Buch lesen: «Northern Fascination»

Alaska—the last frontier

The nights are long. The days are cold.

And the men are really, really HOT!

Can you think of a better excuse for a trip up north?

Come on back to the unorthodox and

unforgettable town of Good Riddance

and experience some …

Alaskan Heat!

Enjoy the adventure!

Dear Reader,

I’m so happy to be back in Good Riddance, Alaska with you. Even though the series only started last year, it seems to have touched a chord with a lot of readers. I’m glad people love the place as much as I do.

Many of my readers asked me to give Jenna Rathburne her own happy ending. And there’s nobody more deserving. Jenna’s the girl you’d love to hate, but she’s just so darn nice, you can’t. She possesses the proverbial heart of gold and an ability to see the best in everyone.

Not just any hero would do for Jenna. She deserved a man who would see and appreciate the real woman inside. At first glance, Logan Jeffries, a former school acquaintance, seems like a long shot when he shows up in Good Riddance. But nothing overcomes obstacles like true love.

If you’ve been before, I hope you enjoy returning to Good Riddance. If this is your first time, well, I hope you’ll come back. I love to hear from readers. You can drop me a line or visit me at www.jenniferlabrecque.com.

Happy reading!

Jennifer LaBrecque

About the Author

After a varied career path that included barbecue-joint waitress, corporate numbers cruncher and bug-business maven, Jennifer LaBrecque has found her true calling writing contemporary romance. Named 2001 Notable New Author of the Year and 2002 winner of the prestigious Maggie Award for Excellence, she is also a two-time RITA^® Award finalist. JENNIFER LABRECQUE lives in suburban Atlanta with a chihuahua who runs the whole show.

Northern
Fascination

Jennifer LaBrecque

www.millsandboon.co.uk

In memory of Maurice L. Beckett and the love he

shared with Emily Beckett.

Prologue

LOGAN JEFFRIES TRIED TO organize his thoughts around the afternoon’s debate in a quarter of an hour. As captain he needed his wits about him. The team had yet to lose a match under his direction, the same as when his father had been debate team captain back in the day. Thus far, he was doing a decent job of “upholding the Jeffries tradition.”

However, thought organization was easier said than done when Jenna Rathburne was in the vicinity. He dialed the combination to his locker and opened it. He’d just passed her in the hall. As usual, he’d looked the other way when he walked by. He’d be damned if he’d be the geek caught staring at the prettiest, most popular girl in school, especially since the halls had cleared out considerably since the last bell had sounded half an hour ago.

With his head buried in his locker, he felt her before he saw her. It was as if every nerve ending in his body fired off a signal to his brain when she was in his immediate vicinity. Maybe she was waiting for someone who had a locker near his. He straightened but steadfastly stared straight ahead.

She cleared her throat. “Uh … hey, Logan.”

Startled she’d actually sought him out, he turned. His heart pounding, his breath stuck somewhere inside him, he managed to respond. “Hi.”

“So, are you ready for the debate this afternoon?”

He stood there, clueless. His brain didn’t seem to be fully functioning. Thank God she wasn’t part of the debate team—as unlikely as him joining the cheer squad—or he’d flub every match for sure. “Yeah. I guess.”

Brilliant. Scintillating. He searched for something clever but came up blank. Instead he just stared at her.

Her blond hair was caught up in a ponytail. He’d always known her eyes were blue but up close this way, they were more intense. But then again, everything was more intense—the pounding of his heart, the swing of her hair against her shoulder, the way his stomach knotted in his gut.

She shifted from one foot to another and if he hadn’t known better, he might’ve thought she was as nervous as him. That, however, was highly improbable considering her popularity, her cuteness and the fact she was cheerleading captain.

“I, uh, wanted to ask if you’d escort me to the Homecoming game. You know, unless you already have another date or something.” Her words came out in a breathless rush.

Logan stood stock-still for a moment, certain he’d heard her wrong. For a second, he thought she’d just asked him to escort her to one of biggest events in high school. “Huh?”

“If you’re available, would you escort me to Homecoming?”

He hadn’t heard her wrong. Jenna had just asked him to be her date.

Something over her shoulder caught his attention. Her best friend, Bethany, stood over by the water fountain staring at the two of them. When she caught him looking at her, she quickly turned and drank from the fountain, as if that’s why she’d been there all along.

