To Alaska, With Love: A Touch of Silk. Lori Wilde

woman. Under the circumstances I’m entitled to be a little testy, don’t you think?”

      Her mother shifted, let go of Kay’s hands. “You mustn’t allow something like this to come between you and Lloyd.”

      Kay stared at her mother openmouthed. “What?” She wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. Was her mother suggesting she overlook Lloyd’s blatant infidelity?

      Gently Honoria reached out and pushed Kay’s jaw up. “Lloyd is your father’s right-hand man. He’d be lost without him.”

      “What’s that got to do with me?”

      Her mother would have frowned, but her recent Botox injection ruled that out. Instead, a disapproving look came into her eyes. “It’s got everything to do with you, darling. One day Freemont Enterprises will belong to you.”

      “And I can’t inherit without a man at my side?”

      “Not just any man. You must have a husband who comes from the right stock. A man who knows how to navigate your world. A man of good breeding.”

      “Oh, from what I witnessed this afternoon, Lloyd’s good at breeding, all right.” Kay crossed her arms and glared. How could her own mother side with her father and Lloyd in this matter?

      “Don’t be crude. It’s unbecoming of a Freemont.”

      If her mother said one more word about being a good Freemont, Kay was going to scream. She rubbed her pounding temples.

      “I’m not saying what Lloyd did was right,” Honoria went on, “but he’s very sorry. He’s already apologized to your father, and he desperately wants to apologize to you, but he’s afraid you won’t speak to him.”

      “He’s right. I never want to see him again.”

      “You’re making a grave mistake. Lloyd comes from a long and illustrious bloodline.”

      “I’m not a racehorse, Mother.”

      “You’re going to be seeing him at every social function. You know he’s got opera-season tickets right next to our box. There’s no way to avoid him.”

      “So I’ll stop attending social functions and, news flash, I hate opera.”

      “You can’t avoid him forever.”

      “Then I’ll ignore him.”

      “Darling, you’re old enough to understand this.” Her mother patted her knee. “There’re certain things a woman must put up with in a marriage. Any marriage. Be it good, bad or indifferent.”

      “And infidelity is one of those things?”

      She simply couldn’t believe her mother was saying this to her. Then again, what did she expect? Her mother had chosen to look the other way whenever Kay’s father came home with lipstick on his collar or took late-night telephone calls in his den or went on “business” trips several times a month. Well, not her! She’d be damned if she’d live that way. No amount of money or social status was worth that kind of misery.

      Kay got to her feet. “Mother, I think it’s time for you to go.”

      Honoria looked startled. “Excuse me?”

      “I’m not going to discuss Lloyd Post. I’m not going to marry a man who cheats on me. You might have been willing to settle for a marriage in name only, but not me.”

      Her mother looked as if she’d been slapped across the face with a broom. “Kathryn Victoria Freemont, I will not allow you to speak that way to me.”

      “Then if you don’t want to hear what I have to say, there’s the door.”

      Flabbergasted, her mother picked up her purse. “I’ll talk to you later when you’ve come to your senses.”

      “Don’t hold your breath,” Kay muttered, and locked the door behind Honoria, then collapsed onto the tiled floor and drew her knees to her chest. She rocked back and forth in a vain attempt to comfort herself the way she had as a little girl on Nanny’s night off.

      Oh, God, she had to get out of the city. Away from Lloyd’s humiliating behavior, away from her father’s chiding disapproval, away from her mother’s terrible advice.

      When had her life become such a mess?

      From the outside, strangers might be envious of her. She had a plum job at the most successful women’s magazine in the country. She had lots of money, got invited to all the right parties. She was thin and young and blond.

      But others had no idea what it was like to be Kay Freemont. She was miserable to the core and hadn’t a clue how to salvage herself. All her life she’d had this bizarre sensation of being on the inside looking out. While in the midst of prestige, money and privilege, she dreamed of being like other kids, wearing clothes off the rack, cheap sunglasses and colorful, rubber flip-flops.

      She’d longed to do simple things like eat cotton candy or ride on a carnival Ferris wheel or lie on her back in the grass and stare up at a canopy of stars.

      Instead, she’d been escorted to the planetarium and the museum by bodyguards. She’d been forced to attend boring parties and was kept isolated from ordinary people.

      She was sick of it. And she wanted out.

      For the longest time she had experienced no passion, no fire, no zest for life. That is, until yesterday when she had met Quinn Scofield.

      Something about the man—be it his ruggedly sexy appearance, his independent nature, his engaging smile—stirred dormant emotions deep inside her. For the first time in years she felt excited.

      The man was real; he didn’t hide behind a facade. He was honest; he spoke what was on his mind, consequences be damned. He had true friends, not leeches who sucked up to him for his power and money. And he had family who loved him for who he was. In other words, he was everything she was not.

      Go to Alaska. Write the feature article. Get away. Spend some time with Quinn. Tell him you’ve broken things off with Lloyd. Find yourself. Find your sexuality. Come home a new woman.

      It sounded so good.

      Determined, Kay crossed to the telephone in the alcove, picked up the receiver and called Judy to tell her she was taking the assignment. She was going north to Alaska.

Chapter Five

      KAY FREEMONT WAS coming to Bear Creek. Quinn still couldn’t quite get his head around the notion. To think, in less than an hour, that cool, sleek beauty would be strolling the streets of his hometown.

      The notion was enough to give a man the shakes. He wasn’t quite prepared for the reality of her visit, and yet he didn’t feel as if he could wait another second, much less sixty minutes or more.

      She had already arrived in Anchorage, and Mack had flown out to retrieve her. Quinn could scarcely sit still. He had reserved the best room for her at Jake’s B&B and arranged for her to borrow his parents’ extra vehicle. Since his mother had slipped on ice and broken her right ankle the week before, she wouldn’t need the old Wagoneer, anyway. He’d stocked his refrigerator with supplies, planning to cook a few meals for her. Quinn was proud of his culinary abilities and couldn’t wait to show off for her.

      And he was hoping against hope that his wildest dreams might come true and they could finish what they started in New York City. He had stopped by Leonard Long Bear’s sundries store and picked up a box of condoms, a bottle of massage oil and edible body paints. Bear Creek might be small but because of the cruise ship trade, Long Bear’s had to be prepared for every kind of request. Especially those of a confidential nature.

      Unfortunately Quinn’s private business hadn’t remained private for long. By lunchtime at least half a dozen townspeople had kidded him about the naughty thoughts running through his mind.

      Fine.