A Match Made In Alaska

A smile lit up her face. “Not brilliant. Just practical. I sometimes get low blood sugar, so I always make sure I have a bunch of snacks on hand to give me a boost in case I need it. And some of these I stuffed in my luggage. I wasn’t sure if peanut butter was big in Alaska. Call me a snack hoarder,” she said with a laugh.

“Snack hoard all you want. It’s a lifesaver,” Declan said, taking a huge bite of a granola bar. He closed his eyes as the morsel slid down his throat. A granola bar had never tasted so good in his life! As hungry as he was, it almost tasted like steak and potatoes.

Annie Murray was shaping up to be quite a woman. She was smart and resourceful and plucky. Right about now he’d expected her to be a sobbing, frightened mess. He really needed to stop making rash and unfair judgments about people. Just because she was wearing fuzzy leopard pants didn’t mean she was an airhead. On the contrary, Love’s newest transplant was shaping up to be a keeper. Her stash of rations was going to save them from hunger pangs. Thanks to Annie, one of their major problems was solved. Now it was up to him to tackle another issue. Fire.

“As soon as I get this fire going, we’ll really be in good shape,” he said. This was his moment to demonstrate his skills and to show Annie that he could take charge of the situation and protect her. He took a few dry sticks and began to rub them together frantically. Over and over again he rubbed the sticks in an effort to make a fire out of friction. As soon as he saw a hint of smoke, he would toss the sticks onto the pile of tinder and pray that a roaring fire would start burning.

“How’s it going?” Annie asked over his shoulder. She was so close he could feel her breath on his neck. Talk about pressure!

“Any minute now, this tinder is going to go up,” he said. “And we are going to have the world’s most roaring fire to keep us warm.”

Precious seconds ticked by. Frustration began to set in as his efforts to get a fire going failed over and over again. It didn’t make any sense at all. Why wasn’t this fire sparking? The sticks were dry. He was exerting a lot of energy making sure that there was plenty of friction between the two sticks as he rubbed them together. Yet nothing was happening.

“May I try something?” Annie asked. Declan looked up at her. She was standing beside him and digging around in her purse. What was it with ladies and their purses? The bags almost seemed like an appendage. Annie’s purse was like a clown car. She appeared to be able to fit endless items inside.

Bless her for wanting to help with the fire. “This is pretty complicated,” he said with a shake of his head. “Have you ever tried to light a fire before?”

He frowned as he watched Annie remove the battery from her cell phone. She then pulled a pocket knife from her bag. “Oh, I’ve never done it before. But I’ve read up on the subject. One of the best perks of being a librarian is all the books at our disposal. I find it amazing that knowledge is always at our fingertips.”

Declan wanted to groan with frustration. Life wasn’t learned through books. Knowledge was accumulated by living. At least, that’s the way he’d always handled things. Tackling situations head-on was life affirming and empowering. Burying your head in a book was a surefire way of missing out on life. He didn’t want to insult Annie, but he needed to set her straight.

“That’s impressive, but starting a fire isn’t really something a person can learn from how-to books. Experience is the best way to gain wilderness skills.” There was something incongruous about seeing Annie with a pocket knife. “You really did come prepared. Although you really should be careful with that knife. You can hurt yourself if you’re not careful.”

“In preparation for this voyage, I read a very interesting book about Alaska. It’s called How to Survive and Thrive in the Alaskan Wilderness. Fascinating stuff,” she explained with an enthusiastic nod of her head. “And the first chapter detailed how to start a fire with your cell phone battery.”

Declan resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Thousands of books had been written about the Alaskan wilderness by so-called experts in the field. Not one of them, he would guess, had ever lived in Alaska or knew the first thing about surviving a plane crash. Not a single one would know how to land a malfunctioning seaplane safely. Yet they peddled books about survival to the public.

Annie crouched down next to him and placed the battery on the rock’s surface. She scraped the knife against the top of the battery. Then she poked the battery with the knife.

She looked up and met his gaze. “When the lithium is exposed to oxygen, it ignites.”

Huh? Book or not, it was pretty impressive. He wasn’t sure the everyday, run-of-the-mill librarian knew how to start a fire with a cell phone battery. Annie was a librarian extraordinaire. He swung his gaze toward the battery, which was now smoking. Annie quickly tossed the battery into the tinder pile. Within seconds, smoke began to plume from the tinder. Declan’s jaw dropped as he watched a fire burst to life right before their eyes.

