Presumed Dead

THREAT OF EXPOSURE

Framed for a sabotaged military operation, Preston Tyler has allowed everyone to believe he’s dead—until he witnesses someone planting a bomb in his childhood sweetheart’s cabin. To save Holly Fontaine’s life, he must blow his cover. Holly is shaken...both by the explosion and the sudden appearance of a man she thought she’d lost forever. But their reunion is short-lived when the bomb planter returns, forcing their escape into Lake Tahoe’s wilderness. As they struggle to survive, memories of their shared past reignite old feelings. Holly refuses to lose Preston again, but with their pursuer closing in, will the ultimate betrayal tear them apart for good?

“Are those bullets? Are we being shot at?”

“Yes.” Preston slammed the door to the smaller room and barricaded it with a chair under the knob. “Get online and contact the police. I’m going to keep the shooter away from you.”

Holly logged into the internet from a kneeling position.

“9-1-1. What is your emergency?” The voice echoed over computer speakers.

“We are being shot at.”

We? Did she just say “we”? Preston craned his neck around to send her a warning look.

Holly covered her mouth, eyes wide.

“Have you been shot?” the voice asked.

“No. No. The door is locked. I’m inside the computer room at Cedar Glen Lodge.”

“Police are on their way. Has anyone else been shot?”

Preston splayed his hands as if getting arrested. Unless Holly did some quick damage control, he’d soon be in handcuffs.

Or he’d be dead.

The door vibrated as a body slammed into the other side.

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: angelaruthstrong@gmail.com.

Love always,

Angela

ANGELA RUTH STRONG sold her first article to a national magazine while still in high school and went on to study journalism at the University of Oregon. Her debut novel came out in 2010, and she’s won both the Idaho Top Author and Cascade Awards for her work. She lives with her hubby and three teenagers in Idaho, where she also started IDAhope Writers to encourage other aspiring authors.

Presumed Dead

Angela Ruth Strong

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

—John 10:10

Dedicated to Johnathan, Ashley and Kristina—your creativity inspires me.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Extract

Copyright

ONE

Preston Tyler lowered his feet from the deck railing and leaned forward as his gaze followed the Jeep pulling up next to the Fontaines’ cabin across the lake. Though he’d been forced to hide out in his own family cabin for four years since being pronounced “dead” by the military, nobody had stayed at his childhood sweetheart’s cabin at all.

Of course, he’d heard Holly had just canceled her wedding to Caleb Brooks. Maybe she needed a place to heal.

Preston should have considered the possibility and gone camping at Yosemite or headed to San Francisco to catch a Giants game. Honestly, a vacation in the Tenderloin District would have been better than seeing the woman he’d once loved mourn the loss of another man.

So, he wouldn’t look. Preston inhaled deeply as he stood. Well, maybe he’d take one peek to see if it was even her. And if it was, he’d head inside until she left.

A lanky male frame climbed out of the driver’s seat of the Jeep. Holly’s dad? Brother?

Preston ignored the traitorous twinge of disappointment. It was better this way. Unless her family was getting the cabin ready for her arrival...

He squinted against the blinding sun for a better look at the figure pulling luggage out of the rear gate on the navy blue Jeep Cherokee. Only one duffel bag, but the man left the back gate of the Jeep open as he focused on carrying it to the house.

A warning alarm rang in Preston’s head. He grabbed the binoculars he usually used when scouting for fish.

The dark man with a goatee retrieved a key from the top of the doorframe and looked around before cracking the door open. Not right. He wasn’t a Fontaine.

Preston tracked the man’s movement through the windows. There. In the bedroom. The stranger unzipped the duffel, looked at his watch and pressed a few buttons on a device that resembled an alarm clock.

Preston’s guts churned. He’d seen bombs before, but only in the military, never in a vacation home. Why would anybody want to blow up an old cabin? Should he call the police with an anonymous tip? Or was he imagining things?

The man ran back through the house, replaced the key, slammed the rear gate of his Jeep and jumped into the driver’s seat. Not good.

Preston ran a hand through his hair. He shouldn’t have been involved at all. But just because he was supposed to be dead didn’t mean he didn’t care about Holly’s family anymore. It meant he had to be discreet.

