He looked around the room and smiled his approval to Alex. “It’s nice. Much brighter. Smells better.”
Alex felt her heart jump at the sight of him. He looked ruggedly handsome in a black-and-red-plaid wool jacket, black jeans, and hiking boots. Raindrops clung to strawberry blond hair that was in need of a cut, and a broad, slightly embarrassed smile creased his face and lit his enigmatic hazel eyes. She’d passed him on the driveway twice, and he’d briefly stopped in the store while she was cleaning, but that had been it. She’d assumed the sight of her in long johns and nightgown had been sufficient to squash all romantic interests.
Casey moved to the counter. “Coffee?” He rapped his knuckles against the glass canister of chocolate chip cookies. “Cookies?”
“For the customers. Except there aren’t any.”
Casey took a cookie. “Business is bad?”
“Business is nonexistent.”
“It’ll pick up.” He ate the cookie leisurely and stared at her, feeling the magnetic pull of her personality, feeling the pleasant flush of desire wash over him. “How’s Andy?”
Alex smiled. “He’s not so bad. He’s like a porcupine, all bristly on the topside with a soft belly on the underside.” So far she hadn’t seen the soft side, but she had hopes.
Casey continued to stare at her. “What about the guy with the great butt? Has he been around?”
Alex tried not to laugh. “The sign painter wasn’t bad from behind, but he had an IQ that was smaller than his shoe size.”
“This husband-hunting stuff is pretty rough, huh?”
Alex shrugged. “It’ll pick up.”
A muscle twitched in Casey’s jaw, but his expression remained impassive.
The door opened, and a man entered on a gust of cold air. “I’m new here,” he said. “Those gas pumps work?”
Casey leaned forward and whispered in Alex’s ear, touching the sensitive shell with his lips as he spoke, “Brown hair.”
Alex glared at him. “Don’t start.”
Casey pointedly ignored her and approached the man with congenial interest. “Married?”
“No.”
Casey beamed. “He’s not married.”
Alex pressed her lips together.
“Well, what do you think? He’s got brown hair. Would you like to marry him?”
The man looked uncomfortable.
“Alex came to Alaska to find a husband,” Casey explained. “He has to have brown hair.”
The man put his hand to his head. “I have brown hair.”
“Are you rich?”
“No.”
“You see,” he told Alex, “he’s perfect.”
Alex gritted her teeth and threw a coffee cup at Casey. He deftly caught it with one hand.
“She’s been having a hard time landing someone on her own,” Casey confided, “so I’ve been helping her.”
Alex hurled two chocolate chip cookies at him. He caught one, but the other bounced off his forehead. “See how much fun she is, never a dull moment. What do you say? Wanna be a sport and marry her?”
“She looks a little violent.”
“I like to think she’s just high-spirited.”
The man grinned and shook his head. “I think you have your work cut out for you,” he told Casey. “About the gas pumps?”
“They don’t work,” Alex answered, sending a bloodcurdling sidelong glance at Casey.
Casey walked the man outside and directed him to a gas station farther down the road. He was practically bursting with good humor when he came back in.
Alex had her fists clenched. “You humiliated me!”
“Just trying to be helpful.”
“You weren’t trying to be helpful. You were trying to prove a point. You were trying to make me look ridiculous.”
Casey wagged a finger at her. “Not true. I realized right from the start that you were too shy and retiring. You definitely need help.” He leaned across the counter and drew a lazy line on her chin. “I’m prepared to help you however I can. I’ll even let you practice, um, mating techniques on me.”
“I’d like to practice using my carving knife on you.”
“All that will change when you see what I brought you.”
Alex looked at the carton. “Is that it?”
“No. That’s just a box of shotgun shells I picked up for Andy. Your present’s in the truck.”
“You really shouldn’t be bringing me presents. You already gave me a toilet seat.”
Casey propped the front door open with a keg of nails. “This is different. This is for the store. It’s an old Alaskan custom.”