“Well, shut my mouth,” Declan drawled. “You did it!”

“I did, didn’t I?” Annie asked. She was smiling so hard, he thought her cheeks might break. “I feel so invigorated.”

He looked down at his twigs and threw them into the fire. “So much for the old-fashioned way,” he grumbled. It burned a little to know that Annie had been able to do what he had failed at. Ever since he was a kid, he had hated to have egg on his face. It didn’t feel any better as an adult.

Declan felt completely off-kilter. He considered himself an outdoorsman. He fished, mountain climbed and could live off the land if the need arose. Annie was a sheltered librarian from Maine. Up until today, she’d never stepped foot in Alaska. Yet here she was building fires and serving the role of provider with her stash of snacks. Their roles had been flipped. He was the native Alaskan. It was his job as owner of O’Rourke Charters to care for his client, not the other way around.

“Don’t feel bad about not being able to start the fire,” Annie said in a chirpy voice. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the battery. And you gathered up all the tinder and made it possible.”

Annie was being kind. Her sweet nature radiated off her in waves. He shrugged off his wounded pride and allowed gratitude to wash over him. He was fortunate to have a smart, resourceful woman by his side during this crisis. Survival wasn’t a contest. It was a collaborative effort. So far, they had made it through a crash landing, gathered food and water for sustenance and built a fire for warmth. Making sure a rescue plane could spot them from the air was the next important step in their survival plan. It could make the difference between life and death.

He needed to kick things into high gear. His mind had suddenly shifted toward rescue. He needed to do everything possible to make sure that they were rescued tomorrow. At almost eleven thousand square miles, the Chugach National Forest was too large for them to attempt to find rescue on foot. Their food supply wouldn’t last much longer, and he was worried about the elements and being able to sustain a fire. If the search and rescue missed the plane wreckage from above, he and Annie Murray would be fighting for their very lives.

Chapter Three (#ulink_5781f3e8-9dfb-552b-999d-cdb9d96356d7)

As nightfall came, Annie found herself questioning whether rescue would actually come tomorrow. Her euphoria about starting the fire had waned pretty quickly as the temperature dropped and the sky darkened. What would happen to them if rescue never came? How long could they hold on with a dwindling food supply and no promise of water? At least they could melt snow and drink it, Annie realized. They wouldn’t get dehydrated. But there weren’t even berries or nuts or anything remotely edible in their midst. And although she wasn’t opposed to losing a few pounds, she certainly didn’t want to do it via the Alaskan wilderness diet.

She was pretty sure there were wild animals lurking in these woods. Earlier she had heard a high-pitched cry emanating from somewhere in the forest. It had nearly scared the life out of her. Declan had acted nonchalant, as if he hadn’t heard a thing. But she knew what she’d heard. Most likely it had been a wolf. Bears tended to hibernate during winter, but there were always sightings during November, especially if the winter weather was mild. So there could be bears waiting to pounce on them. Or wild moose.

She didn’t voice her concerns to Declan. His mood had changed in the past hour or so. He seemed more contemplative and less talkative. Perhaps he, too, was worrying about rescue. Maybe he was just the strong, silent type. He certainly looked the part with his muscles and powerful physique. A few times she had caught him staring at her with a perplexed expression on his face. It wouldn’t be the first time, she thought with a sigh. Men always seemed to think she was quirky.

You’re not unusual, pumpkin. You’re extraordinary. Again, Gram’s voice came to her like a warm breeze over the ocean. As always, pearls of wisdom from Gram fortified her as nothing else ever could.

Eating beef jerky and trail mix, Annie and Declan shared a meal before the fire. Although they had already polished off the sixteen-ounce bottle of water, Annie had filled it back up with snow so that they would have a fresh supply of water when it melted.

The food tasted delicious, although Annie carefully eyed their portions. If rescue didn’t come tomorrow, they needed to have a little something to fall back on for a meal. Perhaps it was time to start rationing the food. Declan was a big guy who was probably used to eating big meals.

“So, what brings you to Love?” Declan jutted his chin in her direction. “These days that might seem like an obvious question, considering all the matchmaking going on.”