He lifted the binoculars again to get the license plate number of the SUV. Another vehicle crossed its path, blocking the license plate from view. Another vehicle? Headed toward the cabin? Preston raised the binoculars higher to get a look at the driver.

Holly.

She didn’t turn or respond as the other car passed. She must not have known the man or been expecting a package. Could the stranger have set a bomb for her?

Preston’s mind whirled with possible scenarios. Some ridiculous. Some disastrous. But the worst scenario would be the one where he stood by and watched while someone else got hurt. He’d made that mistake before.

No matter how badly he wanted to shake the dread that gripped his heart, he couldn’t deny the fact Holly’s life might be in danger. He’d have to jump onto his parents’ old Jet Ski and race what he suspected was a bomb. Keeping his life a secret wasn’t worth risking hers.

Preston dropped the binoculars and grabbed his keys. Adrenaline surged.

Maybe she wouldn’t recognize him after four years. Maybe she wouldn’t believe it was even him. Or maybe she’d be too traumatized by the coming explosion to get a good look at his face.

If he reached the cabin in time to save her.

* * *

Holly Fontaine kicked her shoes off and padded barefoot down the warm, smooth dock. As a child, she’d always dived right into the lake, but as a woman—specifically, a woman scorned—she had other plans.

She pulled the sparkling engagement ring from her pocket. What had she been thinking, accepting the gaudy thing in the first place? It wasn’t even her style. Caleb had insisted he’d paid a fortune for it and she deserved it. She’d made the mistake of listening to all her friends, who were so easily charmed by his expensive taste in jewelry, perfect smile and quick wink. They’d told her she wouldn’t ever heal from a past heartbreak if she didn’t move on. Now she had a second scar. Only this one wasn’t in her heart. It was from the knife in her back.

At least she’d come to a good place to heal. Though coming alone felt more like punishment than anything else. But how else was she going to learn to reconnect with God? He was the One she should have asked about Caleb in the first place rather than just assuming she was being given a second chance at love.

“You’re enough for me, Lord,” she said aloud. But did she believe it?

The smooth metal circle pinched between thumb and forefinger had offered promise. The promise of strong arms to hold her, as well as the promise of babies she could hold in her arms. A family. A place to belong. Now she was alone again.

She looked past the glittering diamond to the reflection of the sun off the water. Lake Tahoe brought back so many memories. Cliff diving. Capture the flag on Fannette Island. Fishing from Preston’s canoe.

Holly ran a hand through her new pixie haircut and sighed. Reminiscence was supposed to get her thoughts off the current pain, but instead it intensified the ache. Why was it that the good guys like Preston Tyler died serving their country while jerks like Caleb Brooks got to live it up?

She was done thinking about Caleb. She had to move on with her life. Again. And that meant getting rid of the ring.

Caleb had said he didn’t want it back, and she certainly didn’t want anything to do with it. Maybe in the future it would wash up onshore and become someone else’s symbol of commitment. Until then, it was her reminder of rejection.

Taking a deep breath of fresh mountain air, Holly cocked her arm and hurled the offensive piece of jewelry as far away as she could. It disappeared in the distance, and she didn’t even get the satisfaction of hearing it plink into the water over the roar of a Jet Ski.

Oh well. She’d done what she should have a long time ago. It was better to be alone than to be with someone who didn’t really love her. Even if it didn’t feel better.

The dock rocked beneath her feet from the WaveRunner heading her direction. Time to get back to solid ground. Though she couldn’t help being a little envious of the driver on the watercraft. So carefree. Able to enjoy the beauty of nature without worry. Escaping the pressures of reality.

She cast a longing gaze toward the person serving as a reminder of the kind of life she used to live. Another sad memory. Except...

She narrowed her eyes. Tilted her head.

Her crazy state of mind played tricks on her emotions. As if the memories weren’t bad enough. But she couldn’t look away. Couldn’t stop studying the man who reminded her a bit of someone from her past. Take off those honey-colored sideburns and the stubble... Shrink the muscles a bit... Erase the frown lines in his forehead...

She had to stop staring. Because now the man was staring straight back. Intensity flashed in his familiar blue eyes. His lips parted. He called her name.

