On a Snowy Night: The Christmas BasketThe Snow Bride Read online

  “There’s nothing to hear,” Jenna told him. “I don’t mean to be cruel, but I’m not interested in any kind of relationship with you. I came to Alaska to meet you, I have, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Like a bad actor, Dalton struck his forehead, obviously intending to signify his grief and shock at her heartlessness.

  No one appeared to notice.

  “If Jenna marries anyone, it’ll be me,” Fulton announced.

  Reid knew that was coming, but he hadn’t expected the other man to propose in front of the entire community.

  “Marry you?” Jenna said.

  “Surely this can’t be a surprise,” Fulton said with a good-natured chuckle.

  “I was your assistant for six years. Why are you asking me to marry you now?”

  “I need you, Jenna,” Fulton murmured. “Nothing’s right without you. I want you back.”

  “As your assistant?”

  “Yes…no. I want you, period. I didn’t realize how empty my life would be without you. You’ve been with me nearly every day for the last six years and all of a sudden, you weren’t there anymore. That was when I realized what I should always have known. I need you in my life.” He looked a bit embarrassed to be declaring his feelings in front of all these strangers.

  Jenna seemed on the verge of tears, and Reid strained to hear her response.

  “I was in love with you for years,” she whispered.

  Dalton shook his head angrily. “You might’ve said something to me,” he spat. “Take her,” he muttered as if this were his decision alone. “I’m getting out of this pathetic little burg.” With that, he stalked toward the airfield.

  Addy and Palmer followed him, holding up their sign. As soon as Dalton got in his plane, the two old men returned to stand behind Fulton, patiently waiting for the tycoon to acknowledge them.

  “Then it’s settled,” Fulton said. “You’ll marry me.”

  Reid could no longer remain silent. “Congratulations, Jenna,” he said, approaching the couple.

  “Congratulations?” She looked at him in a daze.

  “Who’s this?” Fulton asked.

  Reid offered the other man his hand. “Reid Jamison.”

  Jenna gestured toward him. “Reid…flew me into Snowbound.”

  Fulton nodded as though that explained everything. “I see.”

  “For a woman who claims to have trouble with relationships, you seem to be doing all right for yourself,” Reid said. “I doubt many women can claim to have received two marriage proposals within five minutes. That’s quite a feat, isn’t it?”

  “Yes…I suppose it is,” she replied distractedly.

  “Congratulations, Fulton,” Reid said, shaking the other man’s hand.

  Fulton shook his head. “She hasn’t accepted my proposal yet.”

  Everyone looked at Jenna, anticipating, no doubt, a resounding yes. When she did speak, she hardly sounded like herself at all. “Where’s my mother?”

  “She’s still at Pete’s,” Jim told her.

  For reasons Reid couldn’t explain, she turned to face him. “I need to talk to my mother.”

  Fulton frowned heavily. “You’re asking your mother for marital advice?”

  Jenna nodded, although, in fact, she had other compelling reasons for finding Chloe. Like getting her away from Pete—and onto a plane home.

  “Do they serve anything stronger than coffee over at that café?” he asked Reid.

  “Sure do,” Jake said, steering the other man toward his establishment. “We got beer and wine.”

  Fulton marched off to the café, with Addy and Palmer directly behind him, still holding up their sign.

  “I’ll help you find your mother,” Reid volunteered.

  Jenna nodded. “Did you hear?” she said, her voice awed. “Brad asked me to marry him.”

  “I heard.” It was difficult to conceal his antagonism, but he managed. “You’d be a fool to turn him down.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” Reid echoed in disbelief. “You’re in love with him. You said so yourself. This is your dream come true.”

  “I used to think it was,” Jenna said slowly. “What if I said I wasn’t sure I wanted to marry Brad?”

  Reid shook his head. “Why wouldn’t you? He’s perfect. The two of you have worked together for years. He knows you, and you know him. Besides, he’s so rich you could have whatever you want.”

  “Money isn’t everything,” Jenna informed him primly.

  “Maybe not everything,” he agreed, “but it’s a good ninety percent.”

