A DANGEROUS HOMECOMING
When her big-city dreams come crashing down, Gemma Phillips returns to her small hometownâand finds herself the target of a violent stalker. And her attacker may be linked to the robbery she witnessed years agoâ¦a case reopened after the police discovered a body, supporting her claims of overhearing a murder. Now thereâs only one man who can save her: lawman Matt OâDell. For Matt, solving this decades-old mystery will finally allow him to distance himself from his fatherâs criminal past. But Mattâs drive to close the case soon turns personal. He needs to guard his reputationâ¦but first, he must protect the woman heâs just discovered he loves.
âCold?â He raised his eyebrows.
âNo, really, Iâm okay.â
She accidentally looked in the direction of the crime scene, and shivered again. Matt jogged to his car, retrieved a jacket and returned. Gemma thanked him and slid her arms into it, reminding her skittering heart that this wasnât high school, wearing his jacket didnât mean anything, and he was just being chivalrousâSouthern, reallyâto make sure she wasnât cold.
âReady now?â
Technically, she could only answer yes. Gemma had run out of reasons to delay this walk. So she nodded slowly, followed Matt as he started off down a path that she knew from experience would lead them from the clearing into a thick forest, dense with live oaks and Spanish moss whose shadows choked out the sunlight.
No, she wasnât ready. She never would be.
But someone was out there, someone who knew what sheâd seen, and they wanted her dead. Sometimes people had to do things they werenât ready for.
So Gemma took a deep breath and stepped farther into the dark woods. Out of the light.
And back into the place that haunted her very worst dreams.
SARAH VARLAND lives near the mountains in Alaska where she loves writing, hiking, kayaking and spending time with her family. Sheâs happily married to her college sweetheart, John, and the mom of two active and adorable boys, Joshua and Timothy, as well as another baby in heaven. Sarah has been writing almost since she could hold a pencil and especially loves writing romantic suspense, where she gets to combine her love for happily-ever-afters, inspired by her own, with her love for suspense, inspired by her dad, who has spent a career in law enforcement. You can find Sarah online through her blog, espressoinalatteworld.blogspot.com.
But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
â2 Corinthians 12:9
To the women who have experienced pregnancy/infant loss,
who know what itâs like to feel as though that loss defines you at times. Thatâs not how God sees you. He sees grace. He sees hope. He sees you. I pray for continued healing for all of us.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my family for being encouraging, helping when you can, answering questions and all around being the best family anyone could ask for. I love and appreciate all of you.
Thanks also to my friends, both writing friends and ânormalâ friends. Your encouragement and friendship has been so important to me during the writing of this book. I canât thank you enough.
Thanks to Sarah, my agent. Working with you has been fun so far! I love that we are both juggling these jobs with the raising of little boys. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks to Elizabeth, wonderful editor and fabulous brainstormer. The work you have done already on this story has amazed meâthank you.
And thank You, Lord, for letting me tell stories and for teaching me things through them.
ONE
The steps groaned, the only sound in the south Georgia silence, as Gemma Phillips took another step toward the place sheâd promised herself sheâd never go againâthe place where her nightmares had begun a decade before.
She took another step anyway, and another, until she was at the top of the stairs, hand poised to knock on the door of the portable office building where the Treasure Point Historical Societyâand hopefully her futureâawaited.
A month ago, Gemma would have said this job, helping the town develop and implement a marketing plan for the new museum being built on the Hamilton Estate, was beneath her. If she had her choice, sheâd still be anywhere but here. But her job in Atlanta was gone and so were her savings. Treasure Point, where she could stay with her sister rent-free while job hunting, had looked like her only optionâstill did, unfortunately. And this job was the only one in town remotely close to what she enjoyed doing. She needed this to work.
But first, she needed to wow the historical society members. Surely after ten years, the cloud that had seemed to follow her, the looks people had given her, would have dissipated. Even small towns forgot eventually...