The logic which served him so well as debate captain took over. Okay. Right. Now it all made sense. This had to be some kind of dare. The whole thing was a set-up. He was supposed to say yes and then Jenna and Bethany would collapse into hysterical laughter, as would everyone else once they all heard that Logan Jeffries, who was supposed to be so smart, had been dumb enough to really think Jenna Rathburne wanted to go out with him.

“Thanks but no thanks. Homecoming’s not really my deal.”

For a split second he thought he saw tears shimmer in her eyes but it must’ve been the lighting. She pasted on her mega-watt smile. “Sure. Thanks. Okay, have a nice day.”

“Yeah, you, too.” He turned his attention back to his locker, as if the contents fascinated him.

“Um, good luck today with the debate.”

“Thanks.”

He saw, out of his peripheral vision, her turn and walk away.

That was one humiliating experience narrowly averted. He’d very nearly made an utter fool of himself.

1

Twelve years later …

JENNA STEPPED OUT ONTO Good Riddance, Alaska’s snow-covered sidewalk, into the last of the October sun’s dying rays.

Edging back into the middle of Main Street, Norris Watts dodged a pothole and waved Jenna more to the left. “I want to make sure I get the entire window in the shot.” Curl’s lettered window was something of an attention grabber. Curl’s Taxidermy, Barber Shop, Salon and Mortuary.

“Wait. Let me grab Tama. He needs to be in the photo, too.”

Norris sighed. “Fine, go get the cat.” Norris wasn’t really put out. She liked Tama as much as everyone else did.

Jenna dashed back into Curl’s and picked up the big Maine Coon mix lounging on top of his scratching post on the far side of the room. “C’mon, you big punkin’, photo op.”

Tama blinked at her, unimpressed and she laughed, pressing a kiss to his furry head. She’d adopted him two months ago from a no-kill shelter in Anchorage. He was, without a doubt, the most awesome, perfect cat on the planet. Of course, he just happened to be her very first pet ever but he was still perfect.

He went everywhere with Jenna, except Gus’s. Honestly, it was as if he was half dog because he followed her everywhere. She adored her fur-baby.

Holding Tama, Jenna stood to the right as Norris had previously directed. “How’s this?” She held up one of Tama’s paws as if he was waving and said to him, “Say kitty treat.”

“Perfect,” Norris said, speaking without removing the lit cigarette in her mouth. Her gravelly voice interested Jenna. The older woman, an unapologetic chain smoker, sounded as if she’d been puffing a pack of unfiltered cigarettes a day since birth.

She fired off a couple of shot. “Perfect. We needed to get those shots before the sun was gone completely. Now just a couple more questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.” Jenna didn’t mind. She liked Norris. She liked everyone in Good Riddance.

Norris, even more of a newcomer than Jenna, had retired to Good Riddance in June after a forty-something year stint as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Philadelphia. At first content with spending the longer days of the Alaskan summer fishing and camping, Norris had claimed to be bored out of her skull once the days began to shorten. She’d decided Good Riddance and the other remote towns needed a local newspaper to keep folks in touch with what was going on locally.

Because Jenna was one of the newer residents and a business owner, Norris wanted to do a “feature” on her. While Jenna didn’t much see herself as particularly newsworthy, she was all for helping a friend. So here they were.

The photo over with, Norris took a final drag off her cigarette and extinguished it. She dropped the butt in a little tin she carried with her.

They stepped back into the “front room” of Curl’s where Jenna worked at a table in the small rectangular room. A sink and a barber chair shared the area as well. Compliments of the taxidermy and mortuary located in the rear, a faint odor of formaldehyde always hung in the air, blending with the scent of nail polish and remover.

Luckily, Curl’s animal stuffing business was a whole lot more active than his funeral home gig. In the past year there’d only been one funeral. While it had been kind of sad, they lived in a place where life and death seemed more accepted as the natural order of things.

Jenna returned Tama to his platform and gave him the promised kitty treat, earning a head bump against her hand. Crossing the room, she sat in the straight chair behind the table.

“So, I understand you initially came to Good Riddance with your former fiancé, Tad Weatherspoon?” Norris eyed the straight chair on the opposite side of the table and shook her head.

