Courting Katarina (5 page)

She recalled Ron’s long-term plans and tried to ignore the shiver that went up her spine. “You need to sell your designs to a company that can put your name all over the world. Let them do the production,” he’d insisted, followed by, “Dream big if you’re going to dream at all.”

Yes, she wanted her business to be successful, but he made it sound so…cold. These were more than dolls—they were her heart and soul. More than simply business. Surely once they married and he transferred
to a Colorado branch, he’d see that. Even Alex seemed to understand, and he hardly knew her.

Katarina turned back to the baby doll she’d been dressing before she’d started searching the want ads for an apartment. She adjusted soft ruffles on the velveteen skirt, ran her finger over the delicate porcelain nose and gazed into the baby doll’s soft brown eyes.

This is what she truly loved, making something that would bring a smile to someone’s face the same way each doll did her own. She couldn’t deny there was a certain amount of excitement in the idea of seeing her own creations in stores across the country. Selling her designs surely didn’t mean she’d have to stop making them, too. And thanks to Alex’s comments yesterday, hope had blossomed within her again. She dreamed of the day when a children’s version of Kat’s Kreations collectable dolls would be available in toy stores throughout the country.

Ricky and his friends burst into the kitchen, mud caked on their knees. “Can we have a drink, Auntie Kat?”

“Sure, go wash your hands.” She circled an ad, then pushed the newspaper aside and poured three glasses of cherry juice for the boys. The clock above the fireplace chimed three. “Another hour. What do you say we go to the park before I take Jacob and Chad home?”

They cheered. She gathered the boys, loaded them into the huge plastic wagon and pulled them down
the block. Even after an hour of swinging, sliding and playing space station on the monkey bars, the boys complained when it was time to leave.

“I want a ride in the wagon,”

Ricky whined. Ricky had been a handful all day. When she awoke, he’d already tried to fix himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast and spilled milk all over the floor in the process. While cleaning it up, she’d heard a crash upstairs, and had found him exploring the top of his closet.

“Uncle Alex is coming for pizza tonight, isn’t he?”

Katarina’s heart beat a little faster. She mumbled a confirmation. Her cheeks warmed. Alex MacIntyre was the last person she wanted to see today. He reminded her of a fantasy no man could ever live up to. Mr. Right was an illusion. Reality had burst her hopes of ever finding such a trustworthy man. Over and over again throughout the past twenty years of her life she’d learned that opening her heart only led to pain. First her father, then her fiancé. Stable and predictable didn’t look so bad after all.

Why did I have to promise Ricky he could see Alex again today?

Kevin and Emily would be home tomorrow, and Katarina had yet to find a place to live. Emily would try to talk her out of moving, but she realized newlyweds didn’t need a houseguest. A new family required time to bond.

Besides, Katarina longed for her own independence,
as well. Katarina wanted the freedom to come and go as she pleased. And with her business, she needed room to spread out without imposing on anyone else. She certainly didn’t need to worry about who could be getting into it.

When she’d agreed to stay at Emily’s house, neither Kevin nor Ricky were a part of Emily’s life. Not that Katarina disagreed with their decision to have a quick wedding. That wasn’t the case at all. In fact, it was the best solution for everyone.

Even from the beginning, Katarina had never meant to stay more than a few weeks, until she could find a small place of her own.

Kat turned into the driveway, surprised to see Alex waiting on the porch with a pizza box.

“Looks like you wore him out,” Alex said, smiling.

She grinned. Ricky was sprawled across the wagon. One leg was tucked into the wagon, the other dangled over the edge. “You mean
finally
wore him out.” She parked the wagon and reached for Ricky.

“Here, you take the pizza and open the door. I’ll carry him.”

Before she had a chance to argue, Katarina had accepted the box and Alex lifted Ricky into his arms. “Where do you want me to lay him?”

Annoyed at how easily she’d let Alex take charge again, she unlocked the front door and pointed to the sofa. “I doubt he’ll sleep long.”

Katarina continued into the dining room, still upset with herself for not being more assertive. How could she make it clear to Alex MacIntyre that she wasn’t some helpless female who needed a man to take care of her?
I have a hearing impairment. I’m not disabled
. Katarina shoved the newspaper to one end of the table and dropped the pizza in the middle, then went to get dishes.

