A Match Made in Alaska (4 page)

“Don’t worry about what I said earlier, that the library is a hot-button issue. We debate everything in Love. That’s who we are. All the wrinkles about funding for the library will probably be ironed out.”
Or not
, Declan thought guiltily. He himself had lobbied to reduce the number of hours the library was being funded. It hadn’t been a malicious move on his part. Love’s first library had gone belly-up decades ago due to lack of funding. He just couldn’t wrap his head around using vital town resources so people could browse for books. Not when there were businesses still suffering in town. However, there was no way in the world he could admit that to Annie. Not at the moment, anyway.

Annie frowned. “Wrinkles? There are wrinkles?”

He let out a groan. There he went again, spilling information he should have kept close to the vest. On the other hand, Annie had traveled a long way to become town librarian in Love. She deserved the unfiltered truth. “There are a few,” he said in a halting voice. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the library has only been approved for part-time hours.”

“But that’s ridiculous,” she exploded. “Mayor Prescott told me weeks ago that the library budget had been approved and that I was being brought on as a full-time librarian.”

Declan held up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger. I just didn’t want you to feel blindsided.”

Annie bowed her head. “I’m sorry for blowing up at you. Thanks for telling me. I think,” she said in a soft voice.

“You’re welcome. Why don’t you get some sleep, Annie?” he suggested. “It’s been a long day.”

Annie yawned and stretched her arms. “I am pretty bushed. Good night, Declan.” She walked toward her pallet, which was a good distance from his, where he was keeping watch.

“Night,” he called out after her. “Don’t get too close to the fire. We don’t want any accidents.”

He watched from afar as Annie settled down on her pallet. She was close enough to the fire that she could feel warm and toasty without endangering herself. She had said earlier that her boots were doing a pretty good job of keeping her feet warm, although at the very tip, she felt a little spot where her toes were cold. Once they got to Love, he was going to buy her a pair of Hazel Tookes’s boots. Hazel was a good friend of his who had created unique Alaskan winter boots that the town of Love was now mass-producing. Boone’s wife, Grace, had come up with the brilliant idea of making Hazel’s boots the focus of the town’s moneymaking endeavors. So far, Hazel’s boots were selling like hot cakes in the lower forty-eight states. If the income streaming in from the boots continued, it could be a game changer for Love.

An unsettled feeling kept poking at him. He hadn’t told Annie the whole unvarnished truth about the library hours being reduced. He had lobbied against the library, and after it had been approved, he had been a proponent of reducing its hours. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about Annie’s job being slashed by a significant number of hours.

As Declan watched Annie doze off, he felt a surge of protectiveness rise up within him. There was something about her that brought out a desire in him to keep her safe. And he wasn’t sure it had anything to do with his duties as a pilot. He vowed that no matter what situation arose, he would keep Annie out of harm’s way. He uttered a silent prayer that the morning would bring rescue. If not, he was going to have to come up with a plan B in order to ensure that they made it out of this crisis alive.

* * *

Annie was dreaming of Love, Alaska. Ice-skating at Deer Run Lake. Wintry nights. A tight-knit community where she would be welcomed with open arms. A spanking new library that changed lives, one book at a time. A soft place to fall when the world around her became chaotic. A strapping, tall man with golden hair and a magnetic smile.

She heard a flapping noise by her ear. She raised her hand to brush it away. Something furry was swirling around her neck. Oh no! This wasn’t a dream. This was real life. Something was burrowed in her hair. With a scream lodged in her throat, Annie sat up straight and started fighting it off with her fists. She managed to get it out of her hair. By the glow of the fire, she could see wings and squinty little eyes as he began flying around her in circles.

“Bat!” she yelled as the fuzzy brown critter swooped down at her. Once again it burrowed in her hair as she began to jump around wildly in an effort to dislodge it.

She had almost died earlier today in a plane crash. And now she was on the brink of being killed by a rabid bat bent on taking her down. She began shrieking at the top of her lungs.

“Declan! Help!”

