Lori Wilde - To Alaska, With Love - A Touch of Silk

“He’s owned his own business for ten years and each year he turns a bigger profit.” Jim nodded.

“And he still finds time to help us out at the radio station. You couldn’t ask for a better son.” Linda took a sip of her coffee. “Or better husband material. Write that down.” She waved a hand at Kay’s notebook. “I’m hoping this advertisement thing pays off for Quinn. I’m ready for grandchildren, and Meggie doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to accommodate me.”

Jim eyed Kay. “You wouldn’t be interested in our boy yourself, would you? You’re a beautiful young lady. You two would have the handsomest kids.”

“Oh, no.” Kay struggled to tamp down the telltale blush she knew was spreading up her neck. “I mean, I like Quinn very much, but I’m a New Yorker. And I just got out of a relationship. I’m not ready for anything serious. Quinn and I are at two different places in our lives.”

Immediately she realized she’d given too much information too quickly. Why had she said so much? That certainly wasn’t like her, spilling her guts to strangers. Probably she’d spouted off because she didn’t want them getting the wrong idea about Quinn and her.

But oddly enough, her nervous revelation seemed to endear her to Quinn’s parents. The Scofields smiled at her sweetly and Jim patted her on the shoulder. “No explanation necessary.”

“But you do like him,” Linda said.

Oh, great. How had she gotten herself into this conversation?

“Mom, Dad,” Quinn boomed from the door of the restaurant, “stop bending Kay’s ear.”

Relieved, Kay looked up to see him stalk toward them. Her heart gave this strange little thump and she suddenly felt all loose and melty inside. He was even better-looking than she remembered in that hard-edged, masculine way of his.

He stopped beside her stool. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Inwardly she cringed. That sounded too flirty.

“Sleep well?” He grinned as if he knew she hadn’t slept a wink.

“Considering the circumstances.”

“Strange bed and all that.”

“And all that,” she echoed.

“We better be heading out.” Jim Scofield got to his feet, left some money on the counter, then turned to help his wife from her stool. “Linda’s got a doctor’s appointment in Anchorage at two-thirty, and Mack’s waiting to fly us over, so we better get a move on. Nice meeting you, Kay.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” She wriggled her fingers at them.

“Quinn, you must bring Kay to dinner on Saturday night,” Linda insisted. “We’re having a little get-together.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Scofield. I’d love to come.”

Linda whispered something in Quinn’s ear and nudged him in the ribs.

“All right, Mom. We’ll be there.”

“What’d she say?” Kay asked after his parents had left the restaurant. Quinn perched on the stool beside her.

“She said I was supposed to be nice to you.”

“Oh, really?”

“She likes you.”

“How can you tell?”

“I just know.”

“I like her, too. I like both your folks.”

Kay couldn’t help but think about her own parents again. Honoria and Charles would be as rejecting of Quinn as his parents were accepting of her. The vast differences between them yawned before her. Good thing her relationship with Quinn was purely sexual. They wouldn’t have to deal with sticky things like disappointed in-laws. Best leave that to the bachelorettes who would come pouring into Bear Creek with marriage on their minds.

“I dropped by to see if you’d like to come over tomorrow night,” Quinn said.

“Tomorrow? Not tonight?”

He smirked at the disappointment in her voice. “I’m playing hockey tonight, but I’d love to have you in the stands rooting for me, if you’d like to come.”

“And after the hockey game...?” She let her sentence trail off.

His grin widened. “I’ll take you to the B&B.”

“Couldn’t we go back to your place afterward?”

“No way.” He shook his head.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m clearing my calendar on Wednesday night for you. What I’ve got in mind, sweetheart, is going to take hours and hours and hours.” And with that, he winked, chucked her under the chin, pivoted on his heel and strode out of the restaurant.

* * *

THE TEN PLAYERS whizzed over the ice in a blur. Hockey sticks clashed loudly in the still night air. Bright stadium lights lit the perimeter of the frozen lake turned outdoor hockey rink. In the bleachers, Kay sat huddled under a blanket with Jim and Linda Scofield, her notebook and pen clutched in her gloved fingers. She had yet to write a word, so caught up was she in watching the game.

The players zipped by them again heading for the opposite team’s goal. If Quinn wasn’t so tall, Kay would have had trouble following him. He moved with a graceful power, pushing across the ice with smooth, long-limbed strokes. The expression on his face showed fierce concentration. He manned his stick like a gladiator doing battle.

Wow. Did he bring that kind of concentration to the bedroom? Kay shivered at the thought, grateful she had the cold as an excuse for her quivers.

She was so busy eyeing Quinn’s amazing bod, she never even noticed when he slammed the puck home until the crowd roared and jumped to their collective feet. Kay followed suit, dropping her notepad and pen into her seat so she could applaud without hindrance. “We Will Rock You” blared from the outdoor speakers mounted on the lampposts.

Because of his goal, the Bear Creek Grizzlies had taken a 2 to 1 lead.

“Quinn, Quinn, Quinn,” the crowd chanted.

He turned then and caught Kay’s eye.

A chill of excitement shuddered through her.

He put his hand to his mouth and blew her a kiss.

Kay’s heart fluttered and her belly went warm against the sudden adrenaline rush. Quinn skated down the middle of the ice alone, his stick raised over his head in victory, accepting his accolades, relishing his accomplishment with unabashed glee.

The man was truly magnificent.

A warrior, self-reliant and strong. He was brave and passionate and not the least bit hesitant about expressing what was going on in his head.

Oh! To be like that, instead of a repressed rich woman so alienated from her emotions she didn’t know if she would ever find the approval she needed to release herself from her societal prison.

“Kay, dear, you’re shivering, get back under the blanket.” Quinn’s mother smiled and held up the thick thermal cover, welcoming her beneath it.

Kay sat beside Linda, squashing her notebook and pen beneath her, but she didn’t care. Quinn’s mom tucked the blanket around her and snuggled close. It felt nice to be wrapped in this warm cocoon, to share body heat with Quinn’s family.

In that sweet moment she experienced an amiable sense of kinship she had never felt with her own mother. Linda Scofield, she knew with sudden certainty, would never advise her to marry a man who cheated on her.

Why can’t my mother be like this?

But Kay knew it was a ridiculous wish. Wishing her mother was different was like wishing that she was five inches taller or had been born in Bear Creek.

“Here comes Meggie,” Linda said. “Let’s scoot down.”

Kay looked up to see a woman about her own age picking her way through the stands. Unlike everyone else, who were clad in mackinaws, boots and woolen pants, Meggie wore an outfit more like Kay’s own stylish attire.

Meggie possessed an open, honest face and an understated but totally natural prettiness that would serve her well into middle age and beyond. Her eyelashes were enhanced with mascara, her cheeks heightened with rouge. Flame-red lipstick adorned her mouth. Her jet-black hair was tucked up under a bright red and orange cap.