Alaska Twilight
Praise for Alaska Twilight
“[
Alaska Twilight
is] Colleen Coble’s greatest romantic suspense yet! Coble has woven a carefully-plotted, suspenseful story with characters who will stay with you long after you close the book. An added bonus? Expect a surprise appearance by Coble’s most beloved characters! This book is a must read for any suspense reader! I give it my highest rating!”
—RobinMillerBooks.com
“Take multiple, seemingly unconnected yet interwoven plot lines, throw in a splash of romance, a summer in the Alaskan bush, and a thumbprint of beloved pets—and you get Colleen Cobl’s latest release,
Alaska Twilight
.”
—armchairinterviews.com
“Get ready for a wild ride into the depths of the Alaskan wilderness. Colleen Coble knows how to tighten the tension until you’re ready to scream.”
—Hannah Alexander, author of
Fair Warning
“Colleen has done it again . . .
Alaska Twilight
is a delightful mix of faith, love, and the hardship of walking out the two. If you’re a suspense fan, you’ll love the fact that you won’t see this one coming.”
—Wanda Dyson, author of
Abduction, Obsession
, and
Intimidation
“Colleen Coble’s Alaska setting is like an outback adventure without ever leaving the comfort (or warmth) of your own home. The reality will make you feel like there’s a grizzly breathing heavily over your peaceful night’s rest. Suspense, romance, and adventure, this one has it all.”
—Kristin Billerbeck, author of
What a Girl Wants
and
She’s All That
“Colleen Coble will keep you glued to each page as she shows you the beauty of God’s most primitive land and the dangers it hides.”
—romancejunkies.com
“Alaska Twilight
reels us into a world where plot, character, and details combine to create a story so rich we can feel the wind off the glaciers. This is Colleen Coble at her best.”
—Lois Richer, author of
Secrets of the Rose
“Packed with spine-tingling adventure from start to finish,
Alaska Twilight
is my favorite Colleen Coble book yet! Captivating characters and a breathtaking plot make this an award-winning novel you won’t be able to put down!”
—Diann Hunt, author of
Hot Flashes & Cold Cream
“Alaska Twilight
begins as the ultimate adventure, but soon it winds into a thrilling suspense. Colorful, compelling characters set in an untamed wilderness that is filled with beauty and danger will keep you turning the page and begging for more.”
—DiAnn Mills, author of
When the Lion Roars
“
Alaska Twilight
delivers with rich detail, intriguing mysteries, nail-biting suspense, and fascinating characters. The wilderness—especially the bears—are incredible, made so genuine by Coble’s fine prose and deft storytelling.”
—Kathryn Mackel, author of
Outriders
“Alaska Twilight
captured me with its intrigue, compelling characters, and rugged setting. Poignant and full of page-turning suspense—I couldn’t put it down!”
—Susan May Warren, award-winning author of
Expect the Sunrise
“A high-suspense page-turner.”
—Lyn Cote, author of
The Women of Ivy Manor
“Coble . . . takes us on a dangerous trek through the beautiful Alaskan wilderness and introduces us to characters we can’t help but love. A suspenseful tale of murder and romance,
Alaska
Twilight
grabs you by the heart and won’t let go until you finish the last page.”
—Denise Hunter, author of
Finding Faith
“Colleen Coble’s talent for evoking a sense of place shines in
Alaska Twilight.
You’ll feel like you’ve been to the Land of the Midnight Sun in this story where the shadows of the past reach out to overlap the present.”
—Carol Cox, author of
Sagebrush Brides
“Filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance in the Alaskan wilderness,
Alaska Twilight
is Coble’s best romantic suspense yet. A must-read for a long winter’s night!”
—Linda Windsor, award-winning author of the Moonstruck Series
Copyright © 2006 by Colleen Coble
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc. titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Scripture quotation is from The New King James Version
®
, © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coble, Colleen.
