Alaska Home. Debbie Macomber

Nothing that would stop traffic, mind you, but reasonably pleasing to the eye.

      Duke Porter, one of his pilots, apparently thought so.

      Christian’s mouth thinned at the memory of walking in on them recently and finding Mariah and Duke locked in each other’s arms. It irritated him no end that they hadn’t kept their romance out of the office. If they wanted to smooch and carry on, they could do it on their own time. Not his.

      This sort of behavior wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he convinced Sawyer that they should bring women to Hard Luck. In his view, the plan had a practical business purpose. Midnight Sons had been losing pilots. And he’d hoped that persuading women to move to Alaska would solve their problems.

      Instead, it had created more—Mariah Douglas being one of them.

      Abbey Sutherland was the first woman to arrive. From the moment his levelheaded brother laid eyes on her, Sawyer hadn’t been the same. In less than a month, he and Abbey were engaged.

      In Christian’s opinion, Sawyer lost more than his heart when he met Abbey; since then, his brain hadn’t functioned properly, either. Charles wasn’t much better once Lanni Caldwell showed up. The two of them were engaged by the end of the summer. They’d set up house this past April, and all the common sense Charles used to have had flown right out the proverbial window.

      Christian appeared to be the last of the three in full possession of his wits.

      Shortly after he’d found Mariah and Duke embracing, Christian had approached Charles. He’d hoped his oldest brother would help him convince Sawyer that the time had come to replace Mariah. She’d been their secretary for a full year now, and there was only so much a man should have to take. They’d signed a one-year agreement, and as far as he was concerned their responsibilities toward her had been met.

      Charles had proved to be a major disappointment. It wasn’t that his brother had sided with Sawyer over the secretary issue; however, he hadn’t said what Christian had been hoping to hear. Charles seemed to feel that Sawyer and Christian should settle this matter between themselves.

      That would never work, because Sawyer didn’t have the same problems with Mariah that Christian did. His brother was in favor of keeping her as long as she was willing to stay on.

      Every time Christian brought up the subject, Sawyer reminded him that he’d been the one to hire her. What his brother failed to remember was that Christian had never wanted Mariah as their secretary in the first place. He’d wanted Allison Reynolds.

      Even now, the image of the tall, beautiful blonde stirred his blood. He’d met her in Seattle and been immediately captivated. It had taken a lot of fancy footwork to get her to give Hard Luck a try.

      Allison had come to Alaska, but after viewing the town and seeing the living quarters allotted her, she’d experienced a sudden change of heart. Unfortunately Christian hadn’t been in Hard Luck at the time, and once she’d decided to return to Seattle, he didn’t have the opportunity to talk her into giving the town another chance.

      Disheartened after her departure, he’d pulled out the next job application in the pile.

      Mariah Douglas.

      Christian had rued that day ever since. He’d wanted Allison Reynolds. She’d affected him the way Abbey had affected Sawyer, the way Lanni affected Charles. If he hadn’t been so dismayed with Allison’s decision to go back home, he’d have done a better job of choosing her replacement.

      “Christian, could I speak to you for a moment?” Mariah approached his desk in her usual timid manner, as though she expected him to leap up and bite her.

      He raised his eyes. It had taken her six months to call him by his first name, instead of Mr. O’Halloran. Didn’t she realize he and Sawyer had the same surname? He sighed. And Sawyer wasn’t even in today to help with damage control; he’d gone to Fairbanks with Abbey and the kids.

      “Yes,” he muttered, barely hiding his impatience.

      “Before he left, Sawyer said I should talk to you....” She bit her lower lip. From her expression, you’d think he was some kind of ogre. Christian saw himself as considerate and intelligent and hoped he behaved that way. Obviously Mariah didn’t agree. He sighed again.

      “Talk to me about what?” he asked, more kindly this time.

      “I’ve been with Midnight Sons for a whole year now.”

      No one was more aware of that than Christian. “Yes, I know.”

      “I’d like to take a week of the vacation I’m allowed according to my employment contract.”

      Christian straightened. A week without Mariah. A week of freedom. A week of peace.

      “I’m meeting a friend in Anchorage,” she explained, not that he needed to know or particularly cared.

      “When?” The sooner she left the better, in Christian’s opinion. This would be his chance to prove to Sawyer once and for all that they didn’t need a secretary. Or—and this was his own preference—that they should hire someone else. Someone more like Allison and a lot less like Mariah.

      “If it’s possible, I’d like to take next week,” she said, her eyes hopeful. “Early August is the perfect time to see Alaska.”

      “Next week’ll be fine.” Christian was so excited it was all he could do not to grab her by the shoulders and kiss her on both cheeks.

      She hesitated, lingering at his desk.

      “Is there something else?” he asked.

      “Yes, there is.” Her eyes flashed briefly, but with what he couldn’t quite guess. Anxiety? Resentment? “I wanted to thank you for giving me this time off on such short notice. I realize it puts you in a bind, but I didn’t decide to go until last night after I got Tracy’s letter and—”

      “Tracy Santiago?”

      Mariah nodded.

      Tracy was an attorney hired by the Douglas family soon after Mariah’s arrival. Tracy had flown up to inspect the living conditions and review Mariah’s contract with Midnight Sons. Through all of this, apparently, Mariah and Tracy had struck up a friendship.

      With any luck Tracy would convince Mariah to forget about Alaska and return to Seattle where she belonged. One thing was certain: Christian wanted her gone.

      “I’ll be leaving on Saturday,” she said, again providing him with more information than he wanted or required.

      “Fine.”

      “And I’ll be back the following Saturday.”

      “Fine.”

      She backed away from him. “I just thought you should know.”

      “Will you be flying out of Fairbanks?”

      “Yes.” She nodded enthusiastically. “Duke’s offered to take me into the city.”

      Duke. Christian should’ve known he’d relish a chance to spend time alone with Mariah. Duke was welcome to her, although Christian would insist they keep their romance out of the office and out of his sight. The problems with having one of his pilots dating the secretary were obvious—weren’t they? Well, maybe he couldn’t articulate all of those problems this very minute, but he knew instinctively that it wasn’t a good idea. For reasons he couldn’t entirely explain, Christian did not want Duke flying Mariah into Fairbanks.

      “Duke’s going to be busy next Saturday,” Christian announced suddenly. He wasn’t sure what he’d assign the pilot, but he’d come up with something.

      “But I checked the schedule, and there wasn’t anything down for Duke. He’s already said he’d do it, and—”

      “Then I suggest you check the schedule again,” he snapped, “and have one of the other pilots fly you in.”

      “All