Stranded With The Boss

Dragan switched off the engine and lifted away his headphones. His breath whooshed out in a powerful exhalation. “You can see to your babies now,” he said. “Try to keep them quiet while I radio for help.”

The twins were wailing at the top of their lungs. Tessa flung off her belt and scrambled back to the rear seat. At the sight of their mother, their cries diminished to whimpers. Unbuckling their harnesses, she lifted them onto her lap and hugged them fiercely close. Holding them this way had been easy when they were tiny. Now that they were active toddlers it was different. Missy flung her little arms around Tessa’s neck, hanging on as if she never wanted to let go. Maddie was already struggling to get down and explore the plane.

Love burned through Tessa like the stab of a hot blade. Her little girls were her whole life. What would she have done if they’d come to harm?

From the cockpit she could hear Dragan on the radio, shouting through the static at somebody on the other end. The relief that had swept through her when the plane landed was congealing into cold rage. Dragan’s skill as a pilot may have just saved their lives. But it was his reckless, high-handed behavior that had created the danger in the first place. The crash landing could have killed them all—including her precious babies.

If he hadn’t shanghaied her onto his flight by interfering with her plane, she’d be well on her way to Anchorage now, looking forward to a good meal and a comfortable night’s rest before the trial. Instead, almost as if he’d planned it, she and her twins would be stuck with this domineering alpha male in the middle of nowhere, maybe for days, until help arrived.

So help her, when she got back to civilization, Dragan Markovic would pay for this. He thought he’d had trouble before the flight, but she was just getting started. She would show him what real trouble was.

Meanwhile, she and her little ones would be dependent on him for their survival. The only sensible course of action would be to rein in her anger and cooperate. But it wasn’t going to be easy—when she could barely look at him without wanting to slap his arrogant face.

* * *

The radio reception had faded into static. Frustrated, Dragan switched it off. With luck it was just the weather interfering with the signal. He would try again later. For now he could only hope that somebody on the other end had heard his shouted transmission, giving their location and their need for help. Cell phones, he already knew, were useless here.

At least the twins had stopped howling. He leaned around the pilot’s seat to see Tessa cradling them in her arms, looking as fiercely protective as a tigress. “Is everything all right back there?” he asked.

“So far.” Her cheerful reply sounded forced. “How did you fare with the radio?”

“The reception was bad, but I think I managed to send our position before it cut out. If we’re lucky we could be seeing a rescue plane in the next few hours. But don’t count on it. There’s a big storm moving in. We could be here until it blows over.”

She pressed her lips together, as if biting back a caustic reply. If she was furious, he couldn’t blame her. His actions had likely caused her to miss the trial opening and put all their lives in danger. At least she was making an effort to be civil.

“Another question,” she said. “How are we supposed to get from here to solid ground? Will we have to swim?”

“Tomorrow morning when the tide’s out we could walk. But don’t worry, there’s a faster way.”

Moving past her into the rear of the plane, he found and opened the yellow valise that held the plane’s emergency raft. Raising the cargo door and dropping the sea anchor, he gripped the tether line and tossed the raft down to the water. With a loud hiss it self-inflated, rocking on the slight swell next to the plane’s float. A chilly wind rippled the water.

“Ladies first,” he said. “Take the minimum you’ll need for now. I’ll get the heavy things later.”

Slinging her purse and the pink-quilted diaper bag over her shoulder, Tessa rose with the babies and stumbled her way to the cargo bay. “Hang on to the girls,” she said. “Once I’m in the raft, you can pass them down to me.”

Dragan hesitated. He hadn’t held a baby since he was a boy in Sarajevo. But this was no time for memories, especially those he wanted to forget. He reached toward her, hoping he could manage two squirming toddlers long enough to get them safely into the raft with their mother.

“Here.” Tessa stepped close to him, her arms loaded with wiggly little redheads. “Take them and hold on tight. They won’t bite you, but they might try to get loose. Whatever happens, you can’t let them fall.”

Dragan caught the flash of worry in her deep hazel eyes. She was trusting her precious children to his inexperienced hands. She had every reason to be nervous.

One baby would have been easy enough to hand off. Two babies were a different matter. Dragan worked an arm around Missy, trying to ignore the intimate contact as the back of his hand slid over Tessa’s warm breast. Missy wailed and seized her mother’s neck in a frantic clasp, refusing to let go.

Giving up for the moment, he tried Maddie. She went to him readily, but as he lifted her against his chest, the stink that rose to his nostrils was unmistakable. “Good Lord,” he muttered. “This one needs changing.”

“She’s a baby. Deal with it.” Tessa looked frayed. “Give her back. I’ve got a better idea. You’re taller than I am. You climb into the raft and I’ll pass the girls down to you, one at a time.”

