Loe raamatut: «Jodi's Mail-order Man»

Chapter One

“You aren’t going to marry him, not really…Are you, Mom?”

Jodie pulled two suitcases down from the luggage rack, then looked at her eight-year-old son. “This is just a getting-acquainted trip, Tadd. I told you that.”

“Puleeze, the guy’s an accountant.” He slouched deeper in his airplane seat. Tadd said accountant the way some people said ax murderer, and Jodie sighed.

“You were the one who said I should get married again,” she reminded him. “I’m sure you’ll like Mr. Masters if you give him a chance. He’s a friend of your uncle David. They met when David was stationed here in Alaska.”

“I wanted you to marry someone like Dad,” Tadd mumbled, his face rebellious. “Not an accountant.”

Jodie’s heart twinged. She did not want to marry someone like her first husband. Air force pilot Mark Richards had been the most exciting, wonderful thing in her life—until he died in a routine training mission because he was going too fast and taking too many chances.

No, give her someone quiet and settled like a tax accountant. Forget romance; this time she wanted a sensible marriage based on common interests and goals. She didn’t need the heartache.

Jodie unbuckled her daughter’s seat belt. Penny looked up, a sunny smile on her little face. “New daddy, Mama?”

The tight ache in Jodie’s chest eased. Penny embraced life with a joyful exuberance. She didn’t worry or fuss or think about what might have been. And unlike her brother, she was thrilled about the prospect of getting a new father.

“Maybe, sweetheart.”

“Bye, Penny,” said an elderly couple as they edged past them in the airplane aisle. They weren’t the first to say goodbye—half their fellow passengers had stopped to say something before disembarking.

Jodie looked at her daughter and shook her head, laughing. Penny collected new friends the way some people collected baseball cards.

“Come on, munchkin. Let’s get out of here. Go with your brother.”

Tadd took his sister’s hand, leading the two-year-old down the aisle and out of the plane. As they stepped into the terminal, Jodie looked around, searching for the man whose picture she’d studied a hundred times.

There he is.

At least she thought it was him. The man standing a few yards away seemed different—more defined than his photograph, more mature and sensual than she’d imagined he would be. Her heart beat faster.

Just nerves, she rationalized. She’d never been a mail-order bride before. Even now she could hardly believe she was doing anything so unconventional. Anyway, she should feel attracted to her future husband, even if she wasn’t in love with him. There was nothing wrong with warmth and a pleasant tingle, as long as they were mixed with mutual respect.

Right?

Gritting her teeth, Jodie put a brake on her thoughts. She was mentally babbling, something that happened when she got nervous.

The man straightened and locked gazes with her for a long minute. He seemed to be waiting for something and Jodie wondered if he was feeling the same quick rush of awareness.

“That’s him,” Tadd muttered. “The accountant.”

Penny dropped her brother’s hand. “Daddy,” she shrieked happily. She ran full tilt at the stranger and threw her arms around his leg.

A startled expression crossed his face. “Well…hello, there.” He disengaged Penny’s grip on his thigh and lifted her in his arms. She patted his cheek and gave him a noisy kiss.

Jodie smiled. Maybe her daughter had the right idea. Rather than standing around waiting for an awkward introduction, she should just give him a kiss and see what happened.

Putting the suitcases on the ground, Jodie stepped closer. A long time ago she’d been just as impulsive as Penny, just as enthusiastic about life. She drew on those memories now, to give her courage.

“Hi,” she murmured. Warm, golden brown eyes looked at her, equal amounts of surprise and question in their depths. “I’m glad to finally meet you.”

Before she could think better of it, Jodie slid her hand behind the back of his head and tugged. After a split second of hesitation, his firm lips moved over hers. There was a faint flavor of mint and coffee in the kiss and she instinctively drew a breath.

It was good, almost too good. The shiver that went to her tummy had nothing to do with fear. She’d dated a few times in the past year, but none of those men had made her feel a tenth this much response. Maybe it was a good omen.

Or maybe she should be scared out of her socks.

A second later he lifted his head and stared into her face. “I—uh.” He cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I’m not who you think.”

She’d kissed a perfect stranger?

Heat burned Jodie’s cheeks and she stepped back quickly. “I’m terribly sorry. You look just like…that is, I was expecting…Never mind. Come here, munchkin,” she said, holding her arms out to Penny. Unfortunately her daughter was clinging to the man’s neck like a limpet.

