A Small-Town Rescue

Librarian Annie Murray hoped participating in Love, Alaska’s “Operation Love” would lead to finding a rugged bachelor to call her own. But as her flight crash-lands before reaching her destination, she finds herself alone with her pilot, Declan O’Rourke. Annie’s met charmers like Declan before—now she wants a man of substance. Forced to survive with him in the snowy wilderness, Annie discovers Declan’s depth—and he begins to see the shy librarian’s heart of gold. But once back in town, outside forces threaten their bond. It’ll take all the bravery they had in the wild for Annie and Declan to find love in small-town Alaska.

Strong arms gripped Annie’s shoulders.

“What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Annie felt the hot splash of tears on her cheeks. “I can’t stand by and watch it all go up in smoke. My whole life is in there!” She let out a plaintive howl. She saw his ice-blue eyes widen. A muscle in his jaw began to twitch. He released her shoulders and pivoted around so that he was facing the plane.

Turning back toward her, he yelled, “Get out of this area as fast as you can. Run as far as you can upwind. Now!” She watched as he rushed toward the plane, wrenched open the cargo hold and yanked her suitcases out in one fluid motion. With an amazing display of agility, he ran back toward her at breakneck speed. One look at his expression and Annie began to run in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

A thunderous noise interrupted the silence. A deafening roar rent the air.

BELLE CALHOUNE grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. Married to her college sweetheart, she is raising two lovely daughters in Connecticut. A dog lover, she has one mini poodle and a chocolate Lab. Writing for the Love Inspired line is a dream come true. Working at home in her pajamas is one of the best perks of the job. Belle enjoys summers in Cape Cod, traveling and reading.

A Match Made in Alaska
Belle Calhoune

www.millsandboon.co.uk

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love

casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.

He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

—1 John 4:18

This book is dedicated to my own Annie…

my mother, Dr. Anne Murray Bell.

Not a day goes by that I don’t miss you.

Acknowledgments

A huge thank you to my editor, Emily Rodmell,

for her unwavering support for Love, Alaska.

And for keeping me on course.

I am very thankful for all the readers

who have written to me and asked about

future stories set in Love, Alaska.

A special thanks to Bob Moore

for all his expertise on aviation.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Welcome to O’Rourke Charters. Thank you for choosing to fly with us today. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable for the flight, Miss Murray?” Pilot Declan O’Rourke waved Annie Murray toward her seat on the small plane. As she walked past him, he looked down at her leopard pajama pants and slightly shook his head, unable to hide his grin.

“Thank you,” Annie said in her cheeriest voice, determined to be positive. “I’m happy to be here.” She took a good look at him, hoping he didn’t consider her perusal staring. This Alaskan pilot was a very impressive-looking man. She hadn’t expected him to be quite so rugged and handsome.

He was tall, hovering at six foot three or so, she imagined, with an athletic, lean build. He was wearing a beat-up leather aviator jacket and a pair of jeans. His face was the real standout. Cheekbones for days and a perfectly symmetrical face. He had sea-blue eyes and a head of blond hair. A strong jaw completed the picture.

“Don’t forget your headset,” he reminded her, holding out one for her.

Annie settled into her seat on the seaplane and let out a tremendous sigh as she looked around her. She hadn’t imagined being the sole passenger on the flight, although the plane wasn’t big enough to accommodate more than a few people. Really teeny-tiny, she realized. Why hadn’t she thought about her tendency toward claustrophobia? She wasn’t afraid of flying, but up till this point in time, the planes had always been normal-size ones.

Keep your eye on the prize. Gram’s voice buzzed in her ears. A little discomfort was worth it if she found her one true love.

At the moment she was thankful for small blessings. Her earlier flight from Bangor, Maine, had been almost two hours late landing at the Anchorage International Airport. In order to make her connecting flight to the small fishing village, she had raced from one terminal all the way to the farthest part of the airport. Declan O’Rourke had been impatiently waiting for her arrival at the terminal. As owner of O’Rourke Charters, he was the pilot she had hired, sight unseen, to fly her to Love.

As the plane took off and began to climb gradually in altitude, Annie closed her Leslie Lemon mystery novel and peered out the window at the stunning Alaskan landscape. It was awe inspiring. She grinned at the sight of snow-dusted mountains looming in the distance. It felt like a whole new world, light-years away from her life in New England. She was now on her way to her final destination—Love, Alaska. The plane was soaring somewhere above Anchorage, and in less than an hour they would arrive in Love.

Love, Alaska, was a town filled with hot bachelors looking for love. And thankfully for her, there was a shortage of single women in the fishing village. It was leaps and bounds away from the situation she was leaving behind in Maine. Whimsy was filled with senior citizens. Eligible men were as elusive in her hometown as a Bigfoot sighting. Her chances of being struck by lightning were far greater than being in a serious relationship in her hometown. Words couldn’t express how much she wanted to find that special someone and walk down the aisle. So now she was headed to Love in order to find her own happily-ever-after. The cherry on top was that she had been hired as head librarian for the newly restored Free Library of Love.

And, although she hadn’t confided in a single person about her quest, she was hoping to find the missing pieces of her family puzzle in the Alaskan hamlet. Discovering the identity of her grandfather was high on her agenda. Maybe if she was able to locate her long-lost family members, she would find peace and welcoming arms. Life had been pretty lonely lately.

“How’s everything back there?” The pilot’s voice came through the headset. Loud rumblings from the cockpit would have made it impossible for them to communicate without the gear. Annie was aware that pilots also wore headphones to spare themselves from hearing loss.

“Everything is fine,” she answered. “I’m enjoying the beautiful scenery.”

She swung her gaze toward the cockpit, where the impossibly handsome pilot was handling the controls with an authoritative air. Prior to hiring Mr. O’Rourke, she had looked into his background and discovered that he was a seasoned pilot who had earned rave reviews for his expertise and skill. However, her extensive research hadn’t prepared her for coming face-to-face with the most eye-catching man she had ever laid eyes on.

It sort of made sense. She’d seen photos in a magazine of some of the men from this lovelorn town. They weren’t as handsome as Declan O’Rourke, but they were cut from the same cloth. Good-looking, Alaskan eye candy. It was a major selling point for Operation Love, a program that matched up single women across the United States with the bachelors in Love. And women from all around the United States seemed to be paying attention.

Despite his jaw-dropping looks, he wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy. His first glance in her direction had been comprised of a raised eyebrow and a frown. Humph! Hadn’t he ever seen a person in fuzzy leopard pants before? She’d worn the pajama pants so she could be comfortable during the seven-and-a-half-hour flight from Maine. Due to unexpected turbulence, she hadn’t been able to change out of her comfy pants as she’d planned. So, instead of looking sophisticated and sharp, she looked downright peculiar.

It didn’t matter what other people thought about her. Or at least, it shouldn’t. Part of this grand adventure meant ridding herself of old insecurities and doubts. Traveling to Love as part of Mayor Jasper Prescott’s Operation Love campaign meant that after so many years of having her nose stuck in a book, she was finally taking steps toward living the life she’d always imagined.