“That’s right.” That had been a close call.

Norris settled in the barber chair and swiveled it around to face Jenna. “But once you got here, you found out he was still married to the town founder and mayor, Merrilee Danville Weatherspoon Swenson?” Norris popped a stick of chewing gum in her mouth. “Sounds kind of like a soap opera to me.”

“Yeah, I guess it does. Life’s sort of like that sometimes. Except on the soaps, they’re always dressed up nice all the time—like that would happen in real life—and there are no commercial breaks.”

Lucky, a retired Army cook who had taken over Gus’s, the town restaurant, was addicted to two soap operas. From noon until two, Monday through Friday, both televisions in the place were tuned in. He’d even been known to burn a grilled cheese or two if there was a high-drama scene involved. These days, half the town crammed in to watch them, too.

“So, Tad was still married to Merrilee. And nobody in town guessed Merrilee was married, either?”

Norris said, shaking her head. “You’ve got to love a married man with a fiancée on the side.”

“Tell me about it. He said we were just coming for a visit. It turned out the reason for the visit was because he needed Merrilee to sign the divorce papers so he could marry me.”

“But you didn’t marry him?”

“Hel-lo, Norris. I’m here and he’s not.”

“I’m just checking facts.”

Jenna nodded. “No wedding there. I didn’t want to marry a liar. He’d lied about being divorced, his age and who knows what else at that point. I decided he wasn’t the kind of man I was meant to be with.” She’d mistakenly thought an older man had meant stability. Boy, had she been wrong.

“Why’d you stay here instead of going back to Georgia with him?”

“While I was here, I’d popped into Curl’s to check out the place out since he advertised a salon. I have a beauty supply store back in Georgia which is doing well. I’ve got a great manager and it’s set up as a profit-share. Every employee, after being with the company for six months, gets a percentage of the profits. They treat my business like it’s their own, because … well, it kind of is. Anyway, Curl and I got to talking and I wound up doing a couple of manicures for free with some nail polish I had in my suitcase.” It had been fun and the people were interesting, which was more than she could say about Tad at that stage.

“I discovered I really liked it here. So Tad left and I stayed.”

To say she liked it here was an understatement. All she’d ever wanted was some stability in her life and a place where she could put down roots. Her heart had recognized Good Riddance as that place.

Tad had been mad as a wet hen. She smiled, thinking of him clucking instead of strutting around like the rooster he liked to pretend he was. “It was the best move I ever made. Well, actually, I guess you could say being engaged to Tad was the best move I ever made. Otherwise I wouldn’t have ever come here. I’d never heard of the place before.”

Norris nodded, scribbling furiously on her notepad. “And now, eleven months later, you’re building a destination spa.”

“It’s more like a co-op spa.” She was setting it up the same as her other business. She’d found a couple of part-timers couldn’t handle all the requests coming her way. She was still looking for someone to cover the massage end. “My nail business has outgrown Curl’s and I’ve had a lot of requests for massages and facials.” She’d done a couple of facials in the barber chair but it just wasn’t the same. “Just because a woman lives in the wilderness doesn’t mean she has to look like she dies. I’ve got bookings already lined up into the spring.”

“And you’re scheduled to open the new facility when?”

“Well, the exterior’s just being finished up,” she said, as if Norris hadn’t seen the new building going up every day for the past couple of weeks. “And they’ll spend the next month working on the interior. We’re scheduled to open the first of December.”

Norris knew all of this. Heck, everybody in Good Riddance knew, but what the heck, Jenna would go over it again in an interview format if that’s what Norris wanted.

“Just in time for Chrismoose?” Norris said.

Chrismoose was way cool. Jenna was even more excited about it this year because she knew what was coming. There was a lot to be said for anticipation. The whole town had a festival the week before Christmas because some hermit guy named Chris used to ride his pet moose into town every year with toys for the kids. Merrilee had turned it into a tradition after Chris had passed away. People came from all over the area to join in the fun and games.

Jenna nodded, “We’re already booked solid for Chrismoose.” She’d had to turn business down.

“Tell me one thing about you that no one here knows.”

Jenna didn’t know how to cook, but really, pretty much everyone knew that. She’d adopted a cat from a rescue shelter six months ago, but who didn’t know Tama who was curled up sleeping in the sink now behind the barber’s chair? Heck, she brought him to work with her every day.