  She dismissed his comment with a shake of her head. “So you think I should marry him.”

  “I didn’t say that,” he was quick to tell her.

  Her face turned red, which Reid recognized as barely controlled anger. He’d seen this same look a dozen times in the last three days.

  “Let me see if I’ve got this straight…” she began.

  “You don’t want to talk to me about this,” Reid interrupted. “Let’s find your mother.”

  “Right,” she agreed with a sigh. “My mother’s been married five times. I’m sure she’ll have a simple solution to this.”

  In his opinion, there weren’t any simple solutions, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. He led the way to Pete’s store, which had a closed sign in the front window. He ignored that and walked inside. “Pete?” he shouted.

  Almost immediately he heard a rustling sound from Pete’s living quarters in the rear of the shop. “Are you in the back?” Reid called.

  “Out in a minute,” Pete returned gruffly.

  His words were followed by the distinct sound of a female giggle.

  “Mother!” Jenna charged ahead and tore open the curtain that separated the store from Pete’s private quarters.

  Reid charged after her and stopped abruptly at the sight before him. Pete, wearing the most incredulously happy grin, sat up in the sofa bed. Jenna’s mother sat next to him. She was clearly naked, clutching a sheet against her breasts.

  “You slept with him?” Jenna was aghast.

  “Now, sweetheart, it isn’t what it looks like,” her mother protested.

  “The two of you are naked in bed together!” Jenna shouted. “What else could you possibly be doing?”

  “Pete was just demonstrating why I should stay in Snowbound.”

  “He took you to bed for that? If you’d been smart enough to ask, I would’ve told you all he wanted was sex.”

  “Well, yes, I realize that, but it’s really wonderful sex.” Her mother blushed as she said it. “I mean…well, sweetheart, if you were more experienced, you’d know what I’m talking about. There are men and there are men, and well, I don’t suppose there’s a genteel way of saying this—but Pete is one hell of a man.” She sighed expressively and rested her head against his bare shoulder.

  Pete beamed with pride.

  “This might not be the best time for a heart-to-heart with your mother,” Reid suggested. Taking Jenna by the hand, he steered her out of the room.

  Jenna pointed back at the closed curtain. “My mother went to bed with a total stranger.”

  “Pete’s a good guy.”

  “He just slept with my mother!”

  “I didn’t say he was perfect.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Life had certainly taken an unexpected turn. Jenna had left Los Angeles, hoping for love and adventure in Alaska, and she’d found them—but not with the man she’d intended to meet. Now she was about to return to California. When she boarded Brad’s Learjet, she would leave both her mother and her heart behind.

  “You’re sure this is what you want?” Lucy asked, walking out to the airstrip with her.

  It wasn’t, but Jenna didn’t feel she had any choice. “It’s what has to happen.”

  “I’ll keep an eye on your mother,” Lucy promised and hugged her, looking forlorn.

  Jim slipped his arm around Lucy’s shoulders.

  �
�You’re really leaving?” Palmer asked. He removed his hat with the dangling earflaps and stared down at the frozen snow as solemnly as if he were attending a funeral.

  “I have to,” Jenna said. She couldn’t stay in Snowbound, much as she wanted to. She needed a reason and the one person who had the power to give her that had remained silent.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Addy said in a low voice. He, too, had removed his hat and stared down at his muddy boots. “It isn’t going to be the same without you here.”

  Palmer agreed with a nod of his head. “Never had seafood spaghetti that tasted better than what you cooked for us that one night.”

  “Me, neither,” Addy said.

  “Thank you.” Jenna kissed Addy’s forehead.

  “Doesn’t feel right having you leave like this…We were just getting to know you,” Palmer whispered.

  “I know,” Jenna said and kissed the other man’s stub-bled cheek.

  “Are you ready?” Brad asked.

  Jenna gave the town a final look before she boarded the plane. She hadn’t said goodbye to Reid, who’d mysteriously disappeared. The moment she’d announced she was returning to California with Brad Fulton, he’d vanished. She’d hoped he’d ask her to stay, but he hadn’t. That hope refused to die, though, and she’d held out until the last possible moment.

