Callie, Get Your Groom

Ross is picking me up, and he offered the loan of a truck so I’ll have my own transportation. Isn’t that great of him?

Hope you feel better.

Callie.

First Donovan, and now Ross. Mike crumpled the note and tossed it into the sink. If they had their way, he’d never see the woman.

Don’t forget Travis.

Yeah, he’d forgotten Travis. The expert in hiking, who’d follow Callie anywhere. It had to be a terrific boost to her ego, being chased by three different men…which left ol’ Mike Fitzpatrick hanging around like a sore thumb to make sure she didn’t get caught.

Damn Elaine and her schemes. He’d never interfered with her life…at least not very much. There was that louse she’d been dating in college whom he’d scared off, but she couldn’t still be holding that against him, right? Okay, so the guy had made it big with some computer circuit doohickey and was now worth seven or eight figures. Big deal.

Mike rubbed his face and made a cup of coffee in the microwave. Peanut butter on toast would suffice for breakfast—it wasn’t like he was used to anything else. Another morning of peanut butter wouldn’t kill him.

By the time he’d showered and swallowed a handful of aspirin tablets, the morning looked a lot brighter. Maybe he’d wander down to the airport and take Callie to lunch. Looking at his watch, Mike amended that to dinner. It was the polite thing to do—he hadn’t exactly been welcoming when she arrived. Besides, a few carefully directed words of warning might be all she needed to watch her step.

After all, he trusted his partners and employees…just not with Callie.

“I’ll check the flight schedules and get back to you,” Callie said into the phone, then set the receiver back in the cradle.

Her work was cut out for her—the office wasn’t just a mess, it was a certifiable disaster area.

Callie looked around and plotted her next course of action. Both Ross and Donovan had said she had carte blanche to change things to her satisfaction.

What would they say to a bulldozer?

It might be her only prayer.

Their former office manager obviously had a higher tolerance for grunge than she did. An ancient typewriter and adding machine vied with empty oil cans, engine parts, cargo orders and billing receipts. Boxes—containing everything from an unused computer to a bundle of girlie magazines—were stacked haphazardly throughout the cluttered space.

Actually, the magazines had been already removed. Hastily. To the red-faced embarrassment of both men, with a fumbling explanation that it was popular in the bush areas of Alaska.

What? Did they think she’d never heard of adult magazines? Men were so predictable.

Callie made some notations on a pad of paper. She needed to tell Mike to keep quiet about her father being a preacher. A lot of guys treated her different when they knew—as though she’d already been fitted for a halo and was headed for a nunnery.

Yuck.

The sight of a blue Dodge Dakota being parked outside lifted her spirits. It was about time Mike showed up—she’d been hard at work since 7:00 a.m.

“Callie?”

“Is that you, Mike?” She bent over the desk, scribbling furiously on her pad. It wouldn’t be smart to let him think she’d been waiting for him, wondering if he’d remember a certain sizzling kiss….

“Of course it’s me. Who were you expecting?”

You…of course. “How are you feeling?” she asked, watching him from the corner of her eye. “You were sound asleep when I left this morning.”

“Asleep? Try unconscious.” Mike grinned wryly, showing his sense of humor hadn’t been impaired by a night on the couch. “Honest, that was completely out of character. I only had two drinks…but they didn’t sit well on an empty stomach.”

“I know,” Callie said. Disappointment warred with relief in her chest. Mike was too comfortable, sliding into his joking mode. He probably didn’t remember kissing her.

“Good.” He sat on a stack of boxes and looked around. “Say, this place looks better already. I’m impressed.”

You should be, buster. Callie had no illusions. Mike saw her as an appendage of her father, better equipped to organize ice cream socials than run an office. He had no idea she’d created a small but successful business as a management consultant. As she’d told Elaine, let Mike find out the hard way. Meaning, she wanted to see how far he’d stick his foot in his mouth.

“I’m just getting started,” she murmured. “But I almost had heart failure when I got here. How can someone who’s so meticulously neat at home be such a slob at work?”

A dull red crept under Mike’s tan. “Things got out of control. It’s been a rough month without Delia.”

“Oh, yeah?” Callie found a pencil and used it to lift a greasy black something from the desk blotter. “It took longer than a month to become so disreputable. This is a long-term condition—I only hope it’s treatable.”

He snatched the whatever-it-was and threw it into the wastebasket. “Delia never minded.”

“Delia must be a saint. I, however, am not. Frankly, I think she got pregnant as an excuse to bail on you guys.”

She lifted the stained blotter and sent it sailing through the window. After a couple runs to the exterior Dumpster, she’d taken to pitching everything through this convenient opening. Ross was servicing an engine in the maintenance hanger, and he periodically appeared to collect the discarded items.

When she turned around she saw Mike frowning. “What?”

“You’re limping.”

“I know.” Callie grimaced. While her ankle wasn’t badly injured, it was a pointed reminder she should think before acting. “I…uh, fell last night.”

“Yeah, I kind of remember.”

Wonderful. Did he “kind of” remember kissing her? This could get downright humiliating—a blow to her self-esteem, and she’d only been in Alaska for a day.

“These things happen,” she mumbled.

“I should take a look,” Mike announced, and promptly lifted her to the desktop, with her legs dangling over the edge. “We can’t be too careful.”

“I’m fine.” But she wasn’t, because her breathing got all erratic when he touched her. What about her resolve not to let him affect her so much?

“No, I’m responsible for your safety.”

Mike sounded like a beleaguered great-uncle, so Callie considered kicking him in a vulnerable spot. But she sucked in her breath when he sat on the desk chair and put her sandal-clad foot in his lap. Thank goodness she’d shaved her legs. He removed the sandal and gently rotated her foot.