Читать книгу To Alaska, With Love - Lori Wilde - Страница 12
ОглавлениеKAY FREEMONT WAS coming to Bear Creek. Quinn still couldn’t quite get his head around the notion. To think, in less than an hour, that cool, sleek beauty would be strolling the streets of his hometown.
The notion was enough to give a man the shakes. He wasn’t quite prepared for the reality of her visit, and yet he didn’t feel as if he could wait another second, much less sixty minutes or more.
She had already arrived in Anchorage, and Mack had flown out to retrieve her. Quinn could scarcely sit still. He had reserved the best room for her at Jake’s B&B and arranged for her to borrow his parents’ extra vehicle. Since his mother had slipped on ice and broken her right ankle the week before, she wouldn’t need the old Wagoneer, anyway. He’d stocked his refrigerator with supplies, planning to cook a few meals for her. Quinn was proud of his culinary abilities and couldn’t wait to show off for her.
And he was hoping against hope that his wildest dreams might come true and they could finish what they started in New York City. He had stopped by Leonard Long Bear’s sundries store and picked up a box of condoms, a bottle of massage oil and edible body paints. Bear Creek might be small but because of the cruise ship trade, Long Bear’s had to be prepared for every kind of request. Especially those of a confidential nature.
Unfortunately Quinn’s private business hadn’t remained private for long. By lunchtime at least half a dozen townspeople had kidded him about the naughty thoughts running through his mind.
Fine. Let them talk. He wasn’t ashamed of his sexuality. Particularly since he hadn’t had sex in more than eighteen months.
He hoped he could keep himself under control. He wanted to please Kay as much as he wanted to be pleasured. That kiss they’d shared atop the Empire State Building told him she was as hungry for physical love as he.
He couldn’t wait to taste those lips again, to caress her soft flesh, to run his fingers through her silky hair. For the past week, ever since Judy Nessler had called and told him Kay was on her way, he’d been unable to consider anything else. Although he couldn’t help but wonder if she was still “practically engaged” or if she had broken things off with her boyfriend.
Just thinking about Kay stirred him, and he had to breathe deeply and think of ice hockey in order to calm down.
Finally, finally, he heard the sound of Mack’s bush plane glide to a stop in the inlet. Bundled in his parka, he threw open his front door and hurried down the walkway that was already covered with a light dusting of fresh flakes, even though he’d shoveled it earlier.
The first of March was an awful time to visit Bear Creek. They wouldn’t be able to do much beyond sit by the fire. Kay certainly didn’t seem the type to snowshoe or snowmobile or ice-skate. He couldn’t see her sitting in the bleachers wrapped in thermal blankets at his hockey games. Ah, but he could visualize her curled up in his bed.
By the time he reached the dock, Mack had already helped her from the plane. Quinn took one look at her and his heart flipped.
She smiled in that cool, controlled way of hers. “Hello, Quinn.”
He’d been nervous, not knowing exactly how to proceed, but in that moment instinct took over. He swung her into his arms, lifted her off her feet and hugged her to his chest.
“Welcome to Bear Creek, Kay,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m so glad you decided to come.”
“Thank you.” She stiffened in his arms and he realized that his easy informality made her uncomfortable.
He sat her gently on the ground, wanting to respect her need for distance, and surveyed her with hungry eyes. She looked good, if somewhat out of place, in her virgin-white ski outfit and snowboots. It was probably the only cold-weather gear she owned.
Feeling self-conscious before Quinn’s intense perusal, Kay adjusted the knit cap she wore. She loved the way he’d swung her into his arms but she had a hard time relaxing and enjoying his ebullience.
Mack, the bush pilot, busied himself with tying down the plane and pretending he wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation. She had enjoyed talking to the down-to-earth man on the flight over, and she’d been unable to stop herself from pumping him for information on Quinn. Now she feared Mack knew exactly how much she liked Quinn. For a woman who’d spent her life hiding her feelings from the world, this was a disconcerting prospect.
“Well,” she said. “Well.”
Her heart was galloping a mile a minute. On the long flight to Alaska she had decided once and for all to use that sexy underwear she had stuffed into her suitcase and seduce this bear of a man. One way or the other, she was bound and determined to prove Lloyd wrong. She was not frigid.
But now that she was here, staring into Quinn’s mesmerizing gray eyes, an odd sensation of anticipation, excitement and fear gripped her. Her brain short-circuited, issuing two simultaneous but opposing commands.
Run for your life! Get out while you can!
Strap your arms around him and never let go!
