Marrying Miss Kringle: Lux

by McConnell, Lucy

  He found a stray can of chicken noodle soup and a package of noodles. Not exactly a feast. Feast. Feast. His hands dropped as he considered the calendar where he marked every day since Lux’s visit off with a red pen. Red because her hair was red. February had blended into March, which inevitably went out like a lamb.

  April … now there was an interesting month. Trudy at the Grizzly Café would have an Easter feast. All were welcome as long as they contributed to the meal. He could bring his paltry supplies, and they’d let him in without question. He may have to share a table with a few other outcasts, but that was amiable, as outcasts preferred not to engage in engaging conversation.

  He needed to go into town for supplies anyway. Might as well make it a holiday trip. No one would think his appearance was strange, especially considering the number of shut-ins that rode their sleds to listen to the pastor’s Easter Sermon. For some, it was the only time they made it to church.

  With a nod, he wrapped his blue scarf around his neck and took a deep breath. The yarn smelled like peppermint cocoa—like Lux. If ever he wanted to conjure her face, with her black rectangular glasses, slightly upturned nose, and full lips, all he needed to do was wrap himself in this scarf and she was there.

  Well, not really there. She wasn’t real. No—she was real. There really was a Lux out there in the world. She just wasn’t here. Which was a shame.

  He threw open the door to let the cold air take his mind off women and full lips and a missed opportunity. The wind bit at his cheeks, and he burrowed deeper into the scarf. It hadn’t snowed in a couple of days, and his footsteps crunched. The snowmobile started right away and he took off, not wanting to waste any time. It could take two hours or more to make the trip.

  On the outskirts of Clearview, traffic picked up, and Quik had to slow down to allow a dogsled team to merge into his snow-covered lane. The dogs panted and pulled, straining against the leather ropes. The driver wasn’t someone Quik recognized, and he didn’t wave.

  A steady stream of heavy coats and wool hats poured into the church. Quik glanced around, making sure no one watched him. He ducked his head and made his way through the throng of neighbors catching up to the back pew, where he sat by himself. Just before the pastor took his place in the front of the room, someone slid in next to Quik. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and then jerked his head around to stare at Lux’s sister Stella.

  She had short black hair, a black fur coat—like teddy bear fur, not real bear fur like some wore around these parts—and a red skirt that landed just above her knee. She wore black boots that came to her knees and no gloves. He stared at her hands, then at his own, which were bright pink, and he’d worn beaver fur gloves. She turned his way and dropped a wink before settling her attention on Pastor Willis up front.

  Quik tried to do the same. He put his gloves in his lap and folded his hands for prayer. He mumbled through the hymns, never having been much of a singer but enjoying the exuberance of those who were. Through the preliminaries, his thoughts kept going back to Lux. He’d hardly thought about her on the ride, choosing to focus on the path before him and his shopping list. His mind straying to the redheaded beauty was Stella’s fault. He’d been able to hold back the curiosity while alone, but with Lux’s sister sitting right next to him, he fought the desire to pepper her with questions.

  Since Lux left, she hadn’t contacted him again—sticking to her end of the bargain and leaving a trail of loneliness in her wake. Not a day went by that he didn’t touch a finger to her mug and wonder if she thought of him. Her disappearance—headed north nonetheless—multiplied his questions a hundredfold.

  Had she finished the prototype?

  Did it work?

  Where did she get the List Report?

  How did she have access to his exceptionally personal information?

  Why was she really building the substation?

  When he could stand the speculation no more, he bumped Stella with his elbow. “Hey,” he whispered.

  She scooted away from him and pointed at Pastor Willis as if he should be paying more attention to the sermon.

  He paused.

  Willis placed his palm over the New Testament. “Christ set the perfect example and asks us to follow in his footsteps …”

  Quik lasted another three and a half minutes before he closed the space between him and Stella. “I need to ask you something.”