“Good idea.” Dragan wondered why he hadn’t thought of it himself. Handing the reeking Maddie back to her mother, he took the purse and diaper bag, looped the handles over his shoulder and climbed down onto the float. The raft was a step below, secured to the plane by the tether.

From the door he could see Tessa buckling Missy into her safety seat. She managed to do it while balancing Maddie between her arm and her hip, a remarkable feat. Dropping the bags into the raft he kept his weight on the float and held up his arms for Maddie.

The transfer was going to be tricky. The raft wasn’t made for standing, and he couldn’t risk putting Maddie down there by herself. He would need to take both twins, sit on the float with them and shift from there into the raft.

Maddie came to him without a fuss. Bracing his senses against her rank aroma, he circled her with his left arm. By the time he had a firm grip on her Tessa had unbuckled Missy and was ready to hand her down. Dragan could see the worry in her eyes as she passed him her whimpering child. She was trusting him only because she had no other choice.

* * *

Tessa watched, holding her breath as Dragan, with one twin under each arm, managed to maneuver from the float to the raft without a spill. Now she stood alone in the plane, looking down at them from the cargo door. Clouds were drifting across the inlet, graying the afternoon sunlight. The wind was getting stronger and colder.

Dragan placed the babies next to him and covered them with his leather jacket. When Maddie tried to crawl away he pulled her back and held her by her pink coverall straps. “Give me your shoes, Tessa,” he said. “You’ll have better footing without them.”

She stepped out of her low-heeled tan pumps and tossed them one at a time. He caught them with his free hand. “We’ll need the tether undone,” he said. “Untie it and bring it with you. I’ll come back and close the door later.”

The stout nylon rope was looped around a grip handle next to the cargo door. Tessa untied it and, with the end in her hand, climbed gingerly onto the float. By now the raft was rolling on the wind-whipped water. The next step wasn’t going to be easy.

“Give me your hand,” Dragan said, leaning toward her.

She’d put one foot onto the inflated side of the raft and was just reaching for him when a harsh gust blasted across the inlet. The plane rocked. The float pitched upward, lifting away from the raft. Caught between, Tess lost her footing and tumbled into the water.

It was cold. Deathly cold. Tessa was a fair swimmer, but in the few seconds before she broke the surface and caught Dragan’s outstretched hand she was chilled to the bone. Her teeth chattered as he pulled her into the raft.

“Here—” He yanked off his flannel shirt and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Hang on,” he muttered. “We’ve got to get you someplace warm.”

The raft kit was equipped with a collapsible paddle. Snapping it together, he pushed hard for the beach.

Tessa huddled with her twins and watched his broad shoulders labor under the gray thermal T-shirt he wore. He was pushing against the wind, making slow but steady progress. Under the woolen shirt, her skin felt clammy. Her fingers and toes were numb. She’d heard enough stories about cold Alaskan waters to know that she could have died of hypothermia in minutes if he hadn’t pulled her out. Even on the raft, freed from the water, she wasn’t out of danger. Her wet clothes were turning icy in the wind. She was worried about her little girls, too. Dragan’s leather jacket was giving them some protection, but they needed to get indoors and get warm.

She could see the lodge through the trees. Even at a distance she could see that it was no paltry wilderness cabin. Solidly built of logs, it was the size of a large one-story home with a tall stone chimney and a covered porch running along the front. The windows had been shuttered for the winter. The door would be securely locked.

Would Dragan have the key? If he’d brought it along that would be a sure sign he’d planned this whole misadventure. If he could keep her away from Anchorage, her testimony at the trial—perhaps the trial itself—would have to be delayed. Worse yet, the trial could go ahead without her, and without her testimony to give weight to her claims, she’d lose her case.

But that wouldn’t be the end, she vowed. If this little escapade cost her a victory in court, she would do everything in her power to make Dragan pay for it.

A narrow floating dock led from the sloping beach into the water. By the time Tessa had found her shoes and put them on, the raft had bumped against the side. The dock was an easy step above the raft. After climbing up, Dragan secured the tether to a capstan and reached down for the twins.

Wrapping the squirming Maddie in the leather jacket, she passed her up to his waiting arms. Missy came next. This time she went to him willingly. Tessa followed, her purse and diaper bag slung over her shoulder.

“Can you make it to the lodge all right?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. Just hang on to the girls and keep them warm.” Tessa’s feet were too numb to feel the ground beneath her shoes, but she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other.

He walked beside her; the twins snuggled against his chest, still covered by his leather jacket.

“The lodge looks closed up,” she said. “Will we have any trouble getting in?”

“Don’t worry. I have a key.”