“Don’t apologize. I always enjoy kissing a beautiful woman, and I got lucky today with two of them,” he murmured, turning his head to give Penny a light kiss on her cheek.

“Oh.” The compliment flustered Jodie. “That’s nice, but we’re supposed to be meeting someone. Let go of him, Penny.”

“Daddy,” Penny insisted.

“No, this isn’t Daddy…er, Cole. Remember, we—we’re just here to visit,” she stuttered, non-plussed with both embarrassment and confusion. This whole thing had to sound insane to a stranger, and she wasn’t too sure it didn’t sound insane to her as well.

“No, my daddy.” Ninety-nine percent of the time Penny was sweetly good-natured, but in the remaining one percent she was pure stubbornness.

“It’s complicated,” she said to the man, feeling she should explain why her daughter thought a stranger was her daddy.

“It usually is.” Donovan looked at his brother’s bride-to-be and swore silently. How could Cole put him in a position like this? Okay, so Cole had gotten a last-minute chance to join a climb on Mount McKinley. Surely the arrival of his prospective wife was a little more important.

As for the youngsters? As usual, Cole had left out a few details—like the fact Jodie Richards would be arriving with a couple of kids.

Donovan surveyed Jodie again, fighting an edgy, masculine awareness. She was slim and not too tall, with the lithe, supple grace of a cat. A green silk blouse and skirt outlined her feminine curves to perfection. For all her cool elegance, he could sense the fire burning beneath her polished surface—a fire he shouldn’t have any interest in exploring. If only she hadn’t kissed him. Then he wouldn’t feel so…uncomfortable.

Shocked at the direction of his thoughts, Donovan cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m Cole’s brother, Donovan Masters,” he explained belatedly. “Pleased to meet you.”

Her eyes blinked. “I thought Cole would be here.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a long story. I’ll explain on the way.”

“On the way? Where are we going?”

Doubt had replaced the embarrassed flush in her face, and Donovan sighed. Cole owed him big-time for this favor. Of course, only Cole would write to a woman he’d never met, then propose marriage after a few letters.

“Uh…let’s get a cup of coffee,” Donovan murmured. “I’ll explain everything.” He glanced at the child in his arms and the solemn boy at Jodie’s elbow. “You guys feel like a milk shake?”

The little girl nodded emphatically. She was a mirror image of her mother, from the cat-green eyes to the gold silk of her hair.

“Obviously you’ve already met Penny,” Jodie said quickly. She urged the dark-haired boy forward. “And this is my son, Tadd.”

“Hello, Tadd.” Donovan set Penny on the floor so he could shake hands with the reluctant boy. They were nice-looking kids, though undoubtedly Tadd took after his father. There was nothing in his brown eyes and olive skin that resembled the feminine side of the family.

“Are you an accountant, too, Mr. Masters?”

Donovan’s eyebrows shot upward at the boy’s hostile tone.

“That’s enough,” Jodie ordered quickly. Donovan Masters would think her son was a rude little monster, and it wasn’t true. As a rule, Tadd was very well behaved; his grandfather made certain of that. She unconsciously winced at the thought of her father. General Thaddeus McBride was a career air force officer who treated his family with the same rigid discipline he drilled into his flight crews.

“Actually, I’m a pilot,” Donovan murmured.

Tadd’s face brightened. “In the air force?”

“No, I have an air-transit business here in Alaska.”

“Wow. Did you hear that, Mom? He’s a pilot, just like Dad.”

Tension coiled tighter in Jodie’s stomach and she gave Tadd a warning glance. “I heard him the first time.”

In all the letters she and Cole had exchanged, he’d never mentioned that his thirty-six-year-old brother was a pilot. His descriptions had included phrases such as fun-loving, laid-back, and doesn’t take anything seriously. But not pilot.

Jodie swallowed. She didn’t need her son getting any smart ideas about playing matchmaker. She’d come up to meet Cole Masters, not his brother. Which meant she could just forget about that kiss, and Tadd could forget about her marrying a pilot “just like Dad.”

“I think coffee would be a good idea, Mr. Masters. Is anything wrong with Cole?”

An odd expression crossed Donovan’s face. “No, but it’ll take some explaining. At any rate, please call me Donovan.” He winked at Tadd. “The same goes for you.”

“All right, Donovan.” Tadd had the rapt face of a first-year cadet at the academy, listening to one of his favorite instructors.

Academy.

Jodie rolled her eyes. She’d grown up all over the world as an air force brat, and then she’d married an air force officer. Heck, she was so saturated with the air force, she couldn’t think in any other way. That was one of the reasons she wanted to marry someone not connected with the armed services. Her children needed to know there was a different world out there, with different possibilities.