“Uh-huh.”
He went to his truck, pulled out a huge tarpaulin-wrapped form and wheeled it in on a hand truck. “I saw this and immediately thought of you. I couldn’t resist it.”
Alex’s eyes got wide. Whatever it was, it was big. Over seven feet tall. It was almost to the ceiling.
Casey carefully unwrapped the tarp and with a grand flourish revealed a stuffed grizzly. The big bear was poised on his hind feet, arms at his sides, a piercing expression in his beady bear eyes, mouth slightly parted. A masterpiece of modern taxidermy, it seemed to be asking directions to the nearest bar.
Alex didn’t know what to say. It was horrible. The moosehead over the cash register was bad enough, but the bear… The bear was beyond words.
Casey pushed it into position by the front door. “I think that’s the perfect place for it. What do you think?”
“Um…”
“I knew you’d be speechless. Is it worth a kiss?”
“No more kisses.”
“You don’t mean it.”
“I do!”
Casey grabbed her in a hug and nuzzled her neck. “Guess I’ll just have to take my kisses by force, you uncooperative wench.”
“You brute. Get away from me, or I’ll sic my dog on you.”
“Bruno only attacks people who are carrying concealed doughnuts.”
Alex felt her heart skip a beat as Casey pinned her to the wall in a parody of macho dominance.
“This is how that old grizzly’d do it to his mate,” Casey said, his voice husky and intimate.
Alex tried to keep her breathing from sounding labored. “But you’re not a grizzly, and I’m not your mate.”
Casey’s gaze lingered on her mouth. It was soft and inviting and filled him with desire.
“Just exactly what am I, Casey?” She was afraid she was simply an amusement, a frivolous toy, a challenge.
He rested his forehead against hers. “Damned if I know, but you’re driving me crazy. I was just starting to get my life in order, then you came along. These past two weeks have been murder. I’ve missed you every minute of every day.”
Alex looked into his eyes and felt a rush at what she found there. Affection, frustration, longing. She couldn’t find a trace of casual emotion. “Why have you been sending me suitors?”
“Because you scare the hell out of me. I’m thinking thoughts no confirmed bachelor has a right to think.”
There was a touch of pain in his voice, Alex thought, and a good-sized chunk of honest vulnerability. She saw the beginnings of a smile twitch at the corners of his mouth and knew he was laughing at himself. He was feeling doomed, and she was feeling forgiving and loving. She looped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I’ve missed you, too.” She tilted her head and laughed at the look of surprise in his eyes.
“What about no more kisses?”
“Ah, the hell with it.”
Casey stared at her in wonderment for a moment and drew her to him, claiming her mouth in a kiss that was slow and thoughtful. “Kisses lead to other things, you know.”
“Mmmmmmmm.”
His lips recaptured hers, his mouth becoming more demanding, sending shivers of desire racing through her.
“Jeez, will you look at this,” Andy said, sounding disgusted. “Bad enough I’ve got a fool woman underfoot all the time
, now I have to put up with this smooching stuff. What are the customers gonna think?”
Alex jumped away from Casey and straightened her sweater. “Andy, why is it I never see you unless I’m opening a bag of cookies or doing something embarrassing? Besides, the customers aren’t going to think anything. We don’t have any customers.”
Andy shook his head. “She don’t know much, does she?” he said to Casey.
Casey grinned and let his attention turn to the bear. “What do you think, Andy? It’s a beauty, huh?”
Andy’s eyes sparkled. “Adds a little class to the place.”
Casey gathered up the tarp and threw it into the back of his truck. The rain had lessened to a fine mist, and the sun was bright behind a thin blanket of cloud.
“I have to get back to the office and do some paperwork,” Casey said, pulling Alex onto the front porch and closing the door behind them. “How about if you come up for some grilled salmon steaks tonight? And you can be in charge of providing dessert.”
