The Guardian's Mission. Shirlee McCoy
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Название: The Guardian's Mission

Автор: Shirlee McCoy

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Короткие любовные романы

Серия: Mills & Boon Love Inspired

isbn: 9781408966952

isbn:

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      “Hey! Hey, what’s going on? Why’s she running?”

      Gordon Johnson’s question was one Tristan Sinclair could have answered easily—the woman was running because she’d walked into a cabin she’d thought was empty and into a man she didn’t know. She was terrified and trying to escape.

      He could have answered, but he didn’t.

      If Johnson realized the woman wasn’t with Tristan, that she hadn’t been invited to their little party, she’d die and the mission would end.

      He raced after the woman and yanked her to a stop, praying she wouldn’t start screaming. Johnson had a reputation for acting first and thinking later. One bullet, that’s all it would take to spill innocent life out onto the rain-soaked earth. Tristan could prevent that from happening if the woman played along.

      If she played along.

      MILLS & BOON

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      SHIRLEE MCCOY

      has always loved making up stories. As a child, she daydreamed elaborate tales in which she was the heroine—gutsy, strong and invincible. Though she soon grew out of her superhero fantasies, her love for storytelling never diminished. She knew early that she wanted to write inspirational fiction, and began writing her first novel when she was a teenager. Still, it wasn’t until her third son was born that she truly began pursuing her dream of being published. Three years later she sold her first book. Now a busy mother of four, Shirlee is a homeschool mom by day and an inspirational author by night. She and her husband and children live in Maryland and share their house with a dog and a guinea pig. You can visit her Web site at www.shirleemccoy.com, or write her at P.O. Box 592, Gambrills, MD 21054.

      The Guardian’s Mission

      Shirlee McCoy

      Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

      —Matthew 7:13–14

      To my dear friend Darlene Martha Gabler.

       Though we are far apart, you are always in my thoughts and prayers.

      Contents

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      CHAPTER FIFTEEN

      CHAPTER SIXTEEN

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

      CHAPTER NINETEEN

      CHAPTER TWENTY

      CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

      CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

      CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

      EPILOGUE

      QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

      ONE

      First-aid kit?

      Check.

      Water? Protein bars? Check. Check.

      Chocolate? More chocolate? Tissues? Triple check.

      Not that Martha Gabler was going to need the tissues. She wasn’t. She was over her crying jag and done feeling sorry for herself. It was time to move on, to embrace singleness with the same joyful excitement with which she’d embraced being a part of a couple.

      The fact that in one year and three months she’d hit the magical age that separated young-enough-to-hope from too-old-to-keep-looking didn’t matter at all. So what if women in Lakeview, Virginia, married young? So what if reaching thirty without heading down the aisle was tantamount to walking around town wearing a placard that read Past My Prime?

      Did Martha care?

      Yes!

      She sighed, zipping her backpack and shoving a baseball cap over her unruly curls. She’d come to the mountains to put the past behind her. She didn’t plan to spend time dwelling on things that couldn’t be changed.

      Like her newly single status.

      Outside Martha’s Jeep, the day was as gray and gloomy as her mood, the deep oranges and brilliant reds of the fall foliage muted in the dreary morning light. Maybe visiting her father’s hunting cabin could wait another week, another month. Another year.

      No. It couldn’t.

      She hadn’t been to the cabin since she started dating Brian two years ago. Now that he was out of her life, it was time to enjoy the things she’d loved before Brian had pulled her into his high-society world. Time to start fresh, to look with excitement at the new horizons stretching out before her.

      Martha snorted and shoved open the Jeep door, stepping out into cool mountain air. Gravel crunched beneath her feet as she hoisted her pack onto her back and turned to survey her surroundings. The old gravel road she’d parked on dead-ended a hundred yards up. Beyond that, a dirt path wound its way up into the mountains. СКАЧАТЬ