by Candy Halliday - Alaska Bound 01 - Dad's E-Mail Order Bride
He’d wasted the first ten years of her life. He didn’t intend to squander the short time they still had left together. And if that made him a selfish father, so be it.
Fathers were selfish when it came to their daughters.
Always had been.
Always would be.
“I want to make a toast to you, Graham,” Courtney said, jarring Graham from his thoughts. “To you, for being a good sport and wearing your tux tonight.”
Graham swallowed past his collar and bow tie again. The same way he seemed to every time she looked at him.
“You do look good, Dad,” Rachel chimed in. “Even if you are forty.”
“Hey, I’m not forty yet,” Graham reminded her.
“But you’ll be forty tomorrow,” Rachel said. “And there’s something we need to talk about before the party. I told everyone we’d invited a friend of yours from New York, but only Tiki and Gil know the truth.”
“I knew Gil was in on it!” Graham complained.
“Not really, Dad,” Rachel said. “I just made him promise he wouldn’t let Courtney get back on the plane.”
Courtney laughed. “And Gil sure kept his promise.”
“So, let’s just stick to my story, okay?” Rachel begged. “No one needs to know the truth. I don’t want Courtney to be embarrassed when she meets everyone.”
It was Graham’s turn to laugh. “And you being embarrassed over what you did has nothing to do with it. Right, Rachel?”
Rachel blushed. “Okay. I don’t want any of us embarrassed. Agreed?”
Graham nodded and reached for his wineglass again. Besides, what choice did he have? At least they could get through the party and Courtney would be gone before Gil had the opportunity to tell everyone the truth of the matter. And Gil would make sure everyone knew the truth—the stunt Rachel had pulled was too sensational for Gil to keep quiet about it.
“Since I’ll be so busy with your party tomorrow,” Rachel spoke up again, “I want to give you your birthday present from me tonight.”
And why doesn’t that surprise me? Graham thought.
Rachel always knew exactly how to play him. Give the old man a present, and how can he stay angry?
His daughter was still smiling when she reached under the table and produced a small black gift bag with Over the Hill written across the front. “Happy Birthday, Dad.”
Rachel slid the bag in his direction.
“You’ll notice I’m ignoring the over the hill part,” Graham grumbled as he unwrapped the present and pulled out a CD.
“It’s a mix I made of your favorite Sinatra songs that you’ve bored me with my whole life,” Rachel teased.
In spite of his irritation with her, Graham leaned over and kissed his daughter on the cheek. “Thank you, pumpkin. You couldn’t have gotten me anything I’ll enjoy more.”
It crossed Graham’s mind he hadn’t used his pet name for Rachel in a long time. He was still wondering why when Rachel looked at Courtney.
“Dad’s a closet romantic, Courtney. So don’t let him fool you. He does have a sensitive side.”
And then Graham remembered. His pumpkin could be downright rotten sometimes.
“Courtney’s a big Sinatra fan, too,” Rachel said.
Graham looked over at Courtney. “Really?”
Courtney shrugged. “What can I say? You can’t grow up in New York and not be a Sinatra fan.”
Rachel was out of her chair in a flash. She pointed a finger at both of them as she said, “You two stay right here until I get back. I’ll only be gone a minute.”
COURTNEY LOOKED at Graham when Rachel left.
“Do I dare ask what’s coming next?” he asked.“I have no idea,” Courtney said, and it was true.
“Then maybe we should run for our lives,” he said.
Courtney laughed. “Don’t worry. Between the two of us, I think we can take her.”
He leaned back in his chair and took a sip of wine, and all Courtney could think was how gorgeous he looked in a tux. And that led her to thoughts of how good Graham would look out of his tux.
Finally, she’d met a man who held her interest. And not just physically.
Courtney was attracted to everything about Graham. His intelligence. His wit. His quiet confidence. The love she saw in his eyes every time he looked at his daughter—even when Rachel was being a total pain. If she could place an order for everything she wanted in a man, Graham would be the man UPS delivered on her doorstep.
How tragic there was nothing she could do about it.
Not in three short days.
Graham hadn’t even known she existed until seven hours ago. Yet, he’d been on her mind for three long months. It wasn’t fair to expect Graham to treat her like anything other than what she was—a total stranger.
A weekend wouldn’t be long enough to change that.
But Courtney did hope one thing. She hoped Graham would at least think about her now and then after she was gone.
Rachel rushed back into the room holding a portable CD player, and two seconds later Old Blue Eyes was singing about strangers in the night exchanging glances.
“See,” Rachel said brightly. “Even Frank is trying to tell you guys something. So be a gentleman, Dad, and ask Courtney to dance.”
Courtney could tell from Graham’s expression he hadn’t seen that one coming. Neither had she. She was going to have a serious talk with Rachel about her constantly trying to push them together.
Courtney didn’t want Graham to be forced into dancing with her, or hooking up with her, or anything else. She was still trying to think of some way to rescue both of them when Graham stood and held out his hand.
“May I have this dance, Courtney?” he asked politely.