Alaska Twilight/Colleen Coble.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-5955-4083-0 (trade paper)
ISBN-10: 1-59554-348-1 (mass market)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59554-348-6 (mass market)
1. Alaska—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3553.O2285A79 2006
813'.54—dc22
2005023316
Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 11 QW 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
For my friend and editor Ami McConnell,
who has taught me so much about the craft of writing
T
he tang of wood smoke and the scent of salt from Cook Inlet mixed as the breeze rolled in from the Gulf of Alaska. He sniffed appreciatively, then moved forward through wet leaves. He carried the can of kerosene toward the small cabin. A sound alerted him, and he shrank behind a spruce tree as the girl came hurrying down the path with her fishing pole slung over her shoulder. Her blond braids flying in the wind, she hurtled past within two feet of where he stood. As soon as she rounded the bend to the lake, he tightened his grip on the can and stepped onto the path again.
At least the girl was out of the way. She was an innocent in all this, and the fact she would be spared salved his conscience. He peered into the cabin window and saw the couple still asleep in bed. He narrowed his eyes and began to splash kerosene onto the weathered logs. The stink of the chemical opened his sinuses, and he stifled a cough.
The early morning chill pierced his shirt. He shook the last drops from his can, then set it down and drew out the box of matches. He pulled one out and struck it. As it flared to life, he stared at the flicker of flame. Did he have the courage to do what must be done? Even if he didn’t, the consequences would be dire. With sudden decision, he threw it into the pool of kerosene and watched it ignite. When the wall began to blaze, he positioned himself by the front door with his rifle in case the couple managed to escape the flames. He needn’t have feared though. The smoke overcame them before they could stumble from bed.
He collected the can and turned to leave, and his gaze connected with a woman’s. Leigh stood on a hillside in the woods, her green eyes wide. On any other day she would have smiled at him. Today, she backed away. His sense of regret was keen as he advanced toward her to explain.
S
talwart, Alaska. Population 301. Haley Walsh laid down her itinerary and looked down from the small plane in which she flew to see its shadow moving over the treetops—a forest of spruce, birch, and alder. Snow melted in puddles and revealed muddy land springing to new life in the lengthening days. Then the shadow caressed Stalwart, a tiny collection of cabins and storefronts. Even though it was April, the temperature wasn’t more than forty degrees in this Land of the Midnight Sun, though she’d heard tomorrow would be warmer.
“It says here that Alaska has ten million lakes and a hundred thousand glaciers,” Haley’s grandmother said. At seventy years of age, Augusta Walsh’s blue eyes sparkled with warm liveliness and curiosity. Most people guessed her age to be in the fifties, and her blond pageboy made her look like an older Doris Day, a resemblance she generally played to the hilt. “There are immense areas that have never had a human footprint, and thousands of mountains that have never been climbed.”
Augusta’s awed pronouncements just served to deepen Haley’s fear. She swallowed hard and tried not to look down at the vast wilderness that yawned below her. The plane dipped, the lake below grew closer, and then the tiny craft touched the water. The plane glided to a stop beside a rickety pier that jutted into the water like an accusing finger.
“Let’s go, go, go,” Kipp Nowak bellowed. Everyone in the plane jumped at the sound of his foghorn voice, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Only five feet five, his voice was the only large thing about him. Bruno Magli boots encased his small, slender feet, and his dark hair had been spiked into a careless style that would have suited a twenty-year-old but just deepened the lines around his blue eyes. He looked better on film than in real life.
Haley had watched his documentaries on TV for years. His antics with bears in Yellowstone had captured the American imagination for nearly a decade. Now she was going to take pictures of his next adventure herself. He’d maintained his adventurer’s image by picking them up in Anchorage and piloting them out here himself. She settled back against the seat and pulled her camera, a Nikon f/5, up to her face. She adjusted the aperture to compensate for the glare of the glass, then snapped a few shots at the wilderness outside the plane. The familiar whir and click of the camera made her feel less out of her element, though her hands were still clammy.
“That’s it, boys and girls. Your last glimpse of civi- lization for now.” Kipp rubbed his hands together. “For the next few weeks, bears will be your companions. I’ve been here for a month with Tank Lassiter to get the lay of the land as the bears emerged from their dens. Now that the wildflowers are ready to bloom, it’s time to shoot. There are a couple of bears I’m eager to show you yet today.”