Christmas Blackout

by Maggie K. Black

  “I know.” He bent his head toward hers until their foreheads touched. “Fortunately, pet laws being what they are, you should be able to take Harry with you no problem. I’m sure he’ll learn to bark with a British accent in no time.”

  “But what about us?” She closed her eyes and breathed him in. “England isn’t Canada, but it’s still not Australia.”

  “Nope, it’s not.” Benjamin laughed. “It’s a whole lot colder and lot farther north. I don’t know right this very second how we’re going to make this work. But I know with my whole heart that I want to. Now that I know I love you and that you love me, I promise I will do whatever it takes to find a way for us to have a chance at spending our lives together. That’s all I have to give you this Christmas—the promise that no matter what, I will find a way.”

  “That’s the best Christmas gift you could give me.”

  Light snow fell down around them and carols filled the air as Piper brought her lips up to his.

  “Merry Christmas, Piper.”

  “Merry Christmas, Benjamin,” she whispered back.

  EPILOGUE

  A late-August sunrise danced on the dark gray water of the English Channel. Piper’s footsteps picked slowly over the smooth stones of the shoreline. A light chill brushed off the early-morning waters. Still, she kicked her sandals off and ran barefoot down the marina’s maze of docks. Harry’s paws thudded down the wood behind her. She reached the end of an empty slip and sat. Her legs hung over the edge, her feet brushing just above the gentle waves. Her eyes stared out over the expanse of water to the hazy outline of France on the opposite shores. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and turned it on.

  For someone who’d never been a fan of getting up early in the morning, it was funny how quickly this had become her favorite time of day. As Benjamin’s global sailing trip had him crossing time zones, several hours ahead of her, they’d agreed that whenever he was able to find a phone he’d call her at six o’clock in the morning her time.

  Harry stretched out on the dock beside her. Golden rays of sunlight danced along the water. The clock passed six. Her phone didn’t ring. She sighed. It had been nine days since Benjamin had been able to make the phone call. Six days since he’d even sent an email.

  She opened the email program on her phone to write to him. But instead her eyes ran over the list of emails they’d exchanged in the almost eight months since they’d said goodbye. Her emails had all been so long and chatty, full of news about the sale of the remains of The Downs to a historical society, the ups and downs of her aunt’s health journey, the criminal charges filed against Tobias, Gavin, Trisha and Cody Aliston, aka “Kodiak,” reconciling her friendship with Dominic as he recovered in the hospital, and finally the huge, exciting adventure of helping her uncle and aunt move overseas to start their new lives.

  A sailboat shimmered on the horizon, cutting between her and the rising sun. Her fingers scrolled through screen after screen of the words she’d poured out over the months to Benjamin. Her chest ached.

  Yes, she knew he’d never been much of a letter writer. He wasn’t much for talking on the phone, either. But while his trip around the world might be bringing him closer to England, these past few months had felt as if he was drifting further and further away.

  The boat on the horizon grew closer until she could make out the logo on the sails. It was nothing but a small blue-and-white daytrip boat from a boating tour company down the shore in Brighton. They’d better not be heading for the small marina; they’d have a hard time finding a free place to dock.

  Her eyes rose to the sky as it lightened above her.

  Lord, was I wrong to think that Benjamin and I could have a future together? I trust his heart. I believe in him. And yet, it’s been eight months since The Downs burned down and we’re no closer to being together.

  Voices were shouting back and forth on the boat. The small craft grew closer. Harry leaped to his feet and barked.

  “Shush!” She stood, grabbed his collar with one hand and steered them both down the dock. But the dog braced his legs and stood his ground. She pulled a leash from her pocket and clipped it onto his collar. “Come on. Time for breakfast.”

  “Piper!”

  Her name echoed behind her on the morning air. She turned. A strong figure stood tall in the boat, waving his arms above his head.

  She dropped the leash.

  He dove off the boat. Strong arms cut swiftly through the water toward her. As he came closer, morning rays of sunlight fell on the full wet beard, dazzling smile and eyes that shone even brighter than the first light of morning.

  “Benjamin!” Joy filled her chest, filling her eyes with tears and her mouth with laughter.

  He reached her. Two strong hands gripped the dock and then he pulled himself up onto it and stood in front of her, water streaming down his body. She threw her arms around him, anyway. Felt his strong arms pull her tight toward her. Tilted her face toward him and let his mouth find hers in the kiss her heart had ached to feel for eight long months. Then he pulled back and she felt the warmth of his gaze on her face.

  “What are you doing here? Where’s your boat?”

  “I landed in Brighton late last night. My boat’s docked there. I’m sorry for not calling, but I didn’t want to wake you. A friend of mine gave me a ride over this morning. He’s also agreed to give me a job.” His hand brushed over the back of her hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I got you soaked.”

  “I’ll dry.” She laughed. “You’re the one who jumped off a boat.”