The next thing Courtney knew, she was in Graham’s arms. And her head wasn’t reeling from just the fancy turns he was making as he twirled her around the great room of the lodge.
It barely registered when Rachel called out she was going to her room to call her friend Tiki. But the second Rachel left, Graham pulled Courtney even tighter against him.
She gasped, barely able to breathe.
He threw in a few more fancy dance steps as Sinatra sang “Under My Skin.” Graham whispered against her ear, “Maybe Frank really is in on Rachel’s conspiracy.”
“Or maybe Frank’s observing we can’t dance much closer?” Courtney teased.
“Great comeback.”
But he didn’t loosen his grip.
That was just fine with Courtney. She hadn’t been expecting this opportunity to be in Graham’s arms. And even if it was only an innocent dance, at this point Courtney was willing to take whatever she could get.
When Graham curled her hand into his chest, Courtney rested her head on his shoulder. By the time the music track changed again, the song “Fly Me to the Moon” seemed exactly where Courtney was headed.
“I started reading your e-mails,” he said.
Courtney pushed back to look at him. “I’m glad. I wanted you to see for yourself my only agenda in coming to your party was to meet you and Rachel in person.”
He turned her into a spin. When they faced each other again, he said, “You mentioned you hoped we could become good friends. If you haven’t changed your mind, I’d like that, too.”
Courtney smiled. “No, I haven’t changed my mind.”
Graham pulled her to him again and continued to glide her around the room as if they were dancing in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria instead of a wooden-plank floor. When the song ended, Graham even leaned Courtney backward for a final dramatic dip. And he pulled her back up just as Sinatra sang about having a crush.
“Thanks for the dance.”
“Likewise,” Courtney told him.
He leaned forward and Courtney held her breath. His mouth kept inching closer and closer. Courtney was so sure he was going to kiss her, she closed her eyes.
“You know we have an audience, right?” he whispered.
They stepped away from each other.
“I really appreciate you helping Rachel with dinner.”
“It was my pleasure,” Courtney said.
He looked down at his watch, then at her. “You have to be exhausted,” he said. “You’re still on New York time. So why don’t you call it a night?”
“I’ll help Rachel clean up first.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pull cleanup duty. Just as soon as I get out of this blasted tux.” He grinned as he unfastened his bow tie.
It was obvious Graham needed his space—without her in it. And Courtney understood that completely. She’d flown in from out of nowhere and landed right in the middle of his life. And though he couldn’t have been any nicer under the circumstances, Graham had politely let her know this day was over.
“You’ll say good-night to Rachel for me?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Then I’ll see you both in the morning.”
But as she headed up the stairs, she took the words good friends along with her. Graham had politely let her know not to expect anything more than friendship from him.
Too bad. Because she could still smell him on her skin.
Still feel his arm around her waist.
And yes, damn him, she was still aroused from the feel of his rock-hard body pressed against hers.
For Courtney, that was a first. Usually, men bored her. Usually, all she had to do was look in their direction to have men falling all over her. Was that also part of her overwhelming attraction to Graham—his failure to immediately fawn over her?
Sighing, Courtney closed her bedroom door, unzipped her dress and walked toward the bathroom. She really was exhausted. With any luck once she hit the bed, she’d fall into a sleep so deep she wouldn’t have bad dreams about those blank pages of her life that Graham was never going to fill.
She had a friend’s birthday party to attend tomorrow.
A friend, nothing more.
THE FIRST THING Graham did when Courtney went upstairs was walk over and shut Frank’s big, fat mouth. He didn’t need anyone pointing out how quickly he was falling under Courtney’s spell. She’d felt so incredible in his arms, the only thing that had kept him from picking her up and carrying her off to his bedroom was knowing Rachel was watching every move they made.
Of course, Rachel was so determined to get them together she probably would have fluffed the pillows for them. His daughter was the real little witch in this situation: trying to work some mojo magic with her damn candles; carefully handpicking the right songs; forcing him to ask Courtney to dance.Note to self, Graham thought. Ban Rachel from watching romantic-comedy movies for life.
The next thing Graham did was blow out each and every one of those candles that had been tormenting him all evening. Then he headed for the swinging doors that separated the dining room from the kitchen. But he didn’t push through the doors. Not yet. He wanted to make it clear he knew his little witch had been eavesdropping the entire time.
“Good night, Rachel.”
He heard her gasp. She popped out from behind the wall and stood staring at him over the top of the half doors. “What do you mean good-night? I thought you were going to help me clean up.”
“I lied,” Graham said simply.
“But, Dad,” she whined. “That’s not fair. I cooked.”
“I cook every night of the week. And most of the time I clean up, too. So get used to it. Now that I know you have such a fondness for cooking, I’ll be assigning both cooking and cleaning up to you from now on.”
“And that’s going to be my punishment?” she shrieked.
Graham said, “Along with doing all of the laundry. And cleaning the bedrooms and changing the beds after the guests leave. And anything else I decide to add to your new list of duties.”
