Dad's E-mail Order Bride. Candy Halliday

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      But he’d been foolish to think she would spend one second lamenting the fact that Rachel had sent the e-mails instead of him. Career-focused or not, Courtney Woods was not the type of woman who had ever been lacking for male attention.

      Graham tossed the e-mails onto the table, left his chair and walked to the window a safe distance away from her. It didn’t work. She walked up beside him.

      They stood in silence, looking out over the cove.

      “Rachel isn’t as brilliant as you think,” Graham said. “I inherited this lodge from my grandfather. He was the one who lost his hearing in one ear from an explosion clearing land for the lodge.”

      He turned toward her and added, “But tell me the truth about something. Didn’t the hearing loss part bother you at all?”

      “No,” she said. “In fact, I admired you. I found it heroic you hadn’t let the accident ruin your life.”

      Graham let out a long sigh. “Well, at least you didn’t show up because you felt sorry for the poor deaf guy turning forty.”

      “True,” she said. “I only felt sorry for the turning-forty part.”

      They looked at each other.

      And burst out laughing.

      It was the icebreaker they’d needed to cut through the tension. And at that moment Graham realized Courtney could have been a real bitch about what Rachel had done. Courtney could have even threatened to sue him. And who would have blamed her? Instead, she was taking it all in stride, far better than he was at the moment.

      “This whole thing really is funny when you think about it,” she said. “I can’t imagine what you were thinking down on the dock when I sounded out every word so carefully, making sure you could read my lips.”

      Wisely, Graham didn’t mention the Russian hooker.

      Instead, he said, “I know someone who’s going to be reading my lips when she gets home. I can promise you that.”

      “And that’s what has me worried,” she said.

      Graham looked over at her again.

      Now she had her arms crossed, tapping the fingers of her right hand impatiently against her left arm. And that’s one thing Graham didn’t miss since he’d dropped out of society—the whole business of trying to figure any woman out.

      It was exhausting.

      However, if memory served him correctly, her ambiguous statement was his clue to say, “Meaning?”

      She looked straight at him and said, “Meaning I’m not interested in being caught in the middle of a father-daughter fight all weekend, Graham.”

      “So what are you suggesting? That I just pat Rachel on the head and laugh the whole thing off?”

      “I’m suggesting you postpone any punishment until later,” she said. “Rachel has really worked hard on your birthday party tomorrow. And I shouldn’t tell you this, but she has a special surprise dinner planned for you tonight.”

      “A dinner?” Graham repeated.

      Courtney nodded. “Rachel planned out the menu herself, and I’m supposed to help her cook the meal. I hate to see all of her plans ruined.”

      “You forget Rachel’s planning is the reason she’s in big trouble right now.”

      An awkward silence passed between them.

      She cocked her head in his direction. “You know, if you really want to teach Rachel a lesson, the best way to do that would be to beat her at her own game.”

      “I’m not sure what you mean.”

      “I think we’ve both figured out the reason I’m here is because Rachel thought if we hit it off, you’d be willing to move back to New York.”

      “Tell me, Courtney,” Graham said. “Is there anything you don’t know about me and my daughter?”

      She smiled. “I don’t know if you’re willing to play along with my idea yet.”

      Okay, one thing he did miss since he’d dropped out of society was having a woman smile at him the way Courtney had done now—a flirty little smile, the type of smile only a dead man could resist.

      “Keep talking,” Graham said.

      “What if we let Rachel think her idea worked when she first gets home? But then we tell her instead of you moving back to New York, I’ve decided to move to Alaska to be with you?”

      Graham laughed. “To quote Rachel’s favorite expression, she would totally freak out.”

      “Exactly.” She smiled again.

      It took Graham’s gaze right back to her moist, pink lips. Memories of that kiss on the dock didn’t help Graham’s common sense, either. And whether he liked to admit it or not, the knowledge that a beautiful woman like Courtney had flown across the country to meet him was a huge boost to his turning-forty ego.

      Why not go along with Courtney’s idea?

      She was right. It wasn’t fair to put her in the middle of their fight all weekend. The situation was already awkward enough.

      He’d honor Courtney’s request and keep things civil for the weekend. He owed her that much after what Rachel had done. But after Courtney left, Rachel’s life was going to change drastically.

      And that was a promise.

      Graham stuck his hand out. “Okay, it’s a deal. Let’s show Rachel what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a bad joke.”

      CHAPTER THREE

      THE MINUTE GRAHAM closed the bedroom door after bringing her luggage upstairs, Courtney fished around for her cell phone. She tossed her purse onto the bed and headed for the sliding glass doors that led out to her room’s private balcony.

      Beth would laugh her ass off at this situation.

      But Courtney’s mother?

      Courtney couldn’t even go there.

      In fact, coming to Alaska was the first time she’d ever truly crossed her mother, who also happened to be her boss and the owner of The Woods Advertising Agency, where Courtney was vice president. Her VP title, however, had nothing to do with being the CEO’s daughter. Courtney had earned that title by following faithfully in Lisa Woods’s workaholic footsteps.

      And she had no life to prove it.

      When she couldn’t get a signal, Courtney closed her phone and leaned against the railing, thinking back to the night of her birthday party—the real reason behind why she was in Alaska now. They’d celebrated at Courtney’s favorite restaurant; Beth, her mother and her mother’s constant entourage—the other executives at the agency.

      Beth СКАЧАТЬ