Love Story for a Snow Princess (Siren Publishing Classic) (4 page)

“Oh, that was probably Mr. Ford from Illa Partnership Services.”

Miki cocked her head. “What about the, you know, wedding?”

“Caleb changed his mind, so I sent Mr. Ford back.”

“You didn’t want to go with him?”

She shook her head. “No, I thought I’d take a vacation.”

“Well, it’s the end of tourist season, but there might still be some activities going on. I think you’ll like River Ice,” Miki replied. “I’m sorry to hear about you and Caleb.”

“It’s all right.”

As she sat, she realized almost everyone had been listening to her conversation with Miki. She blushed and busied herself by taking off her hat and shaking out her long curly hair. Her scalp itched, she suspected, because she wasn’t used to wearing wool.

Miki placed a coffee in front of her then returned to helping customers. Gradually, people stopped staring at Thea and resumed their socializing, but Thea knew that she was their number one topic. It didn’t seem like a place where many young red-haired girls came passing through.

As the day passed, Thea found herself highly entertained by the mingling going on around her. The feeling of a community took shape before her. There was a constant stream of talk as people came and went, calling each other by name. It didn’t take long for everyone to introduce themselves to Thea.

“Howdy, miss,” said one old man, who looked to be in his late sixties. “The name’s Toothless Jim.”

When he smiled, it became apparent why he was called Toothless Jim.

“Nice meetin’ ya,” said another man. This one looked a little younger, though it was hard to tell through his beard.

That was one thing she did notice. The majority of the people in the diner were men, and almost all had beards or mustaches or both. Thea had a feeling if she asked any of the single men here to marry her, she’d get a yes right away.

“Get away from her, you old coot,” Miki said, snapping her hand towel at Thea’s latest admirer. “I swear it’s like moose mating season started in here! Sorry about this, Thea. Just sock ’em in the eye if you need to.”

Thea smiled and shrugged. “It’s okay. I was just thinking I could ask one of these handsome men to be my husband.”

“See there, Miki!” Toothless Jim barked, laughing. “Quit nagging us, woman!”

Night fell fast because of the shortened daylight hours. Gradually, the crowd thinned out until it was only Thea, Miki, and Toothless Jim who had fallen asleep next to the stove. Though she knew she should go and get out of Miki’s way, Thea was loath to leave.

And then
déjà vu
happened. The door opened, a gust of cold wind came in, and all of Thea’s nerves came instantly alive. She knew, without turning around, that the man from the night before had just walked in.

“I’ll be right there, Paden,” Miki called out.

Paden. His name is Paden.

“You gonna be back tomorrow to keep me company?” Miki asked her, jolting her back to her senses.

“I’d love to. How much do I owe you for lunch and the pot of coffee, Miki?”

Miki waved the offer away. “It was nice to have a girl in here to talk to.”

“Then thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

Thea hopped off the barstool. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, but I will insist on paying.”

“Very well. If you hold on for a minute, let me take care of Paden and then I’ll walk you to the hotel,” she said as she wiped her hands on a towel and poured a cup of black coffee.

“You don’t have to escort me,” Thea protested. “It’s not that far.”

“Yeah, but it’s dark. Just wait.”

She tapped Thea’s hand before walking to the back corner where the man, Paden, sat. She watched as Miki sat the mug of coffee before him and then nodded as he gave his order. Though his face was turned toward Miki, those grass-green eyes stayed focused on Thea.

“Hello,” she said turning toward him after Miki had walked into the kitchen.

“Hello,” he answered, though his tone wasn’t engaging.

He eyed her up and down, pausing on her hair and her Ugg boots. A mocking sort of smile twisted his lips, and he took a drink of his coffee.

“You don’t like my boots?”

“Let me guess. You saw the word
boot
and thought it seemed appropriate for minus-thirty-degree weather.”

“It’s not that cold out,” she protested, stung by his disdain.

“It will be. Didn’t you read your Alaskan Frommers Guide, Princess?” he taunted.

