Storm Clouds

PRAISE FOR CHERYL WOLVERTON

“This tender tale…is a suspenseful and enjoyable read.”

—Romantic Times on Shelter from the Storm

“A captivating delight. Among the Tulips is a heartwarming Cinderella story for the keeper shelf. (41?2 stars)”

—Romantic Times

“What an incredible, spiritual journey for readers.”

—Romance Reader on the Run on A Wife for Ben

“Ms. Wolverton’s love of writing and joy in God once again shines through In Search of a Hero.”

—Scribesworld

“For Love of Zach delivers a great beginning that gains momentum all the way to the conclusion.”

—Romantic Times

“Ms. Wolverton does a lovely job of demonstrating how two Christians turn to the Lord for help with their innermost struggles in this warm, touching and fun book.”

—Romantic Times on A Father’s Love

CHERYL WOLVERTON

RITA® Award finalist Cheryl Wolverton has well over a dozen books to her name. Her very popular Hill Creek, Texas, series has finaled in many contests. Having grown up in Oklahoma, lived in Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana and now living once more in Oklahoma, Cheryl, her husband of more than twenty years and their two children, Jeremiah and Christina, always considered themselves Oklahomans, transplanted to grow and flourish in the South. Readers are always welcome to contact her at P.O. Box 106, Faxon, OK 73540, or e-mail at [e-mail]. You can also visit her Web site at www.cherylwolverton.com.

Cheryl Wolverton

Storm Clouds

ISBN: 9781408967270

Storm Clouds

© Cheryl Wolverton 2005

First Published in Great Britain in 2005

Harlequin (UK) Limited

Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, including without limitation xerography, photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This ebook is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the prior consent of the publisher, in any form or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.á.r.l.

® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

—Philippians 3:13–14

To my dear Australian friends at Harlequin,

since chatting with you in e-mail, I have

always hoped to set a book in your country.

You guys are the greatest!

Also to my friends online: Aussie, aka Lisa from

ChristianRmWriters, who read my story to correct

me on anything wrong—so if you find mistakes,

as I’m sure you will, they’re mine.

And to my mom—it’s so much fun to live nearby

again after twenty years and have you getting

on me for missing a day of writing!

And as always to my dear kids, who are now

adults, Christina, twenty-one and Jeremiah,

eighteen and to my husband, Steve.

And finally, Steve’s dad, John, for giving us this

wonderful eighty-eight-acre farm to live on—

a place that truly inspires my life and writing.

You guys have been wonderful

through this entire book. Thanks.

Dear Reader,

Wow, do you have any idea the hundreds and hundreds of letters and e-mails I’ve received begging me to write Angelina’s and Todd’s stories? Guess what? I’ve wanted to write them, too—especially Angelina’s. She tried to take over in Shelter from the Storm, so I had to send her to Australia. And here is her story.

She is such a strong woman that she wore me out trying to write about her. I fell absolutely in love with this stalwart yet vulnerable woman. We all have pasts, no matter how innocent, because at one time we were all without the knowledge of God’s love and forgiveness. And in Angelina, we see how sometimes we just can’t learn to let go of the past, forget about it and strive onward, toward the goal that God has set for us—and that is Jesus Christ. If you hurt or have pain, please let it go and let God show you His love. Know that God will use those things to shape us and form us so that we can do His work as he did with Angelina. He loves you, dear one, and He won’t ever leave you.

I love to hear from readers, and I now live in Oklahoma. If you write to me, please be sure to make note of my new address: P.O. Box 106, Faxon, OK 73540, though my e-mail address remains the same: [e-mail].

In Christ’s love,

Prologue

You’re coming here, Angelina. You have no idea what you’re walking into. I’ve waited a long time for this and I’m not going to let you get in the way this time. Oh, no, not this time. I can kill two birds, as the saying goes. Angelina Harding. It’s been a long time. And you’re coming right to me here in Australia. You’ll be within my grasp. Though this is going to put a kink in my plan, you’re finally going to be mine. Time to play the mind games—again. And you won’t even know it.

Come on, Angie, doll. I’m waiting. Come on and try to find your brother and walk into the maze of my own making. Search for him and play awhile, before you die.

Contents

Prologue

About the Author

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

COMING NEXT MONTH

Chapter One

The fuss over her pistol was not the most auspicious start to Angelina Harding’s flight. They’d made her check it—fortunately she had a smaller bag she could unzip from her backpack and check.