Oh, God, she wanted him so badly. Maybe too much. But did she have the guts to go through with this? Were her expectations of this chemistry between them unrealistic?
He looked impressive in his fur-lined parka and all-weather boots. A rugged man’s man who needed no fancy gym to keep in shape. Life in the Alaskan wilderness was his personal trainer.
Another twinge of anticipation. This time low in her anatomy. Heavens above, she was scared and thrilled.
You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, she reminded herself. After all, you’re here to write an article. Focus on that. Forget the other for now.
That admonition and a deep breath of frosty winter air calmed her nerves.
Quinn held out his gloved hand to her. Tentatively she accepted it and allowed him to lead her cautiously up the snow-dazzled sidewalk to his rustic log cabin, which was perched on a small hill just above the shoreline.
“Come inside.” He ushered her over the threshold, stopping long enough to stomp the snow off his boots on the welcome mat. Kay followed suit.
“Let me hang up your coat.”
Kay started to pull down the zipper, but her fingers, even through her leather gloves, were so cold that she fumbled.
“Allow me.” He reached for the zipper. Their hands brushed briefly. They both tried to ignore the contact. She glanced at the moose head mounted over the mantel, while he kept his eyes trained to the floor.
Rubbing her palms together, she gazed around the cabin. It was obvious he’d tidied up. The room smelled of pine cleaner and air freshener. The floor was hardwood and covered with a thick, braided rug. Hockey trophies were displayed in a glass case. In one corner sat a massive fireplace, in the other, a big-screen television with satellite hookup. It was definitely a man’s place, painted in dark, masculine colors and decorated with large, sturdy furniture. A brown leather couch, a bold scarlet recliner, a hand-carved rocking chair.
She shrugged out of her ski jacket and stripped off her ski pants. He took the garments from her and hung them on a rack by the door. When she felt confident enough to glance his way again, she apprehended his gaze in a leisurely stroll down her body. He took in her red cashmere sweater, her form-fitting black pants, her fluffy white after-ski boots.
Despite the fact that she was bundled up to the teeth, thermal underwear on from neck to ankles, the way he looked at her made Kay feel like Lady Godiva prancing through the town square in the altogether.
“Nice place,” Kay said, trying her best to keep her tone upbeat and lighthearted, as if his perusal didn’t affect her one bit. But her breathless, whispery voice gave her away.
“Here,” he said eagerly, his voice no steadier than her own. “Stand by the fire, get warm. I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”
Hot chocolate? Had she stepped back in time to a simpler place, a simpler era? It was nice, very nice, but she felt out of place. A stranger in a strange land.
“That’d be great.”
Then an appalling thought occurred to her. Was she supposed to lodge here with him? Not that she didn’t want to stay with him. She just didn’t want it assumed.
“Quinn?” She watched him move around the kitchen, which was separated from the living area by a waist-high counter. She heard the oven door open, saw him bend over and remove a cookie sheet.
The smell of chocolate-chip cookies filled the air. Handsome and he could cook. A deadly combo.
“Uh-huh.” He deposited the cookie sheet on a cooling rack and glanced over at her. His hair had flopped boyishly over his forehead. For no good reason whatsoever her stomach did a backflip.
“Did you...am I...” She cleared her throat and tried again. “Where am I supposed to sleep?”
“At Jake’s B&B a quarter mile up the road in the center of town. Mack’s already hauling your luggage there.”
“Er...that’s good.”
“You didn’t think...I mean...did you want to stay here?” He raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“Oh, no. No. Of course not.” Kay groaned inwardly. This was going horribly. They were both so afraid of making a mistake, they were treading on eggshells.
He returned to the living area, balancing two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies on a tray.
“I really am glad you changed your mind about coming to Alaska.” He handed her a mug.
She took a sip of hot chocolate and nibbled on a cookie. The room was silent except for logs crackling in the fireplace.
“Cookies are good,” she said as a way to fill the void.
“You can thank the Pillsbury Doughboy. All I did was slice and heat.”
“Still, you sliced them very evenly and heated them to the perfect degree of doneness.”
“Are you making fun of me?” His eyes teased.
Feeling suddenly shy, she glanced away. Oh, she was getting in way over her head here. Liking this guy too much, when they had no future together.
But she was in no position to ask for anything more from him than sex, nor did she want to. For one thing he was an Alaskan and she was a New Yorker. For another, she was on the rebound, still aching from Lloyd’s betrayal. She had a lot of things to sort out before she could ever entertain a relationship that extended beyond the physical. With anyone.