As the plane flew across the Alaskan tundra, Annie surveyed the vast landscape stretched out before her. Goose bumps rose on her arms. She had always dreamed of seeing Alaska in person rather than reading about it in travel books and encyclopedias. Fat clouds resembled cotton candy as the sun bounced off them. The ground below was powdered with white snow. It almost resembled spun sugar, like the cupcakes at Mabel’s Cupcake Haven back home. She felt a stab of homesickness. Mabel’s cupcakes had always been Gram’s favorite.

Just thinking about her sweet Gram caused a lump to form in her throat. She was the only person in her life who had ever shown her unconditional love and acceptance. And now that she had passed away, Annie felt as if she needed to do something in memory of Aurelia Alice Murray, the woman who had raised her and taught her everything she knew about life and love and faith. The ache of loss never truly went away. It had lessened with time, but it was still there—a painful reminder that a huge chunk of her heart was now missing.

“We should be arriving in Love right on schedule. Sit back and enjoy the flight, Miss Murray,” Mr. O’Rourke announced, turning around and flashing her a megawatt smile that did funny things to her stomach. A host of butterflies was now fluttering low in her belly. Her pulse was racing.

Men like him were used to charming women like her. He had charisma. One smile was probably all it took, she surmised. He could be as grumpy as a bear and then, as long as he turned on his pearly smile, all would be forgiven. She let out a sigh. Gorgeous men like Declan O’Rourke were ones she intended to steer clear of in her quest for romance. She knew from Gram, her mother and her own experiences with love that good-looking charmers led women on a path straight to heartache.

A short while later, her thoughts were interrupted by another comment from the pilot. “If you look out the left side of the plane, you can see a glacier,” he called out. “It’s pretty famous in these parts. We Alaskans think it’s pretty spectacular.”

Annie sucked in a breath at the sight of the glacier. It was breathtaking even from this distance. “It’s gorgeous!” she said, feeling awestruck by the rivers of ice below.

Anticipation was beginning to build up inside her as the minutes passed. A quick glance at her watch revealed that they were almost halfway through the flight. Love, Alaska, was within reach. For so long now, Gram’s stories had fueled her curiosity about the Alaskan hamlet where her grandmother had been born and raised. As a child, she had often fantasized about how amazing it would have been if they had lived in the small fishing village. All of these years, she’d had to be content with imagining the town of Love. Now she would actually be able to live in it. She couldn’t wait to become a part of the tight-knit community and to walk along the same steps Gram had traveled.

No one is ever a stranger for long in Love. Gram’s voice surrounded her, providing all the comfort of one of her knitted blankets. Her grandmother had always taken such pride in her knitting. Each project had been made with love. Tears pricked her eyes as memories washed over her like a strong tide. The loss was still a sharp wound in her heart. Grief was like an ocean, ebbing and flowing and rising up without warning. She swiped away her tears with the back of her hand, reminding herself that Gram would have been thrilled by Annie’s decision to relocate to her beloved hometown. They had often talked about one day taking a trip to the place of Gram’s birth. The car accident that had ended her grandmother’s life short-circuited those plans. Annie would always regret not having made the trip to Love with the woman who had raised her.

“Is this your first time in Alaska?” The rich timbre of Mr. O’Rourke’s voice trickled through the headset. “If so, you’re in for a treat. There’s no finer state than the last frontier.”

“Yes. I’m a first-timer,” she answered. “But it’s something I’ve dreamed of doing my whole life.”

“Well, I’m happy to be able to help you check something off your bucket list.” His voice was infused with merriment. She wasn’t certain if he was laughing with her or at her.

Through the headset, she could hear him singing a song that had been really popular a few years ago about love gone wrong. His voice wasn’t half-bad, Annie thought. It took a confident man to sing like that at the top of his lungs.

She gazed out the window and allowed herself to daydream for a moment. Nottingham Woods. Deer Run Lake. The shops on Jarvis Street. Kachemak Bay. Pretty soon Annie would be seeing all of these local landmarks for herself. And she would enjoy every moment of exploring her new world. All in loving memory of Gram, the woman who had shown her unconditional love and encouraged her to fly like an eagle. Although she was proud of her profession as a librarian, life in Whimsy hadn’t really allowed her to soar.

“Oh, c’mon, Lucy. Please, pretty baby, don’t give up on me now.” The pilot’s raised voice radiated an urgency she couldn’t ignore. It made her sit up straight in her seat and tilt to the side so she could see what was happening up in the cockpit. Who in the world was Lucy? And what had she done to make him so upset?

The plane began to shudder violently, and a rattling sound rose up underneath her seat. The window began to shake. She leaned forward in her seat. “Mr. O’Rourke. Is everything all right up there?” she asked, swallowing past her fear to broach the question.

For a moment, her question was met with silence. Just as she was about to ask him again, she heard his deep voice responding to her. “No, Miss Murray. Everything is not all right. We are in a very serious predicament.” She watched as he pushed a button and began speaking into the headset. “Air traffic control. This is pilot Declan O’Rourke. November, six, two, four, eight, Sierra. Forty miles Southeast of Anchorage Airport. Mayday. Mayday.”

Mayday? That sounded like a distress call. Her heart thundered in her chest as the reality of the situation began to sink in.

“Can you read me? Air traffic control,” he cried out again before tapping the headset. “Of all the times to lose communication,” he shouted.

Annie bit her lip. She wasn’t a woman prone to panic, and she knew nothing about the mechanical aspects of aviation, but something felt terribly wrong. The plane was now bucking up and down as if it couldn’t be controlled. Declan O’Rourke’s voice had sounded strained and filled with alarm. He was frantically working the controls.

“Are we almost there?” she asked. “What seems to be the problem?” she cried out as the plane suddenly dropped.

“Almost isn’t going to cut it. We’re still a good distance from our destination and too far away from the airport to turn back. I need to land Lucy right now,” he said in a tense, raised voice.

He was letting her know in his cut-and-dried manner that they were in the midst of a serious, potentially life-threatening situation. Clearly Lucy was the name of his plane, one that was suffering some sort of dire malfunction.

Oh no! They weren’t anywhere near an airport or the town of Love. They were in the middle of nowhere. To confirm that fact, Annie peered out the window. All she saw were trees. Lots and lots of Alaskan trees. Sitka spruce trees. Birch trees. Pine trees. All dusted with pretty white snow. She had researched them all. And now the plane was hurtling toward them at lightning-fast speed. Terror gripped her by the throat. Instead of living out her dreams, she was caught up in a nightmare scenario. Impending doom. All she could think of at the moment was that she didn’t want to die in obscurity in the Alaskan wilderness. She had always imagined that she would die peacefully at home at the ripe old age of one hundred.

“Assume the crash position. Prepare for an emergency landing,” O’Rourke called out.

Annie’s heart dropped to her belly as she bent forward over her knees and placed her hands on the back of her head. A crash landing? Is this how her grand adventure was going to end? All she had wanted to do in making this voyage was to chase after her dreams. Instead she was going to plummet to her death in a rinky-dink toy plane. Maybe she should never have left Whimsy in the first place. At least there she might have had an opportunity to die of old age in her bed.