She’d gotten no sleep on the ride over, but she needed to be here for her brother.

Oh, how she wanted to be back in Pride, Louisiana, the tiny little town with a population of less than one hundred. She’d lived there for three wonderful years, with several of her friends who’d started a security firm. She liked it there in the small town, and she didn’t want to venture out into the real world.

But what could she do when she got the call…a call she hadn’t expected? She hadn’t talked to her brother in over fifteen years, and he needed her help.

Stepping into the cool air of Australia, she realized she hadn’t dressed for spring but late summer.

It was hot as an oven in Baton Rouge.

And it was just finishing winter here.

She shivered and cupped her hand over her eyes to glance toward the sunny sky. Wearily she grabbed a handful of her dark hair, tied it in a knot at her neck and then released it when she realized it had been shading the back of her neck.

Taking a deep breath, she paused to slip her pistol back into her ankle holster, rearrange her backpack and find the paper containing the information she’d jotted down about her brother.

Her internal clock told her it should be nighttime.

Her brother had said catch a plane to Sydney—and to hurry. Like she should drop everything for him. Glancing around, she noted the cars driving on the wrong side of the road.

She’d been so angry with her brother when he’d become a Christian nearly twenty years ago and decided to move to Australia….

She shook her head as she watched the hustle and bustle. Same as in any city but different too. Not seeing her brother, she started down the sidewalk looking for any sign of him. Bitterness nipped at her as she remembered her one visit to Australia when she was sixteen. She’d come here to see her brother.

He had sent her back home, telling her she shouldn’t have stolen money from her uncle and should have gotten his permission.

Permission!

She’d hated her brother for not letting her stay, and yet, he was her brother and when he called, she couldn’t ignore him as he had her.

Oh, man, she didn’t want to be here. Maybe Providence had been trying to keep her from coming. Maybe she should have turned around and left when the airline had hassled her about the gun.

The beep of a horn when she accidentally stepped out in front of a taxi brought her back to the present.

She hated Australia.

Or at least hated what it stood for.

Where was her brother?

Glancing around at the noisy area, she only wanted to be somewhere else.

Her brother’s decision to leave her in that forsaken place they’d both called home—at the mercy of her drunken uncle—had stuck with her all these years, haunting her dreams at night when she was all alone in the dark, scary night.

Her brother had left her because he felt called to become a missionary out in the bush of Australia—to start up a church. But in leaving to follow his calling, he’d left her to fend for herself. He didn’t mind being alone. She wouldn’t have minded being alone either. It would have been better than dealing with her uncle.

She didn’t like to remember that time of her life, but coming to Australia forced those memories back into the forefront of her mind.

She hadn’t talked to her brother in years because of that incident. She hadn’t seen him either.

And now he was in trouble.

Deciding her brother had forgotten to pick her up, she looked for a taxi to hail.

“Angelina Harding?”

She heard her name called and, in surprise, turned.

A man of medium build, dark hair, dark trousers and shirt stood about ten feet away. She was used to cataloguing whomever she met because of her training. A small mole under his right eyebrow barely showed above the sunglasses he wore.

“That would be me,” she acknowledged, noting he stood near a large sedan with a driver in it. She couldn’t see much else through the tinted windows.

“Your brother sent us.”

Her eyebrows shot up and she glanced at the car again. “He must be doing better than I realized,” she muttered to the man, feeling that much more angry and put out by her brother. Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, because she refused to pack more than one small case when she traveled, she headed toward the car.

“Let me take your bag,” the man murmured and reached out for it.

She shook her head and cradled the bag closer, wrapping her arms around it. “I’m fine.”

His hand brushed her side and she stepped away, not liking to be touched and wondering if all were so informal here.

Curious, she glanced at him but he’d turned away.

She sighed.

Her shoulders hurt, her neck ached. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed, nap and try to adjust to the time change. “I can’t believe it,” she said as she climbed into the back seat. “He called me and demanded I show up here. Said he had to talk to me. Do you know what I dropped to be here?” She knew the man wasn’t listening as he closed the door.

He hesitated again then climbed into the front. Okay, so she was being a grouch and she realized it. But seeing this car really ticked her off. How could her brother afford something like this? It just went to show her that he was so high and mighty now, he expected to have everyone at his beck and call.

She sagged back against the soft cushions of the expensive car.