* * *

It was a perfect Alaskan day. The sun was shining brightly in a robin’s-egg-colored sky. Declan soared above the clouds without a care in the world. Everything felt peaceful up here in the wild blue yonder, as if nothing bad could ever touch him again.

Something was wrong. He was flying Lucy. No, that wasn’t possible. Hadn’t Lucy gone up in flames?

Screams jolted him awake. As soon as Declan heard the word
bat
, his entire body froze up. Bats! The one thing in the world that he didn’t want to deal with head-on. Give him bears, wild moose and wolves. He’d take those animals on any day of the week without batting an eye. He had hated bats ever since one had bitten him when he was six years old. He and Boone had been spelunking in Nottingham Woods when they had stumbled upon a group of bats. Declan felt a chill crawl down his back at the memory.

He sat up straight and looked over at Annie. She was on her feet, jumping up and down while yelling at the top of her lungs. Pushing past the terror, he leaped up from his pallet and raced over to Annie’s side.

“Bat!” she screamed again, pointing toward her hair. The bat was tangled up in her shoulder-length brown hair.

Declan searched the strands and immediately spotted a flapping bat’s wing. Thankful for Annie’s extra pair of mittens, he wrenched the bat from Annie’s tangled locks and hurled it to the ground. For a moment, the bat sat on the ground, seemingly stunned.

“I hope the poor critter is okay,” Annie said in a fretful tone.

With a wild cry, it flapped its wings and took off, soaring into the black night.

Annie stared after the bat as it flew off into the distance. “I was sort of hoping this was all a dream. There really was a bat in my hair, wasn’t there?”

“Yes, there was,” Declan said, still amazed by the turn of events. What more could this day possibly bring? A snowstorm and a pack of wolves?

“They can be dangerous if they bite you,” Annie said.

“Did it bite you?” he asked, alarmed. That was the last thing they needed to take this crisis over the top.

Her lips trembled. “I’m not sure. I don’t think so. Can you look for me?”

Declan lifted her hair up and away from her neck. He inspected one side, then the other. There was no evidence of a bat bite. No marks whatsoever. “I don’t see anything, Annie. I think you’re good.”

Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Phew. Bats can carry rabies. Although most don’t, it would be unfortunate to be bitten by a rabies-infested bat.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against Declan’s cheek. “Thank you. That’s the second time you saved my life. All in one day. You really are a superhero, Declan O’Rourke.”

Superhero
. Just hearing her say that word made his chest swell to twice its normal size. His heart began thrumming like a drumbeat.

Declan didn’t say a word as Annie settled back onto her pallet. She took her cloak and wrapped it around her face and torso, then burrowed under her clothes. Clearly she wasn’t taking any more chances with bats.

He raised his hand to his cheek and let out a ragged sigh. The kiss from Annie had come out of nowhere. Things had suddenly gotten very complicated. His chest tightened, and he swallowed past the emotions rising to the surface. He didn’t even want to analyze what he was feeling in this moment. It had been such a long time since he had felt anything simmering between himself and an attractive, appealing woman.

It didn’t matter. He couldn’t allow anything romantic to develop between them. Annie Murray wasn’t his type. She was looking for a husband. He had no intention of courting a small-town librarian who was in search of a soul mate. Although Operation Love was a smashing success in his opinion, he didn’t want to be matched up with anyone. He had long ago reached the conclusion that he wasn’t the settling-down type.

The past had taught him that happily-ever-afters weren’t meant for everyone, especially not the son of Colin O’Rourke.

From what he’d seen, Annie was way too sensitive for his liking. He’d already made her cry. And he didn’t like the way she rattled things off as if she was a walking encyclopedia. After a while it might get old to have someone constantly spouting off facts like a know-it-all. It felt awkward that he had opposed library funding. He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that. He had been way too unnerved earlier by her tears. And something told him she would have been as mad as a hornet at the discovery.

Considering the fact that the town was still struggling to get back on its feet, funding a library didn’t seem practical. It was one thing for the town to support businesses like Hazel’s Lovely Boots, but a library wasn’t going to bring money to Love. It was simply going to put a strain on an already tight town budget.