“There’s a café down this way,” Donovan murmured. He took her suitcases.

“Fine.” Holding Penny’s hand, Jodie followed him down the airport concourse. It was larger than she’d expected for the size of Fairbanks, though she knew the town was a transportation center for the interior of the state.

A faint thrill of excitement crept through her, despite the unexpected turn of events. Her father had been stationed in Alaska when she was a child, right before her mother had died. She’d loved it—even the cold and wild storms of winter. It was a far cry from the heat and humidity of Florida where they’d been living for the past couple of years. There was a part of her that had always known she’d come back to Alaska.

“Have a seat, and I’ll get the coffee and treats,” Donovan said when they reached the coffee shop. He put the luggage next to a table, then pulled a chair out for Jodie. “That is…if it’s all right for the kids to have milk shakes?” he asked. “We could get sandwiches or something.”

“Milk shakes are fine,” Jodie said as she settled Penny into a chair of her own. “We ate on the plane.”

“Great. What flavor do you want, Tadd?”

“Strawberry. Penny likes it, too, but she can’t have any ’cause it makes her itch, so she has to have chocolate,” Tadd answered.

“Is that so, Penny?”

Penny sighed with a comically adult expression. “No taw’berries.”

He grinned. It was hard not to smile at Penny; she was a living ray of sunshine. A child like that could bring laughter into the darkest Alaska winter, yet it still boggled his mind that Cole was considering marriage at all, much less to a woman with two kids.

The thought nagged at Donovan as he waited in line at the cash register. The Masters family didn’t have a great track record with marriage, though his mom seemed happy enough with her second husband.

Did Cole know about the children?

Perhaps Jodie had failed to mention them in her letters. Donovan glanced at the young woman across the restaurant, then shook his head. She seemed pretty direct.

Hell, direct was an understatement. For all its innocent brevity, that kiss had sent his temperature up ten degrees. It was hard to imagine her concealing anything.

“Here you go,” he said a minute later, putting a tray down on the table. “One chocolate shake, and one strawberry. And two cups of coffee.”

Tadd’s eyes gleamed as he began drinking the concoction with a deliberate speed. “Grandfather doesn’t like us to have ice cream in the middle of the day,” he said between sips. “We can have it after dinner, but he gets upset when Mom gives us some early. Then they have a big fight.”

Hmmm.

The Richardses were getting more and more interesting. Donovan handed Jodie her cup and sat back with his own, watching her. A hundred questions begged for answers, such as: What had happened to her first husband? Were they divorced? And why would a woman with Jodie Richards’s face and body need a mail-order marriage? One thing was sure—she didn’t look old enough to have an eight-year-old son, but Cole had said she was in her late twenties.

“Sounds like you and your father have some disagreements over raising children,” he murmured.

Jodie took a sip of the steaming coffee. She shifted uncomfortably under Donovan’s curious gaze and shrugged. “Father can be rather strict. He believes in three square meals a day and a very limited amount of indulgence.”

“My grandfather is a two-star general,” Tadd contributed, his expression a peculiar mix of pride and ambivalence. “We live with him.”

“Look,” Jodie said, setting her cup down, “I’d like to know what’s going on with Cole. He said he’d meet us.”

“Yeah.” It was Donovan’s turn to look uncomfortable. “He tried to call a couple of days ago, but he couldn’t reach you.”

Her eyes narrowed. This didn’t sound good. “I decided to take an earlier flight and spend some time with a friend in Denver. So, where is Cole?”

Donovan tapped his fingers on the table. “Well, right about now he’s in the preliminary stages of climbing the West Buttress of Mount McKinley.”

Jodie stared. She didn’t know a great deal about mountain climbers, but she knew they risked their lives for the sake of climbing a chunk of rock. A rock. They couldn’t enjoy looking at the mountain from a safe distance, they had to see it close up, coupled with risk and danger and adrenaline. She understood all about adrenaline junkies. She’d married one of them.

“So,” she said carefully, trying to keep a grip on her temper, “Cole is an avid mountain climber.”

Donovan nodded. “One of the best.”

“That’s pretty great, Mom,” Tadd exclaimed. He’d finished his own milk shake and was polishing off his sister’s. “Maybe he won’t be so bad after all.”

She spun her head around, her patience strained to the limit. “Not now, Tadd. Go look after your sister.” Penny had climbed down and was exploring a rack of brightly colored postcards.