When someone makes it sound like a matter of life and death, it usually means there is something serious the matter, she thought, disgruntled. She’d been in the Secret Service and didn’t throw terms like that around idly. In frustration, she closed her eyes and laid her head back on the seat. She had really expected him to be the one to meet her at the airport. And losing it wasn’t going to help the situation. She had decided to come down here, after all, so whatever happened was just going to happen.

She’d gotten a quick look at the driver as she’d crawled in. He was dressed the same as his companion. She saw in the rearview mirror his blue eyes, however. Very blue. Bluer than the Australian sky.

The buttery leather cushioned her body and invited her to rest. When had Marcus been able to afford such a car? And why had he sent a car for her instead of picking her up himself?

The car pulled smoothly out of the airport and headed out of town. Angelina swayed with the motion of the vehicle. She rested and allowed her aching body to ease as they got under way.

And as they drove, her mind drifted to her brother. All of those years ago he’d lived in a tiny ranch house, no air conditioning, dusty, out in the middle of nowhere. He’d had a group of people who lived with him. Marcus had planned to start up a school for children out in the area. He had even bought a van to pick them up. They were scraping by, but her brother had been so excited. This was his calling as he’d labeled it.

Some calling, she thought sourly. Going out into the middle of nowhere to teach kids with an accent.

There were plenty of kids in America with accents if that’s what he liked.

She knew she was bitter. But she’d needed her brother, and he hadn’t been there. However, he needed her now and she was determined she’d be there for him. Regardless.

When her friend Joshua Staring had started a new security firm in his hometown of Baton Rouge, it had sounded like just what she wanted—what she needed. It was her calling, she thought sourly. After all, one could only take so much adrenaline rush, and when the vice-president had almost been shot under her watch, that was it for her. She was glad to be working for Joshua. Mostly.

Angelina frowned and adjusted in her seat when they hit a bump, realizing she’d dozed a bit.

She had many friends in Baton Rouge at the security firm, but most of them were Christians now, and she just didn’t fit in with their beliefs. Just like her brother. They thought one way and she another, because she knew the harsh reality of life.

The smell of aftershave reached her nostrils, distracting her from her thoughts. Her brow creased as she forced herself into a more conscious state. Her sour mood faded as she concentrated on the smell. She couldn’t remember the name but knew it was quite expensive.

Something niggled at her. Expensive car, expensive cologne. What was her brother into?

Cracking open her eyelid she glanced again at the two men in the front seats; neither had said a word. As she did, she noted something else. She’d been daydreaming longer than she realized for they were now outside of town. And the sun was on the wrong side of the car.

They were headed in the wrong direction.

Angelina might have only been here one other time, but she knew her directions.

Alarm bells went off inside her. “Um, excuse me,” she said to draw the attention of the man in the front seat. “How long before we get to where my brother is?”

The man shrugged. “Thirty minutes.” Then a window between them slowly rose.

Now fully alert, she sat up. She did her best to keep her expression nonchalant as she glanced out the window because she saw the driver watching her closely. She nodded. “No problem. It’s been many years. Just wondered.”

Something wasn’t right, and she knew if she didn’t get out of the car, she wasn’t going to see her brother.

Call it instinct. Call it woman’s intuition. Call it experience. She knew that when her insides screamed danger like this, it meant listen up.

There was nothing near the car. Mountains in the distance and desert on either side. She knew Australia wasn’t like this everywhere and wondered why her brother had chosen such a place to work. He’d told her it had its own beauty.

Right now, it only looked deserted to her. If she tried to escape she just knew that these men had guns and would shoot her.

No one else was in sight for miles.

What was she going to do?

If she were Josh, she’d pray, but then she didn’t do that. Her friend back home was always telling her she needed to lean on God. She’d seen too much to believe that.

She needed to think.

And then she saw it.

In the distance, from a road crossing through the rocky terrain, a dust trail arose.

Someone was approaching. She forced herself to stay totally relaxed so not to alert the men in the front seat.

Studying them, she noted the looks they exchanged and knew beyond any doubt that these men weren’t from her brother. Had she not been so immersed in her own memories, her instincts would have alerted her much sooner. The dust trail might be her only chance of escape.

If she could time it just right, she could get away and possibly live to find out what was going on.

She leaned back and closed her eyes to slits so the driver would relax his vigil. And she waited.

As they drove onward down the road, the dust trail got closer.

It seemed like hours, but she knew better. A minute, maybe two at most had crept past.

And then they were approaching the place the other vehicle would cross. It wasn’t really a road, but more ruts in a dusty trail. She could see the Jeep now plainly.

