Wild Heat (Northern Fire)

by Lucy Monroe

  “We saved you some,” Egan said, like he’d done Tack a huge favor.

  Tack would be more appreciative if there was more than a small sliver of cake and crumbs on Miss Elspeth’s china plate.

  He glared at his brother. “I see you left a piece for Kitty, asshole, and crumbs for me.”

  Egan shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want the crumbs.”

  Tack grabbed the cake plate with a smack to the back of Egan’s head.

  His brother just laughed, showing he’d known exactly what he was doing and was proud of himself for pulling it off. Bobby almost looked guilty, but the way he licked his lips belied any depth to that emotion.

  “Oh, I don’t need a piece,” Kitty insisted.

  “Of course you do.” And Tack wasn’t the only one who insisted she take the last small slice.

  Egan was already putting it on a small plate and Bobby had grabbed a fork and napkin for her. The two men had clearly devoured theirs holding the slices in their hands.

  Looking overwhelmed and like she wished she could refuse, Kitty accepted the offering.

  “Aana would have our hides if we neglected to provide you a portion of the food gift you provided,” Egan said, his Inuit heritage more evident than their Scots ancestry.

  “Oh, I’d like to see your mother,” Kitty said, then grimaced. “If she’d like to see me, I mean.”

  “Why wouldn’t she?” Egan demanded. “You were practically part of the family when you and Tack were kids.”

  Kitty looked at Tack as if waiting for his opinion. The fact that she was so aware of the disservice she did their friendship touched him in a way that he wished it didn’t.

  It was obvious she didn’t expect him to take up where they’d left off.

  “Aana has already informed me she expects to see you for dinner soon,” Tack assured Kitty as he maneuvered her into a seat. “Emaa offered to bake a salmon in the old way to welcome you home.”

  His grandmother had made sure that Tack and his siblings stayed in touch with their Inuit heritage. He loved her for it, and for how delicious food was prepared in the ways of her forebearers.

  “She knows I’m back in town?” Kitty asked after taking a small bite, chewing it slowly and then swallowing delicately.

  Bobby laughed. “This is Cailkirn, Miss Grant. The whole year-round population knew you were back in town within twenty-four hours of your arrival. It would have been even faster if you’d come in with someone who talks a little more than Nik Vasov.”

  Bobby’s use of “Miss Grant” rather than “Mrs.” showed that the town knew about Kitty’s divorce and her return to the use of her maiden name as well as her return. And he was sure Kitty realized that too.

  Kitty frowned up at Tack. “You didn’t used to be a gossip.”

  “I’m still not, but it takes a braver man than me to withhold information like that from my mom. She was on the phone to Emaa before I even left the kitchen.”

  One of the things Kitty had never pretended to like was how everyone in town knew everyone else’s business.

  With just a little over two thousand year-round inhabitants, that wasn’t true in the strictest sense, but it always felt like it. And certain families would always be more aware of other families and their activities.

  The rivalry between the Sutherlands and MacKinnons wasn’t just about the Highland Games in summer. Along with the Grants, families from the other two clans had traveled together from the Old Country to Alaska nearly two hundred years ago. They’d settled Cailkirn, aided by a couple of Russian trappers and a local Inuit village.

  Later, a couple of key families from the Gold Rush had stayed to influence the development of the town. His mother’s Inuit tribe had eventually assimilated into the town, only establishing a separate village again about sixty years ago.

  Through all of it, the Scots clans had maintained a friendly rivalry. It didn’t matter that they intermarried; each child was raised to be fiercely proud of their clan’s affiliation. Maybe because the original families had fled Scotland after the unsuccessful Insurrection of 1820.

  They were rebels, determined to keep their clan identities and provide a better life for their children than they could have back in Scotland.

  Kitty was a Grant. The townspeople would always be interested in her.

  Surprisingly, she didn’t look annoyed about that particular truth right now, just resigned as she continued to eat her cake.

