Fair Game
Page 28
“I think he has some idea that he won’t fit into your life now that the crisis is over and you’re safe,” Rourke finally said, sighing. “I think that because I helped to give him that idea.”
“I see,” Ashley said slowly. She stood. “Captain Rourke, I must find him. Do you have any suggestion where I might start?”
Rourke thought about it. “When Tim was a kid, his father used to take him and his brother Mike and their sister to a summer house on the Jersey shore every year. Mike finally bought the place after his father died, for his own kids. He lets Tim use it for vacations or just when he wants to get away. I’d bet money Tim’s there.”
“Do you have the address?” Ashley asked.
Rourke held up a stained finger and consulted a notebook on his desk. He gave her the information, and she turned to go.
“Miss Fair?” Rourke called after her. “Good luck. I think that I misjudged you.”
“We’re all guilty of that sometimes, Captain,” Ashley said quietly, and left.
Rourke turned in his swivel chair, thought for a moment, and then grinned.
* * * *
Martin was sitting on the back porch of his brother’s beach house, staring out at the inlet and smoking, when he heard a knock on the front screen. He got up, stubbing out his cigarette, and padded barefoot to the door.
He halted when he saw Ashley.
“Hi,” she said. “May I come in?”
Martin stepped aside to let her pass. He was naked to the waist, wearing a threadbare pair of denim cutoffs and the red-gold blush of a new tan.
“Taking a vacation?” Ashley asked, looking around the room, which was furnished with rattan and bright printed curtains, rag rugs.
“Not exactly,” Martin replied, deciding not to lie about it. “I’m unemployed.”
“So I heard,” Ashley said, turning to look at him. “I’ve just been to see your Captain Rourke. He was most informative. You might have said that you lost your job because of me.”
“I didn’t lose it. I quit.”
“I bet the police would take you back. You’re a hero.”
Martin snorted. “You’re always a hero when the bad guy dies.” He paused. “How’s Meg?”
“Not good. I still can’t believe the assassin was that man she was seeing. I don’t know if she’ll ever get over it.” She stopped, then added, “She really cared for him.”
“Yeah,” Martin replied thoughtfully, remembering the scene at the cottage. “And I think it was mutual. Strange, huh?”
“Maybe not so strange,” Ashley murmured. “People get together under all sorts of circumstances.”
She looked at him and he glanced away. She pointed to the porch. “Were you sitting outside?”
He nodded, not meeting her eyes.
“Let’s go back there. I’d like to talk to you.”
They went out onto the porch, which was really a redwood deck with an aluminum overhang, and Ashley noticed the pile of butts in the large glass ashtray on the railing.
He’d been sitting there smoking for a long time.
Ashley dropped into a canvas chair and Martin sat on the railing, leaning toward her with his forearms on his knees. He was looking at a spot in the air over her left shoulder.
“Tim, why did you leave me like that?” she asked, getting directly to the point. “I woke up and you were gone, and I’ve heard nothing from you since.”
“I was trying to let you off the hook,” he said quietly.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Look at you,” he said, gesturing to her suit, the high heels. “Look at me. It would never work.”
“I am looking at you, I’m remembering how it was to touch you, and how your hands and mouth felt on my body,” she said softly.
He swallowed hard, his sapphire eyes darkening.
“Did you think that’s all it was?” she asked him.
“I thought you were scared and needed somebody,” he said. “I was there.”
“Jim was there. He was there all the time. I needed you then and I still do.”
Martin didn’t answer.
Ashley got up and stood next to him. “Tim, listen to me. All of what you saw, the house in Harrisburg, the dinners and galas, it was my father’s life, and it’s over now. Sylvia can go on with it, but I don’t have to anymore. I had left it before when I went to school, and then to work, but I got involved again for Dad’s campaign. My obligation to that is finished. I’m a lawyer; I have a job. I’ll go back to my apartment in Georgetown and go to work each day like you and everyone else.” She moved closer, her breath fanning his cheek. “I can get a different job, whatever it takes. I can move, or you can. We’ll work out the details if we want to be together. After all we’ve been through, do you really want to throw in the towel now?”
