>
Praise for
CATHERINE PALMER
and her novels
“Catherine Palmer pens a page-turner with a…thought-provoking plot.”
— Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Fatal Harvest
“Palmer knows how to write about a sensitive subject with wisdom and kindness.”
— Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Thread of Deceit
“Marked by top-notch writing and sweeping drama.”
— Library Journal on The Briton
“Veteran romance writer Palmer…delivers a satisfying tale of mother-daughter dynamics sprinkled with romance.”
— Library Journal on Leaves of Hope
“Enjoyable…Faith fiction fans will find this novel just their cup of tea.”
— Publishers Weekly Religion Bookline on Leaves of Hope
“Believable characters tug at heartstrings, and God’s power to change hearts and lives is beautifully depicted.”
— Romantic Times BOOKreviews on “Christmas in My Heart” in That Christmas Feeling
“ Love’s Haven is a glorious story that was wonderfully told…. Catherine Palmer did a stand-up job of describing each scene and creating a world which no reader will want to leave.”
— Cataromance Reviews
Christy Award-Winning Author
Stranger In The Night
Catherine Palmer
A Haven Novel
MILLS & BOON
Before you start reading, why not sign up?
Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!
Or simply visit
Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.
To the refugees in Clarkston, Georgia,
who have brought such joy into my life.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to those who shared stories of their work with refugees. In particular, I’m grateful to Tim Cummins, Terry Earl, Bennett Ekandem, Kim Kimbrell and all the caseworkers and other staff at World Relief. May God bless each of you. As always, my gratitude to my husband is boundless. Thank you for reading every word—sometimes more than once. I love you, Tim.
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land,
you shall not do him wrong.
The stranger who sojourns with you
shall be to you as the native among you,
and you shall love him as yourself…
I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 19:33–34
“Come, you who are blessed by the Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.
For…I was a stranger,
and you took me in.”
— Jesus Christ
Matthew 25:34–35
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
Questions for Discussion
Chapter One
S weat dampening the wrinkled sheet beneath him, Joshua Duff counted the spurts of AK-47 bullets hitting the front door. The first round slipped into his nightmare—house check on a nameless street in Kabul. A search for insurgents. Dread crawled through him like a snake, twining around his neck, suffocating him as he crept forward in the heat. Faces stared at him, brown eyes luminous beneath long, fringed black lashes. Mouths smiled, lips parting over missing teeth. Hands reached out, fingers extended.
Friend? Or enemy?
The second round of staccato hammering woke Joshua from the troubled dream. The strangled breaths were his own. Jerking upright, he reached for a gun that wasn’t there. The smell of gym shoes, basketballs, dusty concrete caught in his nostrils. This was not his barracks.
Or