  Stella shook her head. “Shhh.” She glanced around to make sure no one was looking. “I’m not supposed to be here.”

  Quik leaned back slightly. “If you wanted to blend in, you should ditch the princess apparel.”

  Stella’s jaw dropped and she glanced down.

  Taking advantage of her speechlessness, Quik plowed ahead. “Does the prototype work?”

  Stella’s eyebrows came together. “It’s blocked.”

  “They won’t let her build it?” Probably too much red tape. Governments could slow a project down by holding a meeting or wanting to hold a meeting or scheduling a meeting for three years out. The question was, what government had stood in Lux’s way? In his past life, he could have made a few calls and found out all he wanted to know—maybe even help push the project along. Up here, he was useless. A rock settled in his stomach and didn’t sit well. He shouldn’t even think about making phone calls to the generals—ever.

  “No.” Stella shook her head. “She built it, but it’s blocked and the—” She looked around again. “—power can’t get through.”

  He nodded his head. “She’s using the wrong conductor. The old stations used water—she’ll have to watch out for corrosion issues, but—”

  Stella cut him off with a shake of her head. “It’s too cold.”

  “Right. Because it’s the North Pole.”

  Stella’s eyes went huge. “She told you that?”

  “It’s on the plans.”

  “Oh.”

  The man across the aisle gave them a dirty look. Stella wiggled her fingers and blew him a kiss. He turned red and stared straight ahead. Quik stifled a laugh. He put a respectable distance between him and Stella. She didn’t blow him a kiss—thank goodness. Stella was fun and all, but she wasn’t his type.

  Not that he had a type, but if he did … Well, he was partial to redheads.

  He tipped his head back and stared at the white ceiling with the long, thick beams running back and forth and diagonally. Running wires through the beams was impossible, so he and Lux had attached wires to the sides to make the loop for electricity to flow.

  His chin dropped. A loop! She needed a loop.

  Quik scooted over, put his hand under Stella’s arm, and encouraged her out of the pew and out of the church. She made a small protest but nevertheless allowed him to take her outside without drawing too much attention to the two of them. He tucked his beaver gloves beneath his arm. Stella seemed to emit heat like Lux. Not like Lux. Lux radiated heat and created it inside of him. Stella just kept the cold at bay.

  Once the door shut behind them, Stella glared. “What’s your deal?”

  He waved off her irritation. “Sorry. But this was too big to whisper.”

  “’Kay?”

  “The conductor won’t work because of the sub-zero temperatures and water would freeze, but if Lux can build a loop for the water to circulate by the core, then the water will stay warm enough to work.”

  She blinked. “I speak a lot of languages, but geek is not one of them.”

  He grunted. “Tell her she needs to run the water through a heat coil of some sort.”

  Stella put up both hands. Quik barely noticed they were bare and in perfect health before she dropped them again. “I’ll do my best.” She reached for the handle to go back inside.

  “Wait.” He stopped her. “What’s this for, anyway?”

  “Christmas,” she replied with a shrug before slipping back inside.

  Quik was getting tired of that answer. He wanted specifics. He scrambled to get his gloves on. Stella was
gone and his chapped hands hurt. With a grunt in the general direction of the church doors, he spun on his heel. The only person likely to give him honest answers wasn’t likely to return to his cabin door. He wrapped his arms around his middle. The church stoop suddenly seemed much colder. Or maybe that was the cold inside his chest when he thought of never seeing Lux again.

  An animal snorted. There were lots of animals around. Dogs, horses, a goat. But the one animal that drew his attention was a reindeer hitched to a sleigh. He narrowed his eyes and stomped in that direction. If Lux and Stella wouldn’t give him answers, then he’d find them on his own. No one was outside, but the final hymn floated through the windows. He didn’t have much time to see what he could find in the sleigh, but he’d give it a shot.