Alex stood in line at the Aurora Bakery and cracked her knuckles. She was in charge of dessert. She knew what that meant. The big event. It. And that didn’t mean pumpkin pie. She took a deep breath and nervously shifted her weight, wondering if she’d made the right decision back in the store. One minute she was saying good riddance to a scoundrel, and the next thing she knew, she was agreeing to dinner. It was too sudden, she thought. She’d been seduced by a gross bear and a boyish display of charm.
As an executive she’d prided herself on being an astute judge of character, but she wasn’t sure about Casey. There were too many renegade hormones influencing her. Alex, she said to herself, you have to be crazy. What was to guarantee he wouldn’t be sending her boyfriends again tomorrow? This was dumb.
And on top of everything else, her nails were a mess and she had stubble on her legs. She nodded in mute recognition that fate was attempting to step in. She had stubble—that settled it. She certainly wasn’t going to make love to Casey when she had stubble.
A woman in a white apron leaned across the counter and looked at Alex. “Can I help you?”
Alex scanned the glass display case. She spoke in a low, confidential voice. “I need something totally decadent.”
The woman took a cake from the bottom shelf and slid it onto the counter for Alex’s inspection. “Double fudge cake with four gallons of whipped cream icing,” she said proudly. “Absolutely orgasmic.”
“Perfect. I’ll take it.” Alex, what are you doing? she silently screamed. You just bought a cake! What about the stubble? She took her wallet from her purse and paid for the cake, thinking Casey wasn’t the only one who was doomed.
Half an hour later Alex pulled into Casey’s driveway and was relieved to find she’d beaten him home. She put the cake in the refrigerator, threw her backpack onto the bed and headed for the bathroom.
She took a fast shower and spent an inordinately long time brushing her hair into submission, parting it on the side, letting it fall in thick waves and large, soft curls around her face. She added a swipe of mascara to her curly lashes and placed a dab of perfume between her breasts. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was pleased with what she saw. Flat stomach, full breasts, long shapely legs… now free of stubble.
She stepped into a pair of lacy white bikini panties and dropped a silky, swirly dress over her head. The slick material clung to her, outlining her body’s curves. The neckline fell in a deep, revealing V. Perfect. She smiled, satisfied that she wouldn’t come in second best to the orgasmic cake.
Casey saw Alex’s red sports car in his driveway and breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t experienced a change of heart. He hated to admit how much he was looking forward to dinner. After years of happily living alone, he now found his house empty. Hell, he thought bitterly, his whole life felt empty without Alex. It was an odd mixture of emotions that was coursing through him. He was in love, and he was angry and disgusted about it.
The sight of Alex in the tempting dress and strappy little heels hit him hard. She was stunningly beautiful and totally out of his league. She didn’t belong in Alaska. Unfortunately, he thought, none of that stopped him from wanting her. He watched her move around the oak table, laying out flatware for dinner. Desire knotted his stomach, and a ripple of fiery heat burned low in his abdomen.
“You look beautiful,” he said with a wolfish smile. Despite his misgivings about being in love, he found himself thoroughly enjoying the seductive dress and the promises it made. He set a grocery bag on the counter and took out the salmon steaks and a bottle of wine. He half filled two stemmed glasses and passed one to Alex. “Any customers yet?”
Alex shook her head, no. “Andy says they’ll be coming in tomorrow.”
Casey took a box of wooden matches and a bag of charcoal from the broom closet. “Andy should know.”
She followed him out to the deck and sipped at her wine. “How does Andy know?”
Casey shrugged. “He knows where the grayling are, and when the salmon will be running. He knows where to pick up a track for the record moose that’s been reported outside of Manley. When something comes into season or a rumor starts flying, business gets good because people come to Andy. He was a bush pilot and a guide for years and years. If nobody’s catching pike in Minto Flats, they ask Andy about bait.”