She was a virgin. If Norris thought the business with Tad, Jenna and Merrilee sounded like a soap opera, she’d really pass out at that admission. Then again, Jenna would probably pass out if that fact got around. It was a conscious choice she’d made. Not necessarily to wait until she got married, but she at least wanted her first time to be special. But she hadn’t yet met a guy who tripped her trigger. Back in the day, she’d had a thing for Logan Jeffries … and then some. Just looking at him would leave her flushed and flustered. But that had gotten her a big fat nowhere when he’d turned down her Homecoming invitation. And she hadn’t run into anyone else who made her feel that way inside since. Until she did, she’d just wait. She’d always wondered what touching Logan and being touched by him would be like, if just looking at him left her feeling that way. She’d spent many a fantasy working through that one.

“Come on,” Norris said, interrupting her woolgathering. “You’ve got to give me something.”

There was her family. Talk about a soap opera. “Okay. I have twenty-two step-siblings and six half siblings. At least I think that’s right.”

“Holy smokes.” Norris sat up straighter. “How’d that happen?”

“Mom’s on husband number six. Dad’s with his fifth wife.”

Norris whistled beneath her breath. “Your family could have its own soap opera.”

“Or a really bad reality TV show,” Jenna said with a laugh. But for the grace of God that had never happened. All she’d ever wanted was a nice stable home environment—to just stay put in one spot for a while. At least her mother had been considerate enough to consistently remarry within the same school district until Jenna had graduated.

“That’s perfect—just the kind of thing I was looking for.” Norris snapped her notebook shut. “Okay, well, I think that covers it. I’ll want to do a follow-up story when the new place is open for business.” Norris tucked her notepad and pen into her pocket and stood, heading for the door. Norris was nice enough not to smoke in Jenna’s little business space and even if the interview hadn’t been over, Jenna knew the other woman was jonesing for a nicotine hit.

“Cool. Merrilee’s planned a ribbon cutting and as mayor, she’s booked the first appointment. I’ll see you tomorrow at ten for your mani/pedi.” Norris had insisted on doing the interview outside of her appointment. She didn’t believe in mixing business and pleasure.

They both stepped out onto the sidewalk.

“See you then,” Norris said, taking off as if she was running late for a day-after Christmas clearance sale. She always looked as if she was running late to something. Jenna figured it must’ve been all those years in the news business.

Jenna’s event notification went off on her cell phone. Perfect timing. She’d be right on time to meet Nelson over at the new spa.

Bundling up, she blew Tama a kiss and headed out the door. Strolling down the sidewalk, her interview fresh on her brain, she thought, for about the millionth time, how much she loved it here. She waved at Nancy and Leo Perkins as she passed the dry goods store. Petey, driving past in his beat up Suburban, blew the horn at her.

For the first time in her life, she almost felt settled. There was still something that niggled at her, a dissatisfaction of some sort, but she was sure once the business was finished and she moved into her own place—the apartment above her shop—that would disappear as well. Then she’d know complete happiness.

LOGAN LOOKED OVER THE reports, months in the making, regarding their expansion in Alaska, spread in front of him on the round mahogany table. His father, as CEO of JMC, Inc—Jeffries Mining Consolidated—commanded a corner office with an impressive view of the Atlanta skyline twenty miles south of them.

Davis Jeffries, his gray hair cropped close and wearing his customary Brooks Brother’s suit and monogrammed cuff links, read through documents his secretary had brought in unrelated to their meeting, while they waited on Martina and Kyle—Logan’s cousins—to arrive. His father had never been one to waste time on small talk. Martina, Logan’s age, handled IT while Kyle, two years their junior, worked the field operations side of the business.

Logan leaned back in the padded leather chair, the same as he had countless times before and studied the same picture he always studied on the paneled wall opposite the seat he always sat in.

Great-grandfather Jebediah Jeffries, the company founder who started out as a prospector in the north Georgia mountains and had struck gold, stared at him from the framed portrait, his stern gray gaze unflinching, shrewd. Ever since Logan had been old enough to remember, the old man had seemed to be holding him to some standard. He was thirty now and it still felt as if his ancestor was somehow measuring him.