Dear Lord, please don’t let this be the end. Even though things have been a little rough lately, I love being alive. And I have so much more living to do. I want to fall in love. I want to become a mother. I want to make a difference in this world. And I want to change people’s lives with the gift of books. Mercy, Lord. Above all else, mercy.

She shut her eyes tightly as the plane continued to drop out of the sky. Her stomach lurched as she felt the seaplane nose-dive toward the snow-covered ground at an alarming speed. If these were her last moments on earth and God was calling her home, she would handle it with grace and courage. She would accept His will.

The plane hit the ground with a thunderous bang, then veered to the right before skidding for an agonizing amount of time. It finally came to a grinding halt. They had crash-landed! As the plane seemed to crumple all around her, Annie let out a blood-curdling scream that she felt certain could be heard all the way back in Maine.

* * *

Declan O’Rourke had been flying planes since he was fourteen years old. He knew them inside and out. It was pretty much the only legacy his old man had ever handed down to him. His father had also been a pilot until he had thrown it all away and become a felon. His grandfather had given him a vast knowledge of the inner workings of planes and how to be a first-class pilot. He had given Declan something in his life to be proud of achieving. He’d flown in snowstorms, rainstorms and through ice and hail, thunder, lightning and dense fog. On one occasion he had guided his plane without the use of instruments when they had failed him. Not once had he ever been faced with an emergency crash landing. There had been instances when things had gotten dicey, but nothing like this moment in which he had landed the plane with white knuckles gripping the controls.

He held out his hands in front of him. They were shaking uncontrollably.

Once he’d collected himself, he took a moment to utter a prayer of thanks to the big guy upstairs. God had shown him mercy in a terrifying situation. In those moments of stark fear, God had been at his side, guiding him to safety. He quickly got up from his seat and left the cockpit. On his way out, he grabbed the emergency kit he had stashed nearby. He didn’t have a moment to spare. Even though he was still in shock, he needed to assume control of the situation. As the pilot of this aircraft, he was responsible for Miss Murray. He needed to ensure that she made it safely out of the plane. And judging by the way she’d just screamed, she was alive and kicking.

When he reached the back of the plane, he noticed his passenger was sitting in her seat with her eyes pressed closed. Part of the infrastructure of the plane had collapsed around her. He leaned down so that his face was near hers. “Miss Murray. Are you all right?”

“Are we alive?” Annie’s eyelids didn’t even flutter. She was sitting in her seat, ramrod straight, her hands clutching the armrest. She wasn’t moving a muscle. But he did a quick perusal of her and thought she hadn’t sustained any injuries.

Despite the grave circumstances, her question made him want to laugh. “I can assure you that we are very much alive, Miss Murray.”

“Thank You, Lord,” she whispered. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life living up to Your faith in me.”

A protective instinct rose up inside him. He squashed the urge to put his arm around her and tell her everything was going to be all right. For starters, he had never been in a plane crash, and he had no idea whether they were going to make it through this ordeal. The one thing he did know for certain was that they needed to exit the plane quickly. He could smell smoke, although he couldn’t see any flames yet.

“Miss Murray, we need to get off the plane in case there’s an explosion from the fuel.”

Her eyes flew open upon hearing his words. They were a pretty brown with caramel flecks. Without her oversize glasses weighing her down, she was actually pretty cute. She had a button nose and shoulder-length glossy hair. A few freckles were scattered across the bridge of her nose.

Her glasses? They were no longer on her face. Had they flown off in the crash? He looked around for a moment, feeling a stab of dismay when he spotted them on the floor next to her seat, smashed to smithereens. Declan picked them up and brushed them off against his jacket. He poked out the remaining bits of glass, leaving just the frame intact. It was better than nothing, he supposed, although he surmised the glasses were a total loss.

“I hate to tell you, but your glasses are shattered.” Declan reluctantly held out the broken eyeglasses.

She reached for them, her expression shuttered. She shrugged. “It’s okay. They’re fake.”

Fake? Why would she be wearing fake glasses? He felt himself gaping at her. She was an odd woman, he realized. Eccentric. The fuzzy leopard pants had spoken volumes. The granny-style cloak harkened back to another era. The fake glasses were just another piece of the puzzle.

Declan sniffed the air around him.

“I’d love to hear all about it, but we really need to move. Quickly! I smell smoke.” He tugged insistently at her wrist and pulled her to a standing position.

“My purse!” she cried out, reaching down and yanking it up from the floor.

He fought back against a rising tide of impatience. Her purse was a luxury at this critical juncture. It certainly wasn’t worth either of their lives. “Let’s get a move on,” he said as he took Miss Murray by the hand and led her toward the exit. He let go of her hand as he worked to disengage the door lock, praying that it hadn’t gotten jammed during the crash landing. If so, things might get dicey before he could find another way out of the plane. He uttered a sigh of relief as the door opened up and he caught a glimpse of the great outdoors.

Declan raised his hand to protect himself from the harsh glare of the midday sun. The brightness of the snow made him blink rapidly a few times. He jumped out of the plane, then turned around to help his passenger down. He reached for either side of her waist and lifted her down to the ground. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around his neck as if her life depended on it. He sputtered as her grip on him tightened. Declan hadn’t expected her to treat him like her personal life preserver.

“I think you can let go of me now,” he said in a strangled voice. She was gripping him so fiercely, she was cutting off his air supply. Although she was as light as a feather, her choke hold on his neck made it hard for him to breathe.

“I’m so sorry. I think it was all the adrenaline rushing through me,” she said as she released her grip on his neck. He set her down on the snow-covered ground. She looked up at him with big brown eyes that were full of apology.

Declan cast a quick glance around him. They had landed smack dab in the middle of the Chugach National Forest. It was a vast area comprised of almost seven million acres of land. His heart lurched painfully inside his chest. Being in a plane crash was bad enough. But surviving in a no-man’s-land without food or supplies was another story altogether.

He wasn’t a man prone to panic, but if there was ever a moment to give in to that state of being, it was now. They were going to have to do something drastic to help themselves get rescued in this vast, thickly forested area. Although he was putting on a brave front with Annie, he couldn’t help but feel that locating them might be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

* * *

So far, Annie’s grand adventure had been one big bust. As stressful as her delayed flight had been, it was nothing compared to being a passenger in a plane that had dropped out of the sky and crash-landed in the Alaskan wilderness. Everything had happened so quickly, as if in fast motion. She’d barely had any time to react. Shock had settled in the moment the pilot had announced the upcoming crash landing. All she had been able to do was pray. And wish she had never left the coziness of Maine.

In the moments after the plane touched down, the pilot had helped her out of her seat and toward safety, and although his manner had been a tad gruff, he’d mobilized with an urgency she respected. Clearly time had been of the essence.

As Annie exited the plane, a cold blast of November air hit her squarely in the face. Her eyes teared up. She shivered and drew her cloak tighter around her throat. It was much colder here than back in Maine. She stumbled as her booted feet slid on the snow. Before she could fall on her face, she managed to steady herself.