He turned and looked down at her.
She reached up to touch his face, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.
“I don’t want to miss you all my life,” she whispered. “Don’t you love me, Tim?”
“God, yes,” he said, turning his head to kiss her palm. “Why do you think I was running?”
Ashley closed her eyes, and tears coursed down her face. He pulled her into his arms and felt the wetness on her cheeks against his bare skin.
“Tim, please believe me,” she murmured. “I don’t care if you’re a cop or a train conductor or a clerk. I just want you.”
He kissed her, running his hands up her back under her jacket, unhooking her bra. He turned her in his arms, cupping her breasts in his hands and pressing his mouth to the nape of her neck. Ashley gasped, leaning into him, and then they both jumped at a sudden barrage of whistles and catcalls from a passing speedboat.
“I guess we’d better go inside,” Ashley said shakily, stepping away from him.
He picked her up and carried her into the house.
– 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
NEW RELEASES BY
DOREEN OWENS MALEK
www.doreenowensmalek.com
Brand new, never published
Contemporary Romance
AMANDA’S BLUE MARI
NE
Available for digital download
at Amazon.com, and in print at
www.doreenowensmalek.com
Reissue of the enormously popular
A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE (1989),
available for digital download at Amazon.com
Look for
ANOTHER MARRIAGE
OF CONVENIENCE,
the sequel to the above title, available
for digital download later in 2012.
Also available for digital
download at Amazon.com,
MARRIAGE IN NAME ONLY
best seller from 1995.
MARCH 2012 RELEASES
Payback Marriage (Original title, Bright River, 1987): Jack Chabrol had never forgotten his first love, Jessica, the woman who had abandoned him ten years earlier without a word. Now he was back in their hometown, bent on revenge. His scheme to pay Jessica back for the hurt she had caused him would only bring them together once more. Can they find again the passion that alluded them when they were young?
The Harder they Fall (1993): Helene Danforth falls in love with her late fiancé’s brother, a maverick who stirs her passion while challenging her whole past experience of life
Men of Intrigue: A Trilogy: 750 pages of romance reading entertainment!
Amanda’s Blue Marine (Contemporary Romance): 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 rescued her makes for a powerful and satisfying love story.
A Marriage of Convenience (Contemporary Romance). Taylor Braddock. His name brought back memories of a man so handsome that a young girl had fallen in love - and 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 passion. Could Taylor erase then years of pain and show Sharon that loving him was her destiny?
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…
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...
Men of Intrigue: A Trilogy is a three book anthology of my bestselling romances from the nineteen-eighties assembled in one volume. I have combined them because the stories share the common theme of adventurous heroes who get involved through fate and circumstances with ordinary (not!) women. All three heroines rise to the occasion when the men they love must follow through with their destinies despite the passion 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 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.
COMING SOON FROM
DOREEN OWENS MALEK
Abra’s Arranged Marriage (Contemporary Romance): A law student marries her estranged stepbrother to keep him out of jail, then discovers a new life of sensuality and commitment with the last man on earth she would have chosen.
Cupid’s First Strike (A Treasury of Young Adult Romance): A collection of four young adult novels that portray the special happiness and heartbreak that teens experience with their introduction to love. Included are Season of Mist, Call Back Yesterday, That Certain Boy and Where the Boys Are.
OTHER WORKS BY
DOREEN OWENS MALEK
AVAILABLE FOR
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
AND/OR IN PRINT AT
www.doreenowensmalek.com
The Panther and The Pearl
Panther’s Prey
The Lion and the Lark
The Raven and the Rose
Clash by Night
The Highwayman
Torchlight
Big Sky Drifter
Daddy’s Choice
Officer and a Gentlewoman
Made for Each Other
Another Life
ADDITIONAL DIGITAL
DOWNLOADS SCHEDULED
FOR
FUTURE RELEASE 2012
Gypsy Autumn
Arrow In The Snow
Above the Law
See all of
Doreen Owens Malek’s
Kindle eBooks on Amazon.com