DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT

 by Marta Perry
HQN Books, June, 2012

Coming home may be more dangerous than she thinks…

Libby Morgan never wanted to return to Lancaster County. She'd made her own life in the city as a news photographer, leaving the slow pace of Amish country behind. She'd left love behind, too, when she fled the old-fashioned ways of Adam Byler. But when the Amish friend of her childhood asks, Libby knows she had no choice. What she doesn't know is that something sinister awaits her…

For Adam Byler, the traditional ways convey safety and order. As police chief of Springville, the former marine strives to keep the peace between the Amish and their modern "Englischer" neighbors—and he will not allow Libby's beauty to distract him from his duties. But when an innocent woman is attacked, they'll confront a danger more threatening than their growing passion.

Available now at bookstores everywhere. To receive a signed bookmark and a brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, send your mailing address to Marta at marta@martaperry.com.

Do not reproduce without permission from the author.

DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT
By Marta Perry

Prologue

Amish buggies weren't built for speed. If the men were following her, she couldn't outrun them.

Esther Zook shivered in the December cold, turning her head to peer behind her, her view cut off by the brim of her bonnet.

Nothing. The township road lay dark and empty behind the buggy...as dark as every farmhouse she'd passed, surrounded by their blankets of snow. Country people went to bed early in the winter, especially the Amish, without electric lights and televisions to keep them awake.

Libby Morgan would be awake, though. If she could get to Libby, everything would be all right. Libby would know what to do.

If only she'd told Libby more in her letters...but Esther hadn't known, then, just how frightening this was.

The Amish didn't go to the law. They settled matters among themselves. But the Amish of Spring Township had never dealt with a problem like this before.

Esther had shrunk from putting her suspicions down in black and white, thinking that when Libby returned it would be time enough to seek her advice. But now suspicion had turned to certainty, and she feared she had delayed too long. If they were following her—

Even as she thought it, she heard the roar of an engine behind her. Panic sent her heart racing, she tried to think, tried to pray, but it was too late—too late. The roar turned to a scream, to s crash which deafened her, to total blackness.

Chapter One

It was nice to see someone else's love life turning out well, especially when her own was such a train wreck, Libby Morgan decided. Now that her big brother Trey was married, Mom could turn her obvious desire for grandchildren to Trey and Jessica and stop asking her only daughter if she'd met anyone special yet.

Libby put down the bridesmaid's bouquet she'd been clutching for what seemed like hours and picked up her camera instead. She'd discovered long ago that the camera could be useful camouflage. It would help her get through the rest of the wedding reception without, she hoped, too much conversation with people who'd known her from childhood and seemed compelled to try and find out how her life was going.

Then, once the flurry of wedding-related activities were over, she'd be free to dig into the other reason she'd come home to Spring Township, deep in Pennsylvania's Amish country.

Something is terribly wrong. Esther's last letter had sounded almost frightened, and Esther Zook, teacher at the local Amish one-room school, didn't frighten easily. You know the Amish don't go to the law, but I fear this is one time when we should. I must talk to you as soon as you get home. You know the Englisch world. You'll be able to tell me if I'm right about this.

Libby snapped off a few shots, more to keep the camera in front of her face than anything else. She hadn't reached Pennsylvania from San Francisco as early as she'd intended, partly because of the weather, but mainly because of the upset at the newspaper that had led to a final showdown with her boss...final in more ways than one.

Well, maybe she could set up in business as a wedding photographer. She framed Trey and Jessica in the pine-wreathed archway of the Springville Inn's ballroom, seeming oblivious of everything but each other, and snapped several quick shots.

"No doubt about how those two feel."

That particular deep male voice, coming from close behind her, made her hands jerk so that she undoubtedly got a great picture of the parquet floor. She turned, arranging a smile on her face. She'd had plenty of practice since fate, in the form of the bride, had paired her with Police Chief Adam Byler for the wedding.

"There isn't, is there? This is one relationship that's destined to last."

As opposed to ours, which lasted for about a minute and a half. That being the case, why did she persist in comparing every man she met to Adam Byler?

Adam's slate blue eyes didn't show any sign he caught an undercurrent in her words. But then, he wouldn't. Strong-features, brown hair in a military cut, equally military posture--stoic didn't begin to describe Adam. Whatever he felt wouldn't be easily read on his face.

