Love So Divine: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Wondrous Love Series, Book 2) Read online

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

  Love So Divine is © 2016 by JoAnn Durgin. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce in whole or in part in any form or medium.

  All Scripture contained within is from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

  By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, 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 the author.

  Cover Design/Modification: MaxCovers

  About the Author

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  In addition to Love So Divine, JoAnn Durgin is the author of the beloved Lewis Legacy Series of contemporary Christian romantic adventures, as well as Prelude, the prequel to the series. JoAnn’s stand-alone novels include Catching Serenity and Heart’s Design. Her short novels include Love So Amazing (The Wondrous Love Series, Book 1), Perchance to Dream, Echoes of Edinburgh, and the popular Starlight Christmas Series.

  A former estate administration paralegal, JoAnn is now a full-time contemporary Christian romance author. She loves nothing more than sharing the hope, grace, and mercy to be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After living in various states across the country over the past 25 years, JoAnn lives with her husband, Jim, three children, and first grandchild, in her native southern Indiana.

  JoAnn loves to hear from her readers! Please feel free to contact her via her website (link below) or on her Author JoAnn Durgin page on Facebook.

  Website:

  www.joanndurgin.com

  ~~♥~~

  At the end of this novel, you will find more information about Love So Amazing, Book 1 of The Wondrous Love Series, the love story of Ava Carlisle and Sawyer Mancini. Please take a peek at the book cover and description of Book 3, By Grace Draw Near, releasing in late October 2016.

  From the Author

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  Chase Landers, my hero in Love So Divine, is a youth pastor in a tough inner-city area. This book is dedicated with thanks and appreciation to the men and women who serve in full-time and part-time ministry, and especially those who work with teenagers in youth ministry.

  My husband, Jim, served as a full-time youth pastor for a number of years. The unique challenges of working with impressionable teenagers are many, but the rewards are one of God’s richest blessings. These precious young people seek what all of us desire in today’s uncertain world—the assurance that their opinions matter, and that they are loved, valued, and needed. Most importantly, they need to know they have the best kind of lifelong friend in Jesus Christ.

  My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you will always seek an even deeper personal faith, rich in the grace, hope, and abundant love to be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ…a love indeed so amazing and divine.

  Blessings,

  JoAnn Durgin

  Matthew 5:16

  Love So Divine

  Book Description

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  The ballerina and the inner-city youth pastor.

  She’s known privilege.

  He’s known hardship.

  Her dad builds casinos.

  His dad battles a gambling addiction.

  How can it possibly work?

  A little divine intervention.

  After a rough childhood in Chicago, youth pastor Chase Landers loves his work with inner-city kids in Indianapolis. His prayers to find a woman who can handle the demands and stress of a man called to full-time ministry have gone unanswered. Resigned to bachelorhood, he pours his heart and soul into his work.

  Heather Montague grew up with privilege but despises the way her father made his millions. Gutsy and smart, she’s found success as a principal dancer with the Indianapolis City Ballet. After a string of failed romances, she’s given up on finding a man unless God plants one right in front of her and makes it clear that he’s the one.

  When this Best Man and Maid of Honor get to know one another during the wedding festivities for their friends, Sawyer Mancini and Ava Carlisle, neither one can imagine a future together in spite of a strong mutual attraction. Raised in opposite worlds, Chase and Heather are determined to resist one another. But it seems the Almighty—not to mention their friends—might have other plans.

  Will pursuing a relationship lead to eventual heartache…or the kind of love to last a lifetime?

  Love So Divine

  Scripture Verses

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  Ecclesiastes 4:12

  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

  Matthew 18:21-22

  21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

  John 3:16

  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

  John 14:6

  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

  1 Corinthians 13 – The Excellence of Love

  13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

  4Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

  8Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.

  11When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

  13But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

  2 Corinthians 5:17

  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

  Philippians 3:14

  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

  Philippians 4:8

  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is
any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

  Hebrews 4:12

  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

  James 3:8

  But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

  Chapter 1

  ~~♥~~

  “You can do this.” Heather Montague narrowed her eyes and focused on her target.

