She pulled her hand away. What was he saying? That he wanted her to stay with the Amish and join him in his work? Hope flashed in her heart. Did that mean he was opening the door to more?
“I think I’d be able to sell this idea to the higher-ups,” Hunter said. “On the condition we create secure cover stories for you both, and also create a secure data facility perhaps disguised as a barn or other building, where you have access to cutting-edge technology. Are you interested in taking on that kind of job, Celeste?”
To live with the Amish but continue using her skills to help people? Yes, her heart knew its answer. Yes, this was what she wanted very much. She glanced at Jonathan. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.” They stepped back outside.
“You told me some Amish use electricity and technology in their places of work, but not at home, right?” she asked. He raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “I’m only taking this job if I can still maintain that kind of balance in my life. I’m not going back to being online 24/7. I want all the cutting-edge technology WITSEC would supply me with to stay in the office. I want to live the plain Amish life outside of work hours.”
“I understand and I think I can get Hunter to agree to that.” A smile curled on his lips. “I want to go back to living like the Amish, too. But I’m not going to become baptized, so I can stay in law enforcement. Now I have one more important question.”
He dropped to one knee in the snow at her feet. Her breath caught in her chest.
“I know where my heart is calling me, Celeste,” he said. “It’s calling me to you. It has been ever since the moment we first met and I know with every beat of my heart that it’ll always keep calling me to you. I know it’s sudden, but I don’t want separate lives and cover stories for us. I want one life. One story. Together. So I’m asking you, please marry me, Celeste. Be my wife, share my home, share my family and build on it with children of our own.”
The happiness that filled her heart was greater than she’d ever known, but when she opened her mouth she found just one word tumbling out. “Yes!”
“Yes?” He leaped to his feet. “Did you say ‘yes’?”
“Yes!” she laughed. “Yes, I will marry you, Jonathan. Yes, I will join your family and raise our children near the Amish. Yes, I love you and my heart feels called to join with yours.”
“Thank You, God!” A prayer crossed Jonathan’s lips. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her tightly to his chest. She felt his heart beating against hers. Then he kissed her, deeply and lovingly, holding her securely in his arms until they heard David and Samuel banging on the window, calling them in for breakfast.
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, look for the other books in the Amish Witness Protection series:
Amish Safe House by Debby Giusti
Amish Haven by Dana R. Lynn
Keep reading for an excerpt from Distress Signal by Elizabeth Goddard
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Dear Reader,
About how much time a day do you spend on the internet? If I’m not careful, I can easily spend hours surfing the web until I end up feeling grumpy about just how much time I’ve wasted. But I’ve also made some amazing friends online and use the internet to stay connected to people I care about.
Some of the most wonderful people I’ve met online are fellow writers. I often get together with authors on Twitter to write together and keep each other motivated. There are fellow Harlequin authors like Anna Adams, who has written for Superromance and Heartwarming, and Danica Winters, who writes for Intrigue. There’s L. E. Wilson, who writes paranormal books and whom I finally got to meet in person while I was on vacation last year, and fledgling author Rachel Berros, who’s still awaiting her first sale. We even have authors join us from overseas, like Anne Marie Stamnestro in Oslo. I am very thankful for the encouragement and friendship they bring to my day.
Writing about Celeste and Jonathan really made me think about how I use technology, especially when it gets in the way of spending time with those I love. I hope you enjoyed this story and are able to find balance in your own life, whether you’re reading this in a paper book or an electronic reader. Thank you again to all the amazing readers who’ve gotten in touch through email and written letters. I really enjoy hearing from you!
You can find me on Twitter, @maggiekblack, or at www.maggiekblack.com.
Thank you all for sharing this journey with me,
Maggie
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Distress Signal
by Elizabeth Goddard
ONE
This wasn’t the way she wanted to die.
Every muscle screaming, Cora Strand swam toward the shore through a viscous, muddy swamp. Oily blackness and green slime clung to her whole body, and it felt like a slow suffocation. But no matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to make it to the distant, gray, mist-shrouded beach. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the more she swam, the deeper she sank. The swamp, like liquefied quicksand, sucked her under, inch by inch.
Through all her swimming, all her efforts, she repeated these words: “It’s only a dream. Only a dream. Only a nightmare.”
Muscles ached. Lungs burned. She swam faster and harder but she couldn’t escape the gooey gunk that pulled her down, down, down. Tugged her deeper into the abyss.
She couldn’t afford to let it pull her completely under because then it would be game over. She knew without a doubt she wouldn’t resurface, even as some part of her psyche told her it was a dream.