"I was beginning to think Trey would never take the plunge, especially after your dad's death, when he had to take over the company." Adam flicked an assessing glance at her face, as if wondering whether she could take a casual reference to the loss of her father, over a year and a half ago now.

She tried for a stoic expression of her own. "Trey's had his hands full, I know." She raised an eyebrow, casually, she hoped. "Or were you implying that I should have come home to take on some of the burden?"

Adam lifted his hands in quick denial. "Never thought of it. Trey probably wouldn't have let you, anyway. He was born for the job."

Trey, the oldest, had been groomed from birth to take over the extensive holdings that made up the Morgan family company. Link, her twin brother, the best man today, hadn't had that pressure on him, but since an injury cut short his military career, he'd come home to recuperate, fallen in love, and stayed to take over the construction arm of the family business.

And then there was Libby, always considered the baby, even though Link had been born only twenty minutes before her. She'd been Daddy's princess. Too bad that role hadn't prepared her very well for the outside world. For an instant a fierce longing for her father's warm, reassuring presence swept through her.

Adam shifted his weight slightly, looking as if he'd rather be wearing his gray uniform on his six feet of solid muscle than the rented tuxedo. Or maybe she had actually succeeded in making him uncomfortable.

"I guess I'd better get back to my groomsman duties." A smile disturbed the gravity of his face. "Your mother gave strict orders. I even have a detailed list."

"That's Mom, all right. She might play the feather-brain at times, but she's the most organized person I know."

Funny, that only her mother could bring that softness to Adam's expression. Or maybe not so funny. Geneva Morgan had looked at a ragged eight-year-old Adam and seen a person worth cultivating instead of the son of the town drunk. Adam wasn't the sort to forget that.

Libby watched Adam walk across the room through the shielding lens of the camera, lingering a bit on those broad shoulders. He was as solid now as he'd been back in high school.

The family had gone to every Spring Township High football game to cheer on Trey, the quarterback. Nobody had known that Libby's eyes were on his best friend, the lineman who'd been that same six feet of solid muscle even then. A crush, she told herself now. It had been nothing but a crush, turned humiliating when she'd thrown herself at him.

In an odd way, when the rumors started going around that he'd gotten Sally Dailey pregnant, she'd felt better about his rejection of her. If that was the kind of girl he wanted, she was done with him.

Only she hadn't been, not really.

Hannah's Joy

Returning to Pleasant Valley is giving Hannah Conroy a much-needed chance at a new life, but now she must discover her true place in the world, when opposition comes from every side.

HANNAH'S JOY, Pleasant Valley Book 6, Berkley Books, May, 2012

Available now wherever books are sold. For a signed bookmark and Pennsylvania Dutch recipe brochure, contact Marta Perry at marta@martaperry.com

Do Not Reproduce without Permission.

HANNAH'S JOY

Chapter One

     A man in Army fatigues stepped off a bus just down the street at the Pleasant Valley bus stop. Hannah Conroy clutched the stroller handle as an onslaught of dizziness hit her. She fought the irrational surge of joy that turned in an instant to ashes.

     It wasn't Travis. It was an unknown young soldier, moving into the welcoming arms of his family—mother holding him, fighting back tears; father standing stiffly as if to deny his emotions; a girl of about ten waving a welcome sign.

     Not Travis. Travis had lain beneath a marker in Arlington National Cemetery for well over a year. He wasn't here on a warm September day in Pleasant Valley.

     Two women in Plain dress stopped next to her on the sidewalk, their faces blurred by the tears she wouldn't let fall. One reached out a tentative hand.

     "Are you all right? You are Hannah, ain't so? Paula Schatz's niece?"

     She nodded. She couldn't cry. Jamie would be frightened if he saw his mother in tears. But he was almost asleep in the stroller, one chubby hand still grasping his toy dog.

     "I'm fine." Hannah almost managed a smile. "Thank you."

     "You're going into the bakery, ja? Let us help you get the stroller inside."

The woman motioned to the other…a girl in her early teens, Hannah saw now…who pulled the door open, setting the bell jangling. Together they maneuvered the stroller inside Aunt Paula's bakery, where the aroma of fresh-baked bread surrounded her, easing the hurt.

     "Thank you," she said again. The grief and pain ebbed, leaving her as lost as a leaf in the wind.

