Jenna Mindel - Courting Hope

The Man Was No Stranger… When Hope Petersen looks up to see Sinclair Marsh standing in her office doorway, it brings back bittersweet memories.

She can’t forgive him for the terrible accident that changed both their lives. Now that her girlhood crush is the new pastor of the church she runs, Hope is forced to work with him—and her old feelings resurface. Sinclair seems determined to show her and their Michigan hometown that their minister is a changed man. Is Hope ready to move beyond the past and risk her future on the man she never stopped loving?

Sinclair turned around and saw Hope with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“It’s no one’s fault.” Her voice sounded raw with emotion. “Sara’s death was an accident. I finally get that.” She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him.

His shoulders shook, but he held on tight to the lifeline she offered. She didn’t know how long they stood there crying. Sinclair’s arms around her made her feel safe, like the strong ties of docking rope that gave a ship stability in a storm.

The party blared in the background. She could hear laughter and music, but both were muffled by Sinclair’s warm shoulder. Then the band played a slow song she remembered from high school dances.

She’d always lingered on the bleachers, wishing…

“Dance with me,” he said.

Hope swallowed sudden panic.

But he gave her a hint of a smile and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Have I ever told you that you’re beautiful? Because you are, Hope, inside and out.”

JENNA MINDEL

lives in Northern Michigan with her husband, Steve, their two dogs and one sassy guinea pig named Aunt Bea. She enjoys a career in banking that has spanned over twenty-five years and several positions, but writing is her passion. A 2006 Romance Writers of America RITA® finalist, Jenna has answered her heart’s call to write inspirational romances set near the Great Lakes.

Courting Hope

Jenna Mindel

www.millsandboon.co.uk

There is a time for everything and a season for

every activity under heaven. He has made everything beautiful in its time…

—Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11

To EEC’s very first coed softball team

and our glorious 1-13 season!

What we didn’t win in games, we won in fun!

Acknowledgments:

I’d like to thank Pastor Mark and Tanya Drinkall

for sharing with me their journey and calling

into the ministry. You guys are awesome!

To my agent, Karen Solem,

for not giving up on me.

And my editor, Melissa Endlich,

for giving me another wonderful opportunity

to write for Love Inspired. Thank you both!

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

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Chapter One

Mondays were Hope Petersen’s favorite day. They were quiet days. Mondays helped her forget Sundays, where the family dinner table reminded her of the one person no longer there.

Hope stopped typing to stare out the window of her small office in the lower level of Three Corner Community Church. It’d been almost three years since Sara had died, and she could hear her sister’s voice telling her to get over it already. To move on. Stop trying to fix Mom and Dad and get a boyfriend.

“Fat chance,” Hope muttered.

Working in a small church consumed her time and kept her anchored to the northern Michigan farm community where she’d grown up. It wasn’t easy meeting the right kind of guy.

Hope turned her focus back to updating the church website with the previous Sunday’s sermon. Delivered by an elder on the board who was filling in until they hired a permanent minister, the notes were pretty short. And dull, from the looks of them. She was glad she’d missed it.

“Hello, Hope.”

She knew that deep voice despite not having heard it in years. Hating the shiver that raced through her, Hope balled her hands into fists and looked up.

Sinclair Marsh stood in the doorway of the office, waiting for her response. His mouth lifted into the boyishly crooked smile she remembered well. That smile had always landed him whatever he wanted. That same smile had enticed Sara to follow his reckless, Pied Piper path to her death.

He’d aged. Could be the dark-rimmed glasses he now wore, which made his hazel eyes look like they’d seen too much. It didn’t matter. His simple words of greeting turned her inside out.

“What are you doing here?” Hope’s thick voice came out in a rough whisper.

“You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Her voice grew stronger even though her throat threatened to close up. The church board had been interviewing for months. Surely they hadn’t made their decision while she was gone.

“I’m the new pastor.”

Hope clenched her teeth to keep from saying something she shouldn’t. Too many descriptions came to mind when she thought of Sin Marsh, and pastor wasn’t one of them.

He shifted his stance to make room for Judy Graves. Judy was an elder and longtime member of the church board. The backbone of the church, Judy was their financial guru as well as head of the volunteer program. And Judy happened to be best friends with Hope’s mom.

Hope looked toward Judy. She wanted answers. “I thought you were going with someone named Smythe.”

“I’m plan B.” Sinclair stepped forward as if reminding her of his presence.

As if she’d forget. Why hadn’t they told her?

Judy stared her down, sending strong messages of her own. “I’m giving Pastor Sinclair the tour. He’ll need to see the year-to-date financials, as well as go over day-to-day stuff. I’m going to show him his office so he can get settled in, but I’ll be back.”

With a gaping mouth, Hope watched the two of them leave. Well, her Monday was officially shot! Thoughts spinning, she gulped for air, but the June breeze coming in through the open window wasn’t enough. Suffocation was eminent if she didn’t hightail her way out of there.

Grabbing her purse, Hope headed for her car. She tossed her purse on the passenger seat but didn’t climb in. The wind ruffled her short hair and swirled the folds of her long gauzy skirt against her legs.

Of all the men they could have hired, why Sinclair Marsh? Since when had he come home?

She stared at the ripe hayfields across the road until her vision blurred with memories. Not quite three years ago, her dad’s hayfield had needed its final cut. Hope could smell the sweetness of freshly cut hay—could almost taste the dust kicked up from the tractor. Sara’s laughter rolled through her memory, too. Sara had been so full of laughter.

Hope was supposed to help her sister with that cut, but she’d gone shopping instead for her planned trip to Spain. Hope had landed a job with a worldwide missions organization and could hardly wait to leave.

Besides, Ryan Marsh was Sara’s fiancé and he and Sinclair had come over to lend a hand. Like always, they’d goofed around. Only this time, their antics had ended with Sara dead—crushed under the tractor after it had flipped. Sinclair had mowed a patch of grass into the letter S on the side of a hill, and he’d dared Sara to do the same....

Hope heard footsteps on the tarmac, but she didn’t turn around. If it was Sinclair, she might just let him have it.

“You okay?” Judy touched her shoulder.