  She normally self-coached from behind a red curtain while waiting to take the stage. Not standing in the middle of a basement supply closet.

  “Oh, just get on with it already.” With one eye on the top shelf, Heather lifted on her toes and stretched. Success! No jumping required. This was one of those times when being 5’ 10” was an advantage. After grabbing hold of the sleeve of clear plastic cups, she pulled them down as heavy footsteps sounded on the basement stairs. Male footsteps based on the plunkety plunkety plunk. Plunk.

  Chase Landers bounded into view. When he spied her, he stopped and planted both hands on either side of the narrow doorway.

  “Hi there, Maid of Honor.” In contrast to his usual more serious demeanor, his manner tonight was relaxed—as casual and lived-in as his stonewashed jeans and medium blue sweater. A white T-shirt peeked out at the collar.

  “Hey, Best Man.” Heather forced her gaze away from the piercing clarity of those gorgeous blue eyes or she might just stare at the man. Have mercy. In many ways, Chase was not a man to be ignored.

  If only she could.

  This is dangerous. She should scoot around him and march right up those stairs. In the past couple of months, they’d worked together to plan and miraculously pull off the surprise Jack & Jill wedding shower for their friends, Ava Carlisle and Sawyer Mancini. Aside from light teasing banter here and there, they’d kept their conversations to more impersonal subjects. Today, their friendship had taken a new direction. The air between them had been charged with attraction, and they’d shared more than a few lingering glances at the church rehearsal and then at dinner.

  Flirting, Heather. Call it what it is. When the groom’s sister, Allie, invited the immediate family and the wedding party back to her house for a final run-through of details, how could she resist?

  “Allie asked me to come down and get…”

  “Let me guess. These fruity cups?” Heather dangled the package in front of him. “Allie sent me down here for the same thing five minutes ago. She must have thought I was taking too long or got lost.” Her voice faded. “Or…something.”

  “Fruity cups?” The corners of Chase’s mouth twitched. “Is that the same thing as punch cups?”

  “I think so. They’re plastic but look like they’re embossed with fruit around the top edge.” Twisting the tie off the bag, Heather pulled out a cup and held it up for his inspection. “Here, take a look. It’s really quite a feat of plastic engineering.”

  The closet grew significantly smaller as Chase ducked his head and stepped inside. His tall frame and broad shoulders consumed most of the available space. Strong features. Short blond hair. Neatly trimmed beard. His healthy, sun-kissed skin in the middle of February bore witness to his love of the outdoors.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” he said. “As long as they don’t leak, I’m good.”

  “Function over form guy, huh?” Heather stuffed the cup back in the bag.

  “Depends on the subject.”

  They both turned as the closet door closed. Then the light extinguished, leaving them in total darkness. Not even a sliver of light seeped through the bottom of the door. A second door on the floor above them closed, most likely the door leading from the kitchen down the stairs to the basement.

  “Well, that was interesting.” Heather frowned. “Was it just me or did you hear giggling?”

  “Yep. High-pitched and girlish.” Chase twisted the doorknob a few times. “Locked. Somehow, I’m not surprised. You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?”

  “Not at all. I’m not claustrophobic either. You?”

  “No,” he said. “My fears are more tangible.”

  “Like what?” She couldn’t imagine anyone or anything intimidating Chase.

  “Alligators and man-eating sharks come to mind.”

  “Human sharks or those of the fish variety?”

  “What?” He sounded distracted and his arm brushed hers as he moved around in the small space.

  “The man-eating sharks?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Strike that. Dumb question.”

  “I stay away from sharks. Of any variety. Period. Do you know if there’s a string to pull or a light switch in here somewhere?”

  “I don’t think so. That’d be too easy. I flipped the switch on the wall outside the closet on my way in.”

  When Heather took a step forward, she collided with Chase’s solid chest and caught a whiff of his masculine, soap-and-water clean scent. She swayed a bit.

  Now you’re being ridiculous.