     "It's nothing." The woman patted her arm with a feather-light touch, the girl nodded, and they were gone.

     Aunt Paula, as round and comforting as one of her own dumplings, glanced up from the customer she was serving, her eyes clouding when she saw Hannah's face. By the time Hannah reached the kitchen door, Aunt Paula was there, wiping her hands on the white apron she wore over her traditional Old Order Mennonite dress, its tiny print faded from many washings.

     "Hannah? Was ist letz?" Aunt Paula spoke English most of the time, but in moments of stress she was apt to slip into Pennsylvania Dutch. "What's wrong? I saw Leah Glick and her daughter helping you."

     "Nothing." Hannah bent, the action hiding her face for a moment, and lifted Jamie from the stroller. He was relaxed and drowsy, a precious, heavy armload now at twenty months. "I'm fine."

She didn't want Aunt Paula worrying about her. It was enough that her aunt had made a home here for her and Jamie.

     But Hannah couldn't stop herself from glancing at the window. The family, their faces animated with love, moved toward a car.

     Aunt Paula followed her gaze. "Ach, I see." Her voice was soft. "I know. After your uncle passed, I'd see a man with wavy hair like his, or his way of walking, and my heart would stop, as if it reacted faster than my brain did."

     "It's been almost a year and a half." Hannah cradled Jamie close, and he snuggled his face into her shoulder, his soft breath against her neck. "I'm better. But sometimes—"

     "Ja. Sometimes." Aunt Paula patted her. "I know."

     The bell jingled on the bakery door, and Aunt Paula turned to greet the man in Amish garb. In all the years since she'd lived here as a child, Hannah had nearly forgotten the peculiar mix of Amish, horse-and-buggy Mennonite, black bumper Mennonite, and English that made Pleasant Valley so unique.

     William Brand was Amish, and he worked with his cousin Caleb in the cabinetry shop down the street. Hannah had learned that much from him, but it had taken persistence. William stuttered, and like many stutterers, he took refuge in silence much of the time.

     Banishing thoughts of the past, Hannah moved to the counter, smiling. William was silent enough already. She didn't want him to think she was avoiding speaking to him.

"Good morning."

     He ducked his head in a nod. Tall for an Amish man, and broad-shouldered, he wore the traditional Amish black broadfall trousers with a blue shirt and suspenders, the usual straw hat on his head. In his mid-twenties, William was probably a year or two younger than she was, but his fresh color and the shyness in his blue eyes made him seem even younger. Next to him, she felt ancient.

     And what did he make of her, with her denim skirt, pink lipstick, and curling ponytail? Did he find it odd that Paula Schatz had such a modern niece?

     "H-H-Hannah," he managed, as if determined to say her name.

     Then he looked at her son, and his face softened. He held out a work-roughened hand, and Jamie latched onto it, saying something that might have been an attempt at William's name.

     "S-sleepy time, Jamie?"

     Jamie shook his head vigorously, but the movement was interrupted by a huge yawn that showed every one of his baby teeth, and they both laughed.

     Funny, how William's stutter seemed to ease when he spoke to Jamie. Once, a lifetime ago, she'd planned to become a speech therapist, and her interest stirred at the observation.

     "He just doesn't want to admit he's tired. I thought he was going to fall asleep in the stroller," she said, reminding herself to speak naturally to William. Talking with a stutterer required more patience than many people had.

     "H-h-he's a-afraid he'll m-m-miss something."

     "That's for sure." She tickled Jamie's belly, loving the way he chuckled, eyes crinkling.

     Aunt Paula returned to the counter, carrying two coffees in foam cups and a white bag. "There you are, William, your usual coffee, just the way you and Caleb like it. And a couple of crullers to tide you over to lunch."

     "D-d-denke."

He handed her the money. With another smile for Jamie, he went quickly out, perhaps relieved not to have to engage in any further conversation. His straw hat shielded his face from Hannah's view as he passed the window.

     She stood watching his tall figure for a moment, and then went to get Jamie's plastic cup of milk from the small refrigerator behind the counter. She focused her mind on him, trying not to let it stray toward those moments on the sidewalk.

"Has William always stuttered?"