  Egan and Bobby talked to Kitty about her plans now that she was back in Cailkirn. She reaffirmed that she planned to work at the B&B with her aunts.

  Tack had a hard time seeing the designer-clad former California golden girl making beds and cleaning bathrooms at the big Victorian house.

  Something must have shown on his face because Kitty said, “Aunt Alma is teaching me how to keep the books and I’ll be working with someone to get the reservations computerized.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “I’ll also be helping with the housekeeping when their full-time help needs it. Gran should have someone to do kitchen prep, too, though she insists she doesn’t.” Kitty sighed, clearly thinking over the issues at the Knit & Pearl. “There’s some maintenance that needs doing too.”

  “We’ll take care of that for Miz Moya and her sisters,” Egan offered before Tack had the chance.

  Kitty shrugged. “There was a time when I was a dab hand with a hammer. I don’t think it’s a skill that goes rusty.”

  It bothered Tack that her tone lacked confidence, regardless of her words.

  It also sounded like she was biting off more than she could chew and he didn’t like that either, but at least it was typical Kitty Grant. Just as he had back in the day, Tack kept that opinion to himself.

  He and Egan would help out with maintenance, whatever she thought.

  Kitty had eaten exactly half of the piece of cake before she offered the plate to Tack. “Would you like the rest?”

  Then, before he could answer, she paled, dismay covering her lovely face. She jerked the plate back before he could take it. “I’m so sorry. That was extremely impolite of me. Of course you wouldn’t want to eat after me.”

  Tack reached out and pulled the dessert from her. “I’m not that fastidious, Kitty. I can remember sharing food from the same plate with you more times than I can count.”

  “We aren’t children anymore. I should know better.”

  Those weren’t his wildcat’s words. They were straight from that bastard who’d kept her in LA; Tack was sure of it.

  “Forget it. You’re not getting this cake back.” He took a big bite to prove how unconcerned he was about eating after her.

  “Don’t you at least want your own fork?” she asked, moisture glistening at her temples, her pupils dilated so wide her irises were no more than two thin blue rings.

  Hell if she hadn’t had a panic attack right in front of him. And done a damn professional job of hiding it.

  “Nope.” He finished the cake in two more bites.

  Egan and Bobby were looking at Kitty like she was a tourist. Tack cleared his throat and gave the two men a warning glare before she noticed.

  Something told him their reaction would only add to her distress.

  Bobby took the hint immediately. “I’d better get the paperwork filled out for my afternoon tour.”

  “Yes. And if there’s one blank line on it when it reaches my office, you’ll do all the filing for the rest of the season. You fail to get another release form signed and I’ll drop you in an ice hole this winter.”

  Bobby winced. “Sorry about that, boss. Some of the tourists don’t want to sign. They act like needing to do it means we aren’t properly trained and equipped.”

  “No signed release form, no tour. No exceptions. The clients can take it up with me if they don’t like it.”

  Bobby nodded, and Egan said, “I still think we need a receptionist.”

  “I know.” And Tack didn’t disagree.

  Havi
ng someone to handle tour reservations, liaise with cruise ships, and take care of the paperwork would be great. If they could afford it.

  “If we didn’t have to share time manning the phones and doing all our own paperwork, between the three of us, we could add four or five short tours and maybe even another one of your full-day wild Alaska excursions to the week’s schedule. The cruise directors would love it.”

  Tack knew all of that was true. With some office help, he and Egan might even get home before midnight during cruise season.

  “I’ve looked at the numbers,” Tack reminded Egan. “We could only hire someone for about fifteen hours a week.”

  Which would help but wouldn’t really be the solution they needed. Summer wages in Alaska were at a premium, even among the full-time residents of Cailkirn. There were more jobs than townspeople to fill them.

  “No one is going to give up the chance at a high-paying full-time job for a few hours a week.” It was the truth, no matter how unpalatable.

  “What if we hired another guide and expanded our schedule?” Egan asked. “Could we hire someone full-time then?”

