Alaska Home: Falling for Him / Ending in Marriage / Midnight Sons and Daughters

“The Hard Luck Café. I’m going to work for Ben.”

“Since when did Ben Hamilton need a secretary?” Sawyer demanded. He made it sound as if Ben had stolen her away from him.

“Not a secretary,” Mariah hurried to explain. “He needs help in the kitchen.”

“You’re qualified to cook?”

“I won’t be responsible for the cooking,” she clarified. “I’ll wait tables and clean up and...and things like that. Ben’s been running the café on his own all these years. It’s time he relaxed and left the small stuff to someone else.”

“Ben!” Sawyer said the name in a tone that implied his longtime friend had turned traitor.

“I asked him about the job,” Mariah pointed out. She didn’t want to cause trouble between Ben and the O’Hallorans any more than she wanted to between the two brothers.

Sawyer reread her letter and frowned anew. “You’re sure this is what you want?”

Was she sure? Mariah didn’t know anymore. From what Christian and the others had said, Allison Reynolds was a real beauty; he was clearly besotted with her. Mariah didn’t stand a chance of winning Christian’s heart. It wasn’t easy to walk away from this job—or from Christian—but she had to, for the sake of her sanity. And for the sake of her pride, she had to convince Sawyer she was perfectly content to give up her duties with Midnight Sons. She had to be certain he’d never know how much it hurt.

“I’m sure,” she said, revealing nothing.

Sawyer pinched the bridge of his nose. “In that case there’s not much I can say.”

* * *

“What do you mean, Mariah quit?” Christian shouted into the phone.

“She gave me her notice first thing this morning,” Sawyer said, sounding none too pleased.

“She can’t do that!”

“Why can’t she?” Sawyer asked impatiently. “It’s a free country. We can’t force her to work for us if she doesn’t want to.”

Christian stood, forgetting that the receiver was connected to the telephone on the hotel nightstand. He started to pace and the phone fell with a discordant clang. For an instant he was afraid he’d severed the connection.

“You there?” he asked his brother.

“Yes. What happened?”

“Nothing. I dropped the phone.” Christian rammed his fingers into his dark blond hair and winced at the unexpected twinge of pain. “You might’ve tried talking her into staying.”

“I talked until I was blue in the face. I tried everything short of out-and-out bribery. I have to tell you, Christian, I blame you for this. You haven’t done a damn thing to help, you know.”

“How can I help when you’re in Hard Luck and I’m in Seattle?” His irritation was fast turning to anger. This whole business with Mariah didn’t make sense. It should’ve been obvious to Sawyer—to anyone with half a brain—how crucial it was to keep Mariah with Midnight Sons. She knew more about the office than the two brothers combined. True, there’d been a time, not so long ago, when he’d have willingly replaced her. But he’d undergone a change of heart in the week she’d been away. And the week he’d been away...

“It seems to me I’m the one stuck here with all the problems,” Sawyer said, his voice hard. “As I recall, last year you were off in Seattle dating your cover model, and I had to deal with the avalanche of problems you’d created. It’s the same thing all over again.”

“Now just a minute—”

Sawyer didn’t allow him to finish. “You’d better remember exactly whose idea it was to bring women to Hard Luck in the first place.”

“Yeah, but if it wasn’t for me you’d never have met Abbey.” Christian played his trump card before this argument with his brother could deteriorate any further.

Sawyer sighed deeply, and Christian could virtually hear his anger drain away. “True.”

“I’ll talk to Mariah myself,” Christian said, feeling confident he’d succeed where his brother had failed. If she’d listen to anyone, it would be him. He felt they’d come to an understanding in the last while. Mended fences and all that.

“Fine, but you should know that it’s because of you she’s decided to quit.”

“Me?” Sawyer must have misunderstood. His relationship with Mariah had taken a dramatic turn for the better. Or so he’d assumed.

“She seems to think you’re bringing Allison back with you, so she’s stepped aside.”

“You’re joking! What made her think that?”

Sawyer’s frustration was palpable. “You did, little brother. You managed all of this single-handedly.”

“Me? How?”

“You told me you planned to talk Allison into giving Hard Luck another shot.”

He’d said that? Christian pressed his hand against his brow. “Well, I didn’t. She’s not coming.”

Christian’s words were followed by a stiff silence. “That wasn’t the impression you gave me,” Sawyer eventually said. “And Mariah overheard the conversation.”

Christian cursed.

“Mariah felt that if Allison returned to Hard Luck, there wouldn’t be enough work for two full-time secretaries.”

“You’d better let me talk to Mariah,” Christian muttered. “I’ll straighten this out.”

“It’s too late,” Sawyer said with a heavy sigh. “She’s already got another job. Apparently she and Ben have come up with this scheme—”

“Mariah and Ben?”

“Right. She’s going to be his assistant, help in the kitchen, wait tables, that sort of thing.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

“I swear it’s true.”

“Let me talk to her,” Christian demanded again. He could foresee trouble already—for Ben, as well as for Midnight Sons. Obviously Ben hadn’t remembered how clumsy Mariah was. He’d never known a woman more inclined to trip over her own feet.

“She isn’t here,” Sawyer murmured. “I have a feeling we’re going to lose the best secretary we ever had, and frankly, Christian, I hold you responsible.”

This didn’t seem to be the moment to remind Sawyer that Mariah was the first and only secretary Midnight Sons had ever had.

* * *

No one responded to Bethany’s knock at the back door of the Hard Luck Café. She tried again, then turned the knob—the door was open. She let herself inside.