All that was fine and good. But the moment Annie’s lips had pressed against his cheek, something had shifted a little bit inside him. Something that deeply worried him. She had just stirred up feelings inside him that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Feelings that terrified him way more than any bat ever could.

Chapter Four

A
nnie felt as if she had barely put her head down on her pallet before morning came, bringing with it hope for rescue and fear of the unknown. For a few moments, she sat back and enjoyed the sunrise as it crept into being. Oranges, pinks and purples graced the sky, serving as a reminder that God was all around her. He had created this magnificent scenery. And He would see to it that she and Declan made their way to Love. She knew it all the way down to the tips of her toes.

She swept her gaze around her. The fire that had burned so brightly last night was now barely a flame. The warmth it had provided was a thing of the past. Her tingling fingers could attest to that fact. At least it was still burning, which meant it could be resurrected. She raised her arms over her head and stretched, casting a quick glance in the direction of Declan’s pallet. He was still propped against the tree, but his eyes were pressed closed and he was fast asleep.

She felt a surge of gratitude for this strong, sturdy man who had been her anchor during this crisis. He had not only saved their lives by executing a perfect landing in the wilderness but also rescued her from a bat’s clutches and saved all her belongings from the plane. Declan had taken care of her, something she hadn’t experienced a whole lot in her life. One of the reasons she had always been so independent was that, other than Gram, there had been no one to lean on.

Annie let out a sigh as she stood up and headed toward the fire. If it was going to continue to burn, she was going to have to stoke it. Declan had stayed up through the night to accomplish that task. She was guessing that he had finally fallen asleep due to utter exhaustion.

Even though they were still stranded in the middle of Chugach National Forest and there was no hint of imminent rescue, she still felt blessed. They were alive and uninjured. And according to Declan, a search party would be looking for them today. Hope was ever present.

“Morning.” Declan’s deep voice startled her. His eyes were now wide open, and he was greeting her with a lazy smile.

“I thought you were asleep,” she said, hoping he didn’t think she had been staring at him. Gorgeous specimens like Declan were probably used to being drooled over. Not that she had been drooling in any way, shape or form. Simply admiring from afar.

“Just resting my eyes,” he said. He stood up and brushed off his pants, then headed toward her. “I’m glad the fire is still going. Now that it’s morning, I’m guessing we’ll see some planes overhead.”

“Do you think we’ll see them soon?” she asked eagerly.

He nodded. “Once dawn broke, they probably began mobilizing. We need to be ready on our end so that we don’t waste a precious second.”

Annie clapped her hands together. “What’s the plan?” She blinked at him. “You do have a plan, don’t you?”

He winked at her. “Declan O’Rourke always has a plan.” He grinned at her, then walked back over to his pallet and reached down to pull out a square box. He turned back toward her and held it up in the air. “This emergency kit is about to secure our rescue.”

Annie furrowed her brow. “What’s in there?”

Declan popped the kit open and pulled something out. “A flare,” he said in a triumphant voice. “We can only use it once, so we have to wait for the exact moment to set it off. The colored smoke can be seen from quite a distance, so we’ll have a good shot of being seen from the air. It will be instantly recognizable as a distress signal.”

Annie felt her pulse sizzle with excitement. “Oh, that’s an excellent plan. It was quick thinking of you to grab the emergency kit from the plane. How many flares are in there?”

Declan’s smile disappeared. “Just this one. When I say this has to go off perfectly without a hitch, I’m not exaggerating. It’s possible they might see a fire from above if we get a big one going, but if it gets out of control, this whole forest could go up. I’m not willing to risk that.”

“Nor am I,” Annie said with a firm nod of her head. “The flare has to work.”

A sigh escaped Declan’s lips. “Why don’t we eat something for breakfast? It could be hours before they scour this area. I’m going to keep the flare inside the kit so it can stay nice and dry. As soon as we hear any planes circling overhead, I can set off the flare.”

They settled down on logs beside the reinvigorated fire and indulged in peanut butter and crackers. Annie broke off a square of chocolate for each of them. Not much conversation flowed between them as they ate. Annie’s mind was occupied by thoughts of being rescued and what might happen if it didn’t come to pass. What would happen to them? According to Declan, the forest was too vast for them to walk toward rescue.

