Candy Halliday - Dad's E-mail Order Bride

Graham didn’t say a word when she came to a stop in front of him. Her high heels brought them almost nose-to-nose, and her eyes were as blue as the fur-trimmed parka she was wearing.

She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips.

Graham was tempted to kiss her again.

Until she said, “Happy. Birthday. Graham.”

Her words were so stilted and robotic Graham took a quick step backward. And when he looked past her, Gil was standing at the rear of the plane grinning from ear to ear.

Just last month Gil had told him about a Russian hooker he’d met in Nome who could barely speak English. And he’d bragged he could fix Graham up with her on a moment’s notice.

So the joke was on him.

Gil had paid the hooker to kiss him for his birthday.

Graham was prepared to be a good sport and laugh the whole thing off—until Gil unloaded two matching pink suitcases and placed them on the dock.

“Hey!” Graham called out in a panic and hurried in Gil’s direction.

It would be just like Gil to take the joke too far—to pay the blonde to give him more than just a birthday kiss. But damn! Had Gil forgotten there was an impressionable teenage daughter to consider?

Graham made it to the plane just as Gil was reaching out to close the cargo bay door. He grabbed Gil by the arm to keep that from happening.

“Okay, Gil, the joke’s over,” Graham told him. “You seem to have forgotten I have a daughter. So pick up the luggage, get your friend back into the plane and—”

“Whoa!” Gil said, jerking his arm away. “She isn’t any friend of mine. I’ve never seen her before.”

“This isn’t funny,” Graham warned.

Gil looked past him for a second. “Your guest doesn’t seem to think this is funny, either.”

Graham glanced over his shoulder.

The frown on her face sent a shiver up his spine.

“Wait right here,” he told Gill.

Gil shook his head. “No way. I have a hot date with a redhead in Ketchikan tonight and I’m already behind schedule. The blonde is your problem. I’ll be back to pick her up on Monday when I drop off your guests for next week.”

Graham took a threatening step forward. “Don’t be a wiseass, Gil. I have no idea who this woman is. And she certainly can’t stay here all weekend.”

Gil peered around him again. “Don’t you be a dumb ass, Graham. Whoever she is, she’s a knockout, man. And you’ve got a big lodge with a bunch of empty rooms for her to choose from. If you don’t know her, get to know her. That’s what I’d do.”

“I’m not you,” Graham said between clenched teeth.

“Your loss,” Gil said and bent down to unfasten the tie lead.

“I mean it, Gil,” Graham said. “Don’t you leave this dock until I get this straightened out.”

Graham turned and walked in the blonde’s direction. He was midway to where she stood when the sound of the noisy engine coming back to life jerked Graham’s head around.

“Dammit, Gil!”

Gil’s reply was a final salute before he sped across the cove. Two seconds later the only chance Graham had of his birthday present leaving before Monday lifted into the air. Two seconds more and the plane flew around the cove and disappeared out of sight.

Graham looked over his shoulder again. Now she had her hands on her hips. And she didn’t look one bit happy.

That made two of them.

WHEN THE FLOATPLANE left without her, the first thought that crossed Courtney Woods’s mind was to jump off the dock and start swimming to the mainland. And she might have done just that had she not been so upset with the man walking up the dock in her direction.

She obviously didn’t measure up to Graham Morrison’s standards. She’d seen the shocked look on his face the second she stepped off the plane.

But did she really look so different in person than she did in her pictures? Or was Graham one of those guys who only got into the fantasy part of an online relationship? Now that she was actually standing on his dock in the flesh, all of the interest was gone.

But why send her the airplane ticket?

Why invite her to his birthday party tomorrow?

Why lie to her on so many different levels?

What a disaster!

Had her best friend Beth not given her a membership to an online dating service for her birthday as a joke, Courtney never would have known about a Web site called LoveFromAlaska.com. And she certainly wouldn’t have been suckered by the man walking toward her now, who had obviously changed his mind.

But turning thirty-five had hit her like the big wrecking ball she’d used in one of her most successful ad campaigns. And the catchy slogan she’d come up with for the career placement service had been: “Break out of your going-nowhere life.”

For once, Courtney had taken her own advice.

And what had it gotten her? A trip all the way across country only to be rejected by the very man who had invited her to come.

Still, Courtney thought, what a shame.

She’d been so sure Graham Morrison was the real thing.

He stopped in front of her. And as luck would have it, he was even better looking in person. Thick, black hair. Rock-hard body. Dark brown eyes she could easily get lost in.

He cleared his throat and said, “There’s obviously been some mistake here.”

“You think?” Courtney shot back.

He seemed surprised by her sarcasm.

“It’s also obvious you can hear every word I’m saying,” Courtney said. “Why would you lie about something so serious, Graham? Why would you say you lost your hearing in an explosion while you were clearing land for the lodge?”

“What?” he bellowed back at her.

Courtney’s eyes narrowed. “Well, isn’t this convenient? You miraculously have your hearing back, but now you’ve lost your memory!”

“Now, look here,” he began.

“No, you look here,” Courtney told him. “Are you really going to stand there and pretend we haven’t been corresponding on the Internet since February? That you didn’t invite me to your birthday party tomorrow? And that you didn’t pay for my airplane ticket to get here?”

Before he could answer, Courtney dug into her purse and pulled out the card that had finally made her decide to come to Alaska.

Don’t you think it’s time we met? Say yes, and come to my birthday party.

Love from Alaska, Graham.

Courtney shoved the card into his hands. “I guess you also didn’t send me this card when you mailed me the itinerary for my e-ticket.”

He frowned. “This is my daughter’s handwriting.”

“Rachel wrote that?”

Now he looked concerned. “How do you know Rachel?”

Courtney snatched the card back. “You know perfectly well how I know Rachel. She calls me every night.”

Or did he know that?

The thought made Courtney gasp.

He kept staring at her.

And Courtney said, “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”

“No,” he said. “Who are you?”

Courtney needed to sit down.

But there was nowhere to sit!

“I’m Courtney Woods,” she finally told him. “The idiot who’s been corresponding with your daughter pretending to be you.”

His expression said he’d figured that out already.

He headed down the dock for her suitcases. When he returned, he said, “I’m sorry, but that was—”

“The last flight out of here until Monday,” Courtney finished for him.

He nodded.

“And there aren’t any hotels in Port Protection.”

“No,” he confirmed, “there aren’t.”

“So, basically I guess that means—”

“It means you can stay at the lodge until Monday.”

He’d saved her from saying “you’re stuck with me.”

But they both knew that’s what he was thinking.