Maybe coming here hadn’t been such a great idea, after all.
Disconcerted, she moved away from Quinn and turned her attention to the photographs artfully arranged on the paneled wall on the opposite side of the room.
There was Quinn playing hockey. In another he was standing on the summit of Mount McKinley grinning like a happy kid. In a third he was kayaking. In a fourth he was guiding a group of tourists down white-water rapids in a rubber raft.
One picture caught her eye. It featured six muscular, bare-chested teenagers laughing and lobbing fistfuls of blueberries at each other. She recognized four of the boys from the magazine advertisement.
Quinn hadn’t changed much. His hair was darker, his shoulders broader, but he still possessed the same insouciant grin and macho stance.
“That was the summer we all worked in Juneau taking tourists down the Mendenthall.” He come up behind her and was standing so near she could almost feel his chin touching the top of her head. “We’d been picking blueberries and things got out of hand. My sister Meggie, the camera buff, sneaked up on us and snapped this photo.”
“Who’s that?” She pointed to a swarthy, dark-haired boy with straight white teeth.
“That’s Jesse, Meggie’s husband. They weren’t married then, of course. In fact, I believe that was the summer Jesse’s father married Caleb’s mother.”
“And this guy?” She pointed to a lanky, string-bean fellow whom Quinn had in a headlock while he smashed berries into his hair.
“That’s Kyle.”
“You two look like the best of friends.”
“We were.”
Something in his voice made Kay turn and look at him. “You’re not friends anymore?”
Quinn shrugged. “I don’t talk to him much. He met some girl who’d come to Alaska for the summer. Kyle fell head over heels. Moved to California for her. Haven’t seen him in twelve years.”
“You act like he betrayed you by falling in love.”
Quinn cracked an uneasy smile. “It wasn’t the falling-in-love part, it was the leaving Alaska. That woman put a ring in his nose, and he let her pull him around by it. Guess that’s why I’m so determined to find a wilderness wife.”
“Because you’re not willing to compromise?”
“Not when it comes to leaving Alaska.” He thrust his chest out as if he was proud of his stubbornness. “In fact, that’s what happened to my last relationship. I asked Heather to marry me, but she refused to move to Bear Creek. I wasn’t about to go to Cleveland where she lived. If a woman wants to love me, she’s got to love Alaska, too. It’s a package deal.” He took a sip of his hot chocolate, then said, “You can quote me in your article.”
Kay raised her eyebrows. With such an obstinate attitude the man might be hard-pressed to find his perfect mate. So why did she find his stubbornness attractive? Maybe it was the clear-cut, simple way he said what was on his mind and if people didn’t like it, well, too bad. “I’ll be sure to note that. Getting your story for the article is the reason I’m here.”
“The only reason?” His eyes sought hers.
“No. It’s not the only reason.”
“No?” He gave her a quirky smile, which struck her the wrong way. As if he was feeling pretty cocky about his ability to attract her all the way across the continent.
“I needed to get out of the city after breaking things off with Lloyd.”
“Ah.” He grinned all the wider. “So you’re no longer practically engaged.”
“No, I’m not.”
He smirked.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Looking so smug. My breaking up with Lloyd had nothing to do with you.”
“I never said it did.”
“Your expression implied it.”
Why was she being so sensitive? What was the matter with her? For the past week, while she packed and made travel arrangements, she had been unable to think of anything but seeing Quinn again, and now that she was here, she was experiencing all kinds of conflicting emotions.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That sounded argumentative.”
“Hey, I can handle it. If you need to get something off your chest, go right ahead.”
Well, that was refreshing. He was ready to let her spew out her emotions. Her mother and her father and Lloyd encouraged her not to express her feelings. To keep things bottled up. Good little girls didn’t let their anger show. She was damned tired of being good, and here was Quinn egging her on.
“You sure you’re up for this?” She looked into his eyes, saw nothing but sincere interest and acceptance. She leaned forward and set her half-empty mug back on the tray.
“FYI for the article. I don’t want a submissive yes-woman for a wife. I want a true partner who speaks her mind, shares her thoughts with me even though I might not agree with her. I’m a firm believer that passionate couples fight. As long as they fight fair. Hell, if you don’t fight sometimes, if you agree about everything, where’s the spark? Where’s the passion?”
Kay gulped. Oh, yes. She had always felt the same way. Just once when her father came home late, she had longed for her mother to confront him, throw a tantrum, demand he stop sleeping with other women. But Honoria had never once expressed her anger or voiced her opinion. Well-bred wives did not behave that way. Civilized-society women simply went shopping, spending extravagantly, consoling themselves with expensive but totally meaningless gewgaws.