Thea frowned at his derision, wondering why such a handsome man was so rude. She decided she didn’t like him. He made her extremely uncomfortable. He simply stared at her, making her nervous for some reason, so she jumped off her seat and headed for the door. She grabbed her coat, hurrying out of the diner and into the icy wind. She struggled to put on her coat, scarf, and hat before she froze. Unused to such frigid wind, Thea came to realize how quickly hypothermia could settle in.

“You little fool,” came a harsh voice. Gloved hands came out of nowhere to bundle her up. “You can freeze to death in minutes out here!”

Thea’s teeth were chattering too much for her to say anything. She looked up through her lashes at Paden, very aware that the strange reaction she’d had while looking at him in the diner hadn’t dissipated with the cold.

“Come on,” he growled and took her arm.

Through the blinding, swirling snow, he led her back to the hotel. Though it wasn’t far, it seemed like forever as she took step after step in the glacial wind, glad that she had Paden leading the way even if his presence threw her off-balance.

Truth be told, Thea had no idea how she would have made it back to the hotel if this man hadn’t come out to rescue her, even though the hotel was only a five-minute walk away.

After what seemed like hours, Paden marched her up to the hotel and into the lobby. Warmth engulfed her immediately, and she moved instinctively toward the fireplace where a roaring fire generated lifesaving heat. She stretched out her hands and closed her eyes in bliss. Little by little, her shivering body calmed as dizziness swirled through her mind.

Paden came to stand next to her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling her thanks languidly.

“You little fool,” he said again, contempt dripping from each syllable. Her smile disappeared in an instant. “Don’t you realize how dangerous this weather can be?”

“No,” she said. “I mean, yes. I mean, not until now.”

He snorted. “It only takes moments for hypothermia to set in, and if you get disoriented and wander off the road we wouldn’t find you till it was too late.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s September, winter is settling in fast,” he told her. “I suggest you find someone to walk you back to the hotel every night.”

He went to leave, but for some inexplicable reason, she didn’t want him to go. She must have a masochistic streak she had no idea about. Thea grabbed his arm, halting his retreat. He glanced first at her small hand resting against his large arm before piercing her with his grim stare.

“Yes?”

She cleared her throat, yanking her hand back like he’d scorched her. “My name is Panthea Snow. Thank you.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her as if she were a bug he was inspecting. Thea fidgeted, not used to such scrutiny. He turned abruptly and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

He hadn’t even introduced himself.

* * * *

After a hot bath, Thea took her medicine and settled into bed. Though exhaustion tugged relentlessly at her eyes, her mind couldn’t relax. The events of the past two days replayed through her mind. She could almost laugh at the adventure so far, until she remembered she was going to have to go back.

Yet for once, she was able to open her mind and think about the future, something she hadn’t been able to do in Malibu while surrounded by the memories of her family. Friends had tried to help, and she knew they had meant well, but their sorrow wasn’t something she could deal with. She had been hanging by a thread for a long time.

Perhaps this adventure had been enough of a shock to her system to shake loose the threads of misery and suicidal thoughts.

Drowsily, she turned onto her side and snuggled deeper into her pillow. The big question remained, however. If she returned to California, back to the world full of memories, would she go back to being heartsick?

For some reason, Paden flashed through her mind. It didn’t escape her notice he was the one person she’d met in a long time who hadn’t looked at her with pity.

When she woke the next morning, the world was white. Snow had fallen heavily, coating everything in a pristine blanket that actually hurt to look at. Thea slid on sunglasses to protect her eyes against the blinding brightness.

She didn’t end up leaving the hotel till after one in the afternoon. Though the snow had stopped falling, the settled drifts where too high to walk through. Luckily, this was a common occurrence this far north and so the town of River Ice was more than prepared, using massive plows to move the snow off the main roads and walkways.

When Thea arrived at Suinnak Miki waved at her enthusiastically, summoning her over to the spot she had sat in yesterday.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Miki said, setting down a cup of coffee.

“I don’t know how you made it here before the snow was cleared.”

Miki pointed at the ceiling. “I live upstairs.”

“You must have an excellent work record.”

“It’s a blessing and a curse.”