Would they just wither away into nothing or be devoured by a pack of wild Alaskan wolves? Even though she knew her thoughts were dramatic, they didn’t seem that far-fetched considering their predicament.

Within minutes, Annie heard a rumbling noise that seemed to emanate from the sky. At first she wasn’t certain if she was imagining it or not. Then the sounds became more persistent. Declan jumped up from the log he was sitting on. He looked upward, concentration etched on his face.

“Is that—?” she began. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer.

“Yes! I’d know that sound anywhere,” Declan shouted as he opened the kit and yanked out the flare. He stood up and craned his neck. Annie followed Declan’s lead and began scouring the sky for a plane. Suddenly the rumbling sound got louder.

“There!” she shouted, pointing to the sky as she spotted a red-and-white plane flying above them.

Just as the plane flew directly overhead, Declan extended his arm and raised the flare in the air. Feeling as if she could barely breathe, Annie watched as colored smoke filled the sky.

“Turn around,” Declan said through gritted teeth. His eyes were focused on the sky. His hands were clenched at his sides.

“Oh no!” Annie fretted. “It’s not turning around. They didn’t see the smoke.”

The plane disappeared from view just as quickly as it had appeared. Annie raised her hands to cover her mouth so she didn’t let out a sob of disappointment. She had been hopeful about Declan’s plan for them to be rescued. This felt like a devastating blow.

“Just give it a minute,” Declan said. He was saying something over and over again under his breath. She couldn’t quite make out the words. She felt numb. What would they do now? Even if they screamed at the top of their lungs, no one would ever hear them.

Suddenly the plane came back into view. It began circling above them. Within minutes, it began to descend, bit by bit. It was coming for them!

Declan waved his arms high in the air. “They see us, Annie. They see us!” His face was lit up with joy. Unable to contain herself, Annie jumped up and down. She hooted and hollered. Declan’s grin stretched from ear to ear. They were both ecstatic.

“Oh, Declan! We’re saved. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“It’s beyond wonderful,” Declan gushed as he swept her up in his arms, then twirled her around. Annie felt almost giddy as her feet left the ground and Declan whirled her in the air. As he settled her back on the snow-covered ground, she looked up at him and directly into his ice-blue eyes. Their gazes held and locked. Something simmered in the air between them that caused her legs to shake like the branches of an unstable tree.

Having never experienced this particular feeling before, all Annie could do was pray.
Dear Lord,
please keep my feet firmly planted on earth. Declan is not the right man for me, regardless of the way he makes my heart race. Please allow me to continue the path You have been leading me on. The path straight to Love.

* * *

Declan tried to catch his breath. Between their imminent rescue and the romantic tension brewing between him and Annie, he couldn’t decide which was causing his pulse to race more. He stepped back from Annie and swung his gaze toward the sky. He began waving his arms in the air again until the plane dipped down farther and farther. From this vantage point he recognized the plane as his own, Ethel. Within the space of a few minutes, it landed in a clearing about three hundred feet away from them. Declan let out the breath he had been holding since the very moment he knew Lucy was in trouble. He felt as if the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.

There was only one person who knew how to fly Ethel with such finesse. Finn! He knew that his brother was the pilot as surely as he knew his own name. Boone was the first one to step out of the plane. He made a beeline toward Declan. A few moments later, Finn emerged. He stood next to the plane, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He hung back and surveyed everything going on around him.

Declan met Boone halfway, thrilled to the bone that his best friend had come looking for him. In truth, he wouldn’t have expected any less from him. Their relationship had always been rock solid. Boone clapped him on the shoulder before saying, “Do you have any idea of what you put us through?”

Before he could even respond, Boone wrapped him up in a bear hug. Declan went with it, hugging Boone back with equal ferocity. When the hug ended after a few moments, Declan took a good look at his best friend. Boone appeared as wrecked as Declan felt. Boone’s chin trembled. A sheen of moisture gathered in his eyes. He shook his head. “I’ve never been more relieved to see anyone in my whole life, Declan.”