She had to escape the darkness.
Just stop fighting. Just...let go... Something inside of her whispered the words and she was tempted to listen. If she stopped fighting, and sank into it, then she would be at peace forever.
“Cora.” The smooth masculine voice was only vaguely familiar to her.
And with the voice, that same fear strangled her. Death seemed to reach for her from the swamp.
Cora sucked in a sharp breath.
Open. Open my eyes...
Her lashes fluttered as she forced her lids slowly up.
Deep, piercing blue eyes stared at her. She knew those eyes—that gaze didn’t miss a thing.
Kirk Higgins. The broad-chested diver. Sun-bleached curls hung to his shoulders, and his square, tanned jaw worked back and forth as concern lined his forehead. This guy looked nothing like his brother, Stephan—the man she’d almost fallen for once upon a time. Stephan had been a liar. Still, she’d lied to herself first, telling herself that she wanted Stephan in the first place.
&nb
sp; It had always been Kirk.
His presence here on the Research Vessel Sea Dragon reminded her of that broken part of her heart on a daily basis. After all, he’d been the one to introduce her to Stephan.
Kirk’s pupils dilated as he caught his breath. “You’re awake. Cora? Do you know who I am?”
If only he knew what she’d been thinking. Unable to form words yet, she nodded, then finally said, “You’re Ste—Er... Kirk.”
His tenuous smile told her he was genuinely worried. “That’s right. I’m Kirk, not my brother, Stephan.”
Her mouth dry, she smacked her lips. “What happened?”
He frowned. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
The fear and sense of imminent death followed her from the dream. Cora tried to sit up on her elbows and failed. Where was she? She looked around, expecting a hospital, perhaps. But it was only her stateroom on the Sea Dragon, the research vessel used by the marine archaeological group with which she worked. A new job. A dream come true. Now all turned wrong. She sensed that, anyway, but didn’t know why. Couldn’t fully comprehend it.
She reached up and ran her hand through her hair. With the action she noted the IV in her arm connected to a saline bag. “I don’t know what happened. Just tell me why I’m waking up in my room to find you staring at me. We could start with that.”
“We almost lost you.” Thick emotion edged his voice.
A flash of something—bubbles accosting her beneath the surface. “I was swimming.”
He nodded as if urging her to continue.
“Diving with the team for a shipwreck?”
“No. We’re field-testing the ROV, remember? But there was a problem. We ordered a part and have been waiting.”
Of course, she remembered that part. The ROV—remotely-operated underwater vehicle. Lance Maier, the ROV operator, called it Trigon, after a villain from a comic book, because he constantly had trouble with it.
“Most of the crew took off while we wait. Paula and Brian headed to Seattle for a few days.”
Paula Timber and Brian Holland—other than Cora, they were the only members of the science team.
They’d been operating with a small crew—just twenty people, including the support crew, deckhands, engineers, electricians—everyone needed to operate the research vessel as they supported the small science crew.
Still, how had she ended up like this? “I don’t understand. What happened?”
His lips flattened. He got up and grabbed a mug from the counter. “Here, drink this.”
She sat up on her elbows, successfully this time, the itchy sheets digging into her skin. The movement caused multiple hammers to beat her skull. It was then she noticed that he’d kept the lights low. Squinting her eyes, she peered down at the mug. “What is it?”
“Water.” Arms crossed, he remained standing there like a sentinel watching over her as he studied her. A million questions seemed to pulse behind his gaze.
If she tried, she could almost forget he was Stephan’s brother. But maybe she should remember the kind of man Stephan turned out to be. Kirk could well be a liar, too. She would stick to the plan she’d made when, to her absolute shock, the man had joined the Sea Dragon.
He thrust the mug at her again. This time she took it and drank like she’d been drifting on a raft too long at sea. The cool liquid eased down her parched throat and tasted so good.
“You went missing. Disappeared down there. At least, that’s what Trip and Coburn claim. They searched until they had to return.”
Trip Dahmer, in charge of communications, and Declan Coburn—maritime security. At least she could remember names and faces.
Cora let the water roll around in her mouth before she swallowed against the lump that had grown thick in her throat.
I went missing?
If she’d been diving and something happened so that she was left out there, she would have run out of oxygen, too. She read the truth of that in Kirk’s eyes. What had happened? How had she gotten lost? Visibility had oftentimes been an issue due to murky river runoff that created silty conditions, but they had good visibility in this location. Still, she was working off a faulty memory.
More importantly... “Who found me?”
Kirk slowly eased into the chair next to her bed, giving her the impression that he’d held an all-night vigil on her behalf. “I did.”
