Dad's E-mail Order Bride

Or maybe it was being somewhere so different from New York City. No horns blowing. No streets packed with cars stuck in gridlock traffic. No sidewalks filled with anxious-looking people all scurrying about, cell phones to their ears, hurrying to make that next important meeting or make it to and from work on time.

The only things moving below the lodge were several boats tied to the dock, all bobbing in the water like corks tied to a fishing line. Rachel called the boats skiffs, and Courtney knew Graham used them for his fishing expeditions and for local travel to other communities around Port Protection, since this part of Prince of Wales Island had no road access whatsoever.

She’d been intrigued by the quaint community from the moment she visited the lodge’s Web site: the elaborate boardwalk system running throughout the rain forest; the steps called The Stairway to Heaven leading from the boardwalk up to the ridgeline; the pictures of the scenic view from the ridge so beautiful they took your breath away.

Courtney had even imagined climbing that stairway with Graham. She’d fantasized about Graham taking her into his arms and…

Stop it!

No point in going there now.

But Port Protection had captivated her. Almost as much as the picture of Graham that Rachel had chosen for his profile—him standing in the front of the lodge, the look on his face somber, a hint of loneliness in his eyes he couldn’t quite hide from the camera.

When Courtney thought about it, loneliness was one of the main reasons she’d kept up the correspondence with Rachel. Her mother had given her the deep-freeze treatment after she’d refused to cancel the membership. But instead of that making Courtney want to reconsider, being estranged from her mother only reinforced how much of Courtney’s time her mother truly demanded.

Then Beth had temporarily deserted her.

Beth just had to pick the exact same time to fall madly in lust with a stand-up comic in Atlantic City where Beth ran off to every weekend. Without Beth or her mother demanding her time, Courtney had felt at loose ends.

Had it not been for Rachel, she probably would have caved and begged her mother’s forgiveness before they reached some common ground. In a sense, Rachel had saved her from making a grave mistake.

The truth was, Courtney had thoroughly enjoyed being Rachel’s mentor of sorts. She had no siblings, no nieces or nephews. Playing the role of a big sister or an aunt to Rachel had been a fun and new experience for her.

And that’s why Courtney hoped if she and Graham played a joke on Rachel, they could all laugh about it, call it even and salvage the weekend. Regardless of what Rachel had done, Courtney couldn’t wait to finally meet her.

With that thought in mind, Courtney walked into the bedroom where Graham had placed her suitcases on the foot of the bed. Rachel would be home from school within the hour. If Courtney was going to play the role of the happy new girlfriend, she needed to look the part.

But as she headed into the bathroom with her makeup bag to freshen up, Courtney couldn’t keep from thinking that being Graham’s pretend girlfriend was not the role she’d envisioned when she set out for Alaska. Even more disturbing was another thought.

Graham Morrison wouldn’t be an easy man to forget.

GRAHAM PLACED A TRAY of appetizers on the dining table in the main room of the lodge—cheese, crackers, some dried dates and figs. He would have done the same for any other guests, making sure something was available to sustain them until time for dinner.

Except Courtney wasn’t any other guest.

She was a vibrant, beautiful woman who had him hurrying to his bathroom after she went upstairs, making sure his hygiene wasn’t lacking. What shocked Graham was the fact that he’d felt the need to do that.

He’d been so convinced he had everything he needed living in Port Protection. That a woman was the last thing he wanted in his life. Yet, all Courtney had to do was smile at him a couple of times and he was scurrying off to shave and brush his teeth and change his shirt.

But then, Graham reasoned, maybe if he had female guests at the lodge on a regular basis, he would have automatically done the same thing. He’d never been a slob, but shaving in the middle of the day for a bunch of smelly fishermen was plain laughable.

What wasn’t laughable was the knowledge Courtney had flown all the way from New York to meet him. Talk about putting pressure on a guy.

Plus, who knew what Rachel had been telling Courtney about him for the past three months—other than the fact he was deaf, and Courtney had claimed she found that heroic. It only made sense he would be a little self-conscious, maybe even a little intimidated.

Courtney had come expecting to meet a hero who had overcome all the obstacles in his life. She’d found instead a clueless father who wasn’t even savvy enough to realize what his teenage daughter was doing on the Internet.

In fact, the woman upstairs was basically a complete stranger, yet she knew more things about him than most people ever would. Private things. Things he never would have shared with anyone else. And he knew virtually nothing about her.

Except she was an advertising executive from New York.

And he liked the way she kissed.

But he wasn’t going to revisit the damn kiss again. She’d caught him off guard, that’s all. And brushing his teeth didn’t mean he hoped she would kiss him again.

After Courtney found out what a disaster she’d walked into, she’d made it clear all she wanted to do for the rest of the weekend was fly under the radar until she could head back to New York City on Monday. And Graham intended to do his best to see she did just that.

He’d be a gracious host. He’d be a charming conversationalist at dinner. He’d even be the life of his own damn birthday party if that’s what it took to get them through the weekend.

But after Courtney left, he was going to kill his daughter. Not literally, of course. He was only going to make Rachel wish she were dead.

No TV. No Internet. No iPod. No phone.

No anything fun or entertaining.

Not until Graham was fully satisfied that Rachel was truly sorry for the stupid stunt she’d pulled. Whether Rachel liked it or not, he was still her father. And whether Rachel liked it or not, until she turned eighteen, he made all the rules.

CHAPTER FOUR

RACHEL JUMPED OUT OF her seat the second the bell rang. She didn’t wait to walk home with her good friend Tiki Iya the way she usually did.

Today, Rachel left her classroom and hurried outside to the wide boardwalk meandering through Port Protection like a railroad track. She smiled when she found her absolute best friend waiting for her in his usual spot.

The Alaskan husky wagged his tail as Rachel approached. Rachel bent down and rubbed the big dog’s ears affectionately when she walked up beside him.

Her father had surprised her with her own puppy shortly after they’d arrived in Port Protection. It was his way of proving there were things she could have in Alaska that she couldn’t have back home. She’d named the pup Broadway—her message to her father that no matter where he made her live, her heart would always belong to New York City.

That had been five years ago.

Rachel was still as homesick as the day she left.

“Let’s go, boy,” Rachel told the dog.

With Broadway in the lead she headed for the lodge, a prayer on her lips that this would be the last year she spent in a school with only twenty-one students. Even worse was being the only high school sophomore.

That meant she would also be the only high school junior next year. And unless someone her own age moved to Port Protection—about as likely as her dad agreeing to let her have her nose pierced—her graduating class would consist of a big whopping one!

Available boys?

Forgetaboutit!

Boys her age in Port Protection were nonexistent. Just like her totally nonexistent social life.

“Rachel. Wait up.”

Rachel turned to find Tiki running toward her. Her friend had the black hair and eyes and coloring of her Haida ancestors. Tiki’s Haida name was dukdukdiya, which meant hummingbird, because she was so little. Although Tiki was two years younger, the age difference hadn’t kept them from becoming close friends. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Tiki, Rachel knew she never would have survived living in Port Protection.

She was, however, beginning to regret confiding in Tiki about her plan to get her father to move back to New York. Tiki had warned her from the beginning the online dating idea was crazy.