Patricia Davids - Shelter From The Storm

An Amish marriage of convenience

A new North Country Amish novel

Secretly pregnant and unwed, Gemma Lapp has a difficult choice—face her Amish community or raise her baby alone. But when a storm strands Gemma in the wilderness with her former crush, Jesse Crump, she knows her secret won’t be safe for long. Gemma can’t imagine trusting a man again...until Jesse proposes a marriage of convenience. Could their arrangement lead to love?

After thirty-five years as a nurse, PATRICIA DAVIDShung up her stethoscope to become a full-time writer. She enjoys spending her free time visiting her grandchildren, doing some long-overdue yard work and traveling to research her story locations. She resides in Wichita, Kansas. Pat always enjoys hearing from her readers. You can visit her online at patriciadavids.com.

Also By Patricia Davids

North Country Amish

An Amish Wife for Christmas

Shelter from the Storm

The Amish Bachelors

An Amish Harvest

An Amish Noel

His Amish Teacher

Their Pretend Amish Courtship

Amish Christmas Twins

An Unexpected Amish Romance

His New Amish Family

The Amish of Cedar Grove

The Wish

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Shelter from the Storm

Patricia Davids

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09729-1

SHELTER FROM THE STORM

© 2019 Patricia MacDonald

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ 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

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

Change of font size and line height

Change of background and font colours

Change of font

Change justification

Text to speech

“What’s wrong, Gemma?” Jesse came around the fireplace.

She sat up and drew her knees up under her cloak. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“You use that word far too often. How can you be fine?”

“You have a point. I would love a cup of hot tea and a cracker. Any chance that Dale left some in his toolbox?”

“I’ll check. Chamomile or Earl Grey?”

Her eyes widened with surprise. “Jesse Crump has a sense of humor.”

“Don’t look so amazed.” He stoked the fire.

“I noticed it was snowing again while I was on the porch. Heavily. No one will be able to follow our tracks, will they?”

“Nope.” At least she understood why help wouldn’t be coming.

“So, what do we do?”

“The hardest thing of all in a survival situation. Stay put.”

Her eyes grew wide. “When you say survival situation, are you telling me that we are in serious trouble?”

There was a long silence. “Ja. We are.”

Dear Reader,

I have once again taken you to Maine in the winter. I’m sorry. I promise a warmer time of the year to explore the beauty of New Covenant in my next book. Summer or spring? I haven’t decided yet. I hope you enjoyed visiting some of the characters from my previous North Country Amish series. I’m always happy to let people catch up on the characters they wanted to know more about. There will be eight books in all set in Maine. I should be able to populate a small Amish community by then. If not, I can always keep going. That’s the joy of my God-given gift. New ideas always pop into my head.

Blessings to you and yours,

Patricia Davids

For thou hast been a strength to the poor,

a strength to the needy in his distress,

a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the

heat, when the blast of the terrible ones

is as a storm against the wall.

—Isaiah 25:4

This book is dedicated to all the men and women who work in neonatal intensive care units across the country. You care for the least of God’s children. May you know abundant peace and joy in your work.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

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

Extract

About the Publisher

T hat couldn’t be Gemma Lapp.

Jesse Crump turned in his seat to get a better look at the Amish woman on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street. She was wearing a black Amish traveling bonnet and a long dark gray cloak. She was pulling a black wheeled suitcase behind her. He couldn’t get a good look at her face. His driver and coworker, Dale Kaufman, pulled ahead when the light changed, and Jesse lost sight of her. There was nothing outward to suggest it was Gemma other than the Amish clothing but something about her, perhaps her small stature, reminded him strongly of the woman he wished he could forget.

“What’s the matter?” Dale asked, noticing Jesse staring behind them. “Is something wrong with the load?” He slowed the pickup and trailer carrying two large garden sheds.

Jesse turned around to stare straight ahead. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”

“That Amish woman waiting to cross the street?”

Dale knew Gemma. Jesse hoped he had gotten a better look. “ Ja , did you see who it was?”

“I saw she was Amish by her clothing, but I couldn’t see her face because of that big black bonnet. Who did you think it was?”

“Gemma Lapp.” He had been thinking about her lately. She was on his mind far too often. Perhaps that was why he imagined he saw her.