And when she had tried to tell Lloyd her feelings or express her displeasure over something, he’d always headed her off, shut her down, closed her out, reminding her she was a Freemont with a certain level of dignity to maintain.
“You got something to tell me, Kay? Blast away, I’m listening.”
Quinn gave her his full attention, his eyes on her face, his palms splayed over his thighs. Kay couldn’t help but feel that the future Mrs. Scofield was going to be a very lucky woman—just as long as she was willing to move to Alaska.
“All right. It hurt my feelings when you turned down my offer at the Empire State Building. I don’t go around inviting men into my bed willy-nilly. I just thought you should know that.”
“I never thought you did.”
“You thought I was terrible, wanting to cheat on my boyfriend.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
He shook a finger. “Now don’t go telling me what I thought.”
“So what did you think about me?”
“I figured there must have been trouble in ‘practically engaged’ paradise for there to be so much attraction between us.”
“And?”
“I thought you were a beautiful, sexy woman who was obviously unhappy with her life and not getting what she needed from her primary relationships.”
Boy, he’d hit the nail on the head. Was she that obvious, or was he that observant?
“I think you’re frustrated and disappointed and searching for something special.”
She ducked her head. This didn’t feel very comfortable, having him analyze her and be so accurate.
He reached out and cupped her chin with his palm, raised her face to meet his gaze once more. “I’d like to make you feel special, Kay.” His expression was doing her in, causing her to feel hot and cold at the same time.
“Quinn, you’re looking for a wife, and the last thing I’m in the market for is a husband.”
“Kay, I’m a pretty simple guy. I take life as I find it. I don’t put expectations on people.”
“Then why did you reject me back in New York?”
“Like I told you then, I don’t come between couples. You had to get free from Lloyd first before you could come to me. But you’re here now. Officially unattached. Anything can happen.”
Anything.
The word reverberated in her head. It was exactly what she wanted to hear. Exactly what she feared most. By coming to Alaska she had set herself on a course of sexual exploration. If a man as virile as Quinn couldn’t give her an orgasm, if he couldn’t save her from a life of frustrated sexual fantasies, then could anyone?
* * *
QUINN DROVE KAY over to Jake’s bed-and-breakfast in his parents’ Wagoneer and gave her the keys. He’d started to walk her to the door, not wanting her to slip in the gloom and the snow, but she surprised him by announcing she wanted to walk around and check out the town.
“For the article,” she explained.
They walked to the end of the half-mile-long boardwalk, which ended at the pier where the cruise ships docked in the summer. Most of the shops were closed for the winter, except for Long Bear’s sundries and MacKenzie’s trading post. He took her over to KCRK, his parents’ radio station, and they waved to Liam Kilstrom who was in the control booth. They wandered past the community rec center and the nearby church, where the ladies’ auxiliary was having a quilting bee. They strolled by the Happy Puffin bar, where half the town was hanging out, because it was trivia night. The other half of the town was either probably in Jake’s huge sitting room or at the adjacent restaurant, Paradise Diner.
He was not quite certain what had passed between them at his house. Had she come to Alaska to have an affair with him or not? She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. He saw the desire reflected in her eyes, noticed her passion in the way she held her body, recognized longing in how she got flustered in his presence. But something was holding her back.
It was all he could do to keep from touching her, brushing a wisp of hair from her cheek, taking her hand to guide her over the icy patches on the road. He wanted to caress her and hold her and never let her go.
He had it bad and he knew that wasn’t good. He had to be careful. Kay was not a long-term relationship. He knew that. He didn’t want either of them to get hurt. But man, how he wanted to make love to her.
His gut somersaulted and he drew in a deep, steadying breath, unable to remember when one woman had tied him so inextricably into knots. He was afraid of screwing up, of making a wrong move, of letting this one slip through his fingers. He wanted her with a power that shook his normal confidence.
Kay stopped on the wooden promenade, inhaled deeply of the cold air and gazed at the mountains surrounding the town.
“It’s so incredibly beautiful here,” she murmured. “Breathtaking. Overwhelming. Majestic. Totally wild. Honestly, I had no idea.”
“It’s just home to me.” He grinned.
“I can’t believe how different it is from New York. Bear Creek is quaint and clean and charming. No noise, no pollution, no panhandlers. I’ve got to tell you the truth, all this quiet is a shock to my system. How do you stand it?”