  “You’re assuming we could find anyone at this late date, for either the guide or office position.” Tack squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Besides, if we knew of another guide we could trust, we would have hired him, or her, already.”

  They had agreements with other guides on the peninsula for overflow tours when it couldn’t be helped, but Tack was against taking any of them on full-time.

  Egan frowned. “I’m not going to argue.” He looked at Kitty and rolled his eyes. “It wouldn’t do any good and I know it. It took me two years to convince big brother here to hire another guide. I swear he only agreed because Bobby’s family.”

  “Family takes care of family.” And despite Bobby’s youth, their cousin could be trusted to keep their clients safe. Once he got the paperwork right, Bobby was going to make a strong addition to the business.

  Even so, Tack assigned the eighteen-year-old the most basic tours with the easiest trails. Some of the tours Tack and Egan led didn’t follow trails at all.

  “He’s a good kid,” Egan said, echoing Tack’s thoughts. “But if we limit our hires to family, we’re screwed for another guide.”

  “It doesn’t have to be family, just someone who is as committed to safe and environmentally responsible wilderness exploration as we are.”

  “You can’t be the only conservationist guide on the peninsula,” Kitty said with a mocking tilt to her full lips.

  “Don’t get him started on that,” Egan whined. “There’s eco-friendly and then there’s Tack. He’s so green, when he finally does get married, his wife is going to get grass stains sleeping with him.”

  “So your receptionist has to be an environmental activist?” Kitty teased.

  “We’ll expect our clerical staff to reduce, reuse, recycle, of course, but that’s not the issue.” He gave his brother a quelling look. “You know I’d like to hire someone as much as you, but it’s not going to work this year.”

  Tack didn’t like paperwork and answering the phones any more than Egan did, but they weren’t putting their business at financial risk in order to avoid it either.

  “How much would you pay a part-time receptionist?” Kitty asked, a calculating gleam in her blue eyes.

  Knowing it was about twice what he’d pay for the same clerical position in the Lower 48, Tack told her what he’d figured out they could afford.

  Kitty’s expression reflected an almost cautious excitement. “I’ll give you three hours a day six days a week for that.”

  Which was three more hours than Tack had expected to get for the money, but it would mean seeing Kitty almost every day. Considering his dream last night, he wasn’t sure that was the best idea regardless of how much paperwork it would save him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  What? You want to work for us? Really?” Egan demanded, sounding too hopeful. “But you’re working at the Knit and Pearl.”

  Kitty looked around the office as if trying to picture working here and then looked back at Egan. “I’m helping my grandmother and great-aunts. I’m not going on the payroll.”

  “So?” Tack asked.

  She couldn’t need money. She’d just divorced a very wealthy man.

  Tucking some wild red curls behind her ears, Kitty flipped the rest over her shoulders. “You know Mom and Dad left me just about enough to pay for college and not much more.”

  “But you didn’t finish.” And that still didn’t answer the issue of her divorce settlement.

  “Not back then, no, I didn’t.”

  “Are you saying you finished your BA in business?”

  Her features set in familiar stubbornness. “Yes.”

  Yes, his Kitty was definitely still in there. Pride in her accomplishment made him smile. “Good job.”

  “Thank you. Nevin paid for it, though he would have been furious to know I’d used my saved up allowance for that.” There was definite satisfaction in her tone.

  Oh, yeah. That was the Kitty Grant he remembered.

  “Good,” Egan said with approval.

  “When did you do it?” Tack asked.

  “This last year, waiting for the divorce to finalize. I needed to do something that made me feel like I could still be a person, that my dreams still mattered, even if they’d changed beyond recognition.”

  “Your dreams have always mattered.” And Tack had supported her pursuing them, even when it meant leaving his beloved Alaska to watch over her at USC.

  Kitty grimaced, like she was sure she agreed. “I would have finished my degree eight years ago. I never meant to be a trophy wife, but I used the last of my inheritance for the wedding. There was no money for my senior year.”