  “I couldn’t see a place to dock and this couldn’t wait a second longer.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small waterproof container, the kind boaters kept their valuables in. The clear plastic box seemed to glitter in his hands like a block of ice. Her heart leaped in her chest.

  He knelt on the dock in front of her, as a slender band of diamonds and gold tumbled out into his palm. “When we said goodbye at Christmas, I promised I’d find a way to spend my life with you. And I’ve missed you every day, with every breath since then. I thought I’d just finish my voyage first, and that all this could wait until I’d made it once around the world. But I can’t wait any longer. There’s no adventure worth having without you beside me. So, I’m dropping anchor. Here. Now. With you.”

  But she grabbed his outstretched hand with both of hers before a marriage proposal could pass his lips. Her knees dropped down to the wood until they were kneeling face-to-face. “Wait. What about your boat, your life, your dream?”

  “I’ll run short boating trips around the British Isles and France. Then, whenever you’re ready—no matter how many years it takes—we’ll lift anchor, and you and I can sail the world together.” The smooth circle of the engagement ring pressed into the skin between their palms. “You are worth waiting for.”

  Her lips trembled. But she forced them still and took a deep breath.

  Everything inside her was bursting to say yes to the question he had yet to ask. Her heart ached to just fall deep into his arms and to stay there forever. Yes, her uncle and aunt were in a better place now, living with a cousin of her aunt’s who was a retired nurse. With no business to run, they didn’t need her living with them full-time and could probably even go without her for a couple of days at a time.

  But still. Was he sure?

  Was she?

  They’d had so many months apart and too many goodbyes already. Could she trust that this time he’d stay?

  “My aunt still doesn’t have a firm diagnosis,” she said. “They’re renting a place from family. I’m just working part-time. I don’t know how long you’d need to stay anchored for. Are you sure you want to risk your whole future on me?”

  “My beloved.” Benjamin brushed her hair from her face. “I took the biggest risk of my life when I walked across the sto
re floor to talk to you a year ago, because I knew the moment our eyes met that my heart was going to fall into your hands.” He pulled the ring out from between their clasped hands. “Please, marry me, Piper. Be my best friend and my partner in this life. Share all my adventures with me and I’ll share yours with you. No matter what the future brings.”

  A question echoed deep and sincere in the blue of his eyes, aching for an answer.

  A look she knew she could trust.

  Peace filled her heart. “Yes. Of course I will. Yes!”

  He slid the ring on her finger. Her arms flew around his neck, so fast it sent her glasses tumbling off her face and clattering onto the dock. She closed her eyes as his lips found hers again. And the light of the morning sun brushed over them, filling their bodies with warmth.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from YULETIDE ABDUCTION by Virginia Vaughan

  Dear Reader,

  What’s the hardest Christmas you’ve ever had? For me, it was the year I moved from the south of England back home to Canada with a toddler and newborn infant. I’ll never forget the chaos at the airport, with people lined up outside to get in, a crying baby in my arms and the fear that I wouldn’t make my flight. Thankfully, I had a supportive man to share the load and we all arrived safe and sound on the other side of the ocean where my wonderful in-laws took us in while we looked for a home. That Christmas Eve, my life truly felt like a car spinning out of control on the ice. It helped me learn that sometimes, despite all your best planning and intentions, chaos happens and all you can do is hold on, hold together and pray while you wait for the storm to pass.

  Thank you so much for reading this book! I was so excited to bring Benjamin back for a story of his own, after he and Harry the dog appeared as part of Meg’s story in Deadline (August 2014), as well as to introduce you to Piper. She was such a fun, spunky and caring character to write. If you want to get in touch please visit me at www.maggiekblack.com or follow me @maggiekblack on Twitter.

  Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season whatever the holidays bring this year.

  Thank you for sharing the journey,

  Maggie

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

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  Yuletide Abduction

  by Virginia Vaughan

  ONE

  She should have brought her gun.

  FBI agent Elise Richardson slowed her jogging pace then stopped and knelt down, pretending to tie her shoelace. She glanced over her shoulder at the car that had been following her for three blocks. An older-model gray sedan with one occupant. She stood and stretched her arms and legs, casually scanning the early-morning downtown area. The buildings had been decorated for Christmas, but the streets were uninhabited at this time of day. Stores were locked up and secured. Only the street lamps lit the sidewalk as her feet pumped against the pavement once again. And she was exposed without her gun and without her cell phone.

  Who knew an early-morning jog would necessitate weaponry?

  She rounded a corner and found more of the same. Christmas adornment. Empty streets. Locked shops. No one in this sleepy town of Westhaven, Mississippi, was at work yet.

  Except the guy in the car following her.

  She kept her speed consistent, but her legs and her lungs were already burning from the run. If she could circle the block perhaps she could make it to her hotel. She pushed through the pain and quickened her pace. The car matched her speed. She rounded another corner. The slow-moving car did the same.