Tessa had thought she couldn’t get any colder. But a jolt of frigid rage penetrated all the way to her heart. So he did have the key. He could have planned this all along, luring her onto the plane and then faking an emergency to strand her and her children in the middle of nowhere.

The front steps of the lodge were carpeted with dead needles from the surrounding lodgepole pines, but the covered porch was swept clean. A raven, scolding from the roofline, flapped into the trees as Dragan handed off Maddie and fished a ring of keys out of his pocket.

The heavy front door was secured with a cast-iron hasp and an industrial-weight padlock. Without a pause, Dragan chose a key from the half dozen on the ring and thrust it into the lock, which parted with a well-lubricated click.

Lifting the lock free of the hasp, Dragan swung the door open and ushered Tessa into a rustic Shangri-La.

The great room encompassed a sitting area in front of a huge stone fireplace, with a dining table and wet bar at the far end. Double swinging doors concealed what she assumed to be the kitchen. A hallway opening off one side led, presumably, to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

The layout of the lodge wasn’t surprising. It was the construction of the place that made Tessa catch her breath. Seen in the faint light that fell through the shutter vanes and the open door, massive trees, stripped of their bark, supported the cathedral ceiling of the great room. The chandelier that hung from the center beam was a rustically elegant filigree of twisted wood and glass that had probably cost more than she would earn in a lifetime. The floors were dark wood, the thick sheepskin rugs almost floating on their polished surface. The cream-colored leather divans grouped around the fireplace looked as soft as baby skin. The surface of the coffee table was a slab of black marble. The tall windows, if uncovered, would have offered a view of the inlet through the trees.

The place was spectacular—but one thing it wasn’t was warm. Tessa’s skin had shrunk to goose bumps beneath her wet clothes. Her teeth were chattering.

“Come on!” Dragan took her arm and led her down a hallway lined with doors. “While you get out of those wet clothes, I’ll light the fireplace and turn on the water. The pipes have been drained for the winter, so it’ll take a few minutes. You can use the bathroom but you won’t be able to flush the toilet until the tank fills. And I’ll need to turn on the propane tank to heat the water and run the stove.” He paused outside one of the doors. “This room should do you fine. You’ll find some thermal underwear and wool socks in the dresser drawer and a warm robe in the closet. Put them on. This is a summer lodge. There’s no heat except the fireplace.” He opened the door and disappeared back the way they’d come.

The twins were getting heavy in her arms. They’d been unusually subdued since they’d come inside—awed, perhaps, by their strange new surroundings. Tessa carried them into the room and set them on the bed. They’d soon need to be fed and changed, but she’d be useless to care for them if she didn’t get out of her wet clothes first.

The queen-size bed was covered with a dark-green, down-filled comforter that matched the window drapes. The twins loved the fluffy softness. Happy to be out of their confining seats, they tumbled, rolled and giggled as Tessa stripped off her wet clothes and hung them over the shower rack in the bathroom. She was soaked to the skin. Even her bra and panties had to come off. In the dresser she found several sets of new thermal underwear, still sealed in plastic bags. Choosing the smallest size, she pulled the shirt over her head and stepped into the drawers. They were too big, and the fly in front told her they were made for a man, but they were soft and warm, and she was in no condition to complain. The waist had a drawstring. She tightened it to fit, rolled up the ankles and opened a packet of thick wool socks.

As she was pulling them on, she heard the gurgle and rush of water in the adjoining bathroom. The taps, she realized, would have been left open when the pipes were drained for the winter. She raced into the opulent marble bathroom to shut them off. At least Dragan had made good on his promise to get the water running right away.

But she’d been a fool to trust his offer to fly her to Anchorage. Blast the man! Once they were safely out of this place, she was going to give him a piece of her mind! The robe in the closet was black cashmere. It glided around her as she slid her arms into the sleeves and tightened the sash. It was too big for her, but so decadently soft that it was a pleasure to wear. She took a moment to roll up the long sleeves, then turned back to check on her twins. Missy was sitting on the bed, watching her with wide blue eyes.

Maddie was nowhere in sight.

Tessa glanced around. There was no cause for panic. She’d closed the door firmly behind her when she’d entered the room. Hadn’t she?

She swung toward the door, her heart creeping into her throat. The door stood partway open. Preoccupied with the babies and her wet clothes, she must have failed to close it all the way, leaving just enough edge for Maddie to catch with her tiny fingers. The little scamp was an accomplished Houdini.

Snatching Missy off the bed, Tessa flung the door all the way open and peered up and down the hall. No Maddie. She’d made a clean getaway—into a house filled with unknown dangers.

“Maddie!” Tessa called. “Come back here! Come back right now!”

There was no answer.