Rachel’s mouth dropped open.
Pleased that he’d left his daughter speechless for once, Graham pushed past her, and headed down the hall to his own bedroom. He could hear her banging around in the kitchen as he undressed and got ready for bed. And though he did feel a little guilty for making Rachel clean up after cooking him that great dinner, Graham pushed that guilt aside.
He was tired of walking on eggshells around Rachel, letting her do as she pleased in order to avoid another confrontation about her returning to New York to finish high school. By his doing so, she’d had too much free time on her hands to plot and scheme and get in trouble.
Well, those days were over.
From now on he’d see to it that Rachel answered to him for every minute of her day. Never again would he give her the opportunity to breathe without him knowing exactly where she was and what she was doing.
Graham turned back the covers and got into bed. But as he reached over to switch off his bedside light, he accidently knocked the folder he’d left on his bedside table onto the floor.
Graham leaned over and picked it up.
And instead of turning out the light, he repositioned his pillows and sat up. Courtney said she’d given him her e-mails to clear up any doubts he had about her motives. Maybe finding out more about her was what he needed to get his own emotions in check.
Turning to the page where he’d stopped reading, Courtney’s next words were:
Rachel told me how busy you are when you have a fishing party at the lodge, so please don’t worry that she’s bothering me when she calls at night while you’re entertaining your guests. I don’t have any siblings, so I’ve never had the opportunity to play the role of a big sister or an aunt. I thoroughly enjoy talking to Rachel. She provides me with a good excuse to take a break from this ad campaign I’m working on that consumes every second of my time.
Graham read through several other e-mails.He learned that Courtney’s best friend Beth had been living with her for the past two years after a nasty breakup with the guy Beth thought she was going to marry. And he knew that Beth was an aspiring actress, which meant she was between jobs more often than she was employed—another reason he suspected that Beth hadn’t moved out into a place of her own.
The big shock, however, was learning that Courtney was Lisa Woods’s daughter. The woman was a New York icon—with a past people found as intriguing as her accomplishments.
Graham had been hearing the story for years. How Lisa Woods had been disowned by her wealthy advertising king father when she turned up pregnant by a farm kid from upstate New York—a boy who was killed in Vietnam before they had the chance to marry.
New York society hadn’t been shocked that a powerful man like Walter Woods would disown his disobedient daughter. The shock came when Walter died unexpectedly of a heart attack and left his entire fortune and his advertising agency to the very daughter he’d disowned.
The rest was history.
Lisa not only took over the agency, she doubled the fortune her father had left her in the first ten years. Today she was considered one of the most successful businesswomen in the nation. And she’d been featured on the cover of Time magazine to prove it.
Graham shook his head.
No wonder several of the e-mails mentioned Courtney being on the outs with her mother. Graham could only imagine what a woman like Lisa Woods would think about her daughter carrying on an Internet relationship with some hick from Alaska.
But did Courtney think he was a hick?
Graham didn’t think so.
A woman like Courtney wouldn’t have continued the correspondence without doing a background check first. When you had money, you knew who had money. And Graham’s father had made his wealth in land development, so the family name wasn’t exactly secret.
Is that why Courtney had made it a point to tell him who her mother was? Had Courtney wanted him to know up front that they came with similar financial pedigrees?
Flipping through the e-mails, Graham decided he would look for more minutia-type information about Courtney later. What he wanted to see was Court
ney’s initial reaction when she’d received Rachel’s invitation to come to Alaska. He finally found the one he was looking for.
You aren’t going to believe this, but less than thirty minutes after I learned I had landed the biggest account in the agency’s history, I received your card and the invitation to your birthday party in the mail. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my success than by taking a break and rewarding myself by coming to Alaska. Thanks so much for inviting me, Graham. I’m really looking forward to finally meeting you and Rachel in person.
Graham closed the folder.So, Courtney had told the truth.
Her only goal in coming was to meet them in person. From what he’d read so far, there was no indication Courtney ever had any starry-eyed notion about coming to Alaska for love.
Graham repositioned his pillows, placed the folder on his bedside table and switched off the light. But as he lay there in the dark, Graham kept waiting for relief to set in that the woman in his upstairs suite had never seen him as anything more than just a friend she’d met on the Internet.
Thirty minutes later, Graham was still waiting.
AFTER FINALLY CLEARING the table and cleaning the kitchen, Rachel was propped up in bed, the phone to her ear, Broadway curled up on the bed right beside her.
“And you really think your dad and Courtney like each other?”“I don’t know, Tiki,” Rachel said, “but I’ve never seen anything so romantic. Dad twirling Courtney around the room in the candlelight. Them dancing so close together. Listening to the music they both love. And Dad actually dipped Courtney. Just like on Dancing with the Stars.”
“Wow,” Tiki said.
“I could tell Courtney was completely into it,” Rachel said. “She had this dreamy look on her face the whole time they were dancing.”
“Falling-in-love dreamy?”
Rachel thought about it. “I sure hope so.”
“Did your dad kiss her again before she went upstairs?”