“Operation Love is what inspired me to come to Alaska. It’s been all over the news. I’ve been very impressed by the coverage.” She felt a little self-conscious admitting it, but she wanted to find the love of her life. “I’m no different than most people. I want to find my other half. My soul mate. My husband.”

A hint of a smile played around his lips. “Well, so far the program has been a rousing success. My best friend happens to be the town sheriff, as well as the mayor’s grandson, and he met the love of his life through Jasper’s program.”

“Jasper? Mayor Jasper Prescott?” Annie’s heart started thumping like crazy. For a good portion of her life, that name had been a constant. Jasper had always featured prominently in Gram’s poignant stories about Love. After Gram’s death, her journal had revealed tender musings about the handsome charmer who had seemingly captured her grandmother’s heart. Her words about Mayor Prescott had made it crystal clear that she had been head over heels in love with him. Perhaps even until her dying day.

And finally, after all these years, Annie was within reach of unraveling the mystery of her ancestry. She was within reach of uncovering her roots. She hoped that would mean family connections. A grandfather. Cousins. Aunts. It was too soon to share her suspicions with Declan, but in her mind, there was a very real possibility that Jasper Prescott was her grandfather. The same Jasper Prescott who had spearheaded the Operation Love campaign and, via the media, urged single women to relocate to his hometown in order to help sort out the woman shortage.

“You’ll love Jasper,” Declan said. “He’s the heart and soul of Love. Town mayor. Wise sage. Loving grandpa. Feisty agitator.” He let out a deep-throated chuckle. “He’s the man.”

Annie knew gushing when she heard it. The respect and admiration Declan felt for Jasper Prescott hummed and vibrated in the air around them. Although Declan didn’t radiate a sweet vibe, he suddenly seemed softer and gentler. Clearly the town mayor brought it out in him.

She was going to reserve judgment about Jasper until she knew whether or not he was kin to her. There was a part of her that resented the man who had used his good looks and charm to worm his way into Gram’s heart, only to leave her pregnant and alone. The ripples of that situation had affected her own life, since her mother had also been an unwed mother. Annie was determined not to follow the same path. She would break the cycle of women in her family who had loved unwisely and been left to rear children alone.

“It sounds as if you know the mayor well.” She touched her forehead with her palm. “Oh, yes, you said that his grandson is a good friend of yours.”

“Boone is my best friend. Bar none,” Declan asserted with a nod of his head. His blue eyes radiated deep affection. “He’s my partner in crime. The one who knows where all the bodies are buried. One of the few people in this world I trust implicitly.”

She sensed something under the surface of Declan’s words. It was more what he wasn’t saying. Who hadn’t he been able to trust in his life? Had someone betrayed him? And if so, was that the reason he had a huge chip on his shoulder?

“Will your wife worry about you not making it home?” Although her question wasn’t very subtle, she was curious about Declan’s life. All she knew about him was that he was an Alaskan pilot. Although she hadn’t spotted a ring on his finger, for all she knew, he was married with kids.

“Nope. She won’t worry one bit, considering I don’t have one,” Declan teased, his blue eyes alive with merriment. “I’m single. Footloose and fancy-free. And I aim to keep it that way.”

Annie chuckled. She liked the lighter side of Declan, the one who teased and laughed and showed tenderness. She found it rather shocking that someone as eye-catching and successful as Declan was unattached, although from the sound of it, he embraced being a bachelor. If Declan was an example of the eye candy in Love, it was no wonder that women were flocking to the small fishing village to find their soul mates.

“But having grown up in Love, I know plenty of people who will worry when I don’t show up.” He looked over at her, and their gazes held and locked. His expression was intense. “Don’t you worry, Annie. They’ll come looking for us.”

“I wonder if anybody is waiting for me,” she said in a forlorn tone. “I’m the new librarian in Love, so maybe they’ll be concerned when I don’t arrive on time.”

Declan’s eyes bulged. He let out a whistle. “So you’re that librarian.”

Annie immediately bristled. She knew bias against librarians when she came up against it. Just when she’d been warming up to Declan, he had to go and say something to put her on edge. “What do you mean by that librarian?”

Declan quirked his mouth. “No offense, but resources are tight in town. Taking money out of the town coffers to create a library was a hotly contested topic in Love. We debated it for quite some time.”