“Thanks for coming to find me,” Declan said, feeling overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment. In all the years of their friendship, Boone had never once let him down. He hoped Boone could say the same about him.

“Don’t thank me. I just came along for the ride. Finn was the one who organized everything,” Boone said, jutting his chin in Finn’s direction. “He really came through in the clutch. We were desperate to locate you.”

Declan reluctantly swung his gaze in his brother’s direction. Finn was standing off to the side with his hands jammed in his back pockets. He was next to Annie, who was talking a mile a minute. Declan studied his brother for a moment. With his dark hair and emerald green eyes, Finn didn’t really look like him, although they shared a similar build and height. As far as Declan was concerned, they were polar opposites. Declan needed human contact in his life, while Finn was content to backpack by himself in the Himalayas for weeks at a time. Finn ran away from life, while Declan had always been the one to stick around and face the problems head-on. It had put them at odds for most of their lives.

He had to give it to Finn, though. For once, he’d come through for him.

Annie and Finn made their way over to them. Finn held out his hand so Declan could give him their special knuckle bump. They’d been doing it ever since they were kids.

“Glad you’re still in one piece,” Finn said, his expression shuttered. But Declan could see the telltale sign of his brother’s distress. A bluish vein was jumping around by his eye. It was a nervous tic he had. It spoke volumes about his current stress level.

“It would take more than a plane crash to take me down,” Declan said in a teasing voice. Boone shot him a questioning look. His best friend hated when he minimized serious situations and hid his real feelings behind a jovial mask. Later on, when he was safely back in Love, he could let his guard down and fall apart a little. For now, he was going to try his best to hold it together.

“Annie, this is Boone Prescott, otherwise known as the sheriff of Love, Alaska.” Declan said. He shot Boone a pointed look. “Boone, this is Annie Murray, our new town librarian.”

Annie beamed at Boone and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Sheriff. I’m thrilled to make your acquaintance, but I wish it was under less stressful circumstances.”

Boone shook Annie’s hand and said, “It’s a pleasure, Annie. I hope this misadventure doesn’t tarnish your opinion about Alaska.”

“Not one little bit,” Annie said. “How many people can say they crash-landed in an Alaskan forest and lived to tell the tale?” She let out a chuckle. “I’ll be telling this story to my grandkids.”

“Annie has been terrific.” Declan rushed in to praise her. “First time in Alaska and she handled herself like a pro after the crash. She lit a fire, kept us with food in our bellies and maintained her cool in a harsh and unforgiving environment.”

Annie’s face turned a pretty pink shade as she waved her hand at him. “Don’t listen to him. He puts the
H
in hero, if you know what I mean.”

“The two of you are a regular mutual admiration society,” Boone drawled, his lips twitching with amusement.

Uh-oh
. Declan frowned. He knew that look. Boone made that face whenever he was teasing him about a prospective love interest. Declan needed to set Boone straight in no uncertain terms. Annie was a tenderhearted librarian looking to settle down and live out her dreams. He was the last man in Love who could offer her the white picket fence and promises of forever. Those things were meant for other men. Not him.

Just knowing that he wasn’t capable of such a huge commitment caused an uncomfortable pressure to lodge against his chest. More and more these days he was finding himself wishing things could be different. Seeing Boone’s whole life open up after meeting Grace served as proof that true love was possible.

When Boone continued to grin at him, Declan subtly jabbed him in the side. He swiftly veered the subject toward another topic. “And it looks like you’ve already met my brother, Finn,” Declan said, nodding in his brother’s direction.

“I sure did,” Annie gushed. “I’m mighty impressed that both of you are pilots. You must make your parents really proud.”

An uncomfortable silence followed Annie’s statement. Declan was used to people in his hometown avoiding the topic of his parents at all costs. It was impossible for his mother to be proud of her boys since she had died when he was eight. And he had no clue whether his father felt proud of him or not. Declan hadn’t seen his father since he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Truthfully he wasn’t sure he even wanted to.

Finn recovered first. “Declan is the real deal,” Finn said. “I might have the technical ability, but Declan here has all the heart. That’s a powerful combination.”