INTRIGUES SWEEP DAPHNE NOMINATIONS

The 2012 Daphne du Maurier Contest sponsored by the RWA Mystery & Suspense Writers chapter (commonly known as Kiss Of Death) announced it finalists for the Series Romantic Suspense category. All five places went to Harlequin Intrigues.
In case you missed them in 2011, you might want to put these keepers on your shelf or electronic reader.

HELENKAY DIMON

THE BIG GUNS
September 2011

When he saw his mark being kidnapped, Recovery Project agent Zach Bachman had no option but to rescue her. Even if it endangered his assignment. After weeks of watching Sela Andrews from afar, he was now trapped with the blonde beauty as her bodyguard.

Her brave protector relished the heat of gun battle but retreated from his own emotions. Sela learned that when, in the dead of night in a darkened safe house, the loner became her lover. Still, as her would-be killers closed in on them again, she had no choice but to put her life—and her heart—in the hands of her reluctant guardian.

PAULA GRAVES

MAJOR NANNY
October 2011

A SOLDIER NEVER BREAKS HIS PROMISE....

Agent Harlan McClain has his target in sight. But he’s not pulling the trigger. Instead his assignment is providing Stacy Giordano—the governor’s aide—with security. An easy job for a former marine sniper. And yet, the guarded single mother’s beauty and devotion to her exceptional child soon have Harlan reshuffling his priorities. In the dead of night, in her bed, he promises to keep her and her son from harm. But when an unexpected crisis arises, Harlan is suddenly torn between keeping his word, and taking out a killer.…

JULIE MILLER

NANNY 911
December 2011

The Precinct: SWAT--an elite team who'll put everything on the line.

HE’D NEVER NEEDED ANYONE’S HELP…UNTIL NOW

SWAT team member Miranda Murdock can’t bake, or get a three-year-old to eat. But she can shoot the wings off a fly. Which is why she’s protecting millionaire Quinn Gallagher’s daughter. But the little girl is soon tugging at Miranda’s heartstrings. And Quinn is doing other things to her—exciting, forbidden, bedroom things—making her job riskier each day.…

Quinn is determined to find the killer threatening his daughter’s life. Despite the danger, he wants Miranda with shocking intensity. The elite cop is a puzzle he can’t figure out, and desire between them builds with each heartbeat. Yet with New Year’s Eve and the killer’s deadline approaching, even a single kiss could spell disaster…

ANGI MORGAN

.38 CALIBER COVER-UP
February 2011

AN UNDERCOVER AGENT,

A BEAUTIFUL COP…

AND THE BULLET

THAT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER

Undercover DEA agent Erren Rhodes was used to working alone. So the very idea of teaming up with Officer Darby O’Malley to ferret out a killer wasn’t exactly how he thought this critical mission would go. But thanks to information only the beautiful cop possessed, finding whoever was responsible for shooting Erren’s friend made Darby a valuable—and irresistible—partner.

Digging into the case reveals a far-reaching conspiracy…and angers all the wrong people. Trying to bring a killer to justice while keeping Darby safe is making Erren remember why he is better off on his own. Especially when Darby makes him long to stay together in the safe house and never let her out of his sight.

GAYLE WILSON

FLASHBACK
August 2011 

Jake Underwood has recovered from the terrible injuries he suffered in Iraq—except for the haunting flashbacks of the attack that decimated his unit. Then suddenly, in the middle of one of those, he sees not the familiar desert landscape of his nightmares, but a terrified and missing little girl.

Chief of Police Eden Reddick knows that with each passing hour, her chances of finding kidnap victim Raine Nolan alive decrease. That terrifying countdown resonates more strongly with Eden because her own sister was taken under similar circumstances and never seen again. 

Despite being willing to pursue every lead, Eden can’t explain how or why Raine could appear in Major Underwood’s flashback. She is, however, impressed with the ex-soldier’s determination to find the child and bring her home. As they work desperately to rescue Raine, Eden begins to feel more than admiration for Jake, but can she keep her town’s anger and suspicions of him from compounding the tragedy they already face? 

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