Ann Evans: The Daughter Dilemma

Bus Station.

What business would the girl have there? This morning, none of the D’Angelos had mentioned a family member coming or leaving town.

A vague, uneasy feeling stole over Kari. She went through the glass door. The station was a small, functional place, and in no time she saw Tessa standing near the bus bay. With a boy. Luggage around their feet.

They didn’t see her approach. Both were absorbed in the contents of the bag Tessa held. They looked like kids exclaiming over Halloween treats. They were kids!

“…should be enough snacks to hold us until we get to Albuquerque,” Tessa was saying as Kari reached them. “I got those chocolate-covered raisins you like.”

“Tessa?”

The blond boy looked up, and Tessa swung around. Her features went dead-white, and her eyes moved like a trapped rabbit’s. “Oh, K-Kari,” she stammered out. “Oh, hi.”

Dear Reader,

A long time ago this born-and-bred Florida girl spent a couple of years living in Colorado. What a shock that was! Snow instead of sand, mountains instead of beaches, and for neighbors, wild animals instead of tourists.

Eventually, circumstances brought me back to my home state, but I’ve never forgotten Colorado’s beauty. So when I started thinking of new places to set my next book, I couldn’t help remembering a terrific little family-run resort I’d found on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Daughter Dilemma, the first of the HEART OF THE ROCKIES series, is based on those fond memories.

This book introduces you to Nick D’Angelo, the oldest son. Nick has his hands full running Lightning River Lodge, piloting helicopter tours, keeping his teenage daughter out of mischief and fending off his loving family’s determined efforts to see him remarried. When Kari Churchill literally drops out of the sky and into his life, he can’t wait to see the last of her.

As for Kari, she has her own busy career and her determination to learn more about her late father’s final trip into the wilderness. She’d be only too happy to oblige Nick and catch the next plane out of the mountains.

But neither of them stands a chance once the rest of the D’Angelo family decides they’re meant for each other.

I hope you enjoy Nick and Kari’s journey as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them and this fun, energetic family. In books to come, Nick’s siblings will find their own Happily Ever After. These strong men and loving women typify the characteristics I so often found in the people who live in those mountains in Colorado—commitment, courage and an endless capacity for love.

Regards,

Ann Evans

www.millsandboon.co.uk

It’s long past time to say a special thank-you to fellow Superromance author Kathleen O’Brien.

You convinced me to take the leap off the cliff, and only your professional insights, unending generosity and dear friendship keep me from crashing on the rocks below.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

NICK D’ANGELO was one hour and fifty-seven minutes into Angel Air’s deluxe two-hour helicopter tour. One hour and fifty-seven minutes into showing the Pattersons the beauty of Colorado’s Front Range the way birds saw it. One hour and fifty-seven minutes into a pounding headache that made him wonder if, at thirty-four, he was getting too old for this job.

Years ago he’d been a chopper pilot in the war, picking scared army grunts off sand dunes no bigger than a pitcher’s mound, bullets drilling holes into the side of his Black Hawk. No sweat, that.

But the Pattersons—both the rich, obnoxious father and the spoiled-rotten daughter—were making him crazy.

Dwayne Patterson, seated in the copilot seat of Raven One, was the kind of guy who’d die before he’d admit he was scared to death to fly. Every time Nick put the R-44 into a sharp bank, Patterson’s white-knuckled grip dug a deeper furrow into the seat’s leather. Nick didn’t mind that. Hell, plenty of people got nervous once they climbed into a helicopter. If this guy lost his lunch before the flight was over, Nick would clean it up—then charge him double through the “unforeseen incidence” clause in the release form.

No, the nerves didn’t bother him. It was Patterson’s constant chatter over the cabin’s “hot mike” that drove Nick nuts. Nick had smiled and nodded in all the right places, glad that his sunglasses hid his boredom. But the guy wouldn’t shut up.

As for the man’s daughter, Hannah, a more unlikable teenager Nick had yet to meet. Whenever he looked back over his shoulder to see how she was doing, she invariably threw him a pouty, petulant, hurt-baby face. As though the past two hours had somehow been Nick’s idea and not Dwayne Patterson’s pitiful attempt to bond with his kid.

Hannah Patterson wasn’t much older than Nick’s daughter, Tessa, but she was miles apart in temperament. Surly. Jaded. Easily bored. In the past couple of weeks Nick had been at odds with Tessa, but nothing in her contrary behavior even came close to this girl’s attitude.

And he’d been trying so hard to be agreeable to these people, too. He had to. The summer season had been off this year. Too much rain. Too many tourists tightening their belts instead of spending money. But sometimes, Nick thought, you played your best hand and it still wasn’t enough to win the pot.

He’d flown these two over some of the prettiest country God had ever created. It was going to be an early autumn—already the aspen were spreading golden blankets across the green velvet slopes. They’d swooped down over abandoned mines and ghost towns. Followed the winding river through the canyons—so close you could make out the bullet-shaped trout in the crystal streams below. Surely that kind of ride beat anything the theme parks were offering.

But neither of the Pattersons seemed the least bit impressed. Hannah just yawned and rolled her eyes occasionally. Daddy should have spent some of his computer software money on charm school.

He felt a fingertip jab hard into his shoulder and turned his head to find Hannah thrusting forward in her seat.

“How much longer?” the girl shouted, though Nick had explained twice that the cabin radio picked up every word and delivered it right into each of their headphones. “I have to pee like a racehorse.”

Nice mouth, Nick thought. But Dad Patterson didn’t seem to mind.

Instead of answering, Nick pointed out the front right windscreen. Angel Air’s heliport was in sight now, the landing pad a stark blue-and-yellow scar against the mountainside. The small office and hangar looked like a Monopoly house, the company’s other copter, Raven Two, like a kid’s toy.

Somewhere inside the office his sister, Adriana, would be waiting for their return. Probably fuming, if he knew Addy. Which he did.

He pressed the radio switch on the side of the cyclic column that allowed him to talk to the office or any other flight service he might need to raise. “Base, this is Nine-Zero-One-Bravo. Coming in from the west.”

“Roger, Nine-Zero-One-Bravo,” his sister’s voice came through the headphones. “I’ll be waiting.”

One hour and fifty-nine minutes into the tour now. It would be over soon enough, thank God.