“Ricky’s settled. Can I help?”

Katarina spun around. “Do I look like I can’t do anything on my own?”

He looked at her as if she’d thrown darts at him. “What in tarnation brought that on?”

She placed her hand upon her hip and looked into his blue eyes, temporarily forgetting what she was going to say.
Good-looking or not, he can’t jump in and take over
. “You do…um, did…uh, every time I see you, you assume I can’t handle anything.”

“I what?” His blue eyes widened. “How do I do that?”

Katarina crossed her arms over her beating heart, raised one arm and rested her finger on her chin. “Hmm, let’s see now. You yanked me out from under the table….”

“You were stuck. I was trying to help,” he protested.

“I would have been absolutely content to stay out of the limelight after that humiliation, thank you very much. Then you insisted on carrying those
flower vases to my car. You charged right in to get Ricky out of the tree….”

Alex clenched his jaw and his face turned red. “And what would you have liked me to do? Stand there and give you a list of my qualifications to rescue a frightened little boy? Or were you thinking you’d climb the tree in that frilly dress of yours?”

“That isn’t the point. However, you could have explained instead of rushing right in and taking charge. Which brings us to today. I’m perfectly capable of carrying Ricky inside. And now you assume I need your help in the kitchen.” She stepped around the counter and reached up to open the cabinet. “I do believe I’m…”

Alex put his hand against the cabinet door to hold it closed. Surprised, she looked over her shoulder, inhaling his clean outdoorsy scent. Her gaze moved from his long, muscled arm to his shoulder, neck and finally to his freshly shaven jaw.
He didn’t come straight from work. He took the time to go home and shower
.

“I happen to love kids, okay? I’ve already lost too much time with my sisters’ children. I don’t plan to miss the chance to spend time with Ricky. And as far as my offer to help, I’m not one of those chauvinistic men who thinks a woman’s place is in the kitchen. I was raised sharing the load. You have a problem with any of that?” Alex’s clipped words forbade questioning him further.

Alex’s explanation took the punch from Kat’s anger.
She’d fought for everything as a young child, constantly fended off illness and struggled to keep up with missed schoolwork. Maybe that was why she was so determined to be independent.
What’s wrong with me?
She felt Alex’s nearness, confused by the quickening of her heart and shortness of breath. Somehow, a smile found its way through the mask of uncertainty. “No problem. Just so we understand each other.”

Alex bent his elbow and leaned closer. His gaze caressed her face before he offered a forgiving smile. “Who is it that doesn’t understand your capabilities, Katarina? Because it certainly isn’t me. I wouldn’t dream of standing in your way.”

She looked at his feet, then into his eyes. “Talk’s cheap.”

His smile disappeared and he backed across the kitchen. With one of Alex’s hands resting upon the counter and the thumb of his other hand hooked in his jeans pocket, his shoulders looked even broader than they had up close.

Katarina turned her back to him, opened the cabinet and closed her eyes, hoping to catch her breath and recollect the protective wit that served as her shield of armor. Not even Ron could unravel her as Alex had after only two days.

“So, is there anything I may do to help, or would you prefer I go sit down?”

“I’ll have everything together in just a minute.”

Alex moved to the dining-room side of the island
dividing the two rooms. He didn’t much like the image Katarina seemed to have of him. Though he heard her reasons, he still didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. Was it so terrible to be helpful? To be a considerate guest? He knew the logical answers to the questions, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out why the obvious wasn’t clear to Katarina. “May I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Katarina said, cheerful again. She brought in the plates and glasses, then returned to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

He hemmed and hawed for a minute, still uncertain if it was wise to push her. “Could you help me understand exactly how to correct my mistakes…um, so I don’t make the same ones with anyone else?”

“Anyone else?” Katarina pulled out a cutting board and placed it on the counter between them. “I thought you weren’t interested in being ‘caught.”’ She raised her eyebrows and shot him a devastatingly beautiful grin as she chopped up a head of lettuce.

“Who said anything about anyone catching me?”