  The reindeer was not the same one Lux had driven the day she rescued him from the lake. That one was calmer and had a gray tuft of hair on his chin. This one was dark brown with a large rack and a crazy look in his eye. “Ho, boy.” He lifted a hand up to let the reindeer sniff him. The reindeer moved as slowly as Quik, and then suddenly made an attempt to bite his hand. His teeth snapped together loud enough that it cracked in Quik’s ears. Quik stumbled back. There would be no inspecting the sleigh with that beast on guard.

  Growling and grumbling, he started up his snowmobile and headed down to the Grizzly Café for a hot meal. He entertained the idea that some questions were best left unanswered for about two seconds. The sisters were different, and he would find out not only how but why.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lux stared into the fireplace. She still wore her Easter dress, designed by Frost. The V-neck dipped lower than she was used too, but the royal-blue floral print lit up her hair like a classy Christmas tree, and she loved it. Frost was amazing like that, sharing her talents. She’d gone so far as to make a dress for Grandma. The family traveled to Mexico for Easter. They attended services, ate dinner with her grandparents, and spent the evening on the beach. Lux still had sand stuck to her legs, where it glistened like a thousand sparklers in the firelight.

  With a sigh, she dropped her chin to her hand. Easter Sunday, and she wasn’t any closer to finishing the prototype.

  Thankfully Stella was closer to her goal. She’d flown off to spend time with Axel and his family for the holiday. Such a big step—meeting a guy’s parents. She’d never stepped that far into a relationship before, and her desire to move forward bolstered Lux’s hopes they’d be engaged soon.

  Stella breezed in, a northerly chill following her.

  Speak of the sister …

  Lux considered the snow on Stella’s boots with a raised eyebrow. “I thought Axel lived in Southern California.”

  “He does.”

  Lux pointed to the puddle forming on the Turkish rug.

  Stella stomped her feet. “Don’t go all Nancy Drew on me. You’re going to find out anyway, because I have news.”

  “What?” Lux sat up taller.

  Stella tucked her hands behind her back. “I saw Quik.”

  “You went to see Quik?” Lux had the strange urge to kick her sister in the shins—and pull her short hair.

  “I went to church in Alaska on my way home.” She took off her fur coat and threw it over the back of Dad’s chair before sitting down. Her red skirt and black blouse were amazing. So perfectly tucked and untucked in all the right places.

  “Why?”

  “That doesn’t matter.” Stella waved away her question. “What matters is that Quik asked about the prototype.”

  “He asked about the Mini-Sub?” Lux deflated. Of course he would ask about the project and not about her. Here she was, doing all in her power to keep her thoughts on the Nice List when it came to him and his body and his mind and his bare chest. Blast that lake for sucking him under. If she’d never touched his skin—as innocent as the contact had been—she wouldn’t have been branded with the feel of him. And the way his wet hair felt between her fingers. That was something to behold.

  “… and he said you need a loop.”

  Lux blinked away the Naughty List images in her head and lifted both hands. “I have no idea what that means.”

  Stella tipped her head to the side and swirled her finger in the air. “Something about moving water around.”

  Lux closed her eyes. “Did he mean move the tank? To where?”

  “How should I know?”

  “I’ve told you time and again—you need to learn to speak geek.” Lux bolted to her feet and began to pace.

  “You’re getting sand all over the rug.”

  “That’s why we have a robot vacuum.” A gift Lux had given their mother for her birthday. Mom loved the little helper and immediately named him McFly. Frost glued googly eyes on him and giggled every time he made his way through the palace.

  Lux blocked Stella out as she recapped her time in Alaska.

  If I move the tank, I’ll have to change the whole design. She couldn’t do that without Quik. “Stella!”

  Stella jumped. “What?”

  “I need to contact Quik. Will you …” Lux hesitated. She could do a lot of things, but she’d never applied herself to hacking. She could learn, but they were running out of time. She had less than eight months to build a substation—a project that normally took two years.

  A wicked little smile formed on Stella’s bright lips. “Will I what?”

