Graham Morrison heard the noisy motor long before the
floatplane came into view. He stuck his ax into the top of
the log he'd been splitting with a loud thwack,
removed his gloves and watched the plane circle the
cove and make a graceful landing on the water.
Like other homes and establishments in Port Protection,
Alaska, the small community was accessible only by boat, or
by floatplane. Most people would have found the extreme
isolation on the northern tip of Prince of Wales Island
unbearable. But never once had Graham regretted coming to
Alaska to renovate the fishing lodge his grandfather had
left him.
Port Protection was a safe haven.
For him—and for the daughter he was raising alone.
Graham shoved his gloves into the back pocket of his jeans
and started down the path to the long dock stretching out
below Trail's End Lodge. His place was always the last stop
for the bush pilot on Friday, but today Graham hoped Gil
Hargraves wouldn't try to amuse him with any of his escapades.
Women were always Gil's favorite subject. And Gil never
missed an opportunity to remind Graham what he was missing
staying secluded in Port Protection where the population was
less than one hundred people and where the only single woman
in town was in her late seventies and had outlived three
husbands.
On Gil's last trip he'd supposedly been gearing up for an
amorous weekend with twin sisters from Anchorage. Other men
might enjoy hearing Gil brag about his conquests, but Graham
didn't.
Gil was thirty.
He needed to grow up.
The floatplane came to a stop alongside the dock. Gil
switched off the loud engine, opened the door and swung
himself easily out of the plane. Even Graham could
understand why he didn't have a problem with the ladies. Gil
was better looking than most guys, kept in shape, and Graham
had heard his fifteen-year-old daughter refer to Gil more
than once as wickedly hot.
His daughter referring to any male as
hot—wickedly or otherwise—always made
Graham cringe. Graham prayed Rachel would stay away from
guys like Gil who liked to kiss and tell before moving on to
the next woman.
"You're looking good, Graham," Gil said as he bent
down to secure the plane's tie lead to the dock. He
straightened with a menacing smirk on his face. "In
fact, you don't look a day over forty."
"Don't push it, Gil," Graham warned. "I won't
turn forty until tomorrow. I'm holding on to thirty-nine as
long as I can."
"Well, I brought you one hell of a birthday
present," Gil said, "that's for sure."
"Yeah?" Graham assumed Gil was referring to the log
splitter he'd finally decided to buy rather than continue
splitting wood the hard way. This birthday served to remind
him he wasn't getting any younger. So he'd circled the
splitter in the outdoorsman catalog, and he'd left his
credit card in plain view for his daughter's benefit.
Rachel had obviously taken the hint and made the purchase on
the Internet the way they did their big-item shopping. Her
last words before she left for school were to remind him to
stay near the lodge so he wouldn't miss Gil when the plane
landed with his birthday present.
"Need any help?" Graham quizzed, offering to assist
Gil in unloading.
Gil laughed. "No, but you probably will."
Graham was puzzled by his answer. And he was even more
confused when Gil walked back to the plane and opened the
passenger side door. There were no fishing parties scheduled
for the weekend—a promise he'd made to
Rachel—even though May was a peak month for salmon.
Whether Graham liked it or not, his daughter was throwing
him a big party on Saturday. And Rachel had been so proud of
herself for making the arrangements he hadn't had the heart
to disappoint her.
But what the…?
A tall blonde stepped from the plane.
Skintight jeans tucked into high-heeled boots.
Legs that went on forever.
Gil winked at Graham when he reached for her hand. And
Graham went from confused to downright stunned. She could
have been a model on the cover of a fashion magazine. And
now she was walking in his direction.
Graham didn't say a word when she came to a stop in front of
him. Her high heels brought them almost nose-to-nose, and
her eyes were as blue as the fur-trimmed parka she was wearing.
She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips.
Graham was tempted to kiss her again.
Until she said, "Happy. Birthday. Graham."
Her words were so stilted and robotic Graham took a quick
step backward. And when he looked past her, Gil was standing
at the rear of the plane grinning from ear to ear.
Just last month Gil had told him about a Russian hooker he'd
met in Nome who could barely speak English. And he'd bragged
he could fix Graham up with her on a moment's notice.
So the joke was on him.
Gil had paid the hooker to kiss him for his birthday.
Graham was prepared to be a good sport and laugh the whole
thing off—until Gil unloaded two matching pink
suitcases and placed them on the dock.
"Hey!" Graham called out in a panic and hurried in
Gil's direction.
It would be just like Gil to take the joke too far—to
pay the blonde to give him more than just a birthday kiss.
But damn! Had Gil forgotten there was an impressionable
teenage daughter to consider?
Graham made it to the plane just as Gil was reaching out to
close the cargo bay door. He grabbed Gil by the arm to keep
that from happening.
"Okay, Gil, the joke's over," Graham told him.
"You seem to have forgotten I have a daughter. So pick
up the luggage, get your friend back into the plane
and—"
"Whoa!" Gil said, jerking his arm away. "She
isn't any friend of mine. I've never seen her before."
"This isn't funny," Graham warned.
Gil looked past him for a second. "Your guest doesn't
seem to think this is funny, either."
Graham glanced over his shoulder.
The frown on her face sent a shiver up his spine.
"Wait right here," he told Gill.
Gil shook his head. "No way. I have a hot date with a
redhead in Ketchikan tonight and I'm already behind
schedule. The blonde is your problem. I'll be back to pick
her up on Monday when I drop off your guests for next week."
Graham took a threatening step forward. "Don't be a
wiseass, Gil. I have no idea who this woman is. And she
certainly can't stay here all weekend."