  She had no idea who was following her or what they wanted. Who even knew she was in town? She hadn’t checked in with the local police department yet since she’d arrived last night. She turned her head and glanced at the car again. Sunglasses and a hat hid his face, but he flinched as if realizing he’d been spotted. He gunned the engine. Elise took off running and this time the driver made no pretense. He swerved onto the sidewalk, barely missing her before she jumped over a concrete barrier and across a grass partition. The car rammed the barrier then backed up and sped toward her, its wheels squealing against the asphalt and metal screeching as it swiped the pavement.

  She ran past an outdoor café, taking a moment to fling the metal chairs into the path of the oncoming vehicle that swerved to miss them but didn’t stop pursuing.

  She heard a horn blare and tires squeal from a different direction. She turned to look and saw a black truck swerve into the path of the car then slam into it. Elise dived into the alcove of an office building to escape the debris. Her head hit the hard glass doors and the mounted Christmas wreaths fell on her. Blinding pain exploded in her head and the world spun. The howl of metal on metal roared in her ears. She tucked her head into her knees and used her arms to shield her, but shards of glass and metal bit into them. Another blinding pain ripped through the back of her leg. She cried out, realizing a fragment had lodged in her upper thigh.

  Tires screeched again, and she peered out to see the sole figure in the gray sedan shake his head and regain his composure before ramming the car into gear and speeding away as fast as possible with the damage done to the driver’s side of the car.

  The truck’s driver stumbled out, obviously shaken by the crash but heading unsteadily toward her. Elise braced herself for a confrontation and rummaged beneath fallen lights and garland for a piece of metal matching the one in her leg. Could this man be trusted? He had just saved her life, hadn’t he? Had he not rammed his truck into the sedan, she would be roadkill. Still, she hesitated, her instinct melting into her fear. She felt naked without her gun, and the blinding pain in both her leg and her head could be hampering her judgment.

  Before she could decide if he were friend or foe, he was beside her. “Are you injured?” He glanced at the weapon in her hand then where her other hand cradled the piece in her leg. “You are hurt.” He knelt and examined her wound. “Can you speak?”

  She had to be delirious. Perhaps she was already unconscious because the man before her was someone who couldn’t possibly be there. She recognized the strong, triangular jaw from the image on her faded newspaper cutout and even more vividly from the night that had changed her life ten years earlier. She remembered those intense blue eyes gazing at her from beneath dark, brooding eyebrows that matched his black hair, sideburns and the hint of a stubbled beard—the face of her own personal hero.

  But it couldn’t be.

  Max Adams had died ten years earlier...the night he’d saved her life.

  The piece of metal slipped through her fingers as her mind swirled. “Max?”

  His head jerked as she said the name, and his eyes grew dark and inquisitive. “Max was my brother. My name is Josh Adams.”

  She cried out as a sharp pain pulsed through her, and Max...Josh...grabbed her hand.

  “Hang on. Help is coming.”

  She chuckled at the idea. What were the chances of being rescued by another of the Adams brothers?

  “Stay with me,” he commanded, doing his best to keep her conscious. “Talk to me. Tell me how you knew my brother.”

  She struggled with the memory of another man stepping between her and an armed assailant. “He saved me.” And died doing it. She didn’t need to verbalize that part. He knew his brother had died.

  His eyes widened in surprise. “What’s your name
?”

  She struggled to fight off the darkness but finally gave in to it. “Elise Richardson,” she managed to mumble before the shadows overtook her.

  * * *

  Sitting in the ER waiting room, Josh gingerly touched the goose egg on his forehead from where the air bag had deployed. He’d rammed his truck quite hard into the car gunning for Elise, but he was no worse for the wear.

  Elise Richardson?

  It wasn’t possible, was it, that this woman was the same girl whom his brother had rescued from an attacker ten years ago? The woman he’d died protecting? He’d imagined her many times—the woman who’d caused his brother to step to his death—but he’d never imagined the thin, toned body, the dark hair and olive complexion or the beautiful hazel-green eyes with specks of golden brown glancing up at him. In his mind, she’d always been a caricature of a coed who’d selfishly placed herself in danger. But he’d remembered her name. He’d held on to it as a target for his anger through three tours of Afghanistan.

  And now she was in danger again.

  He folded his arms as he stared through the windows into the ER room where she lay unconscious on the bed. Why had someone been chasing her? He thought he knew most folks in Westhaven even if just in passing, but he didn’t recognize the dark-haired beauty who’d passed out in his arms, or the driver of the car that had tried to run her down, as locals.

  Daniel Mills, the current police chief and his brother’s childhood friend, approached him and glanced into the room. “She had no ID on her and no cell phone.”

  “She said her name was Elise Richardson, but I don’t think she’s local. She could be visiting someone in town for the holidays.” He hesitated, wondering if he should mention her connection to Max. His brother had worked on this police force and was well known and liked by guys still on the job. There might still be some hard feelings from them about this woman who’d cost him his life... At least for his part there was.