She’d been stunned when he’d been hired two months ago to work aboard the research vessel where she’d landed a job as a shipwreck archaeologist. Apparently he’d been someone with the kind of diving experience they needed after their most knowledgeable diver had been arrested on drug charges, which had come as a surprise to all of them, considering his credentials.
But Kirk also had his own impressive list of archaeological credentials to go along with his notable diving skills and jack-of-all-trades knowledge about how to fix everything. He’d been in the navy, too. A perfect fit for the job. Just not the perfect fit for working with her. But Cora had kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want anyone to know her past with his brother and wouldn’t let that get in the way of teamwork or professionalism. Besides, it had been years.
They were different people now. She’d let the past stay there. And it wasn’t the past that worried her now. More like the future.
Unfortunately, she was still as fascinated with him as she’d been when they’d met years ago, which unnerved her. She couldn’t exactly put her finger on the reason why she was drawn to Kirk. She only knew that she had to steer clear of him.
Suddenly aware of his rapt attention as he waited for her to keep drinking, she sipped from the cup and watched him over the rim.
“The crew is bringing the medic back with them from Farrow Island. Shari told us not to move you more than I already did when I brought you here,” he said.
They were part of a medical advisory service that could communicate with doctors twenty hours per day via ship-to-shore communications if needed when in remote areas. But this wasn’t that remote. The research vessel had anchored in the Salish Sea, several nautical miles from Farrow Island in the Rosario Strait off the coast of Washington. The island was part of the San Juan Islands and filled with tourists.
Kirk continued. “He assured us that you probably bumped your head and that you would wake up soon.”
From the way he frowned, the look in his eyes, she got the feeling that he hadn’t been so sure. Cora had the distinct feeling that something was going on here, but she kept her suspicions to herself.
Maybe Kirk did, too. An emotion she couldn’t define lurked in his gaze and it sent a chill over her. She recognized that look as one she’d seen before in Stephan’s eyes and knew all too well. What was he hiding?
As if sensing her unease, he got up, poured more water from a pitcher and handed it to her. “Drink.”
She refused. “I’m good. Thank you...thank you for finding me. For saving me.”
“Do you remember anything about what happened?” he asked.
She shook her head and rested back on the pillow. Her memory was all a blank slate. A black hole. “Considering the dream I just had, I’m going to guess I was pretty far gone.”
He looked at her, seeing right through her, it seemed. He said nothing in response to her declaration, but that was just as well. Hearing the words out loud might bring the dream to life, and she definitely wanted it to stay dead.
If she had been...gone...he likely had given her CPR. Though it was a lifesaving technique, she imagined his lips pressed to hers, blowing breath into her body. Reviving her.
She wouldn’t ask him about that part. Not yet, at least.
“What was your dream about? Maybe it’s somehow connected to what happened to you out there.”
You would have to ask. “You know how dreams are. I can’t really describe it other than it left me with the im
pression I was dying. Darkness was pulling me under.”
He squeezed her hand. Reassuring her? For some strange reason, Kirk’s touch on her hand made her feel even more off-kilter. Especially since she didn’t think she had as much as brushed shoulders with him in all the time they’d been working together. It had seemed he tried to avoid her as much as she avoided him, though that proved difficult at times.
Back in her college days—after everything that had happened involving Stephan and, yes, Kirk—she’d vowed never to get involved again. At least, not enough to actually fall for someone. Fortunately her career, keeping her dream alive, had kept her too occupied to consider a relationship...that was, until Kirk showed up. And that annoyed her to no end.
Averting her gaze, she bit her lip. Hard. She had much worse problems than Kirk. What was she supposed to do with a memory wipe? Well, at least it wasn’t a complete wipe.
A new kind of fear coursed through her. Was it possible she could lose her research job here on the Sea Dragon where she confirmed and documented reports of shipwrecks?
Cora didn’t like that. Not one bit. She’d better get her act together and fast. She couldn’t let that happen. She’d worked too hard to get here. This job was what helped her measure up to her amazingly successful siblings. Sadie was a marine biologist who traveled the world in her research, though her traveling had slowed down since she’d married Gage Sessions, who was with the Coast Guard Investigative Services. Then there was Jonna, who’d been a special agent with the Homeland Security Investigations division of ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement—and traded that in to run her own inn as well as working alongside her private investigator security specialist husband, Ian Brady. And, finally, Quinn, who was always working deep undercover with the DEA—Drug Enforcement Administration.
No. She simply couldn’t afford this kind of setback.
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