Force of Nature. Dana Mentink

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      STORMY REUNION

      Pulled from the waves and gasping for air, the last person Antonia Verde expects to be her rescuer is Reuben Sandoval. He may once have been the love of her life, but his drug-smuggling brother ruined their chance of happiness. Now with a storm blowing in, Rueben’s island hotel is her only refuge. Soon they find themselves trapped on the island with a killer in the midst of a dangerous hurricane. Antonia’s life is in Rueben’s hands—can she trust him with her heart, as well?

      Stormswept: Finding true love in the midst of nature’s fury

      The pull of the tide was strong, but so was she.

      She sloshed out to deeper water and paddled past the sheltered cove. In the distance, the swaying cabbage palms that dotted Isla Marsopa bent under the increasing pressure of the storm. The familiar twinge twisted her gut as she thought about her past with Reuben Sandoval, exploring that tiny paradise.

      Keep swimming, she told herself fiercely. Paralleling the shore, she fought the tumbling waves, making her arduous way up the coast, intermittently treading water to preserve her strength. In the distance, she caught sight of the dock where Reuben kept his beloved boat, and for a painful moment, she wondered if he had painted over the name on the stern, Black-Eyed Beauty, his nickname for her.

      Over the cresting foam, she caught a glimpse of a Jet Ski moving slowly, the driver twisting his head around as if he was looking for something.

      Not something. Her nerves sizzled.

      Someone.

      Her.

      DANA MENTINK

      lives in California, where the weather is golden and the cheese divine. Her family includes two girls (affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo). Papa Bear works for the fire department; he met Dana doing a dinner theater production of The Velveteen Rabbit. Ironically, their parts were husband and wife.

      Dana is a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year finalist for romantic suspense and an award winner in the Pacific Northwest Writers Literary Contest. Her novel Betrayal in the Badlands won a 2010 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award. She has enjoyed writing a mystery series for Barbour Books and more than ten novels to date for the Love Inspired Suspense line.

      She spent her college years competing in speech and debate tournaments all around the country. Besides writing, she busies herself teaching elementary school and reviewing books for her blog. Mostly, she loves to be home with her family, including a dog with social-anxiety problems, a chubby box turtle and a quirky parakeet.

      Dana loves to hear from her readers via her website, at www.danamentink.com.

      Force of Nature

      Dana Mentink

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.

      —Psalms 107:29

      To the brave men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard.

      Semper Paratus

      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

       DEAR READER

       QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

       EXCERPT

      ONE

      Something about the man silhouetted on the dock made Antonia Verde’s body hum with tension. His aviator sunglasses caught the waning Florida sunlight as he peered at his sleek cell phone, his mop of sandy hair tousled around his face by a steady breeze. No different than any other tourist basking in the warmth of a late November afternoon, Antonia told herself, eyeing him from the beach below.

      The waves, green-gold and fueled by an approaching storm, slapped at her ankles. The air held a sharp scent of rain, roiling clouds speckling the white sand with shadows. Perhaps it was the threat of inclement weather that made her jumpy. But it was an incoming tropical storm, nothing