She scooped up a handful of lettuce and placed it into a bowl. “Ah, you’re just in it for the chase, huh?”

He shook his head and leaned across the counter. “Never said that, either. I just don’t like walking on burning embers. I have enough of that in my line of work.”

Katarina stifled a laugh, picking up each stray piece of lettuce. “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“I wasn’t asking for an apology.” He covered her hands with his own and waited for her reply. There was none. “Why did that offend you so, offering to help?”

“Are you always so pushy?”

He smiled. “Yeah, I guess I am. Is that what’s bothering you? You don’t like people to ask too many questions? Or don’t you want to let anyone get too close?”

She paused, staring him in the eye with a cool smile on her lips. “I simply don’t ‘need’ people the way a lot of other women do.”

“Fiercely independent,” he said, assessing her. “You don’t want to be depended upon, or to depend on anyone else?”

Silence.

“Guess I hit a nerve.”

“Are you a psychologist in the off-season?” Katarina pulled her hands loose and opened a brown paper sack in front of her. “Hmm, a smoke jumping shrink. Has a nice ring to it.”

Alex chuckled.

She took out two Italian tomatoes, washed them, quartered them and tossed them into the salad.

“So, you think accepting help is a sign of weakness?”

“Listen, Doc…”

“That’s your sister. My crew calls me Mac, but
I really prefer it if you’d stick to Alex. Bury the hatchet, Katarina. You don’t need anyone, and I’m not in the market to be needed. You’re as good as engaged—” he cocked his head “—though I don’t quite understand why you’re here, and he’s not.”

She smiled. “Ron happens to believe in individual independence. He encourages it, in fact. He doesn’t want me to depend upon him any more than I want to.”

“Probably believes in prenuptial contracts, too,” Alex muttered.

“And what’s wrong with that?”

He’d better stop before they were at each other’s throats again, he thought. What in the world had given her such a distorted view? All he’d done was offer a little help.

“Alex? Why don’t you approve of prenuptial agreements?”

His name rolled off her tongue like a breeze through the forest—soft, gentle and refreshing. “Never mind. Just a different view of commitment, I guess. But what do I know? I’m thirty-five and haven’t even been close to the altar. You on the other hand…are as good as engaged. Friends?”

Her mouth twisted into a crooked grin. “On the other hand, I’m no expert, either. This will be my second engagement, and I’m not so convinced it’s a great idea, either.” She extended her hand. “Friends.”

Alex took her graceful hand into his and met her
coy smile with one of his own. “Which aren’t you sure of, Katarina? The prenuptial agreement or the engagement?”

Katarina thought for a moment.

“Neither.”

Chapter Six

K
atarina looked out the window. “What is Alex doing here again?” Emily and Kevin had returned from their honeymoon less than an hour ago.

Kevin moved their suitcases out of the way. “I called him on the way into town. He needs some invoices signed. What do you mean, ‘again’?” Before Kat could answer, the doorbell rang, and Kevin rushed through the house to answer it, Ricky right on his heels.

Not ready to face another hundred and one questions from the smoke jumping shrink, Katarina suggested she and Emily take their tea to the deck in the backyard.

“Bearly Toys just called, and want to see my designs and a prototype,” she said when they were settled.

“Katarina!” Emily gasped. “That’s wonderful. When is the presentation?”

Katarina took a deep breath and mentally slowed her racing mind. “Wednesday. At eleven. They’re trying to beat a deadline. That’s why I have to get on the road as soon as possible. It’s around a thousand miles. I figure it should take—”

“What? That’s the day after tomorrow.” Emily furrowed her eyebrows. “You’re going to drive a thousand miles? Why don’t you fly?”

Katarina stood up and walked over to the deck railing. “Right, I’m going to get my entire portfolio into two suitcases. And even if I could, do you know how much airfare is to Spokane?”

“Spokane? Kat…” Emily started to protest.

“I can’t afford to fly. End of discussion. According to the map site on the Internet, I’ll make it in plenty of time.” Katarina had been suppressing a scream of excitement since the call had come early that morning, and now finally let out a high-pitched squeal. She’d called Ron to share her news, but he’d had to rush off to a meeting.