“Easy there,” he warned from behind her. “Watch your step.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just getting my bearings.” She looked around her as a feeling of dread coursed through her. They had crashed in the Alaskan wilderness. They were in the middle of a forested area on the last frontier. Otherwise known as the middle of nowhere. Common sense told her that rescue might not come right away. How in the world were they going to manage to make it through this? It was already freezing outside, and they had neither shelter nor a fire to keep themselves warm.

She felt her arm being tugged again. “Miss Murray. We need to stay a safe distance from the plane because it might explode. The inside is on fire.”

Explode? Her heart began to thunder in her chest as the threat of danger hung in the air. A burning scent singed her nostrils. Mr. O’Rourke didn’t seem the type who would be prone to exaggeration. He was a pilot, after all. Full of knowledge and wisdom and skill. She felt helpless as he pulled her away from the plane.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. “Wait! My bags are still inside. Everything of sentimental value I have in the world is in there!” she cried out.

“Things can be replaced. Our lives cannot,” he said in a stern voice that brooked no argument.

He was wrong! Gram’s diary was inside her suitcase, along with a blanket Gram had knitted for her as a sixteenth birthday present. Her most cherished keepsake—a picture of her mother cradling her in her arms as a newborn—was also in her luggage. If she lost these precious items, it would be like she’d been severed from her upbringing. She had already lost so much. This would be unbearable.

“No!” she screamed as she lunged toward the plane. For most of her life, she had sat on the sidelines without uttering a peep. She would never forgive herself if she didn’t take action in this moment.

Strong arms gripped her shoulders. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

Annie felt the hot splash of tears on her cheeks. “I can’t stand by and watch it all go up in smoke. My whole life is in there!” She let out a plaintive howl. She saw his ice-blue eyes widen. A muscle in his jaw began to twitch. A low growl escaped his lips. He released her shoulders and pivoted around so that he was facing the plane.

Turning back toward her, he yelled out, “Get out of this area as fast as you can. Run as far as you can upwind. Now!” She watched as he rushed toward the plane, wrenched open the cargo hold and yanked her suitcases out in one fluid motion. With an amazing display of agility, he ran back toward her at breakneck speed. One look at his expression and Annie began to run in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

A thunderous noise interrupted the silence, followed by a crackling sound rending the air. Unable to stop herself, she turned around and glanced back at the plane. The sight of the fireball caused her knees to buckle. She sank to the ground, giving way to fear and anxiety and shock. If they had lingered a few minutes longer inside the plane, they might not have made it out alive. And because of her, the pilot had almost been blown to smithereens. For all she knew, he could have been injured.

Dear Lord, protect Mr. O’Rourke from harm. I didn’t mean to put him in danger. I just didn’t want my mementos to be destroyed. Under the circumstances, that might have been selfish. I promise to do better in the future.

She couldn’t look away as titian flames licked at the sides of the plane. An acrid odor filled the air. Within seconds, most of the plane had been consumed by the relentless blaze.

Chapter Two

Declan stopped moving in the direction of safety shortly after he heard the massive boom and Lucy went up in a blaze. He stood at a safe distance and stared at his plane as orange flames turned her into a blackened shell of her former self. Pain scorched through him. Lucy was a complete and utter loss! His client’s words rang in his ears. My whole life is in there. It rang true for him as well. His whole life was O’Rourke Charters, and the planes he owned were essential to the operation of his company. Losing one of his two planes was catastrophic. Although he was thankful that his life and that of his passenger had been spared, there was no escaping the grim reality of his current situation.

He shoved his hand through his hair and muttered angrily. This wasn’t fair! With the town of Love having suffered a recession in recent years, his company had already taken some hard financial hits. Because money had been tight and he had never had a single accident, he had opted to lower his insurance premiums. In light of the accident and his destroyed plane, the ramifications were mind-boggling. With limited insurance and a lowered payout for the accident, he had no idea how he would be able to replace Lucy. And without a replacement for his beloved seaplane, he wouldn’t be able to run O’Rourke Charters and make a decent living. Not with just one plane left. Everything would be in shambles.

The very thought of it was unfathomable! Who was Declan O’Rourke without his company? Nobody. Nothing. The son of a convict. A tiny voice buzzed in his ears. Flying planes was the only thing he’d ever been good at. It was the only vocation he’d ever known.

“Mr. O’Rourke. Are you all right?” The feminine voice splashed over him like a bucket of ice-cold water. It was jarring to be intruded upon at a moment like this. He felt her tugging on his sleeve with an insistence that grated on his nerves.

“Just dandy,” he said through gritted teeth. He had almost forgotten about his client. His focus had been wholly consumed by Lucy’s destruction. Miss Murray had come up beside him without him even realizing it.

“I called your name three times. You didn’t seem to hear me.”

He swung his gaze toward her as a numb feeling swept over him. “I didn’t,” he said in a curt tone. He jutted his chin in the direction of the charred, still-smoking seaplane. “I was a little preoccupied with my life going up in flames.”

A little squeak slipped past her lips, and she raised her hand to her throat. “Oh no! Your plane is gone. I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how awful you feel about it.” He looked away from her, startled by the raw emotion emanating from her warm brown eyes. She barely knew him, but here she stood, full of concern and sympathy.

Something about her reaction served as a domino effect. The sting of tears blurred his eyes, and he sniffed them away. He never cried. Tears were a sign of weakness. He had learned that lesson as a child at his grandfather’s knee. Stiff upper lip. Never let them see you cry. Declan O’Rourke wasn’t a weak man. Not by a long shot!

As he always did, he would use humor to diffuse the tension. He was a master at stuffing things down that he didn’t want the world to see. He’d been doing it ever since he was a kid. It had always served him well.

“This too shall pass,” he murmured, knowing he had been through worse losses in his thirty years. “Honestly, I’m more concerned about my aviator sunglasses. I spent a lot of money on those,” he cracked. “Wish I had grabbed them before we exited the plane.”

Silence greeted him. Miss Murray’s expression was dubious. She raised an eyebrow and twisted her mouth. If he had to guess, he’d say she didn’t buy his act.

“If you say so,” she said. She held up her cell phone. “There’s no cell service. Is there a way to radio for help?”

“We’re going to have to wait for rescue. The only radio went up in flames with the plane. I have my cell phone, also, but it’s pretty useless without a signal.” He shook his head as all the possible avenues for communication with the outside world seemed to evaporate. “I can’t imagine they would be able to ping our location in this forest. This area is too remote. When we don’t make it back to Love by nightfall, a red flag will be raised. A search and rescue will be put into motion.” His chest tightened at the thought of his best friend, Boone Prescott, and his entire family worrying about his demise. Even his brother, Finn, would be put through the ringer by the news, he imagined. Finn, who never took anything seriously, would be forced to face the grim news head-on. “At least for a little bit, there wouldn’t be an escape route from the pain and fear and loss, Miss Murray.”

“Annie. My name is Annie,” she corrected him. “And considering the circumstances we find ourselves in, I think we can use first names when addressing each other.”

Declan nodded. “Annie it is. Feel free to call me Declan.”

“So, Declan, do you have any idea how long we’ll have to wait for rescue?”