Casey grinned as he lit the fire. “That’s when he sells them a new reel and a nine hundred-dollar inflatable boat.”
“You sound like you’re talking from experience.”
Casey nodded ruefully. “I’ve caught some very expensive pike in my time.”
After dinner they carried their coffee to the couch and sat side by side watching the fire. Casey slid his arm around her shoulders and nestled her next to him. “Tell me the truth,” he said. “What do you think of the bear?”
Alex laughed. “It’s awful! But I’m getting used to it, and Andy loves it.”
Casey laughed, too. “I knew you’d hate it, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s so awful, it’s perfect.”
His expression grew more serious as he traced the slope of her shoulder with his fingertips, enjoying the feel of her, finally allowing himself to ride the wave of loving desire that was sweeping through him. His touch became more firm, his hand applying pressure as passion gripped him. He buried his face in her hair and whispered her name. And she turned to him with parted lips that were ready to be kissed.
They went slowly. They were searching out secrets, memorizing lines and planes, drinking in each other’s taste. Leisure exploration turned to urgent need and he moved over her, pressing her into the couch. He raised his head, and she looked into eyes darkened by desire.
“Dessert,” she whispered.
“No. Not just dessert,” he answered. “Much more.”
The skirt to her dress had ridden high, exposing the skimpy lace panties. His hand moved across the lace, tracing tantalizing circles. Then his mouth followed the path of his hand and Alex was lost to his touch.
They gave way to their passions, and when their breathing had returned to normal, Alex looked at her rumpled dress and sighed happily. It had been glorious.
Casey eased himself off her, scooped her into his arms, and headed toward the bedroom. “I’m going to deposit you in my big old bed,” he said as a smile stole across his face. “I’m hungry for more dessert.”
Chapter Seven
Casey left the bed and the sleeping woman. He closed the bathroom door to muffle the sound and turned on the shower, hoping the soap and steam could wash away the cold sweat of his nightmare. It had been a long time since he’d awakened in the middle of the night, feeling the overwhelming guilt and aching loneliness. Now it was back. It was back because he was repeating his mistake.
“Fool,” he cursed himself. He’d made love three times to Alex, the most unlikely woman ever to make an Alaskan wife, and he’d not once used any protection.
He let the scorching water pound into his back as if it would poun
d sense into his head, but when he finally stepped out of the shower, he felt no different from when he’d stepped in. He brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and faced himself squarely in the fogged mirror. He had to make a trip, a long-overdue trip. And he was going to make it now.
Alex heard the shower running and glanced at the bedside clock. Four-thirty. She groggily pulled herself to a sitting position as Casey left the bathroom and quickly began to dress. She pushed hair from her eyes and switched on the nightstand lamp. “What are you doing?”
“I have to leave. I’m flying down to the States. I won’t be back for a while. Maybe a week.”
Alex felt panic at the terse tone and the clipped answers. Something was wrong, she thought. Last night it had been wonderful, and now everything was feeling precarious. She dredged a calmness from deep inside and kept her voice even. “Is this business?”
“No. This is personal.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
She unconsciously pulled the quilt higher to cover breasts that suddenly felt naked and exposed. The action wasn’t lost on Casey. He pressed his lips together and swore softly for hurting her, for leading her on. He wanted to go to her and kiss away the hurt, but he couldn’t. He was afraid the kiss would lead to other things, so he angrily slid his feet into running shoes and threw a handful of essentials into a flight bag. He checked his watch; a plan was forming in his mind. He’d fly his own small plane to L.A. and pick up a commercial flight from there. He slung the bag over his shoulder and turned at the door. “I’m sorry.”
Alex watched his stiff back retreat into the darkened house, heard him rattling around in the kitchen, and blinked when the front door closed. It was symbolic, she thought. He was walking out of her life. She had never known anything with such certainty or felt the ending of a relationship with such finality. Michael Casey was a complicated man with secrets, and she had no confidence that she could ever breach those secrets.