Showing results by narrator "Gayle Hendrix" in All Categories

Few relationships are as simple - and rewarding - as those between man and animal. From the loyal dog who risks his own life to rescue a drowning boy to the lost kitten who comforts a grieving woman to an abandoned horse and foster child who come to save each other, these inspiring true stories highlight the hope, healing, happiness and - most of all - unconditional love animals bring to our lives. Whether you love sloppy dog kisses, or melt at every kitty meow, this heartwarming collection is one to treasure.

Even as you read these words, there are women just like you stepping up and making a difference in their communities, making our world a better place to live. Three such exceptional women have been selected as recipients of Harlequin's More Than Words award. To celebrate their accomplishments, three bestselling authors have written short stories inspired by these real-life heroines.

The starship Starfarer prepares for Earth’s first interstellar voyage. Its diverse faculty includes J.D. Sauvage, the alien contact specialist and a large cast of interstellar experts.

Compelled to uncover the truth about her sister's disappearance, she heads to Key West. Within hours of her arrival a successful banker jumps to his death. Then a teenage girl whom Rachel was counseling is found brutally murdered. The ritualistic style of the killing is hauntingly similar to that used by the notorious "New Testament" serial killer—now on death row.

Unlocked begins with a vivid depiction of the author's life with her autistic son, Ben. Feelings of isolation and self-hate and even moments of hatred toward her own child in response to his behaviors, as well as the impact on her marriage and younger daughter, impel her to seek solutions for his condition. Through years of trial and error, Susan eventually discovers methods that bring about radical improvement in Ben.

Judd Sanders couldn't believe it when the beautiful, wide-eyed woman he rescued from some drunk hoodlums started poking her gorgeous little nose into his business. She was obviously a menace to herself - not to mention to his libido. Worse, she'd blow his cover. For little did Emily Cooper know that Judd was really a cop - whose cover left him a little too "uncovered" for his liking.

When artist James Wesley realizes Evie Reed is dying, he is so moved by the beautiful reporter's determination to live that he makes her immortal—a vampire, like him. She's the woman he's been waiting over 150 years for. Though initially shocked by the change, Evie quickly embraces her second chance at life, and love. But just as James and Evie begin to define eternity together, a zealot breaks an ancient treaty, threatening a peace between humans and vampires that has stood for a thousand years.

Oh, dear. Bella Manchelli is so not having a good day. First, she's deliciously exhausted from last night's sizzling one-night stand. Second, there's a (gulp) dead body at her back door. Third...um, that scrumptious one-nighter is at her front door... and he's wearing a badge!

February 29th is a date that comes into existence just once every four years. It is also the birthday of Thais - author Anne-Dauphine Julliand's darling daughter - who died of a genetic disease. Thais lived just shy of her fourth birthday. She had a short life but good one. As this special day is about to reappear on her calendar for the first time since her daughter passed away, Anne-Dauphine struggles with how to mark this momentous occasion. She wants to live fully on this special day: Thais would have been eight years old.

With her husband off in England, snowbound Laura Fleming is looking forward to spending a quiet weekend alone, until a wicked winter squall sweeps the Boston police to her front door. The body of her old college boyfriend, Philip Dennis, has been found frozen in the alley behind her Back Bay apartment. To make matters worse, he'd arrived at Laura's only hours before looking for a place to stay.

The death of her cherished friend and guide Nemo, the alien squidmoth, came as a crushing blow to J.D. Sauvage. But J.D. and the first contact crew of the Earth ship Starfarer hope that the enigmatic being's legacy - the starship Nautilus - will lead them closer to communion with alien intelligence. Awaiting them on their journey are the representatives of the Four Worlds and one last chance to join interstellar Civilization, from which Earth has long been barred.

Wealthy heiress Rosalie Ambermere doesn't know why Gideon Reed sits scowling in her sitting room. Or why she finds him so appealing. She'd envisioned her heart falling to a serene gentleman, not to this unpolished, brooding man. And yet she finds Mr. Reed absurdly attractive. Surely her craving for his touch is due to the strange powder she recently inherited from her rakehell cousin.

Fifteen years after their Princeton graduation, Jay, Franny, Emerson, and Stevie meet at a college reunion. Life has taken each of them in different directions - Jay is a married man with a baby on the way, while Franny yearns for a child. Divorced single mom Emerson is drawn to a man who challenges her assumptions about finding a once-in-a-lifetime love. And Stevie has recently been rocked by a shocking revelation - the answer to a long-kept family secret.

They say you form your first impression of someone within 30 seconds of meeting them. Or, in Mira Parrish's case, within 30 minutes of not meeting them, when said person is supposed to pick you up from the airport and never shows. This is not a perfect start to her new life. Her friend Ivy is depending on her to run a new romance store, and Mira can't afford to let her down. Sam Lyons should probably apologize. But every time he sees Mira - which is often, since his family owns the bakery next to her shop - he can't resist antagonizing her. There's something about the sexy, straitlaced woman that drives him crazy.

Rookie patrol officer Trish Robinson isn't expecting to see any action during another routine night on the job. But when she and her training officer answer a prowler call at a remote estate, the two cops walk into an ambush laid by a crew of ruthless criminals. Disarmed, cut off from help, and outnumbered five to one, the young rookie must draw on inner resources she never knew she possessed as she plays a game of cat and mouse with hardened killers in a desperate battle to survive.

As Christmas approaches, Laura plans to curl up in her Boston apartment with her English professor husband, Richard, to await the birth of their first child. But when her cousin asks Richard to direct A Christmas Carol, Laura heads back home to unpleasant surprises. First, running a play transforms mild-mannered Richard into a backstage tyrant. Next, Seth, the play's Scrooge, is a washout as an actor. And the worst surprise of all - grimmer than the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come - Seth is brutally murdered.

No one hates Paris - except Summer Corey. The moody winters. The artists and their ennui. The inescapable shadow of the Tour Eiffel. But things go from bad to worse when Summer stumbles into brooding, gorgeous chef pâtissier Luc Leroi and indecently propositions the hero of French cuisine... Luc has scrambled up from a childhood panhandling in the Paris Métro to become the king of his city, and he has no patience for this spoiled princess, even if she does now own his restaurant.

Since the birth of her six-month-old daughter, Laura Fleming has wanted to do nothing but camp out in her Boston apartment and dream of having one good night's sleep. But then her Aunt Nora calls to say there's trouble brewing back home in Byerly, North Carolina. It seems Aunt Maggie has gone and married Big Bill Walters - and now someone's trying to kill the old coot. That's enough to get Laura packing the diaper bag.

Laura Fleming, savvy sleuth of Dead Ringer and Down Home Murder, returns to her North Carolina home town to attend her aunt's second wedding to her third husband - but murder and mayhem soon disrupt the plans.

Back home in North Carolina for a family reunion, Laura Fleming and her husband, Richard, instead encounter a mysterious corpse, and the ensuing investigation uncovers some family skeletons.