He called her name?

Holly shook her head. She had to be imagining things.

She willed the watercraft to rocket past. To prove her hallucination wrong. To leave her alone with her irrational daydream.

The Jet Ski slowed, sputtered, splashed cold water over her toes. The man on it extended his hand.

The last time this had happened, she’d been twenty-four. Headed back to law school for one more year while a younger version of the man in front of her prepared for his fateful promotion as a helicopter pilot in SOAR—Special Operations Aviation Regiment.

“No.” This wasn’t Preston. It couldn’t be. Preston was dead.

“Get on, Holly. Now.” The voice tugged at the strings she’d used to sew her heart back together when Preston’s charred remains came home in a coffin.

She had to be dreaming. She pinched her leg to wake herself up.

Ouch. Her thigh stung where she’d squeezed.

The man wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her toward the Jet Ski. “This is real.”

Real what? A real kidnapping?

“Who are you?” Her voice rose in panic.

She couldn’t just climb on behind a stranger. If he didn’t look so much like Preston, she would have pushed him off the watercraft by now.

“It’s me, Holly.”

Her mind whirled, almost pulling her head back with the weight of her thoughts. Preston was alive. He was on Lake Tahoe in front of her.

She covered her mouth with her free hand. This was impossible. Unless the corpse in the coffin had belonged to someone else and Preston had recently been released from some kind of POW camp.

She scanned his body, looking for injuries. If she climbed onto the Jet Ski too fast, would she hurt him? This was so unbelievable.

He tugged her arm. “Hurry, doll.”

Her heart reeled at the old nickname. This was Preston all right. In a daze, she slid behind him and clutched both arms around his middle. He was more solid than she remembered. At least he hadn’t been malnourished.

He gunned the engine. The Jet Ski tipped backward as it took off. Just like old times—

Except for the loud blast that erupted behind her. Hot air warmed her skin. Pushed against her. She craned her neck around to see fire shoot into the sky from her family cabin.

Her throat went dry. She clutched Preston tighter. If he hadn’t just picked her up, she would be dead. But why? And how had he known?

* * *

Preston exhaled. He’d picked her up just in time. Though the sooner he dropped her off, the better.

He hadn’t wanted to be right about the time bomb, but at least she was safe. He’d just have to make sure she was out of harm’s way before handing her over to police. Because she had a life to rebuild, and he couldn’t be part of it.

He slowed at his parents’ old, weathered dock. He wouldn’t have brought her here if they had been safe staying out in the open. But apparently someone wanted to kill her.

Her trembling fingers slid from around his waist to his sides as she twisted to look behind them. Her fingernails bit through his T-shirt. “What? What happened? What’s going on? I...I don’t understand.” She looked at his cabin then at him, her eyes still too glazed to be afraid. “Why are we here?”

Preston viewed the dilapidated A-frame from her perspective. How would she react when she found out he’d been living there the whole time she thought he’d been dead? How much should he tell her? Had he just saved her life, or had he put her in even more danger?

She blinked. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what to do. What do I do?”

Since someone was after her, he’d get her out of the open. Later, he’d worry more about finding the criminal. “Let’s go in.”

She climbed onto the dock, causing it to sink halfway underwater.

He eyed her ten pink toenails. So feminine. So sweet. So off-limits. He forced himself to focus on hooking the towrope to the dock.

“I can’t believe it’s really you.”

She gripped his biceps when he stood, and maybe she just saw him as her old friend whose shoulders she used to sit on when playing chicken in the lake, but her proximity wasn’t as comfortable as it used to be. In fact, it was almost painful. It should be avoided because she wasn’t even supposed to see him, let alone touch him. He stepped around her.

She turned, her arms flailing now that she wasn’t hanging on to him like an anchor. “My cabin exploded. I could have been dead like you’re supposed to be.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “I can’t believe I said that.”

“It’s okay.” Though, was it? How was she going to explain surviving the explosion without revealing his existence? Was she even capable of keeping secrets?

She stepped forward. He stepped back.

“I didn’t want to believe you died, but we had a funeral for you. They played taps and gave your parents a flag.”