  She’d just started up the steps when Reid shouted her name. She turned to see him, her heart pounding with a mixture of dread and excitement. Hurrying toward him, she didn’t bother to disguise how pleased she was.

  He took both her hands in his. “I can’t let you go without saying goodbye.” He glanced at the plane. “Fulton will be a good husband.”

  “Perhaps.” Jenna wasn’t convinced she would marry Brad. He didn’t truly love her. He was accustomed to working with her, to seeing her five or six days a week. He enjoyed the ease she brought to his professional and private lives. That wasn’t a firm enough foundation on which to establish her future.

  “You aren’t going to marry him?” Reid asked, frowning.

  She hesitated, then explained. “I’ve agreed to come back to work for him.”

  His frown deepened. “But eventually you’ll marry him.” He made it sound like an immutable law of nature—like something that couldn’t possibly not happen.

  “I don’t know.” She hesitated, hoping Reid would say the words she longed to hear. When he didn’t, she hung her head, defeated.

  “Right,” he said abruptly. “Well…”

  “Jenna,” Brad called impatiently from the plane’s opening.

  “I have to leave. Thank you,” she said, putting on a brave front. “You know, when we first met, I thought you were horrible.”

  His grin was sheepish. “I was pretty detestable.”

  “No,” she whispered and ran her index finger tenderly along his shaved upper lip. “You were wonderful. I might have made the biggest mistake of my life if not for you.”

  Reid dismissed that, shaking his head. “You would’ve seen through Dalton in five minutes. You’re a lot more savvy than you realize. I should never have brought you here,” he said and then with meaning added, “but I’m glad I did.”

  “I’m glad you did, too.” Impulsively she hugged him and, for just a moment, closed her eyes and savored the feel of Reid’s arms around her. It broke her heart that she might never experience this again. She waited, her heart in her throat, for some sign that he wanted her to stay.

  “Goodbye, Jenna.” He stepped away from her.

  “Watch out for my mother?”

  He nodded, grinning. “She seems a little preoccupied.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes and he laughed. She took in the dear, sweet faces of her friends, then walked purposefully toward the plane.

  “Jenna! Jenna!” Her mother shouted from the distance as she raced toward the plane. Pete was with her. Judging by their open coats and flapping scarves, the two had dressed quickly in an effort to catch the plane.

  “Mom…” Jenna narrowed her eyes at Pete. She began to warn her mother about staying with such a man, but then changed her mind. As she’d told Lucy, Chloe was old enough to make her own decisions and live with the consequences. Jenna was through rescuing her.

  “You’re really leaving?” Her mother apparently hadn’t believed her earlier.

  “I told you I was.”

  Pete stood next to her, his hand at the back of her neck and his gaze, as always, adoring.

  “I’m staying.” They exchanged a long glance, obviously drunk on love. The only thing wrong with that, Jenna thought wryly, was the nasty hangover that came later.

  “All right, Mother, stay,” she said in an even voice.

  “I can’t leave,” Chloe whispered, her gaze not wavering from Pete’s. “I’ve never known this kind of happiness.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  Chloe looked away. “I mean it, Jenna.”

  Jenna was sure she did. “I don’t doubt you, Mom. It’s just that I’ve heard this all before.” Still, she wasn’t going to list her mother’s failed marriages now. More than likely, Pete didn’t know a thing about any of the previous men. That was her mother’s habit. She didn’t see any reason to compromise a new relationship with a small thing like the truth.

  “I’ve discovered my soul mate,” her mother said dreamily.

  “Of course you have.”

  “I mean it,” she insisted. “When you fall in love, you won’t be so skeptical.”

  That was true enough, she supposed. “You’ll call me, won’t you?” Jenna urged.

  “She can use the phone in the office,” Reid assured her.

  “Thank you.” Jenna offered him a grateful smile. She’d give her mother a week, two at the outside, and then Chloe would return to California, disillusioned, miserable—and cold. For two or three weeks afterward, she’d be an emotional wreck, waking Jenna at all hours of the day or night. Then, miraculously, Chloe would snap out of it and everything would go back to normal until the next man. And the next, and the man after that.

