Bold Fortune by M. M. Crane

Author:M. M. Crane [Crane, M. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

Nine

Violet should have been overjoyed that relocating to Quinn’s actual cabin meant a return to the modern age. Because he had internet access. And that meant she was no longer cut off from the world she’d left behind.

Was it really only a few days ago that she’d boarded that plane in San Francisco? It felt like a lifetime.

“Great,” she muttered later as she glared down at her phone and all the messages waiting for her once she was connected. “This is just great.”

She had retreated from her deliciously unapologetic host to the admittedly lovely guest room that made her feel like she was at a B and B somewhere safe, if quirky. Instead of forging a path through the implacable wilderness and/or battling the Alaskan elements, Laura Ingalls Wilder–style. A bit of a letdown, really.

But that was nothing next to the cold-water-in-face sensation she felt when she looked at her inbox.

There were two messages from Stuart that Violet deleted without reading, which surely any self-respecting woman of action would do. With prejudice. Kaye had sent along pictures of Stanley enjoying his vacation and cuddling up with Kaye’s haughty Abyssinian, like the traitor he was. Then again, maybe being a floozy runs in the family, she thought.

And she wanted nothing more than to ignore Irving’s increasingly concerned messages demanding to know if she’d made it to her remote destination. If only because it was difficult to remember her life, much less what was left of her career, after a few days of sleeping in furs and riding through the snow on snowmobiles. She wanted to write her boss a quick, casual explanation of where she was and what she was doing, but everything she tried to compose fell flat.

How could she describe standing outside in below-zero weather, miles and miles away from any other living soul apart from Quinn, perfectly content to look up at the night sky until she grew too cold? How could she explain to sophisticated and decidedly indoorsy Irving that it was possible not to mind an outhouse?

After her fifth abandoned attempt to write something that captured her experience even a little, she gave up and called into the office.

It was already beginning to look like the light was fading outside Quinn’s cabin, meaning it was coming up on four in the afternoon. San Francisco was an hour ahead, but, she reasoned, it was possible that Irving had already left for the day—

But no such luck.

“Violet. Finally.” Irving actually sounded as near to panicked as she’d ever heard him. “I trust you’ve given up on this off-the-wall idea and are even now on your way back to the real world?”

“My trip is going very well, thank you. I appreciate you asking.”

Her boss sighed. “I take it you haven’t heard the news.”

Violet already regretted this call. Deeply. She glared at the blue and white wall before her. “I haven’t heard any news, Irving. This is the first time I’ve ventured anywhere near service since I left Anchorage.” That wasn’t entirely true, but Anchorage had more name recognition than McGrath.

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