He scratched his jaw. “I imagine until morning. By the time the alarm is rung by the FAA and my friends in town, it will be nightfall. They don’t routinely send out planes at night to look for crash sites.”

“And you registered your flight plan?” she asked, her expression somber.

Her question made him want to grin. Annie Murray knew a little something about planes, he surmised. “Yes, I did, which means they’ll be scouring the route we took. Are you an aviation buff?”

“Not exactly. I’m a town librarian. Reading is my superpower,” she said with a smile.

Annie’s smile packed quite a punch. It reached all the way into his chest cavity and tugged with a mighty force. He shook off the feelings her smile elicited. Annie wasn’t his type. The sort of women who appealed to him were classic beauties—tall, elegant, refined. Annie had small town written all over her. Not that there was anything wrong with small towns, but as the product of one, he knew he needed something different in a romantic relationship. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t been tempted by any of the women who had arrived in Love to participate in the town’s matchmaking enterprise. Although a few of them had made their interest in him known all over town, he hadn’t reciprocated their feelings. It was just as well, he realized. The women who had moved to Love were interested in settling down and finding husbands. Declan wasn’t the marrying kind, and it would have been cruel to make any woman believe otherwise.

“Well, flying planes is my superpower,” he said. He twisted his mouth. Doubt crept in. “Or at least, it was until today.”

He scratched his jaw as his mind wandered to the events leading up to the plane’s malfunctioning. What had happened? He wasn’t entirely sure, which shook him. Everything had happened so quickly. All his attention had been focused on landing the plane safely and ensuring that he and Annie walked away from the plane in one piece. He didn’t like all the unanswered questions that were bouncing around in his mind. Had the crash somehow been his fault?

“That’s a wonderful superpower to have,” Annie said. “I’m very grateful that you were my pilot today. What you did...safely landing the plane...it’s rather incredible.”

Incredible? He wasn’t sure he agreed with Annie, although he appreciated the sentiment. As an experienced pilot, it was his job to avert disaster and to skillfully maneuver all aspects of aviation.

In his opinion, a crash landing should never have been necessary in the first place. It bothered him deeply that something had gone so catastrophically wrong on his watch.

“Thanks for saying so. I wish that I could have kept us up there in the wild blue yonder. If all had gone well, we’d be getting ready to make our final descent into Love right about now.” He shook his head ruefully. As soon as they made it back to Love, he would begin putting the pieces together in an effort to find out what had gone so terribly wrong with Lucy. He wouldn’t rest until he had those answers!

Annie began to shiver right before his eyes. She folded her arms across her chest and rubbed her arms over her cloak in an effort to get warm. He wished he had a blanket to throw over her shoulders. He’d been so preoccupied with their location and the events leading up to the crash that he had allowed his mind to wander from the pressing matters at hand.

“We need to find shelter and hunker down for the night before it gets dark.” And he needed to build a fire before they froze to death out here. The fire from the plane had petered out, no doubt due to the snow and ice on the ground as well as the low fuel supply. There had been only enough fuel in Lucy to get them back to Love, which might have been a blessing. If conditions had been different, the blaze from the plane could have spread to the forest and led to a wildfire.

Hmm. He hadn’t built a fire since he was a kid on a school wilderness field trip. And even then, Boone had actually been the one to get it going. He let out a sigh. Boone had been stepping in to rescue him ever since.

“If you’re cold, you should pull something from your luggage and add another layer,” he suggested. “It may take a bit to get a fire going.”

Annie nodded and dug around in her bag until she produced a knitted blanket. She wrapped it around her shoulders and let out a contented sigh.

“Where exactly are we?” she asked, looking around her surroundings with big eyes.

“Midway between Anchorage and Love. We’re in the Chugach National Forest. I spotted it as we flew overhead. Although this area is sparsely populated and heavily forested, I seem to recall a campground in these parts.”

He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his trusty compass. It was his habit to carry it around with him. It was the only earthly keepsake his grandfather had been attached to during his lifetime. When he had passed away, Killian O’Rourke had made sure to hand it off to his favorite grandson. Declan had kept it in his shirt pocket close to his heart ever since.

And under different circumstances, he might have been able to use the compass to lead them toward rescue. But there was no way they could navigate their way out of the forest. And the likelihood of stumbling across the campground was remote. Surviving in the wilderness meant making smart choices. He owed it to both of them to make wise moves from this point forward.

Now that the shock of the plane crash was beginning to wear off, he had a better viewpoint on their situation. It was a blessing they had been traveling over land at the time of the plane trouble rather than Kachemak Bay, where he would have been forced to crash-land on the water. They would have been in the middle of nowhere out on the water with no means of rescue or saving themselves. Hypothermia would have set in shortly. In all likelihood, they would have perished.

Declan began scouting out their immediate area. Knowing it wasn’t wise to stray too far from the crash site, he began surveying for the driest area that was protected from the elements. By tonight it would be much colder, with a fierce wind to accompany the temperature drop. There was a copse of pine trees about one hundred feet from the wreckage. Declan walked over to check it out. When he reached the pine trees, he bent down and noticed that there was a relatively dry area between the trees where Annie might be able to make a pallet for sleep. He would stay up tonight to watch out for any signs of rescue or predators. Although it was unlikely that planes would be searching at night, he didn’t want to miss any window for rescue.

There was no need to scare Annie by telling her about bears or wolves that roamed the Alaskan wilderness. The last thing he needed was for her to panic. As it was, he was slightly amazed she’d been holding it together. He hadn’t pegged her for the calm, cool and collected type.

He walked back over to Annie. She was sitting on a rock and rummaging through her bags with a determined expression plastered on her face. She let out a cry of glee as she pulled out a pair of thick red mittens. “Score! I found them. These will be a game changer. My fingers are frozen.”

He nodded approvingly. “Those will definitely help, especially as the temperature drops in a few hours.”

She looked up at him with her brows knitted together. “Where are yours?”

Declan shrugged. “I didn’t bring any. This was supposed to be only a short flight from Love to Anchorage and then back home.” He grinned at her. “I’m not in the habit of bringing mittens on my flights.”

She ducked her head and dug back into her bag. A look of triumph flitted across her face as she held up a pair of black mittens with a pink heart on each. “Ta-da! I found another pair. You’re welcome to borrow them.”

Declan frowned. He wasn’t exactly the type of guy who sported mittens with hearts on them. They were super girly. But his hands were getting cold. Annie was holding out the mittens to him with an expectant look on her face. Suddenly he didn’t want her to feel bad about his refusing her sweet little mittens. There was something about Annie Murray—eccentricities and all—that reeked of pure goodness.

He reached out and took the mittens from her. “Thanks,” he said as he slid them on, letting out a contented sigh as his hands began to warm up from the cold. “You might have just saved my fingers from frostbite.”

“Just returning the favor,” she said with a huge grin. “After all, you saved both of us with your skilled crash landing. Something tells me not every pilot could have pulled that off.” She held out her hands toward the forest. “With all these trees, you had to be dead-on with that landing.”