  “Jenna,” Brad called to her a second time. “We need to leave.”

  She nodded and gave each of her friends one final hug before racing up the stairs, blinded by tears.

  Pete’s store was closed for an entire week. Everyone in town was ready to complain, but on the seventh day after Jenna flew out of Snowbound, the sign stated OPEN. Apparently Pete was back in business.

  Reid had to admit he was curious. Who wouldn’t be? No more than half an hour after the sign appeared, everyone in Snowbound found an excuse to visit. Reid wasn’t the first customer of the day. Jake had beaten him by a good ten minutes. Pete was totaling up the other man’s purchases when Reid entered the store.

  “ ’Morning,” Pete said, sounding more jovial than Reid had ever heard him.

  Reid acknowledged the greeting with a nod.

  “Anything I can help you find?” Jenna’s mother asked, stepping out from behind the curtain. She looked mighty chipper herself, Reid mused.

  “I was thinking of making myself a pot of chili,” he said, taken aback by her bright smile.

  “He’ll want kidney beans and a packet of spices,” Pete told her. “And add a package of toilet paper. I figure he must be nearly out.” Pete had an uncanny ability to keep track of all his customers’ household supplies.

  “Right away.” Chloe scurried behind the counter and assembled Reid’s groceries.

  “Chloe’s agreed to be my partner,” Pete explained.

  “Do you want me to put this on your tab?” she asked Reid before he could ask what Pete meant. Business partner? Marriage? Or the living-together kind of partner? He wondered what Jenna would think of that.

  “Please.”

  She nodded, and Pete smiled benevolently in her direction.

  “So,” Reid said, hoping the “partners” might give him a few more details. “How’s it going with you two?”

  “Fabulous,” Chloe assured him.

  Pete pulle
d her into an embrace. “Life couldn’t be better.”

  Reid could only hope it lasted. “Do you want to phone Jenna this afternoon?” It was an innocent enough question, but he wasn’t just being neighborly. He hadn’t been able to get the woman out of his mind. At the end of the day, his cabin felt empty. He felt empty. He didn’t know what he could’ve said or done to persuade her to remain in Snowbound. He had nothing to give her, nothing except his heart, and that wasn’t enough. He couldn’t compete with everything Brad Fulton had to offer.

  “I probably should call Jenna,” Chloe said. “She worries, you know.”

  “I’ll drive you out to the station on the snowmobile,” Pete murmured.

  “See you both later, then,” Reid said, and taking his purchases with him, he left. He returned to the cabin long enough to put the ingredients for his dinner in the crock pot, then hopped on his snowmobile and drove out to the pump station.

  Chloe and Pete showed up early in the afternoon. He found it difficult to be around them, constantly reminded as he was of their overwhelming happiness. Reid hadn’t considered his own existence bleak or dull until he saw Pete with Chloe. He felt like a man who didn’t realize he was hungry until he stumbled upon a table sumptuously set for dinner.

  “Would you dial for me?” Chloe asked, handing him a scrap of paper with the number.

  Reid dialed and waited for the connection, then passed the phone to Jenna’s mother.

  “Don’t you want to talk to her?” Chloe asked, not taking the receiver.

  Reid did, more than he cared to admit.

  “Hello?”

  Her voice made him weak with longing. “Jenna?”

  “Reid? Oh, Reid, it’s so good to hear from you! Is everything all right with my mother?”

  “Everything’s fine. She’s here now. Do you want to talk to her?”

  “Of course, but…I’d like to talk to you, too.”

  “Okay. I’ll give you to your mother first.” He passed the phone to Chloe. It occurred to him that from the moment she’d left Snowbound, he’d been waiting for the sound of her voice. He just hadn’t known it….

  Absorbed by his thoughts, Reid didn’t hear anything Chloe was saying. When he did start paying attention, Jenna’s mother was making plans to collect her things in California and move to Alaska permanently. Apparently Jenna was objecting and the conversation wasn’t going well.