“Preston?” She lifted to her elbows.
He pulled his gaze away from her to hunt down the ring. There on the shelf, where he’d put it all those years before. Preston snatched the small velvet box, his insides doing somersaults in anticipation. Was he being hasty? Not at all. If anything, his proposal was overdue. He scaled back down the rungs.
She cocked her head. “What are you doing?”
He dropped back to his knees and snapped the box open. “Doll, if I’m going to come back to life, it’s going to be so I can spend the rest of it with you. I love you, Holly Fontaine. I have since you shoved me off the dock for scaring you with a firecracker.”
Her cheeks ripened. Her eyes glistened. “And I’ve loved you since you put that frog in my favorite pair of flats.”
Really? Because he’d hoped she’d forgotten about that. But if she was going to love him, it was sometimes going to have to be in spite of him.
“I did that because I was afraid to kiss you. I guess I’ve always been afraid of love. But I’m not anymore.” He pulled the simple solitaire free to sparkle in the lamplight. “Holly Fontaine, will you marry me?”
“Oh yes.” She slipped her finger into the perfect circle and wiggled her eyebrows. “And so you know, that Fourth of July stunt wasn’t the first time I felt fireworks around you.”
Preston couldn’t stop smiling as he lowered his head toward hers to seal their commitment with a kiss. Softening his heart to Holly had allowed him to hurt more, but in the end it also brought the healing he needed. He’d never been more alive.
* * * * *
Dear Reader,
I had so much fun researching this story. SOAR and the CID are real. The locations on Lake Tahoe are real—including the secret tunnel. And even the flaws in the characters are real. But I didn’t have to research those.
See, I’m like Holly in the way that I lost a relationship that I thought would last forever, and I was terrified of being alone. It would have been very easy for me to make the same mistake Holly made in committing to the wrong person. So often, as women, we want the romance. We want to feel desired. And so we compromise our relationship with Christ to have a relationship we tell ourselves God wants for us because it will make us happy. But, as Holly found out, true happiness didn’t come from being loved. It came from loving—even when the man she loved made it very clear there was no future for them together.
Preston was that man. He was the exact opposite of Holly. He’d lost so many people he loved that he didn’t ever want to love again. And he figured God felt the same way toward him. He believed he was doing the right thing by pushing Holly away, and it took almost losing her to realize love was worth fighting for. This is similar to where my husband was at when I met him. Jim was planning to move to Alaska and write off women for good. But God had better plans. Just like God always does.
The Bible says two are better than one. This doesn’t have to mean romantic relationships. It means we are created for community. We are created to learn and grow together with Him.
In the end, Holly and Preston learned this lesson from each other. The same way I got to learn this lesson along with my real-life hero. Jim is the reason I’m able to write about romance again. Love changes lives, which changes the world. And there’s nothing else I’d rather write about.
This is my first book with Love Inspired Suspense, and I’m thrilled you chose to read it. It hasn’t been easy, but just like Holly and Preston became stronger when working together, I am a better writer because of working with my editor. I hope I keep getting better, and I hope you’ll join me on the journey. Please stop by for a visit at www.angelaruthstrong.com, and always feel free to share your story with me at: [email protected].
Love always,
Angela
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ISBN-13: 9781488018947
Presumed Dead
Copyright © 2017 by Angela Ruth Strong
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Presumed Dead (Love Inspired Suspense) Page 19
