baby?”
“I don’t think we can ask him yet.”
“Helen,” he said in a frustrated, anxious voice.
“Yes, we can,” she said, laughing and putting her arms around his neck.
And they did.
– THE END –
I am Doreen Owens Malek, author of over forty books and lifelong fan of romantic fiction. I live in PA with my husband and college student daughter, a mini dachshund and a sun conyer parrot. I would like to tell you a little about myself.
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 graduated from law school when I desired a more lucrative and independent career. 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 needed a focus for the future encouraged me to do what I had always wanted to do. I sold my fledgling novel to the first editor who read it, and I have been writing ever since. I have written all types of books for all types of people, but my favorite literary pursuit is and always has been romance. Nothing is as rewarding as hearing from my readers, so please use my website to communicate your thoughts and criticisms, as I am always eager to learn from you.
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 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.
Happy reading! — Doreen Owens Malek
See all of
Doreen Owens Malek’s
Kindle eBooks on Amazon.com
RECENT 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
Look for the reissue of the enormously popular
A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE (1989)
Available for digital download
at Amazon.com, and in print at
www.doreenowensmalek.com
ANOTHER MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
(the sequel to the above title, available
for digital download in June 2012)
MARRIAGE IN NAME ONLY
Best seller from 1995
NEW RELEASES - APRIL 2012
WINTER AFFAIR
(Contemporary Romance)
Can the passion of unlikely lovers
overcome a tragedy from the past?
AN INDECENT MARRIAGE
(Contemporary Romance)
Revenge is a dish
best served…HOT!
MARCH 2012 DIGITAL RELEASES
MEN OF INTRIGUE: A TRILOGY
750 Pages of Romance Reading Entertainment!
THE HARDER THEY FALL
(Western Romance)
The bigger they come in life,
the harder they fall in love
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.
Amanda’s Blue Marine (Contemporary Romance): Doreen Owens Malek. The Harder They Fall (Kindle Location 2703). Gypsy Autumn Publications. When Amanda Redfield, an assistant district attorney from a wealthy Philadelphia family, is harassed by a mysterious stalker, she meets Brendan Kelly, the detective assigned 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 sexy and charming but barely controlled cop. As their passion grows she must choose between her privileged past and an uncertain future with a man who is spiraling out of control. How she draws on her wits and resources to rescue Kelly as surely as he once re
scued her makes for a powerful and satisfying love story.
Marriage in Name Only (Contemporary Romance): 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…
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.
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