“It’s a first for me, Annie. I’ve never had to make an emergency landing like this, but I’m thankful for years of flying experience. I learned to fly a plane when most kids are dreaming of getting their first kiss.” Declan felt a rush of joy rising up inside him at the memory of his first flying lesson with his grandfather. If he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the thrill of soaring up above the clouds into the clear blue skies of Alaska. He had felt invincible up in the air, as if none of the heartache and pain of his early years could touch him. And the praise his grandfather had heaped on him had truly made him feel a sense of accomplishment, one he’d never experienced before in his life. For the first time, he’d felt as if he was good at something.

And he was a good pilot. A great one, according to most of his clients. How he wished his grandfather could have seen it all come to fruition. He’d passed away before Declan had gotten his pilot’s license. Now O’Rourke Charters had gotten off the ground. The old man would have been so proud and tickled that Declan had made a business out of flying planes, the thing his grandfather had always loved most of all. It hadn’t been fair to lose his grandfather to the ravages of diabetes before he’d had the opportunity to give the old man a glimpse of his aviation enterprise. But the one thing life had taught him was that fair hardly ever entered into the equation.

He shook his head in an effort to drag himself out of the past. Those memories could do nothing but hurt him. At the moment, he needed to focus on survival and making it through this ordeal. Night was quickly approaching, and being able to get a fire going would be a huge advantage for them.

He pointed at the area he had just checked out. “That spot over there is probably the best shelter we’re going to find. It’ll give us a little protection from the elements, and if we can get a fire going, we’ll be able to stay warm through the night.”

Annie rubbed her hands together. “A fire sounds good. It will save us from hypothermia. I’m sure you’re aware of it, but hypothermia sets in when your body core temperature is below ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. Signs of hypothermia can be drowsiness, confusion, shivering and a slowed-down heart rate.”

He nodded his head. As a native Alaskan, he had known about hypothermia before he’d learned to tie his shoes. “Good to know, Annie. I for one do not intend to find that out firsthand,” Declan said. “I’m going to make haste and look for some tinder to get the fire going.”

Declan began to root around in the brush. He picked up pine needles, shredded bark and a few twigs. When he returned to the makeshift shelter with an armful of tinder, he deposited it in a heap on the ground. He noticed that Annie had moved her belongings over to the site. She had made a little pile of things in front of her seat on a log. With a cheeky grin on her face, Annie held up a granola bar.

“Voilà! It’s not a five-course meal, but it should tide us over until tomorrow.” She pointed at the pile of snacks set out in front of her.

Declan’s stomach grumbled with appreciation at the sight of chocolate, trail mix, beef jerky, peanut butter and crackers. And a bottle of water. For someone who hadn’t eaten since this morning, it was a veritable feast. God was good!

“It’s a divine meal as far as I’m concerned,” Declan said as he accepted the granola bar she held out to him. “It was brilliant of you to bring all these snacks on the flight.”

A smile lit up her face. “Not brilliant. Just practical. I sometimes get low blood sugar, so I always make sure I have a bunch of snacks on hand to give me a boost in case I need it. And some of these I stuffed in my luggage. I wasn’t sure if peanut butter was big in Alaska. Call me a snack hoarder,” she said with a laugh.

“Snack hoard all you want. It’s a lifesaver,” Declan said, taking a huge bite of a granola bar. He closed his eyes as the morsel slid down his throat. A granola bar had never tasted so good in his life! As hungry as he was, it almost tasted like steak and potatoes.

Annie Murray was shaping up to be quite a woman. She was smart and resourceful and plucky. Right about now he’d expected her to be a sobbing, frightened mess. He really needed to stop making rash and unfair judgments about people. Just because she was wearing fuzzy leopard pants didn’t mean she was an airhead. On the contrary, Love’s newest transplant was shaping up to be a keeper. Her stash of rations was going to save them from hunger pangs. Thanks to Annie, one of their major problems was solved. Now it was up to him to tackle another issue. Fire.

“As soon as I get this fire going, we’ll really be in good shape,” he said. This was his moment to demonstrate his skills and to show Annie that he could take charge of the situation and protect her. He took a few dry sticks and began to rub them together frantically. Over and over again he rubbed the sticks in an effort to make a fire out of friction. As soon as he saw a hint of smoke, he would toss the sticks onto the pile of tinder and pray that a roaring fire would start burning.

“How’s it going?” Annie asked over his shoulder. She was so close he could feel her breath on his neck. Talk about pressure!

“Any minute now, this tinder is going to go up,” he said. “And we are going to have the world’s most roaring fire to keep us warm.”

Precious seconds ticked by. Frustration began to set in as his efforts to get a fire going failed over and over again. It didn’t make any sense at all. Why wasn’t this fire sparking? The sticks were dry. He was exerting a lot of energy making sure that there was plenty of friction between the two sticks as he rubbed them together. Yet nothing was happening.

“May I try something?” Annie asked. Declan looked up at her. She was standing beside him and digging around in her purse. What was it with ladies and their purses? The bags almost seemed like an appendage. Annie’s purse was like a clown car. She appeared to be able to fit endless items inside.

Bless her for wanting to help with the fire. “This is pretty complicated,” he said with a shake of his head. “Have you ever tried to light a fire before?”

He frowned as he watched Annie remove the battery from her cell phone. She then pulled a pocket knife from her bag. “Oh, I’ve never done it before. But I’ve read up on the subject. One of the best perks of being a librarian is all the books at our disposal. I find it amazing that knowledge is always at our fingertips.”

Declan wanted to groan with frustration. Life wasn’t learned through books. Knowledge was accumulated by living. At least, that’s the way he’d always handled things. Tackling situations head-on was life affirming and empowering. Burying your head in a book was a surefire way of missing out on life. He didn’t want to insult Annie, but he needed to set her straight.

“That’s impressive, but starting a fire isn’t really something a person can learn from how-to books. Experience is the best way to gain wilderness skills.” There was something incongruous about seeing Annie with a pocket knife. “You really did come prepared. Although you really should be careful with that knife. You can hurt yourself if you’re not careful.”

“In preparation for this voyage, I read a very interesting book about Alaska. It’s called How to Survive and Thrive in the Alaskan Wilderness. Fascinating stuff,” she explained with an enthusiastic nod of her head. “And the first chapter detailed how to start a fire with your cell phone battery.”

Declan resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. Thousands of books had been written about the Alaskan wilderness by so-called experts in the field. Not one of them, he would guess, had ever lived in Alaska or knew the first thing about surviving a plane crash. Not a single one would know how to land a malfunctioning seaplane safely. Yet they peddled books about survival to the public.

Annie crouched down next to him and placed the battery on the rock’s surface. She scraped the knife against the top of the battery. Then she poked the battery with the knife.

She looked up and met his gaze. “When the lithium is exposed to oxygen, it ignites.”

Huh? Book or not, it was pretty impressive. He wasn’t sure the everyday, run-of-the-mill librarian knew how to start a fire with a cell phone battery. Annie was a librarian extraordinaire. He swung his gaze toward the battery, which was now smoking. Annie quickly tossed the battery into the tinder pile. Within seconds, smoke began to plume from the tinder. Declan’s jaw dropped as he watched a fire burst to life right before their eyes.

“Well, shut my mouth,” Declan drawled. “You did it!”

