His Secret Alaskan Heiress. Belle Calhoune
steps, pulled out her keys and unlocked the door to her cabin.
He knew that he was in trouble the moment he began praying she would turn around so he could get another glimpse of her. When she did—flashing a smile and another wave of her hand—he felt a little hitch in the region of his heart.
Pressing his foot way too hard on the gas, Noah roared away from Sophie, the promise of hot cocoa and the Black Bear Cabins. During the entire ride back to town Noah berated himself. He had been here less than twenty-four hours and somehow Miss Sophie Miller had managed to make him forget for a short period of time that she was his assignment.
He vowed to do better. Tomorrow was another day to get things right. And not for a single second did he plan to take his eyes off the prize. This assignment was crucial to the future of Catalano Security. He couldn’t mess up this golden opportunity.
Noah gripped the steering wheel tightly. Sophie couldn’t be his friend. He shouldn’t even allow himself to acknowledge she was attractive. He couldn’t accept invitations for hot chocolate. He wouldn’t let himself cross certain lines with her. He’d done that once before, and in the process, turned his entire life upside down. Fool me once, he reminded himself. He’d learned a few hard lessons over the past few years. He wasn’t going to get dazzled by a client. Not again.
Sophie Miller wasn’t going to make a fool out of him.
The next morning Noah made it to the Moose Café by six thirty. He actually beat Cameron there and greeted him as he arrived to open up the place.
“Now that’s what I like to see,” Cameron said with a wide grin. “Another early bird like myself. We probably won’t see Hazel or Sophie until at least seven.”
Noah almost sputtered at the “early bird” comment. It had taken every ounce of discipline he had to get his weary body out of bed this morning. And it hadn’t been easy. From the moment Noah rose at the crack of dawn, he had felt like a grizzly bear with a sore paw. Years of working late-night stakeouts as a PI and sleeping in the next morning had taken their toll on him. He was definitely not an early bird.
After tossing and turning for hours last night, he had finally realized that Sophie must be a chameleon. She had the ability to change her personality at the drop of a dime depending on the circumstances. Humph! He had come up against women like her before. Charming and manipulative. And he wasn’t about to fall for her sweetness-and-light routine. If she was that genuine she wouldn’t have dumped her fiancé and headed to Alaska to find a new man, without batting an eyelash.
And Noah had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to her being here in Love than met the eye.
Last night he had called Sussex shortly after dinnertime. The conversation had been awkward and sad, as well as eye-opening. Noah had given Sussex a rundown of his interactions with Sophie, starting off with her admission about being part of the Operation Love program. He knew that hearing this kind of news would feel like a kick in the gut, especially since Sussex appeared to be head over heels in love with Sophie.
Sussex had let out a shocked gasp upon hearing the news. “She’s part of a matchmaking program? No! That can’t be right.”
“Yes, it’s true. I heard it straight from her own lips,” he’d acknowledged. “Sorry to have to tell you that kind of information, but I have to stick to the facts.”
A tortured silence ensued, during which Noah was certain he heard slight sniffling sounds on the other end of the line. The poor guy was a puddle of mush. Meanwhile, Sophie seemed upbeat and content with her life in Love. Their situations were night and day.
He might as well throw the guy a bone. “She’s still single and unattached, though, if it’s any consolation,” Noah added.
“Yes, it is,” Sussex had replied, his tone sounding more upbeat. He cleared his throat. “It gives me hope.”
Noah’s heart had gone out to him. He was clearly besotted with Sophie, the woman who had run out on him. And judging by her desire to find a loving home in Alaska, she didn’t seem to be losing any sleep over her ex-fiancé. That bugged Noah. It showed a coldness in Sophie’s personality that didn’t speak well of her. A woman who tossed men aside like garbage wasn’t to be trusted or admired. He didn’t care one bit how likable she seemed. He knew all too well that some women found it easy to play a role.
The whole thing rankled him more than he cared to admit. He knew what it felt like to be ditched. Abandoned. And he hated the fact that Sophie had twisted this man around until he hadn’t known if he was coming or going. Although he had wanted to tell Sussex to get a grip on his feelings and move on, Noah knew that rich men didn’t listen to peons like himself. No, it had been apparent from Sussex’s expensive suits, fancy car and the fact that he’d paid in cash that he was a considerably wealthy man.
And what was that saying people always quoted? “The heart wants what it wants.” John Sussex wanted Sophie back something fierce. But just because he wanted her back didn’t mean it was going to work out that way. Sophie seemed to have moved on.
Noah didn’t know what Sussex’s end game was with regards to Sophie. Was he waiting for her to fall for someone, then swoop in to try to win her back? Did he love her so much that he just needed to make sure she was safe and sound? Or was he testing the waters so he could develop a strategy? It was a head-scratcher.
Noah’s instincts were now on high alert. He still felt as if there was something his client wasn’t telling him. Had he been so eager for the big payout that he’d missed a few red flags?
He set a pan down on the stove with a slight bang. Why was he fretting so much about this assignment? He couldn’t allow himself to get emotionally involved. Sure, Sophie had made a great first impression on him, but he suspected it was all smoke and mirrors. She had been way too much of a sweetheart. In other words, too good to be true. In his experience, people weren’t that good-hearted.
Do the job, then take the money and run! It was the smartest way to handle things, considering what he stood to lose if this assignment went off the rails. Just the thought of having to shutter the doors of his company made him feel sick inside. It was the only thing in this world he had ever built for himself out of his own ingenuity and savvy. He couldn’t lose it! And getting tied up in knots about Sussex’s agenda and the inconsistences about Sophie could only muddy the waters.
“Good morning, Noah.” The chirpy voice could belong to no one else but her. There was something about her upbeat tone that brought to mind rainbows and sunshine and puppy dogs.
“Morning,” he said, not raising his eyes from the stove to meet her gaze. No way did he want to look into those expressive eyes when his thoughts were as scrambled as the eggs he had just cooked for Cameron.
Sophie’s image had danced under his eyelids last night as he’d tossed and turned. If he didn’t get it together, things were going to get mighty complicated rather quickly. And Noah didn’t like complicated. He liked orderly and straightforward. He hated curveballs. Sophie Miller was rapidly becoming a problem in his uncomplicated world.
“Did you get settled in last night?” she asked. Her voice was infused with so much cheer and a lightness he desperately needed to hear at the moment.
Unable to stop himself, he swung his gaze up. Even in the dullest of brown shirts, Sophie looked resplendent. Her long titian hair hung down in loose waves. Without a trace of makeup on her face she still shimmered. Her full lips were a perfect shade of pink. Her green eyes—the color of Irish moss—sparkled. She had a pleasant expression on her face, one that caused a slight uptick in the beating of his heart.
He frowned. She wasn’t making things easy for him. Another wave of sympathy for Sussex roared through him.
“Pretty much,” he said curtly. He didn’t want to encourage too much conversation with her, at least not until he could get a