Gil peered around him again. "Don't you be a dumb
ass, Graham. Whoever she is, she's a knockout, man. And
you've got a big lodge with a bunch of empty rooms for her
to choose from. If you don't know her, get to know her.
That's what I'd do."
"I'm not you," Graham said between clenched teeth.
"Your loss," Gil said and bent down to unfasten the
tie lead.
"I mean it, Gil," Graham said. "Don't you leave
this dock until I get this straightened out."
Graham turned and walked in the blonde's direction. He was
midway to where she stood when the sound of the noisy engine
coming back to life jerked Graham's head around.
"Dammit, Gil!"
Gil's reply was a final salute before he sped across the
cove. Two seconds later the only chance Graham had of his
birthday present leaving before Monday lifted into the air.
Two seconds more and the plane flew around the cove and
disappeared out of sight.
Graham looked over his shoulder again. Now she had her hands
on her hips. And she didn't look one bit happy.
That made two of them.
When the floatplane left without her, the first thought that
crossed Courtney Woods's mind was tojumpoff the dock and
start swimming to the mainland. And she might have done just
that had she not been so upset with the man walking up the
dock in her direction.
She obviously didn't measure up to Graham Morrison's
standards. She'd seen the shocked look on his face the
second she stepped off the plane.
But did she really look so different in person than she did
in her pictures? Or was Graham one of those guys who only
got into the fantasy part of an online relationship? Now
that she was actually standing on his dock in the flesh, all
of the interest was gone.
But why send her the airplane ticket?
Why invite her to his birthday party tomorrow?
Why lie to her on so many different levels?
What a disaster!
Had her best friend Beth not given her a membership to an
online dating service for her birthday as a joke, Courtney
never would have known about a Web site called
LoveFromAlaska.com. And she certainly wouldn't have been
suckered by the man walking toward her now, who had
obviously changed his mind.
But turning thirty-five had hit her like the big wrecking
ball she'd used in one of her most successful ad campaigns.
And the catchy slogan she'd come up with for the career
placement service had been: "Break out of your
going-nowhere life."
For once, Courtney had taken her own advice.
And what had it gotten her? A trip all the way across
country only to be rejected by the very man who had invited
her to come.
Still, Courtney thought, what a shame.
She'd been so sure Graham Morrison was the real thing.
He stopped in front of her. And as luck would have it, he
was even better looking in person. Thick, black
hair. Rock-hard body. Dark brown eyes she could easily get
lost in.
He cleared his throat and said, "There's obviously been
some mistake here."
"You think?" Courtney shot back.
He seemed surprised by her sarcasm.
"It's also obvious you can hear every word I'm
saying," Courtney said. "Why would you lie about
something so serious, Graham? Why would you say you lost
your hearing in an explosion while you were clearing land
for the lodge?"
"What?" he bellowed back at her.
Courtney's eyes narrowed. "Well, isn't this convenient?
You miraculously have your hearing back, but now you've lost
your memory!"
"Now, look here," he began.
"No, you look here," Courtney told him. "Are you
really going to stand there and pretend we haven't been
corresponding on the Internet since February? That you
didn't invite me to your birthday party tomorrow? And that
you didn't pay for my airplane ticket to get here?"
Before he could answer, Courtney dug into her purse and
pulled out the card that had finally made her decide to come
to Alaska.
Don't you think it's time we met? Say yes, and come to my
birthday party. Love from Alaska, Graham.
Courtney shoved the card into his hands. "I guess you
also didn't send me this card when you mailed me the
itinerary for my e-ticket."
He frowned. "This is my daughter's handwriting."
"Rachel wrote that?"
Now he looked concerned. "How do you know Rachel?"
Courtney snatched the card back. "You know perfectly
well how I know Rachel. She calls me every night."
Or did he know that?
The thought made Courtney gasp.
He kept staring at her.
And Courtney said, "You really don't know who I am, do
you?"
"No," he said. "Who are you?"
Courtney needed to sit down.
But there was nowhere to sit!
"I'm Courtney Woods," she finally told him. "The
idiot who's been corresponding with your daughter pretending
to be you."
His expression said he'd figured that out already.
He headed down the dock for her suitcases. When he returned,
he said, "I'm sorry, but that was—"
"The last flight out of here until Monday," Courtney
finished for him.
He nodded.
"And there aren't any hotels in Port Protection."
"No," he confirmed, "there aren't."
"So, basically I guess that means—"
"It means you can stay at the lodge until Monday."
He'd saved her from saying "you're stuck with me."
But they both knew that's what he was thinking.
He motioned toward the path leading to the lodge. "Let's
go inside," he said. "I'll make some coffee while we
sort this out."
Lace my cup with strychnine, Courtney prayed. All
she wanted to do was curl into a ball and die!
Graham took their coffee cups to the kitchen for a refill,
trying to process everything Courtney had told him so far.
She said Rachel had contacted her on an online dating Web
site. And the minute Courtney said she was an advertising
executive from New York City, Graham knew exactly why
Courtney was the one Rachel had picked.
Rachel had been furious with him for months now because he
refused to let her return to New York to finish high school.
She'd even dragged his parents and her mother's parents into
the fight. Both sets of grandparents promised she could live
with either of them and they would take good care of her.
Graham simply wasn't willing to take that chance.
Rachel was his responsibility. She was staying in Port
Protection and that was final. Having his parents and his
former in-laws irritated with him was old news.
But he blamed himself for not paying more attention to what
his soon-to-be-punished daughter was doing on the Internet.
And he also realized he shouldn't have dismissed Rachel's
accusation that he didn't want her to have a life because he
didn't have a life of his own.