If You Believe in Me

By Natalie J. Damschroder

He made a promise he intends to keep...

Three years ago, Amber Benedict fell in love with Kale Riker and pledged to wait for him to return from the military. Even though she rarely hears from him, she’s steadfast in her belief: he’s coming home to her, and soon. Then the government tells Kale’s family that he’s missing in action, and they have given him up for dead.

Kale Riker has been away from civilization and Amber for three long years. He’s been promised he can retire his commission when he completes his current mission, but now he’s seriously wounded and facing a long recovery. Worse still, security risks force a communications blackout, leaving him no way to let Amber know he's alive.

Can Amber hold out against an entire town pushing her to give up on love while Kale fights to get back home to her before Christmas?

Previously released on Entangled’s Flirt imprint - December 2012.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Dec 17, 2012
• ISBN: 9781622668694

Natalie J. Damschroder

Natalie J. Damschroder hasn’t done anything remotely worthy of bio documentation in a very long time, unless you count making up the romantic adventures that her characters live out in her books. She loves combining end-of-the-world stakes with the relationships that make those stakes personal. Love with a Shot of Adrenaline has infused nearly every story she’s published. Whether you like quick reads you can finish in a day or sinking into longer books, you’ll find something to satisfy your craving for action, romance, and happy endings. She also writes paranormal young adult romance as NJ Damschroder, where all of the same elements apply. Learn more at njdamschroder.com.Besides her dozens of published books and the awards some of them have won, what Natalie is most proud of is her family. She and her husband have been married over 30 years and still have the kind of partnership she makes her characters fight for every day. They’ve raised two awesome kids now living their own fulfilling lives, which you would think would mean she’d write more books faster. But she’s enjoying reading, relaxing with good TV, and sleeping too much to give any of that up. In the fall and winter, almost nothing will keep her from cheering on her New England Patriots, even though they don’t win as much anymore. Visit her website at nataliedamschroder.com to learn more about her books and sign up for her newsletter.

Book preview

He made a promise he intends to keep...

Three years ago, Amber Benedict fell in love with Kale Riker and pledged to wait for him to return from the military. Even though she rarely hears from him, she’s steadfast in her belief: he’s coming home to her, and soon. Then the government tells Kale’s family that he’s missing in action, and they have given him up for dead.

Kale Riker has been away from civilization and Amber for three long years. He’s been promised he can retire his commission when he completes his current mission, but now he’s seriously wounded and facing a long recovery. Worse still, security risks force a communications blackout, leaving him no way to let Amber know he’s alive.

Can Amber hold out against an entire town pushing her to give up on love while Kale fights to get back home to her before Christmas?

Previously released on Entangled’s Flirt imprint—December 2012.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

About the Author

Also by Natalie J. Damschroder...

A Kiss of Revenge

Hearts Under Siege

Under the Moon

Heavy Metal

Sunroper

Discover more Entangled Select Contemporary titles…

Second Chance Christmas

Opening Act

Healing Her Heart

Cursed by Cupid

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Natalie J. Damschroder. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Select Contemporary is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Kerri-Leigh Grady

Cover design by LJ Anderson

Cover art from 123RF

ISBN 978-1-62266-869-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition December 2012

This story is dedicated to all of the men and women who have served this country, with special thanks to the following:

My father and stepmother, Sergeant Charles Jacobus and Sergeant Patricia Jacobus, United States Air Force (Honorably Discharged)

My brother, Spc Peter Jacobus, United States Army

My little cousin DJ, Army Spc David S. Stelmat, killed in action while serving as a medic in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom

and United States Air Force Colonel Marc DiPaolo, extended family

Huge thanks to my editor, Kerri-Leigh Grady, for telling me everything I got wrong, and to her husband CDR Jody Grady for feeding her all the details we needed to make it as close to right as we could and still do what I wanted to do.

Chapter One

Amber hummed a Christmas carol into the frigid evening air, her boots thudding on the snow-dusted steps of the Rikers’ front porch. She shifted the grocery bag to her left arm to unlock the door and grunted when her tote slid off her right shoulder. She could almost hear Kale’s chuckle as he teased her for not making two trips to the car, and the longing that swelled her throat killed the desire to sing.

She swallowed hard and tugged off her mitten, catching the keys before they fell. Kale’s parents were still at work, but she’d wanted a head start making their traditional week-before-the-holiday dinner—if two years in a row could be considered a tradition. They might not have heard from Kale for six months, but if they were able to talk to him wherever he was stationed right now, she didn’t want to be tied to the stove.

Plus, the more she had ready before they got home, the more she could relax with the couple that had become her surrogate parents in the last couple of years. She shivered at a gust of wind, slid the key into the deadbolt, and paused. If it turns without sticking, he’s safe and coming home to us.

Her spirits lifted when it did, the song returning with a new lilt. She br-rrred and quickly closed the door behind her, careful to keep her feet on the woven runner while she toed off her boots. Halfway through, she froze, her humming fading into silence. Something was wrong.

The Rikers always had their artificial tree up by today, exactly one week before Christmas. But that corner of the room stood empty and shadowed. No lights twinkled along the mantle. Her nose wrinkled at the house’s chill staleness. Even when they were at work, the house always greeted her with scents of fresh pine from the boughs climbing the banister and spice from clove-studded oranges and gingerbread candles. Why hadn’t they decorated yet?

She tried to shrug off her uneasiness and headed toward the kitchen. Hopefully, no one was sick. She hadn’t talked to them in a couple of days, but they would have told her to reschedule if something had come up. Okay, they were humoring her a little. She knew her insistence on doing everything the same way wouldn’t guarantee anything. Kale had been here the first