  Lux squeezed her eyes shut. I should not ask her to do this. “Will you look up Quik?”

  Stella clapped her hands together quickly. “Yes! Follow me to my lair.”

  “When you say it like that, I feel like I’m following a spider.”

  Stella walked backwards in front of Lux. She mimed reeling Lux in.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “It is—you’re just too stressed out to laugh.”

  They made their way into the hall and headed toward toy production, where Stella’s office overlooked the elves’ workroom.

  “You should be the one stressed out.” Lux swung open the office door. “I just have to build a machine; you have to fall in love and get married in less than eight months.”

  Stella paled slightly. “No problem.” She sat on her chair and rolled under the desk. Her fingers flew across the keyboard faster than reindeer hooves. “Here you go.” She hit print and a sheet popped out of the industrial printer. Quik’s email address gleamed in green ink.

  “Okay. Okay.” Lux shook her hands in front of her to work up her nerve.

  Stella lounged in her chair, examining her fingernails. “What’s taking so long?”

  “Not all of us are proficient at this.”

  “What’s this?” Stella’s neck strained as she worked to not laugh.

  “Nothing. I’m going to my room.” Lux let the door slam on Stella’s laughter. Cackle was more like it.

  With every step, her legs moved faster until she burst into her room at a run. She ran right to her laptop, not pausing to think about the consequences or if this was the right thing to do or if she was breaking their deal by sending an email. She dashed off a quick question to see if Quik would even answer her. He might be upset that she made this move. Not that she was making moves on him. A small smile teased her lips. She’d like to make moves on him. Actually, she would like him to make the moves. The idea of being pressed against the wall with his arms on either side of her wasn’t entirely a bad one.

  She chewed her thumbnail.

  Nothing happened for a while. Instead of standing around and obsessing over why he hadn’t answered, Lux headed to the welding lab. She stared at the machine, trying to make sense of Stella’s cryptic message.

  A loop? He couldn’t have meant an energy loop. The whole point of this thing was to have Christmas Magic flow through it, not circulate. She sat down on the workbench and placed her phone next to her, tuning her ear to the chime that would indicate an incoming email. Time ticked slowly by, the cuckoo clock chirping out the hour.

  She couldn’t remember seeing a computer at Qu
ik’s, but there were solar panels on his roof. She’d seen those when she flew over. He could have a phone. Her phone worked anywhere in the world, and satellite phones did well in remote locations.

  She dropped her head to her arms and groaned. Who was she kidding? He wasn’t going to answer her. They’d made a deal.

  But then, by talking to Stella, he’d opened the door.

  It wasn’t like Lux had gone back to his cabin—she hadn’t even gone to his town. He was the one who talked to Stella, a fact that bothered her as much as a crushed candy cane in her shirt. She shivered and shimmied at the thought. Just when she was ready to find some hot chocolate, her phone dinged.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As per his usual routine, Quik checked his email after being in town. The account was his only contact to his past life and the security of an early warning. His work on a classified US project had earned him a medal he would never wear and a target on his back. Several nations had pointed their sniper rifles his way. After a failed attempt on his life in which his bodyguard had been killed, Quik took his commanding officer’s offer to disappear.

  His enemies knew he was still alive, but they had no idea where to look. He’d been dropped into the Alaskan wilderness with the admonition to stay out of trouble. If he was found out, there wasn’t anything his old battalion could do for him. The only protection they promised was to warn him if his location was leaked.

  It wasn’t much, but he wouldn’t ask anyone else to sacrifice their life for him. No matter what he could do, his life was no more important than those who were assigned to protect him.

  That’s why, as he stared at the computer screen, two parts anger and one part fear mixed to make his hands shake as he typed a reply to Lux’s question.

  How did you get this email?

  He didn’t have to wait long for a reply. Stella.

  As if that explained anything. How did she find it?

  IDK. She has mad Google skills.