Taking a quick breath, she wrapped her hand around her backpack, inching her other hand to where she kept her pistol.

When the car was just where it needed to be, she acted. With a quick motion, she pulled out her 9 mm and shot the window to her side. Throwing up her feet, she slammed them into the shattered glass.

She felt the jolt of the car as the driver jerked the wheel in surprise, heard the shouts and the sound of the window between them starting down.

She didn’t wait, but pulled her feet under her and shoved herself out the small open space.

Her body hit the hard ground, bouncing painfully over sticks and rocks and whatever else they had out there in the brush as she rolled away from the car. And she lost her gun in the process.

The Jeep swerved, nearly hitting her. The sound of tires squealing, rocks and dust flying, the taste of dirt and smell of fuel all filled the air.

The car she’d bailed out of skidded to a stop, its tires a deeper shriek.

She didn’t wait to see what they’d do. With a fast glance around, she noted her pistol wasn’t in sight. Growling in frustration, she shoved against the rough dried-out brush as she staggered to her feet, feeling fire blazing down her right arm and right hip where she’d hit the ground. It didn’t slow her down, however, as she sprinted across the uneven ground toward the stunned driver of the Jeep.

“Are you all right?” the stranger asked, jumping out of his vehicle and heading toward her.

“Drive!” she shouted and leapt for the car.

Bullet holes appeared in the front panel of the vehicle.

The blond man’s eyes widened and he bounded back around to the driver’s side and piled in.

Only then did she realize it was some sort of official vehicle.

Shots rang out again.

“If you don’t get going we’re both going to be dead!”

“Where?” With a sharp twist of the wheel, he jammed it into gear and spun it away from the danger, not waiting for an answer as he turned.

“Away from them!” She started searching for anything to shoot back at the car.

The man didn’t hesitate, but popped the car into gear and tore off back the way he’d come.

Angelina flew back into the seat, her head landing with a thud against the headrest. A grunt escaped her. At least he was driving now.

The other car peeled out and she knew that the chase had just begun.

And once again, she wondered just what her brother had gotten himself involved in. If they didn’t escape these men, she wasn’t going to find out.

Chapter Two

David Lemming pushed the Jeep as fast as he could away from their pursuers, not worried if he broke an axle. He only wanted to put distance between them and the men chasing the crazy woman.

Glancing into the rearview mirror, he saw the car was still following. It hit a bump, bounced up and then back down, smashing against the open range of the reserve. “Care to tell me why they’re after you?” he shouted over the loud roar of the engine and wind as they raced madly across the rocky terrain. He swerved to avoid a particularly stout bush and then swerved back to avoid a dip in the landscape.

“I don’t know,” she shouted in reply. She fell back into the seat and grabbed at it to keep her balance while her left hand searched his vehicle. David cast a wary glance at her as she rummaged about, bumping him, distracting him…Her eyes suddenly gleamed. She’d found his rifle under the seat. “Hey!” he cried, his utter shock at being shot at suddenly replaced by the fear of this crazy woman getting hold of his gun. “I don’t think you should use that.”

Sweat broke out on the back of his neck. How had he gotten himself into this situation? He’d been out doing his rounds for the National Park Reserve and then this woman had fallen out of a car. In all of his years and all of his jobs he’d never had something like this happen.

Now he was being chased across the reserve and the woman he’d rescued—or who had hijacked him, he still wasn’t sure which—was getting ready to shoot at the people behind them, the people who were trying to kill her…no them, he corrected, since he was in the car with this lady. On top of it all, he was having to use every bit of his skill to keep from overturning them as he cut out across the land.

“I know what I’m doing,” she warned him as she turned in her seat and braced herself, one knee wedged in the seat as she fought for steadiness and shouldered the rifle.

He suddenly realized the woman wasn’t from here. She had a different accent. He tried to place it and groaned when he realized she was one of those loony Americans. Yeah, she probably did know how to use it. They all had guns over there.

They hit a nasty bump and the woman’s arm bounced. The rifle went flying.

She let off with a loud shout, very unladylike. “Idiots!”

He winced. “Er, be that as it may, lady, I’d hold on.”

She looked at him. “Don’t tell me my word choice bothers you? We’re about to be killed.”

He shrugged. He’d done plenty of drinking and name-calling in his life as a teenager, but now…not now. That wasn’t what he’d been wincing over, however. It was the fact that he’d almost lost the woman out the door. Forcing his heart back down out of his throat, he croaked out, “Hold on,” and cut sharply to the right.