“How do you stand Manhattan?”
She gave a little laugh, and the delicate, feminine sound drilled a corkscrew of awareness straight through his groin. “I suppose it’s what you’re accustomed to. Although I’ve got to admit it can be a tough place to live. I’ve been mugged twice in two years.”
“That’s awful.”
She shrugged. “Builds character.”
“I hate the thought of someone accosting you,” he said vehemently. “Makes me want to do bodily harm.”
“Omigosh!” she exclaimed, and latched on to his arm.
“What is it?”
“There’s a moose. Trotting right down Main Street. I was reading a book on Alaska on the flight over, and it said moose are often more dangerous than bears. Is that true?”
“Moose have been known to cause a lot of damage.”
“Do they bite?”
Quinn struggled not to laugh. Her gloved fingers dug into his forearm. Her lithe body trembled against his. Ah, at last, here was his opportunity to touch her, even if he had to do something a little underhanded to keep her latched on to him.
“Shh. Hang on to me, Kay. We’ll tiptoe past him and hopefully he won’t notice us.”
“Quinn—” her voice warbled and her eyes grew round as hubcaps “—maybe we should turn around and go back to the pier. Give him the whole street.”
The moose snorted and trotted closer.
“Oh! Oh!”
“I’ll protect you.” He thrust her behind him.
Her arms went around his waist and her sweet-smelling head popped out from under the crook of his arm so she could keep her eyes fixed on the moose.
“He’s huge,” she whispered. “What if he charges?”
“I’ll hold him off while you run away.”
“Quinn, I’m scared.”
He patted her hand. “It’s all right, Kay. I won’t let any harm come to you. This isn’t New York.”
The moose snorted and pawed the ground. Then raised his shaggy head and glared at them.
Kay tightened her grip on his waist.
“We’ll just ease on by.” Quinn took a tentative step forward.
“No, no.” She dug in her heels. “Please don’t move.”
The moose chose that moment to turn and lope off in the opposite direction. Kay sighed and sagged against his body. “Whew. That was a close call.”
Reprobate, his conscience accused. Tell her the truth.
“Kay...” he began, but she was no longer next to him. She was sprinting toward Jake’s B&B. He had to run to catch up with her.
She wrenched open the door and tumbled headlong into the foyer.
The place was packed with toddy-sipping locals gathered around a roaring fire, playing chess, swapping tall tales, listening to the weather report on the radio. The minute Kay burst through the entryway, every head turned to stare at her, and he hated the way they gawked.
“Wild moose!” Kay gasped. “Walking down Main Street.”
The denizens of Bear Creek, mostly men, all Quinn’s neighbors and friends, stared at her as if she was some exotic bird who’d migrated too far north. More than a few mouths dropped open, and even Lulu, Jake’s Siberian husky, lifted her head off the rug. A twinge of guilt bit him for having let her believe the moose was dangerous.
“Well,” Kay demanded, sinking her hands on her hips and glaring about her, “aren’t you guys going to do something about it?”
The room broke into raucous laughter.
Kay blushed and pivoted on her heel to face Quinn. “What’s so funny?”
“Quinn got you thinkin’ that moose is a killer?” cackled an old fellow seated at a table near the door, a chessboard on the table in front of him.
“Don’t let old Gus give you a hard time,” soothed a handsome man that Kay recognized from the publicity photo Quinn had shown her in New York. He had sandy hair and a boyish grin that promised lots of fun. “That’s just Kong, our resident moose. Caleb bottle-fed him from the time he was a calf. His Momma got hit by an RV during tourist season five years ago. Kong’s tamer than a poodle.”
“Oh.” She felt like fifty different kinds of fool. Why had Quinn let her believe the moose was dangerous? She glared at him, and he had the good sense to look ashamed of himself.
“I get it, ha, ha, ha. Play a trick on the city girl.”
“I’m sorry.” Quinn jammed his hands in his pockets.
“It’s okay. I can take a joke.”
“I’m Jake, by the way. You must be Kay.” Quinn’s buddy held out his hand. “We’ve heard a lot about you. Welcome to Bear Creek.”
“Thank you, Jake.” She shook his hand and smiled graciously, determined to regain her dignity.
“Would you like me to show you to your room?” Jake asked.
“That would be lovely.”
“This way.”
Jake led her up the wide cedar staircase to a room decorated with rustic charm. Quinn started to trail after them, but Kay turned and planted a palm on his chest. “Excuse me, big man, but I don’t recall anyone inviting you up to my room.”