  “Sorry. Are you okay?” Little could Chase know his close proximity threw off her equilibrium. Big time. And being off-balance was especially unsettling for a dancer.

  “I’m fine,” Heather assured him. “You know, this smacks of Sawyer’s handiwork. Like an adult version of hide-and-seek. Whoever finds us first gets a free ride in one of his pedicabs or something. I say we call him and demand he release us from captivity.”

  “Would if I could, but Sophia has my phone,” Chase said. “There’s a game on it she likes to play.” He was standing close enough for Heather to feel the warmth emanating from him. While she needed to resist him, being locked in a small, dark closet with the man wasn’t helping. If anything, she was more aware of him than ever before.

  “I left my cell phone in my purse.” She rested one hand on her hip. “I guess I didn’t figure on being stuck in a basement closet and needing my phone to rescue me.”

  “This is classic. Someone’s set us up, but I’m sure Sawyer’s not behind it. He’d come up with something more original. The gigglers are the most likely suspects for this little matchmaking stunt.”

  “Why would Sophia and Katie want to set us up?”

  “I’m sure you can figure it out,” he said. “Starting with—”

  “That’s okay. I was only thinking out loud.” She should have known better than to ask.

  “For starters, we’re both single, God fearing, live in the same city…”

  Heather’s feeble protest died on her lips. The youth pastor apparently didn’t listen too well.

  “…and we’re near the same age. Doesn’t take much more than that, does it?”

  She frowned. “I suppose, but that’s a bit simplistic, isn’t it? If that’s your nice way of asking how old I am, I’m 25.”

  “Notice I didn’t say you’re available. And I’m 29, not that you asked. Let me rephrase. You’re a beautiful woman who, as I understand it, hasn’t been on a date in over a year—of your own volition—because you’ve sworn off finding a man.”

  “What?” Heather wasn’t sure whether to laugh or strangle Ava as soon as she got out of this closet. Strike that. That sounded more like the groom-to-be than Ava. In spite of it all, her pulse skipped a few beats. More than a few.

  “All I’m saying is that your insistence on not finding a man makes you a challenge,” he said. “And you know how people always love a good challenge.”

  “Not helping, Preacher Man. Not that I don’t appreciate the compliment you slipped in there.”

  “That’s Best Man to you, and you’re welcome. I call them as I see them. Or hear them.” What she didn’t expect was his deep, hearty chuckle. Chase had a great laugh when he allowed himself the privilege. A girl could easily get used to that laugh.

  “You’re a youth pastor, so I’m sure you preach on occasion. The way I see it, the title fits. So, tell me. What’s your s
tory?”

  “About what?”

  “Don’t play coy, Chase. Why aren’t you currently dating the future Mrs. Chase Landers?” Heather jumped when a box fell on the floor, scattering its contents over her boot-covered feet. “What was that?”

  “I wasn’t trying to be coy, and I think I found the plastic utensils. Sorry. I hope they didn’t attack you. I promise I’m not usually dangerous to be around.”

  “I’m happy to report no plastic knives attacked me. At least the box was lightweight. I’ll see if I can’t get some of them scooped up and back in the box.” Heather lowered to her knees on the cold basement floor.

  “Leave them until we can see what we’re doing,” Chase said. “I don’t want to risk you getting hurt. Or me stumbling over you.”

  “Too late. I’m already on the ground so you’d best stay put. Ouch.” She wrung her hand after the sharp tine of a plastic fork stabbed her beneath a fingernail. “There’s wisdom in what you say. Fair warning: I’m coming back up again now.”

  Chase’s hand landed on her shoulder. After a brief silence, he grunted. “Please tell me that’s your shoulder or I owe you a whopper of an apology.”

  Heather bit down on her lower lip so she wouldn’t laugh. “No apology needed. I can manage, thanks. I’m still waiting for your answer to my question.”

  She thought she heard him sigh. Maybe discussing his love life wasn’t the best subject.

  “I haven’t found anyone who fits the qualifications or wants to apply for the job of being the future Mrs. Chase Landers. Your words, remember. Not mine.”