Alaska Home. Debbie Macomber

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      “You sure we’re still talking about Mariah?”

      Christian ignored the question. “After deep thought, the man gave his answer. The most difficult thing about the long walk had been the sand in his shoes.”

      “The sand in his shoes?”

      “Yup. And that’s what’s wrong between Mariah and me.”

      Ben’s face broke into a network of lines as he frowned again, and Christian could tell he assumed Mariah had been pouring sand in his shoes. “It’s the little things about her that drive me nuts,” he explained. “The fact that she ruins my coffee every morning. The way she loses things and just...irritates me.” Christian paused, then said grudgingly, “I’m sure she’s a perfectly capable secretary—or would be for someone else. But she hasn’t worked out for me.”

      “Sawyer doesn’t seem to have a problem with her.” Christian had heard this argument from Ben before; he wasn’t surprised to be hearing it now.

      The door of the café opened just then, and he glanced over his shoulder and saw Duke. The other man’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Christian.

      “What’s this all about?” Duke demanded, waving the note Christian had slipped into his mailbox.

      “I’ll be flying Mariah into Fairbanks on Saturday,” Christian told him calmly. He didn’t expect the other man to argue, since he was the boss.

      “I offered to do it,” Duke said.

      “I know, but there are other, uh, more important things I need you for.”

      “You’re sending me out on a wild-goose chase and you know it. I could make the flight into Barrow any time next week, and all of a sudden you decide I have to do it Saturday.”

      Christian wasn’t proud of his little subterfuge, but his justification was that he didn’t want Duke and Mariah furthering their romance on company time. What they did on their own time was entirely up to them, he told himself righteously. But when it came to Midnight Sons...that was another matter.

      “You seem to think I’m interested in her,” Duke said angrily.

      Christian’s hands tightened around the coffee mug. He didn’t want to get into this.

      “Are you?” Ben wanted to know, his eyes eager.

      “No,” Duke growled. “I’ve got a girlfriend in Fairbanks I was planning to see.”

      “You’ve got a girlfriend in Fairbanks?” Ben repeated. “Since when?”

      “Since now.”

      Christian wasn’t sure he should believe him. “What about the other day when I saw you and Mariah kissing?”

      Ben’s eyes widened. “You saw Duke and Mariah kissing?”

      “Sure did.” Whenever Christian thought about walking into the office and finding them in each other’s arms, he felt a fresh wave of fury. “Right in the middle of the day, too.”

      Duke knotted his hands into fists. “I wasn’t kissing Mariah.”

      Christian wasn’t going to sit there and let one of his pilots lie to him. “I saw you with my own eyes!”

      Duke shifted his weight from one booted foot to the other. “Since it’s so important to you, I’ll say it again. I wasn’t kissing Mariah.”

      Christian glared at the man. This was a bold-faced lie; he knew what he’d seen.

      Duke lowered his gaze and muttered, “She was kissing me.”

       Two

      August 1996

      On Saturday Mariah was at the airfield well before the allotted time of departure, eager to see Tracy again and make their plans for the week. They’d already decided to take a glacier tour and visit some of the other sights in and around Anchorage.

      Fierce, dark clouds puckered the sky, filling the morning with shadows and gloom. Not a promising start to her vacation.

      “You ready?” Christian marched past her toward the two-seater Luscombe. It was the smallest plane in the Midnight Sons fleet and used the least often.

      Mariah picked up her suitcase and hurried after him. “I want you to know how much I appreciate this,” she said, holding on to the case with both hands. She didn’t understand why Christian had insisted on doing this himself, especially when it was so obvious that he considered it an imposition.

      Because of the heavy suitcase, she couldn’t keep pace with him. Eventually he seemed to realize this. He glanced at her over his shoulder, and then, without a word, turned back and took the suitcase from her hands.

      “What did you pack in here, anyway? Rocks?”

      She didn’t bother to answer.

      When they reached the plane, Christian helped her inside. He stowed her bag, then joined her in the cockpit. She was surprised by how small and intimate the space was; their shoulders touched as Christian worked the switches and revved the engine.

      Mariah snapped her seat belt in place and gazed anxiously at the threatening sky. She wondered if she should tell Christian she wasn’t all that keen on flying. She found small planes especially difficult. Give her a Boeing 767 any day of the week over a tiny, little Luscombe.

      For the sake of peace, she gritted her teeth and said nothing. No need to hand him further ammunition.

      The ever-darkening sky didn’t bode well. Mariah noted that Christian was watching it closely. He radioed Fairbanks and wrote down the necessary weather information.

      “Is there any chance we’ll run into a storm?” she asked once they’d started to taxi down the gravel runway.

      She expected him to make light of her concern, but he didn’t. “According to the flight controller, we should be able to fly above the worst of it. Don’t worry, I’ll get you to Fairbanks on time.”

      Or die trying, Mariah mused darkly. She gritted her teeth again and held on for dear life as the single-engine furiously increased its speed. Soon they were roaring down the runway, and at what seemed the last possible second, the plane’s nose angled toward the sky and the wheels left the ground.

      As soon as they were airborne, Mariah relaxed slightly. The flight would take the better part of an hour, possibly a bit longer, depending on the winds.

      Within a few minutes, they were swallowed up by the unfriendly clouds. Mariah couldn’t see two feet in front of them, but that might have been just as well.

      Trying to relieve her tension, she closed her eyes.

      “If you feel yourself getting sick,” Christian said, “let me know.”

      “I’m fine,” СКАЧАТЬ