“I did, didn’t I?” Annie asked. She was smiling so hard, he thought her cheeks might break. “I feel so invigorated.”

He looked down at his twigs and threw them into the fire. “So much for the old-fashioned way,” he grumbled. It burned a little to know that Annie had been able to do what he had failed at. Ever since he was a kid, he had hated to have egg on his face. It didn’t feel any better as an adult.

Declan felt completely off-kilter. He considered himself an outdoorsman. He fished, mountain climbed and could live off the land if the need arose. Annie was a sheltered librarian from Maine. Up until today, she’d never stepped foot in Alaska. Yet here she was building fires and serving the role of provider with her stash of snacks. Their roles had been flipped. He was the native Alaskan. It was his job as owner of O’Rourke Charters to care for his client, not the other way around.

“Don’t feel bad about not being able to start the fire,” Annie said in a chirpy voice. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the battery. And you gathered up all the tinder and made it possible.”

Annie was being kind. Her sweet nature radiated off her in waves. He shrugged off his wounded pride and allowed gratitude to wash over him. He was fortunate to have a smart, resourceful woman by his side during this crisis. Survival wasn’t a contest. It was a collaborative effort. So far, they had made it through a crash landing, gathered food and water for sustenance and built a fire for warmth. Making sure a rescue plane could spot them from the air was the next important step in their survival plan. It could make the difference between life and death.

He needed to kick things into high gear. His mind had suddenly shifted toward rescue. He needed to do everything possible to make sure that they were rescued tomorrow. At almost eleven thousand square miles, the Chugach National Forest was too large for them to attempt to find rescue on foot. Their food supply wouldn’t last much longer, and he was worried about the elements and being able to sustain a fire. If the search and rescue missed the plane wreckage from above, he and Annie Murray would be fighting for their very lives.

Chapter Three

As nightfall came, Annie found herself questioning whether rescue would actually come tomorrow. Her euphoria about starting the fire had waned pretty quickly as the temperature dropped and the sky darkened. What would happen to them if rescue never came? How long could they hold on with a dwindling food supply and no promise of water? At least they could melt snow and drink it, Annie realized. They wouldn’t get dehydrated. But there weren’t even berries or nuts or anything remotely edible in their midst. And although she wasn’t opposed to losing a few pounds, she certainly didn’t want to do it via the Alaskan wilderness diet.

She was pretty sure there were wild animals lurking in these woods. Earlier she had heard a high-pitched cry emanating from somewhere in the forest. It had nearly scared the life out of her. Declan had acted nonchalant, as if he hadn’t heard a thing. But she knew what she’d heard. Most likely it had been a wolf. Bears tended to hibernate during winter, but there were always sightings during November, especially if the winter weather was mild. So there could be bears waiting to pounce on them. Or wild moose.

She didn’t voice her concerns to Declan. His mood had changed in the past hour or so. He seemed more contemplative and less talkative. Perhaps he, too, was worrying about rescue. Maybe he was just the strong, silent type. He certainly looked the part with his muscles and powerful physique. A few times she had caught him staring at her with a perplexed expression on his face. It wouldn’t be the first time, she thought with a sigh. Men always seemed to think she was quirky.

You’re not unusual, pumpkin. You’re extraordinary. Again, Gram’s voice came to her like a warm breeze over the ocean. As always, pearls of wisdom from Gram fortified her as nothing else ever could.

Eating beef jerky and trail mix, Annie and Declan shared a meal before the fire. Although they had already polished off the sixteen-ounce bottle of water, Annie had filled it back up with snow so that they would have a fresh supply of water when it melted.

The food tasted delicious, although Annie carefully eyed their portions. If rescue didn’t come tomorrow, they needed to have a little something to fall back on for a meal. Perhaps it was time to start rationing the food. Declan was a big guy who was probably used to eating big meals.

“So, what brings you to Love?” Declan jutted his chin in her direction. “These days that might seem like an obvious question, considering all the matchmaking going on.”

“Operation Love is what inspired me to come to Alaska. It’s been all over the news. I’ve been very impressed by the coverage.” She felt a little self-conscious admitting it, but she wanted to find the love of her life. “I’m no different than most people. I want to find my other half. My soul mate. My husband.”

A hint of a smile played around his lips. “Well, so far the program has been a rousing success. My best friend happens to be the town sheriff, as well as the mayor’s grandson, and he met the love of his life through Jasper’s program.”

“Jasper? Mayor Jasper Prescott?” Annie’s heart started thumping like crazy. For a good portion of her life, that name had been a constant. Jasper had always featured prominently in Gram’s poignant stories about Love. After Gram’s death, her journal had revealed tender musings about the handsome charmer who had seemingly captured her grandmother’s heart. Her words about Mayor Prescott had made it crystal clear that she had been head over heels in love with him. Perhaps even until her dying day.

And finally, after all these years, Annie was within reach of unraveling the mystery of her ancestry. She was within reach of uncovering her roots. She hoped that would mean family connections. A grandfather. Cousins. Aunts. It was too soon to share her suspicions with Declan, but in her mind, there was a very real possibility that Jasper Prescott was her grandfather. The same Jasper Prescott who had spearheaded the Operation Love campaign and, via the media, urged single women to relocate to his hometown in order to help sort out the woman shortage.

“You’ll love Jasper,” Declan said. “He’s the heart and soul of Love. Town mayor. Wise sage. Loving grandpa. Feisty agitator.” He let out a deep-throated chuckle. “He’s the man.”

Annie knew gushing when she heard it. The respect and admiration Declan felt for Jasper Prescott hummed and vibrated in the air around them. Although Declan didn’t radiate a sweet vibe, he suddenly seemed softer and gentler. Clearly the town mayor brought it out in him.

She was going to reserve judgment about Jasper until she knew whether or not he was kin to her. There was a part of her that resented the man who had used his good looks and charm to worm his way into Gram’s heart, only to leave her pregnant and alone. The ripples of that situation had affected her own life, since her mother had also been an unwed mother. Annie was determined not to follow the same path. She would break the cycle of women in her family who had loved unwisely and been left to rear children alone.

“It sounds as if you know the mayor well.” She touched her forehead with her palm. “Oh, yes, you said that his grandson is a good friend of yours.”

“Boone is my best friend. Bar none,” Declan asserted with a nod of his head. His blue eyes radiated deep affection. “He’s my partner in crime. The one who knows where all the bodies are buried. One of the few people in this world I trust implicitly.”

She sensed something under the surface of Declan’s words. It was more what he wasn’t saying. Who hadn’t he been able to trust in his life? Had someone betrayed him? And if so, was that the reason he had a huge chip on his shoulder?

“Will your wife worry about you not making it home?” Although her question wasn’t very subtle, she was curious about Declan’s life. All she knew about him was that he was an Alaskan pilot. Although she hadn’t spotted a ring on his finger, for all she knew, he was married with kids.

“Nope. She won’t worry one bit, considering I don’t have one,” Declan teased, his blue eyes alive with merriment. “I’m single. Footloose and fancy-free. And I aim to keep it that way.”