  That was why she’d dropped out of school? Tack regretted judging her the way he had, but then she hadn’t shared any of this with him.

  She hadn’t considered him her friend anymore.

  “You paid for your wedding?” he asked, finding that hard to comprehend when Barston was such a rich man.

  “Mostly. Nevin lent me the rest after what I had left in my account from Mom and Dad was gone.”

  Egan made a choking sound. “He loaned it to you?”

  “I was the bride, so it was my family’s responsibility to pay for the wedding and reception, but Nevin expected high-end everything. I wasn’t about to ask Gran to foot the bill for such a lavish event.”

  Kitty hadn’t changed as much as he’d thought back then.

  Though her consideration for Miz Moya’s finances didn’t make up for the fact that she’d been refused the opportunity to invite any of her friends to the wedding. Her only grandchild had gotten married and Miz Moya had only been allowed to attend with her sisters; no other guests from Cailkirn or even Kitty’s distant family in the Lower 48 were allowed.

  “So you borrowed money from your fiancé for a party he insisted on?” Tack asked, finding that even harder to accept than her paying for the wedding to begin with.

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t work after you married, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Then how did he expect you to pay him back?”

  “Out of my personal allowance.” Bright flags of embarrassment reddened Kitty’s cheeks. “It took me five years and a lot of careful maneuvering and shopping so I could still present the image Nevin expected of his wife.”

  Something about the way she said that made Tack think that Nevin hadn’t been as appreciative of Kitty’s efforts as they no doubt deserved.

  “Nevin wasn’t the one who set up the repayment schedule, though, was he?” Tack knew her—Kitty would have tried to pay off her debt as quickly as possible.

  That it took five years just showed what a miserly jerk she’d been married to.

  “No.” Kitty sighed. “And he didn’t like that I was so determined to erase the obligation as quickly as possible. I don’t know
, maybe that’s partly why he was so critical of my attempts to fit in his world on a budget.”

  Tack shook his head. He didn’t think so. “Or maybe he saw the financial liability as a way to maintain control over you. The longer you took to pay it off, the longer he had that particular anvil to hold over your head.”

  “Asshole,” Egan spit.

  Kitty didn’t shrug, but her expression didn’t share either Egan’s or Tack’s outrage. “It is what it is, right?”

  “Let me guess,” Tack said with a narrow-eyed glare. “His lawyers kept your divorce settlement to a minimum.”

  “He fought the divorce, Tack. He didn’t want it. He wasn’t offering any settlement at all. I didn’t even ask for lawyer’s fees. I just wanted out.”

  “Even if he didn’t want to give you anything, didn’t the judge order something?” Egan asked, sounding confused.

  “I signed a very strict prenup. Filing for divorce negated any and all claims I had on Nevin’s assets.”

  “You should have sued him for the cost of that lavish wedding,” Egan opined.

  Kitty almost smiled. “I thought about it, but getting away was more important than getting anything out of him.”

  Egan grimaced, but he didn’t say anything else. He gave Tack a pointed look that couldn’t be misinterpreted, though.

  “Are you sure you can work here and at the B and B?” Tack asked, wishing she’d reconsider but knowing she wouldn’t.

  “Definitely.” Kitty’s face glowed with hope for the first time since he’d seen her back in Cailkirn. “I’ve lost a lot, but not my ability to put my shoulder to it.”

  “More like your fingertips. It’s a lot of paperwork,” Tack warned. “And talking on the phone.”

  Not one of his favorite things to do.

  “I can do it, Tack.” She swallowed and stood, giving both him and Egan an earnest look. “I’m not useless.”

  Hell. Tack sighed, lost. “I know that.”

  “You’re smart enough to keep us both in line and Bobby out of trouble,” Egan offered teasingly.

  And still sexy enough to challenge Tack’s determination to keep her at arm’s length. “I’ll make a deal with you.”