Four

After he’d turned on the water, Dragan made a fire in the fireplace, opened the valve on the propane tank behind the lodge and lit the pilot lights on the stove and water heater. That done, he went out to the equipment shed to check the generator. The machine that powered the house had been drained of fuel and covered for the winter. There was no gasoline. Sam, the Tlingit caretaker who’d spent the summer in a cabin on the property, would have taken what was left of it when he’d departed for his island home after the season was over.

Closing the shed door and locking it, Dragan headed back toward the house. He and his reluctant guests would have no electricity for their stay. But at least they’d be warm. There was plenty of firewood and the propane would allow them to take hot baths and heat the emergency supply of canned and freeze-dried food that stocked the pantry shelves.

But what were Tessa’s twins going to eat? Dragan mouthed a curse as the question struck him. There was no baby food in the house and no fresh milk. Not only that, the place wasn’t equipped for small children. There were no cribs, no playpens, no high chairs, no toys—and certainly no reserve supply of disposable diapers.

This was going to be a nightmare!

He could only hope his radio transmission had gotten through and that a rescue plane would soon come to fly them to Anchorage, or at least to deliver some fuel for the Porter.

Meanwhile, he’d be damned if he was going to play nanny. The twins would be Tessa’s problem, not his. Babies stirred emotions he never wanted to feel again. The less he had to do with them, the better.

The light was already fading above the trees. He would need to locate a supply of candles or a lantern. Otherwise they’d soon be stumbling around in the dark. There was a flashlight in the plane, as well as Tessa’s suitcases and his own bag. He’d hoped to get everything in the morning, when the tide would be out, and he could check for the cause of the fuel leak. But with the storm coming, he’d be smart to take the raft now to get the luggage and secure the plane as best he could.

Tessa seemed to think he’d planned this misadventure. Nothing could be further from the truth. If he’d known he was going to end up stuck in the middle of nowhere with three troublesome redheads, he wouldn’t have come within a mile of her and her two little imps.

On the back porch, he stomped the mud off his shoes before opening the door to the kitchen. He’d seen small bear tracks and fresh scat near the equipment shed; maybe a half-grown cub snooping around. Not much to worry about as long as everything was securely locked and no food was left out. For now, at least, he’d spare Tessa the news of this latest discovery. She was already under enough stress.

He’d moved into the shadowed kitchen and had just turned back to lock the dead bolt when he heard a subtle sound behind him. Startled, he jerked around to see a stubby little figure with a mop of russet curls gazing up at him.

“Phhht!” Maddie had passed judgment on him again.

“What the devil are you doing in here, you little scamp?” Dragan dropped to a crouch beside her. It hadn’t occurred to him that the twins could walk. Until now he’d only seen them carried.

“Noz.” She reached out and poked his face. He hadn’t known they could talk, either. Surprise. But there was nothing surprising about the familiar stink that rose from under her pink coveralls. Miss Maddie had clearly escaped before her mother had had a chance to change her diaper.

Rising, he edged around her and headed toward the dining room. “Come on,” he said, beckoning. “Let’s go find your mom.”

“Phhht!” Ignoring him, Maddie began tugging at the door to the cabinet under the sink—the cabinet that held detergent, bleach, drain cleaner, mouse bait...

Dragan had never been into sports, but he scooped her up like a halfback seizing a fumbled ball, gripping her under one arm as he strode out of the kitchen. Thanks to Maddie and her sister, he would have to childproof the whole damned lodge, starting with that cabinet.

In the entry he ran into Tessa. Dressed in the black cashmere robe, she was holding Missy, eyes darting this way and that with a frantic look. Relief lit her face when she saw that Dragan had her daughter.

“For God’s sake, take her!” Dragan muttered. “She smells like a—” He groped for the right word.

“Like a messy baby.” Tessa took Maddie with her free arm, arching slightly backward to balance both twins with the aid of her hips. Dragan found the pose strangely sexy, although he couldn’t say why. “Thank goodness you found her,” she said. “Where was she?”

“In the kitchen, trying to open a cabinet full of toxic cleaners. You can’t just let your children run around by themselves here. The place isn’t safe for toddlers. It’s dangerous.”

“You think I’d just turn them loose?” Her hazel eyes flashed. “Keeping an eye on these two is a full-time job. As a mother, I take that job seriously. Maddie’s getting out of the bedroom was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

“Fine.” He met her defiance with a scowl. “As long as you’re here, what will you do about feeding those two? There should be an emergency stash of cans and freeze-dried meals in the pantry, but there’s no baby food.”

“They can eat regular food as long as I mash it up. But I’ll warn you, they’re picky little eaters, and they usually make a mess.”

“Then I guess that’s your problem.” He started toward the front door then paused. “I’ll be taking the raft back to the plane to get our luggage and close the cargo door. I won’t be long.”

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