JENNIFER LABRECQUE - Northern Exposure

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?

Don’t miss the chance to experience some

ALASKAN HEAT,

Jennifer LaBrecque’s new sizzling mini-series:

Northern Exposure (October 2011)

Northern Encounter (November 2011)

Northern Escape (December 2011)

Enjoy the adventure!

After a varied career path that included barbecue-joint waitress, corporate number cruncher and bug business maven, JENNIFER LABRECQUEhas 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 lives in suburban Atlanta.

Dear Reader,

Once in a lifetime, you discover a place that touches something inside of you. Alaska was one of those places for me. At the time I had never seen a place of such wild, unspoiled beauty, or a landscape that varied from barren to the lushness of the Matanuska valley to the magnificence of millennia-old glaciers. And the state is inhabited by some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet.

Obviously, I fell in love with Alaska.

And when the opportunity came along to create my own Alaskan paradise, I was thrilled. I totally enjoyed bringing Good Riddance—a small town in the Alaskan bush where you can leave behind whatever troubles you—to life! Founded by a transplanted Southern belle, Good Riddance residents are a quirky assortment of folks from all walks of life. It’s the perfect place to fall in love.

So welcome to Good Riddance. I hope you enjoy your stay. And don’t forget to drop by and visit me at www.jenniferlabrecque.com

As always …happy reading,

Jen

Northern Exposure

Jennifer LaBrecque

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To the intrepid men and women who settled the last frontier.

Thanks to Dr Roger L Swingle, Jr. for his patience with all of my questions and his willingness to share his knowledge and love of Alaska with me. Any inaccuracies in the book are all my own.

You’re the best, Rog.

SOME DAYS, LADY LUCK was with you and on others, she didn’t ever bother to show up. The way it was looking, she wouldn’t be flying with him today.

Dalton Saunders, former corporate drone CPA, current Alaskan bush pilot, had planned to go fishing with Clint Sisnuket on this fine October day. Instead, he was going to spend his Sunday afternoon making an unscheduled run.

“You need for me to fly to Anchorage?”

Merrilee Danville Weatherspoon, transplanted Southern belle, mayor and founder of Good Riddance, Alaska, and proprietor of Good Riddance Air Strip Center and Bed and Breakfast, nodded. “Sorry, Dalton. The fish are going to have to bite without you today. Juliette was going to make it but she’s got engine problems.”

Juliette covered his days off and picked up the overflow runs, but if she was grounded, there wasn’t much sense arguing. Not unless he wanted to come across like Jeb Taylor and Dwight Simmons, who sat in rocking chairs with the chess table between them. The grizzled old-timers never agreed on anything other than hanging out at the airstrip and dickering.

“Can’t do much about engine problems,” Dalton said. But damn, this was probably going to be one of the last nice days they’d have. It had been unseasonably warm for October today. For that matter, it’d been unseasonably warm period. The loons were still out at the lake and it was the latest they’d ever stayed in the years he’d been here. “What am I picking up?”

“Not what. Who. You’re picking up a doctor who’s filling in the next few weeks for Doc Morrow. Dr. Shanahan.”

Dalton had flown Good Riddance’s doctor, Barry Morrow, into Anchorage Friday evening for the first leg of his vacation. Dalton supposed it was only fitting that now he’d have to pick up Doc Morrow’s replacement. Although it would have saved him a trip if this Dr. Shanahan had been ready to go on Friday.

Snagging a cup of coffee from the carafe on the small carved table next to the desk that housed all of the radio equipment, Dalton nodded. “Guess we’re lucky to find a replacement.”

Merrilee nodded. “Isn’t that the truth?” Her smile crinkled the corners of her eyes. “And here I thought we’d be overwhelmed with doctors wanting to fill in for a few weeks in our fair city.”

Dalton laughed as Merrilee intended. But actually, she was right. Very few visitors came through who weren’t immediately charmed by Good Riddance. The town had been just what he’d been looking for eight years ago when he’d tossed in the towel on the rat race that was his life in Michigan.

Watching his father die, weeks from retirement from a job he despised, had changed Dalton’s life. His dad had put off living until he retired and, ironically, he hadn’t lived to enjoy it. Swearing he wouldn’t make the same mistake, Dalton had unloaded his job, condo and fiancée and pursued what he really wanted—a job as a bush pilot in the Alaskan wilds.

Dalton and his dad had always shared a fascination with their country’s last frontier. For Dalton’s sixteenth birthday, he and his dad had spent four days on an Alaskan fishing trip. How many times since then had he and his dad talked about a “big” return trip to Alaska, once his dad retired, of course? Countless. Alaska had been their shared dream. Even though he and his father had never made that trip together, he’d felt closer to his dad in Good Riddance than he ever had in Michigan.

Good Riddance was a great place to leave a lot of things behind. He mentally shook off thoughts of Laura, his former fiancée. He’d considered himself damn lucky to have tossed in that particular towel—and that type of woman. Ambition, plain and simple, had been the nail in their relationship coffin. Laura’s ambition had led her into bed with Dalton’s boss, who apparently had the measure of ambition Laura found lacking in Dalton. Although it had hurt like a bitch at the time, he figured it’d been his lucky break in the long run.

So, if he occasionally missed a Sunday afternoon fishing trip to haul in some relief doc for Merrilee, well, it still beat the hell out of the life he’d had before.

“Dr. Shanahan, huh?” he said.

“Yep. I’ve made you a sign and everything.” Merrilee handed over a placard for him to hold up at the arrival area.

Finishing the last of his coffee, he traded the now-empty cup for the sign. “Alright then, I guess I’ll go get our new doc.”

He sighed as he headed out. Sure was a nice day. If the trip went fast, maybe he and Clint could still get a little fishing in. Heck, maybe they’d take the new doc with them.

AS DR. SKYE SHANAHAN made her way off the plane in Anchorage she wondered again how she’d allowed herself to be railroaded into this Alaskan bush debacle. Guilt, plain and simple. Maternal manipulation, at its finest.

Skye was never quite allowed to forget that she was something of a disappointment to her parents. Sure, she carried the title of doctor but her mother, father and brother were neurosurgeons. And her sister had done the next best thing and married one. Nope, in a family of brilliance, Skye was a lowly general practitioner and still single to boot. Single, with the innate ability to pick the wrong guy. When her last boyfriend had left her with egg on her face, Skye had vowed to take a hiatus. Unfortunately, that left the door wide open for her mother and sister to step up to the matchmaking plate. And they were determined to hit a home run.