Logan looked back to the spread sheets on the table. He’d reviewed the company cash flow and financials prior to the meeting, not that he didn’t already know what was there. He always knew. It was his job to know. He’d taken over as Chief Financial Officer when his uncle Lewis, Martina’s and Kyle’s father, had died in a car accident. Logan had been being groomed to eventually fill that position when Lewis retired, so it was no surprise. The board had decided Logan was ready for the position when Lewis met his untimely end.

Martina strode in, followed by Kyle, and they took their seats at the conference table.

Davis looked up and said without preamble. “Let’s get started.” He turned to his son. “How do you feel about the recommendations?”

They’d started by pinpointing six potential sites, three of which had, over the course of the past few months, been eliminated. The other three were ranked as a first, second and third choice. Logan had watched the developing reports with interest once Good Riddance had been identified as a contender, aware that Jenna Rathburne lived there now. After months of evaluation, once a decision was reached today, things would progress quickly.

“I think we’ll see a nice return on this. Acquisitions worked up the numbers for the buy-out. The residents of Good Riddance, Alaska, are about to hit the jackpot with what we’re going to offer them for the town.” Good Riddance had been recommended as the first choice. “No one there is starving but neither are they fast-tracking.” JMC could make them all rich beyond their wildest dreams. With the company’s offer, the townspeople could relocate to wherever they chose and do whatever they wanted.

Then again, the company stood to make whatever money they spent back ten-fold. Sleepy little Good Riddance, Alaska, literally sat atop a gold mine.

Logan pointed to the bottom line on the financials. “Last year, it would’ve been cost prohibitive but given this new technology, it’s now a good deal.”

Davis turned his attention to Martina. “What about your end?”

“From an IT standpoint, Barton, our second choice, is actually preferable. But we can work with Good Riddance.”

Davis nodded. “Kyle?”

“Barton’s not bad, but Good Riddance is better.”

After asking a few more questions, Davis finally nodded. “Then let’s make an offer for Good Riddance.” He looked at Logan. “Are you sending Chaz?”

Charles “Chaz” Fischer usually handled the actual approach and buyout negotiations. Not this time, however.

“I’m going to handle this one,” Logan said.

“You?” Kyle said. “You never leave the office.”

“Exactly. The negotiations should take a couple of days, tops. Once it’s wrapped up, I’d like to take some vacation time. I’ve always been interested in Alaska.” That was true enough. He’d always been fascinated by the state. And then there was Jenna. He’d kept up with her through a mutual friend on Facebook. And back in the day, she’d fascinated him as well.

What were the odds his company would wind up buying out the tiny little bush town she’d moved to, on the other side of the continent?

Davis concluded the meeting but asked Kyle to stay to discuss equipment updates. Martina and Logan stepped out into the carpeted hall.

“I had lunch with Aunt Laura today,” Martina said.

Logan raised an eyebrow in inquiry. If his mother was “doing” lunch, there was an ulterior motive.

“Yes, she’s at it again. She wants me to find you someone suitable. I thought about telling her I could hook you up with my friend who’s a stripper just to watch her pass out.” Martina grinned. Logan’s cousin possessed a quirky sense of humor he really appreciated. They both knew none of her friends were strippers—at least Logan didn’t think they were. “Just giving you the head’s up, cuz. Now that you’ve hit the big three-oh and got the big title, it’s time for you to pony up and contribute to the Jeffries legacy establishing the company’s future leader. Of course, you’ll have to walk a suitable girl down the aisle in some expensive matrimonial display first.”

Logan shook his head. “I can find my own dates, thanks.”

“Except you’ve been busy with work and finishing up your MBA. Bottom line, you’re not moving fast enough in that direction to suit your parental unit. When you get back from Alaska, be ready to look over the brood mares I line up for you while you’re gone. Make it easier for me. Do you prefer blondes, brunettes or redheads?”

Strictly because they’d just discussed Good Riddance, Jenna came to mind. He was absolutely certain, however, that the outgoing Jenna who did nails for a living wasn’t his mother’s definition of suitable.

“I’d have to say blondes.”

JENNA OPENED THE FRONT door of the new spa and her future home and stepped inside. Even though it was just an empty shell at this point, it was her empty shell.