Thea laughed as Miki moved off to wait on some patrons who had just sat down. For the rest of the day she hardly spoke to Miki, who was constantly running for food or drinks as the people came in and out. It seemed the woman had no time to breathe. Even with the snow higher than her waist, and the wind bitterly cold outside, the restaurant was packed. Finally, toward the end of the day, patrons slowly trickled away. Miki came to sit next to Thea on a barstool, looking haggard.

“My feet are killing me.”

“You don’t have any help, Miki?”

The older woman shook her head. “Sometimes Hank when he’s in town…oh! Thea! I forgot to tell you about Hank.”

“What about Hank? He’s okay, right?”

“He’s fine,” Miki said as she gave a wave with her hand. “But he’s snowed in right now.”

Thea blinked as the words settled into her brain. “Oh. Snowed in. Okay. What does that mean?”

Miki took her hand. Thea suddenly became very nervous at what the other woman was about to say. “That means he’s stuck in Nome. He can’t fly over the mountain pass because there’s a huge storm front sweeping over it.”

There was a buzzing in Thea’s ears. “Bigger than what we got?” Miki nodded. “And how long do these storm fronts usually last?”

Miki’s mouth twisted. “Depends on how much snow is dumped. Usually, it clears up in a few weeks.”

“Weeks!” Thea exclaimed as her stomach bottomed out. “Wow. That’s a bigger vacation than I anticipated.”

Miki gave her hand a squeeze before rising to clean up around the fire stove, giving Thea a much-needed private moment.

Thea took a deep breath and let it out slowly. All right, several weeks wouldn’t be so bad. Perhaps she could build up enough adventures to replace all the memories from before. She would look at this as one grand adventure.

“Miki,” she called out. “Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?”

“Sure, hon,” Miki replied. A second later she set the items in front of Thea on the bar. “What’s going on?”

“I need to make a list, and perhaps you can help me with a few things.” Thea started writing. “I take it River Ice has a pharmacy?”

“Yes. It’s in the medical building one block over. Whatever you need Doc Wilson usually has.”

“Good, that’s my medication taken care of. I suppose I could stay at the hotel?”

Miki’s mouth twisted. “Actually, I think its closing end of next week for the season.”

“Crap. Know a place I can rent for a few weeks?”

“Let me work on that for you.”

Thea consulted her list. “Then money. I…I have a trust fund I can use, but I’ll need a bank, I suppose.”

“The bank is one street over, near the medical building. River Ice isn’t that big. But I also have a solution for money if you’re interested,” Miki said.

“Oh?”

“Work here, with me.”

“Are you serious?”

“I really could use the help, and I think you could use some help, too. Besides, I like you.”

“I have to warn you that I have zero experience working in a restaurant.”

“If this was a restaurant then I’d be worried, but we have four items on the menu and most of the people who come in here want coffee and company. Believe me, it’s the easiest job on the planet.”

“How can I possibly say no to the easiest job on the planet? With one condition.”

Miki cocked her head, waiting.

“No paycheck.”

“I can’t be called a slave driver!” Miki laughed.

“Pay me with lunch and dinner. And coffee.”

Thea held Miki’s gaze and the other woman held out her hand. They shook firmly.

At that moment the door opened, and Thea knew instantly who had come in. The only two times she had been around the man, it felt like she had stepped into a puddle holding a live wire. She rolled her eyes heavenward. Dear Lord, just being in the same room with him made her palms sweaty.

How could one man possibly do that to her?

“Hey, Paden!” Miki called out. “Thea just agreed to work here, isn’t that great?”

“Yeah, great,” he mumbled, not sounding pleased at all.

Thea’s brow crinkled. How did he manage to sound irritated and condescending with just two words?

“We got stew again tonight. Good?”

He nodded, and Miki hopped off the stool to go into the kitchen.

Thea sat there, her shoulders stiff and her back ramrod straight. Well, it seemed Paden was a regular customer so if she was going to work here, she would have to get used to the spark of awareness he seemed to have on her. Feel his eyes boring into her, she took a deep breath and turned to face him.