An Alaskan Wedding. Belle Calhoune
said curtly. “And it’s getting mighty cold out here.” She wrapped her arms around her middle, her teeth beginning to chatter. Why hadn’t she grabbed her coat? Oh, yeah. She’d been afraid of being eaten alive.
He knit his brows together. “A creature? Can you be more specific?”
Grace shivered. It was freezing out here, and the thought of the critter inside her cabin was making her feel a little crazy. What if it was rummaging through all her things and tearing up her clothes? Or ripping apart her favorite pair of shoes?
The sheriff shrugged off his jacket and draped it around her back and shoulders. “Thank you,” she murmured as a woodsy scent assailed her senses.
“The creature,” he prodded, his eyes dark and probing.
“It was big and black...and it hissed at me. I saw teeth...huge, white teeth. Fangs, I believe. And I saw a flash of white, so it may have been foaming at the mouth.”
“A big, black, hissing, foaming-at-the-mouth creature?” Boone flung the question at her in a skeptical manner. His perfectly shaped lips twitched.
She put her hands on her hips and made a huffing sound. “Yes. That’s exactly right. I know what I saw. It’s engrained in my mind.”
“Why don’t you go sit in my cruiser where it’s warm while I check things out? Wouldn’t want you to freeze to death on your first night in town.”
She didn’t want to be safely ensconced in Boone’s cruiser while a story was unfolding mere feet away from her. As a journalist, it simply wasn’t her way. She wanted to be where the action was taking place, in the event she needed to write about it later. Plus, she had every faith in Boone’s ability to keep her safe from being mauled or attacked. Faith. It was funny to feel the first stirrings of faith after going so long without it. “I’ll stay right behind you, if that’s okay,” she said.
The sheriff’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, but he nodded and walked toward her cabin door. He wrenched the door open and strode inside, flipping the light on as he entered.
“Where did you last see it?” he asked in a low voice. His eyes were darting all over the room, his body primed for action.
She pointed a shaking finger in the direction of the russet couch. “There. It went under there.” She moved backward a few steps until she was standing next to the open door. If things went south at least she would have an escape hatch.
Boone went over to the couch and rattled it with both hands. Despite the shaking, nothing emerged. He got down on his knees and peered under the sofa. The side of his face was pressed against the hardwood floors.
“Be careful!” she cried out. She’d watched enough episodes of When Animals Attack to know that this could end badly.
Dear Lord, please don’t let any harm come to the sheriff. Or to me. I’m trying to be brave about this Alaska experience, but it’s hard to be strong when there’s a wild animal on the loose in my cabin. And even though Boone was snarky about my shoes this morning, he seems like a good person.
Boone scrambled to his feet and lifted the couch up off the ground, swiveling it as he dropped it down a few feet away. Grace let out a scream as the creature emerged and scooted toward Boone. She watched in horror as he bent down and scooped it up in his arms.
Oddly enough, he seemed as placid as a lake in summer. He hadn’t even flinched.
He sent her a pearly grin. Butterflies fluttered low in her stomach. She wasn’t sure if it was due to Boone’s charm or the unexpected drama unfolding before her eyes. “Grace, meet Primrose. Primrose, this is Grace. She came all the way from New York City, so you can’t camp out in her cabin and scare the daylights out of her.”
“Is that a...skunk?” she asked, noticing for the first time the white stripe trailing down the creature’s back.
“Sure is. She belongs to Hazel. She’s been de-scented, so there’s no risk of being sprayed by her.”
“This is someone’s pet?” Her voice came out squeaky and high-pitched. Boone was patting Primrose on the head and nuzzling her under her chin.
Boone rocked back on the heels of his boots. He appeared to be fighting back a smirk. “Not a pet, exactly, since skunk ownership isn’t legal in Alaska. Hazel has an exhibitor’s license for her. She takes Primrose to schools, wildlife symposiums, fairs and such. She must have gotten loose.”
She craned her neck to get a better look. “She doesn’t bite?”
“She’s domesticated. Hazel raised her from a newborn. Skunks aren’t indigenous to Alaska, but Hazel’s put a lot of love and care into her. She actually rescued her from certain death.”
Grace took a few steps forward until she was standing next to Boone and Primrose. She reached out and tentatively patted her on her back. Truth to be told, Primrose was pretty cute for a skunk.
“See? There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.” Boone looked down at her and their gazes locked for a moment. They were standing mere inches from one another with only Primrose separating them. Something was brewing in the air, some hint of awareness that hummed and pulsed in the atmosphere.
“There you are, Primrose. I’ve been looking all over the place for you.” Hazel’s voice rang out in the silence, shattering the moment before Grace could even put her finger on what had happened between her and the sheriff.
Boone placed Primrose in Hazel’s arms, his movements full of tenderness. “She gave Grace a bit of a scare. It’s not every day a skunk shows up in one’s home.”
Hearing Boone refer to the cabin as her home was jarring. This bare-bones cabin was a far cry from her cozy apartment in Soho, which she’d purchased with her inheritance from her grandfather. Perhaps if the cabin wasn’t so drab, she would feel a little more comfortable living here.
“She’s really quite harmless. Just a nuisance is all,” Hazel explained in an apologetic tone. She nestled her face in Primrose’s fur as she cradled her like a baby. “Thanks for finding her, Grace. I owe you one. You too, Boone.” With a wave of her hand, Hazel was gone, swallowed up by the onyx night as she made her way back to her lodgings.
“Sorry for the commotion,” Grace said sheepishly. She bit her lip and looked down at the floor. She felt like the world’s biggest fool. She hadn’t even been in Love a full day before she’d had to make an emergency phone call to law enforcement. And her big bad creature had ended up being a domesticated skunk. She hadn’t even been in danger of being sprayed by noxious fumes.
“No problem. It’s been a while since I had to rescue someone from a wild, dangerous, foaming-at-the-mouth creature.” Once again she found herself on the receiving end of a beautiful smile.
Unable to stop herself, she let out a whoop of laughter. Now that Boone put it that way, it was rib-tickling hilarious. All the stress and tension faded away. It felt good to laugh out loud at something. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done so. It was hard to wrap her head around how lonely and mirthless her life in New York had become over the past few years. Always being on the move had distracted her from this simple fact.
She’d been so afraid while she’d been alone in the cabin, yet the moment Boone had shown up, those fears had dissipated. Staying in the cabin while he hunted down the creature had been an act of bravery. For a woman who’d lost her faith a long time ago, today had been full of surprises. She’d flown all the way to Alaska, and in the process, confronted her fear of flying head-on. And tomorrow she was beginning her new job as a barista, even though she didn’t have a clue how to make specialty coffee drinks. All in all, she was operating way out of her comfort zone.
Boone folded his arms across his chest, striking a commanding pose. “Was this the closest you’ve ever been to wildlife?”
Grace nodded. “Other than the Bronx Zoo, yes. My family didn’t even own a pet when I was growing