Home. She grinned and twirled across the open expanse. Breathless, she stopped and looked around her, envisioning the place a month from now.

There was still a faint sense of uneasiness inside her she couldn’t quite shake. When Sven got her place framed in, maybe then she’d shake this feeling.

Thick glass windows offered views of the large evergreens on two sides and Good Riddance on the other two sides.

The materials for the interior lay stacked at the back of the building. She heard Sven, the construction foreman, talking to one of his guys outside. They should finish up the rear exterior today and not a minute too soon. Snow was fast on its way and it was already colder than Sven liked to have his crew working outside. That was the reason she hadn’t popped around out back. She didn’t want to slow them down.

She liked the big third-generation Swede in charge of her construction. Well, she didn’t like him that way. He was a good-looking guy and they got along great together, but there were no sparks there. Just to test the waters, she and Sven had kissed once. Once had been enough. Not that it was awful. Sven was actually a very competent kisser, but she wasn’t looking for competence. Well, actually, she supposed she did want competence, but she also wanted overwhelming passion and that just hadn’t been happening. So, friends they were.

Tomorrow they’d start the interior construction. She pulled her coat tighter around her, envisioning the walls in place and the waterfall that would be in the reception area. It wouldn’t be a big spa but it would be nice. And like most Good Riddance business owners, she’d live upstairs. It was definitely cheaper to build up rather than out.

The front door opened and Nelson Sisnuket stepped inside. His long, raven-black hair was pulled back in its customary ponytail, held with a leather strip.

Nelson was a good friend. Most people liked Jenna well enough, but very few people “got” her. Nelson did.

“Hi, Jenna.”

“Hey, Nelson,” she said, giving him a quick hug.

Nelson was way cool. Jenna loved him. Well, not love-love, even though she’d tested those waters, too. But they’d both quickly figured out they were meant to just be friends. That was happening to Jenna a lot these days. “I appreciate you making time for this.”

Nelson was one busy guy. He worked at the local doctor’s office as an assistant and office manager. He was also a shaman-in-training for his tribe. The tribe’s rule against interracial dating had made a relationship between them impossible, even if there had been chemistry.

Nelson would make a great shaman, Jenna thought. There was just something about him, a centered-ness. When she was a kid, she and one of her step-sisters, Lillith, had discovered a secret place on Lillith’s grandpa’s farm, one they’d returned to every chance they got. A copse of trees surrounded a quiet stream fed by an underground spring. Jenna had loved that stream for its calmness, clarity and constancy. Hanging out with Nelson always reminded her of that place and dipping her toes into the sun-dappled water.

“No problem. I’m glad to do this for you,” he said. “The clinic’s been slow but with the weather change, we’ll get busier,” he said. “How are you?”

It was one of those questions people asked without caring about the answer. But Nelson really wanted to know.

Had it been anyone else, Jenna would’ve given them a pat answer. But this was Nelson. “I’ve had a touch of the funk,” she said.

While she explained her theory behind feeling unsettled, Nelson reached inside his jacket and pulled out an animal-skin pouch. Squatting on his haunches, he placed it on the floor, unfolded it and pulled out what looked like a seriously oversized cigar. It was actually a bundle of sage tied with string.

Jenna had asked Nelson to “smudge” her new building to clear any negative energy before Sven and his crew started on the interior. It was a native tradition Nelson performed regularly at the clinic, cleansing the space. And Jenna wanted as much good energy in her own place as possible.

She and Nelson walked to the farthermost corner of the building. He struck a match and held the flame to the end of the bundle until it began to burn. Smoke curled into the air and he spoke a few prayers, raising and lowering the sage stick at the same time.

“I don’t know,” she concluded once he’d finished. “You ever feel like things are going right but something just feels off?”

He peered at her, seeming to see some place inside her. Nelson had a way of doing that. She was pretty sure it was that shaman thing he was training for. “Yes?” he said.

They leaned against the back wall, the scent of burnt sage wafting around them.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Jenna said. “I love living here. Even though I have a business in Marietta, it’s never felt the same as this.” She held out her arms to the empty room and circled slowly. “This is my home. How cool is that? So why do I have this … I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Kind of an empty spot inside?”

“Well, yeah. Maybe a little.”

“Perhaps you are ready to find your mate.”