Dad's E-mail Order Bride. Candy Halliday

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СКАЧАТЬ 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!

      CHAPTER TWO

      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.

      That was the real reason Courtney Woods sat in the great room of the lodge now. Rachel obviously assumed if he had a girlfriend from New York City he would give in and move back.

      He had news for Rachel.

      He would never move back to New York City. And until Rachel reached eighteen and could legally do as she pleased, neither would she.

      Graham walked out of the kitchen to where he’d left Courtney. Her chair faced the cathedral-style windows that made up the front of the lodge. The view of the cove and the snowcapped mountains in the distance was spectacular. Yet, Graham suspected the view was the last thing on Courtney’s mind at the moment.

      She had to be disappointed that love was not waiting for her in Alaska as Rachel had led her to believe. Instead, all he had to offer Courtney was a promise that Rachel was going to regret the day she decided to play around with other people’s lives.

      “Thanks,” she said when he handed her the cup.

      Graham sat on the chair beside her, aware he should say something—anything—to СКАЧАТЬ