Tadd opened his mouth to protest, but a single look from his mother silenced him. Jodie was a softer touch than his grandfather, but when she laid down the law, that was that.

She waited until her son was out of immediate earshot. “Cole never said anything about being a climber.”

Donovan whistled silently at the angry sparks in Jodie’s eyes. He was right—there was a lot of fire inside Jodie Richards.

He cleared his throat, uncertain whether she was angry about Cole not telling of his favorite hobby, or that he’d taken off on a climb when he was supposed to be meeting her. Or maybe she was angry about both.

“Jodie, he hasn’t changed his mind about the marriage, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“That’s big of him.”

Donovan leaned forward. “You have every right to be upset, but try to understand. Cole has wanted to climb McKinley ever since he was a kid. And he didn’t plan for this to happen—he signed up as an alternate on the team before you talked about getting married.”

Jodie took a deep breath. She understood about lifelong dreams, but it seemed as if every dire prediction her father had uttered about her trip to Alaska was coming true. That was the worst part, wondering how many times she’d have to hear “I told you so.” He meant well, but he couldn’t see that a family needed more than rules and hop-to commands.

“How long is this climb supposed to take?”

Donovan hesitated. “About three weeks.”

Her fingers curled into her palm. “Then Cole will get back only a few days before we’re supposed to leave.”

“If the climb goes well, he’ll be back even earlier.” Donovan didn’t say what would happen if the climb didn’t go well. McKinley wasn’t as dangerous as climbing a mountain like Everest, but it wasn’t safe, either. “Cole said if you got married, he figured this would be his last chance to climb McKinley. I think he’s planning to give up climbing if things work out…between you.”

She was silent for a full minute, obviously weighing what she’d heard and making decisions. He couldn’t blame her. She had her children to think about.

“Fine. We’ll fly home, then come back later in the summer when he’s ready.”

“You can’t do that.” The sharpness in his voice surprised Donovan, but he didn’t stop to examine the reasons. “That is, you won’t be able to get a flight out. Not easily. Cruise ships bring passengers up to Alaska, then they fly home after touring the state. Outbound flights are booked for weeks ahead during the summer.”

She didn’t say anything and he wondered if she was still angry, or merely thinking.

“You also came to see if you like Alaska and the family,” he said, using all his persuasive powers. “My mom and stepfather said you can stay with them as long as you want.”

“We planned to stay in a hotel. Anyway, I lived here when I was a kid, so I know what it’s like. I’ve always loved Alaska. I hated it when my father was transferred to Hawaii.”

The last piece of information surprised him. Jodie seemed like a butterfly, soft and golden and just as delicate. He didn’t know anything about that kind of woman. Didn’t she belong in the sun? Exotic butterflies should live on tropical islands with warm, scented breezes.

Both amused and annoyed at the direction his mind had taken, Donovan gulped the last of his coffee. It was going to be harder than he’d thought to remember Jodie belonged to his brother. He should just drop her at his mother’s house, then head south again.

“Mom has plenty of room and she’ll be disappointed if you don’t stay,” he murmured. “You want to get acquainted with her, don’t you?”

“Of course. But…” Jodie shrugged diffidently. “It’s awkward. Without Cole here, it doesn’t seem right to impose, especially with Tadd and Penny.”

“Believe me, it’s no imposition. The only thing Mom loves more than company is children.” The wry, amused tone in Donovan’s voice made Jodie smile. Family was important and she wanted to be sure she got along with her proposed new in-laws.

Sudden warmth flushed her body as the memory of kissing Donovan crowded her mind. Oh…she got along with Donovan, all right, but it wasn’t the kind of “all right” that was appropriate between in-laws. And just as suddenly, Jodie realized it was a good thing Donovan hadn’t turned out to be Cole. She wanted to feel a moderate attraction for her husband, not a soul-burning passion. If a single kiss made her so unsettled, then marrying a man like Donovan would be too much of a risk.

“Jodie?” His hand covered her fingers and she jumped. “What do you say? A few weeks with my mother would be a great vacation. She’s a good cook and you can see all the tourist spots around Fairbanks.”

Her mouth dry, Jodie stared at the large male hand clasping hers. The cautious side of her said no, but the impulsive side said yes. She’d taken a lot of chances in her life; why not try one more time?

“I guess we could stay,” she said slowly. “For a few days at least.”

“Great.” He stood and collected the suitcases from beside the table. “Let’s go.”