     Aunt Paula leaned against the display case, seeming ready for a comfortable gossip. "I don't know about always," she said. "Anyway, it's a big family, and William is the youngest. His mamm and daad were both sickly off and on, and it seemed like William kind of got lost in the shuffle, what with his oldest brother, Isaac, taking over the farm and always barking orders at the younger ones. I'm not sure when the stuttering started, but it was before William went to school."

     Hannah nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy. William hadn't had it easy. "That's typical. It's usually in those early years when a child is starting to talk. How did the family handle it? Did they get help for him?"

     "Not that I know of." Aunt Paula frowned. "I think the schoolteacher tried to help him, but seems like the other kinder were always impatient, finishing his sentences for him, acting like he was...well, slow."

     "I don't think he's that." She'd seen quick understanding in William's face in their few conversations, even when he didn't speak.

     "Ach, William's bright enough, and the best thing that could have happened to him was going to work with his cousin Caleb in the shop. The boy will maybe find a little respect for himself there."

     "Not a boy," Hannah murmured, taking the cup from Jamie, who was nearly asleep on her shoulder. She rubbed his back, cherishing the feel of his small warm body against her.

     "I'm nearly forgetting." Aunt Paula's voice lifted.  "That's what you were studying in college, wasn't it? Before you got married, I mean?"

     "Speech therapy." She'd gotten interested when she'd babysat for a family with a child who stuttered. The Davises had been so helpful, encouraging her and aiding her with loan applications so she could go to school. That had been her only goal, until Travis came along.

     But Travis had loved her. It had seemed meant to be, that they should love each other and get married and make a home together always.

     Always hadn't lasted very long. Just a few short years of moving from one Army base to another.

     "You could help William." Aunt Paula, not able to follow Hannah's thoughts, smiled broadly. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before. You can teach William, help him get over his stutter."

     "No, no, I couldn't," she said quickly. "I'm not qualified. I never finished school, and besides—"

    

     Besides, she intended to go back to the outside world as soon as she could swing it financially.

TWICE IN A LIFETIME
Love Inspired, September 2009
By Marta Perry

When her family calls Georgia Lee Bodine home to Charleston, she knows there’s trouble. Her beloved grandmother hired some fancy lawyer to carry out eccentric requests—and unearth an old family secret. Georgia plans to send Matt Harper packing, until she sees the true affection he has for her grandmother and realizes that his heart is as deeply damaged as her own. They might find a chance for love, but family secrets have a way of coming out, no matter what the consequences. Marta Perry

Find TWICE IN A LIFETIME now at http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.christianbook.com/, or your local bookseller. And visit me on the web at http://www.martaperry.com/.

The Swiss Courier
by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

"Outstanding! The Swiss Courier is a fast paced, tightly plotted thrill ride. It packs plenty of masterful twists and turns, but does not skimp on character development or historical accuracy. Goyer and Yorkey spin a terrific tale” . --Rick Acker, author of Blood Brothers, Dead Man's Rule and Devil to Pay, Inc. (Fall 2010)."

Working as a Swiss transcriptionist for the Americans during WWII, Gabi Mueller's life changes overnight when she's recruited as a spy for the precursor of the CIA.
Asked to safely courier a German physicist working on the budding Nazi atomic bomb project to the Swiss border, Gabi feels the weight of the war on her shoulders. But who can she trust?

It is August 1944 and the Gestapo is mercilessly rounding up suspected enemies of the Third Reich. When Joseph Engel, a German physicist working on the atomic bomb, finds that he is actually a Jew, adopted by Christian parents, he must flee for his life to neutral Switzerland. Gabi Mueller is a young Swiss-American woman working for the newly formed American Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner to the CIA) close to Nazi Germany. When she is asked to risk her life to safely "courier" Engel out of Germany, the fate of the world rests in her hands. If she can lead him to safety, she can keep the Germans from developing nuclear capabilities. But in a time of traitors and uncertainty, whom can she trust along the way? This fast-paced, suspenseful novel takes readers along treacherous twists and turns during a fascinating--and deadly--time in history.

Tricia Goyer is the author of twenty books including From Dust and Ashes, My Life UnScripted, and the children's book, 10 Minutes to Showtime. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 2003. Tricia's book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like Today's Christian Woman and Focus on the Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. She and her family make their home in the mountains of Montana. For more information, please visit http://www.triciagoyer.com/

Link to Buy the book: http://triciagoyer.com/store.html?n=1

Link to watch the video trailer: http://www.triciagoyer.com/