Preston looked away. He already knew about his funeral. He’d been there in the distance, watching, as his family mourned their loss.

Soon he would have to disappear again. No use giving Holly more to mourn. He’d put distance between them and a perimeter of defense around his heart. He wouldn’t think about the first time he’d kissed her, at the age of sixteen under this very dock during a game of hide-and-seek. Or about how she smelled of coconut, the same way she had as a teen. He held his breath and stepped away, toward the cabin.

He had to concentrate on the danger of their situation. He’d trained for that. He looked back at the fireball that had once been her family cabin to make sure nobody had followed them across the lake.

She grabbed his hand.

Even though they’d grown up holding hands, his pulse reacted violently as an adult. The whole fight-or-flight syndrome. He’d be better off if he chose flight rather than to fight for a relationship that could never last. Dead men didn’t date.

He led her along the uneven planks, up onto the deck and through the sliding glass door. His parents hadn’t used the place since his “passing” either. Apparently both families had too many memories at the lake for them to be able to enjoy vacations there without him.

“How did you escape? Can I be there when you tell your parents you’re alive?”

Uh...no. He took another step away and held up his hands so she couldn’t follow.

She scanned him up and down. “Are you hurt? Were you held hostage? Who is after you?”

He lifted his eyebrows. She thought he was the target of the bomb? This was going to be worse than he’d expected.

“Holly.” What a softer man he would be if he’d spent the last four years with her. Unfortunately, his current circumstances didn’t allow for softness. “The bomb was meant for you.”

Her spine shot straight. Her eyes snapped wide. She stumbled backward.

He stepped forward to stabilize her before she lost her balance.

She scampered away. “If the bomb was for me, how did you know about it?”

He held his ground. Tilted his head toward the deck. “I saw it being delivered.”

Her gaze ricocheted back and forth between his eyes. “How? Why are you here? Why does nobody know you’re alive?”

He pressed his lips together. The truth was going to hurt. Just not as bad as the explosion would have. “I’ve been in the US for the past four years. I wasn’t in the helicopter crash. I’d seen someone tampering with the engines and went to ask my sergeant to delay the op, but before he could halt takeoff, my team headed out. They didn’t make it far before crashing into a fuel tanker. Someone else’s body came home in my coffin.”

She rocked onto her heels, gripping the back of the couch for balance. “You’ve been pretending to be dead?”

Was that all she’d heard? “Yes, because—”

“I am so tired of hearing men’s excuses.” Her hand covered her heart. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I thought you were different, Preston. You used to be.”

He held out his hands and blinked. What just happened? “You’d rather I be dead?”

“No.” She took a couple deep breaths. Her eyes grew shiny, like she was about to cry—to mourn his death a second time. “I’d rather you tell the truth.”

This was what he got for saving her life? A guilt trip? Of course, Holly didn’t know he already had enough guilt to keep him from being able to return home. Probably forever.

But as for telling the truth, Preston had tried, and his sergeant had been killed because of it. SOAR Commander Robert Long had found Sergeant Beatty’s body hanging in his bunk the morning after Beatty told Preston he’d look into possible sabotage. The death had been ruled a suicide.

Letting another person die because they knew the truth wasn’t a risk Preston was willing to take, which was why Holly could never tell anyone about him, either.

“Holly, the CID—Criminal Investigation Division for the military—hid the sabotage from the American people. They aren’t going to let me come back to life and point fingers unless I know exactly who I’m pointing at, and I don’t yet. So that means either the military will throw me in prison, or the person responsible for this will kill me. I have to stay dead for now.”

He wasn’t the bad guy here.

She shook her head. Shook it harder. “No. There has to be another way.”

He used to think the same thing until it ate him up inside. “There’s not.”

But what-ifs still teased sometimes. What if Holly let the crime scene investigators back at the cabin presume her dead, and she started a new life with him off the grid? Or what if she helped him assume a new identity? Or what if he stayed in the cabin and she visited occasionally? Then he wouldn’t be so alone anymore.

But none of those would be the best thing for her. He was there for her and not himself.

She planted her hands on her hips. “Am I just supposed to forget the way you popped back into my life today? Am I supposed to keep this a secret from your family, too? You know your little sister married my brother, right?”