Annie chuckled. She liked the lighter side of Declan, the one who teased and laughed and showed tenderness. She found it rather shocking that someone as eye-catching and successful as Declan was unattached, although from the sound of it, he embraced being a bachelor. If Declan was an example of the eye candy in Love, it was no wonder that women were flocking to the small fishing village to find their soul mates.

“But having grown up in Love, I know plenty of people who will worry when I don’t show up.” He looked over at her, and their gazes held and locked. His expression was intense. “Don’t you worry, Annie. They’ll come looking for us.”

“I wonder if anybody is waiting for me,” she said in a forlorn tone. “I’m the new librarian in Love, so maybe they’ll be concerned when I don’t arrive on time.”

Declan’s eyes bulged. He let out a whistle. “So you’re that librarian.”

Annie immediately bristled. She knew bias against librarians when she came up against it. Just when she’d been warming up to Declan, he had to go and say something to put her on edge. “What do you mean by that librarian?”

Declan quirked his mouth. “No offense, but resources are tight in town. Taking money out of the town coffers to create a library was a hotly contested topic in Love. We debated it for quite some time.”

Annie sat up straight. “I’m working through a partial grant, so all the money isn’t coming from the town.” She sniffed back tears. She had been so excited about this new adventure. The very thought of being at the center of controversy made her feel terrible. All this time, she had imagined being treated with kindness and support the moment she stepped off the plane. Had she been completely misguided? Maybe she would be as unwelcome as a storm sweeping into town.

“Hey, now,” Declan said, his voice noticeably softer. He edged closer her and peered into her face. “Are you...crying?”

“No, I’m not,” she said as tears splashed onto her cheeks. “It’s just smoke from the fire getting in my eyes.” She was mortified. Up to this point, she had managed to hang tough and hold her head up high. All of sudden she had broken like a dam.

He reached out and brushed her tears away with his thumb. “Forgive me. I spoke without thinking, Annie. It’s been a really long, scary day for you. All you expected when this day began was to arrive safely in Love, Alaska, with a wonderful adventure stretched out before you. And what did you get instead? A terrifying crash landing in the middle of the wilderness. And a pilot who has a bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth.”

Annie stared into Declan’s eyes, lulled by the rich timbre of his voice and his ice-blue eyes. He really was a spectacular-looking man. And he was kind. He just hid it behind a mask of brusqueness. He’d been hurt, she deduced. Someone or something had bruised this man, and as a result, he hid his light under a bushel. But without him even knowing it, the richness of his soul shone through at certain moments.

“I’m sorry for being so thoughtless with my words. I really like you, Annie Murray. You have more spirit and pluck than most women would have in a crisis like this. And you’ve done brilliantly in an unpredictable and terrifying situation. Truth be told, I’m pretty fortunate that you were my passenger. Without you here, I’d be hungry and cold and downright miserable. If I had to rate you as a survival companion, I’d give you an A plus.”

Annie smiled at Declan through her tears. He was being so very kind to her. The truth was, he had bruised her feelings with his careless comment about what the town thought of her. She took her profession very seriously, and if she was being completely honest, she was a tad homesick. Whimsy, Maine, was all she had ever known. And she had traveled all this way to head up Love’s new library, only to be involved in a plane crash. The last thing she needed to worry about was her bread-and-butter job in Alaska.

But to be fair, it wasn’t completely Declan’s fault. Her nerves had already been on edge. This day had been endless. And she was scared to death. It was almost time to go to sleep, and she didn’t know what the morning would bring. Rescue? Or vast disappointment?

“I don’t know if I deserve all your praise, but I appreciate you lifting me up.”

Declan flashed her a perfect smile. “Anytime, Annie. We’re buddies now, right? After this singular experience, we’re bonded for life.”

Bonded for life. What a dramatic turn of phrase. Even though she knew better than to fall for a handsome charmer like Declan, the idea of being bonded for life with him was not an unwelcome thought.

* * *

When it was time to bunk down for the night, Declan borrowed several articles of clothing from Annie so that he could make a pallet for himself. He intended to keep watch tonight rather than lie down and sleep. He figured if he propped the pallet against a tree, he could sit up and keep watch without being too uncomfortable. And he felt the need to keep watch over Annie. Even though she acted tough, Annie Murray needed protection. Until he delivered her safely to Love, she would be under his watchful, protective eye.

He and Annie enjoyed a companionable silence as they made their pallets. Declan couldn’t fathom how she had managed to stuff so many items in her bags.

“I feel bad getting all your clothes dirty,” Declan said.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Annie said with a wave of her hand. “I sent two trunks of clothing ahead of me through a shipping service. After all, a girl can never have too many clothes,” she quipped.

Declan gaped at her. More clothes? It was fairly mind-boggling how one woman could own so many outfits. They sat there for a few moments in stillness.

“After what we’ve been through together, I feel compelled to tell you something I haven’t shared with a lot of people.” Annie’s announcement interrupted the quiet that had stretched out between them.

Declan eyed her nervously. Annie was as sweet as blueberry pie, but he didn’t really want to head into the territory of TMI. It might create an uncomfortable vibe between them if she overshared. After all, they didn’t really know each other well enough to exchange personal information. He had no intention of spilling any secrets of his own.

“It’s about my fake glasses.” She let out a sigh. “You’re probably wondering why I would do such a thing, right? I never explained myself.” Declan nodded as a sense of relief flooded him. A confession about glasses he could handle.

“When I first became a librarian, I was twenty-three years old. I was given the job because the head librarian in my hometown of Whimsy, Rose Minnows, passed away. She was ninety-five, bless her heart.”

Declan sputtered. “Your town librarian was ninety-five?”

Annie nodded her head enthusiastically, causing locks of her dark brown hair to cascade over her forehead. “She was two weeks shy of her ninety-sixth birthday when the Lord called her home to glory.”

Declan let out a low whistle. “That’s dedication to a vocation. Ninety-six!”

Annie nodded solemnly. “Rose was the consummate professional. So when I replaced her, everyone in town questioned whether I was fit for the job due to my age. Of course it was hurtful, considering I had grown up in Whimsy, and the same people who had rocked me on their knees were now questioning my abilities. I decided that I would do everything in my power to convince the townsfolk I was the perfect choice for head librarian. Step one was to switch up my wardrobe. I dressed the part of a town librarian—”

“You mean that you dressed in a dowdy manner?” Declan interrupted.

“Dowdy?” Annie asked with a frown. “Of course not. Rose was the most beautifully dressed woman in town. She put the F in fashion, if you know what I mean.”

“Not sure I do,” he muttered. “Jeans and my aviator jacket are my fashion statement.”

“Her clothes were classic. Timeless.” Annie let out a sigh. “Step two was to wear glasses. I know it may sound strange, but people are judged all the time by appearances. In our society, glasses signify intelligence. Wisdom. The moment I slipped the glasses on, people began to treat me differently. It was night and day. Suddenly I was fit for duty simply because of my appearance.” She brushed some pine needles off her leopard pants. “So that’s the story behind my glasses. I figured they might help me out here in Love as well. But I guess I’m on my own in that department.” A little sigh slipped past her lips.

“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

Annie 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.

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