From This Moment On

by Addison Fox

  FROM THIS MOMENT ON

  An Alaskan Nights Novella

  Addison Fox

  NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com.

  Published by New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Copyright © Frances Karkosak, 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-101-61654-3

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Excerpt from JUST IN TIME

  Chapter One

  Kate Winston had always thought herself an intrepid soul. Between growing up in the wilds of Alaska and teaching hormonal eighth graders, she could stare down a moose with an attitude or handle a pimple-ridden fourteen-year-old with an eraser stuffed up his nose and still maintain her equanimity.

  But nothing in her life could have prepared her for the sight of the three town grandmothers modeling lingerie at Sloan McKinley’s pre-wedding bacchanalia. A strange event which was part bachelorette party, part bridal shower and an all around peculiar Indigo, Alaska, ritual.

  “Sophie! I told you to keep your bra on.” Mary, grandmother to Kate’s sister’s fiancé, Mick, admonished across the room as she played with the fur boa draped around her neck. “The bust isn’t supposed to droop that much. Are you trying to scare Sloan off so she runs screaming out of Indigo?”

  Sophie—Indigo’s mayor and grandmother to the intended groom—waved a hand. “It’s fine. Besides, Sloan’s sweet on my Walker. She’s not going anywhere.”

  “She will if you flash her one more time,” Julia Forsyth—the third matriarch in their triumvirate—chimed in.

  “Is this really happening?” Grier Thompson, Kate’s recently discovered half sister leaned over and whispered. “Because it’s quite possible I’ve been scarred for life.”

  “We hear you,” Julia hollered from across the room.

  “I meant you to,” Grier hollered back as she lifted her wineglass in a toast.

  Kate lifted her glass to clink with Grier before downing a liberal sip of her Cabernet. She’d heard rumors of the pre-wedding ritual, but had never been privy to an actual viewing of one. Bridal showers were a strange tradition in Indigo, dating all the way back to the town settlers.

  The older women modeled various nightgowns for the bride and her friends. The idea was to send the bride off with a lot of laughter and a reminder that getting old was well worth it with the right person.

  It was also a reminder, Kate thought, that Alaska attracted a certain type of individual. One who could live in the rugged climate and small town atmosphere and still enjoy themselves and appreciate where they’d put down roots.

  It was where she’d grown up—the local environment had molded and shaped who she was—and until recently she had never really appreciated what that meant. Or how she saw the world because of it. Especially now that she lived over four thousand miles away in New York City—a city that had more people in one square block than she’d see all year long in Alaska.

  Manhattan was a far cry from Indigo, and it was the home of the man she loved. The previous winter she’d realized that her life was far better with Jason Shriver in New York than staying safe and warm, cocooned up in Indigo with a life that didn’t make her happy any longer.

  If it ever had.

  Even now, she marveled at how much things had changed in the last six months, starting with Grier’s arrival to their small town and later Jason’s.

  “I want to hear all about New York.”

  Sophie’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and Kate dragged herself back into the moment, abandoning her quiet reflections. “It’s good. Really good.”

  Avery, part-time bartender and good friend of the bride and groom, lifted one of the wine bottles scattered around the room and refilled Kate’s glass with a generous pour. “You mean Jason’s really good.”

  A smile Kate couldn’t hold back even if she’d wanted to—and she didn’t want to—broke over her face. “He’s very good. And I mean that in a non-dirty way.” At Avery’s raised eyebrows, she continued on quickly. “And so is the city. I’m adjusting quickly, and that was one of my biggest worries. Sort of Grier’s experience in reverse.”

  “Well, we all know Grier’s experience has turned out quite well.” Mary extended her glass toward Avery for a refill as she leaned over and wrapped Grier in a tight, one-armed hug. “Plus, as a bonus I’m about to get a new granddaughter.”

  Kate wasn’t sure if it was the wine or being home for a visit for the first time since the move or the realization that she and Grier had come out the other side of an unpleasant battle over their late father’s will, but tears pooled in her eyes as she took in the women around her.

  They were women who’d embraced her when she finally stopped fighting and looked up to realize she needed their love and affection as much as they wanted to give it.

  Although she would have liked to discover herself without losing her father to cancer in the process, Kate had also come to accept that through horrible loss she had been given new gifts. Good, strong relationships she liked to think would make her father very proud, a sister she loved and a man she could see herself making a life with.

  As if she sensed Kate’s slight melancholy, Grier pulled her aside a few minutes later with the excuse of needing help opening a few more bottles of wine in Mary’s kitchen.

  Grier sifted through the detritus on the counter—napkins, discarded corks, various bags of chips and pretzels and, oddly enough, an unopened pair of pantyhose—until she came up with a corkscrew. “You doing all right?”

  “I am.”

  “It’s hard sometimes. Like no matter how happy you are, you can’t help feeling just the slightest bit guilty. Or a little sad that he’s not here.”

  “Actually, I was thinking something else.”

  Grier looked up from tugging the cork from the bottle. “What’s that?”

  “I think Dad would be thrilled to see us spend time together. To know that we’ve become friends. And real, true sisters.”

  Grier set the bottle down with a heavy clunk and Kate went into her arms as they pulled each other into a tight embrace. “God, I’ve become such a sap.” Grier pulled back.

  “It’s all those love hormones and wedding planning.”

  Grier wiped at her eyes. “I’ve got hormones a
plenty, and I prefer to put them to use elsewhere. I will cop to feeling so full of emotions sometimes they get the better of me.”

  “I know.” She did know, Kate thought. Her feelings for Jason were so overwhelming she had days she could barely sit still for the excitement that coursed through her veins.

  And other days she wasn’t sure how it was all going to end up.

  “Like when you and I talk, Kate. I love our conversations and selfishly I wish you lived closer, but I’m so happy for you.”

  Grier’s voice pulled Kate from her thoughts along with the warm hand that wrapped around hers. “Sometimes I can’t believe it’s all happened. That I found Jason. That I left Indigo and live in New York City, of all places. My mother is probably turning in her grave.”

  The image of her mother’s perpetually sour disposition—and the realization that she’d never have gone to New York had Laurie Winston still been alive—stretched another thin layer of melancholy over the evening.

  “I’d like to think maybe she’s now able to appreciate the things that make you happy.”

  “That’s lovely.”

  “Or hard-won wisdom.” Grier winked. “Because we all know my mother has quite a few moments of her own. How is Pattycakes?”

  Grier had a strained maternal relationship with Patrice Thompson that made Kate’s own relationship with their mother look like something out of a Hallmark commercial. The two women had mended a lot of old wounds the previous winter when Patrice finally had to come to terms with her affair with Grier’s father. Patty had lived with decades of grief that she had been unable to give herself over fully to that love. Despite their progress, the relationship had over thirty years of strain that wouldn’t simply vanish overnight.

  “I haven’t seen her yet.”

  “Have you and Jason been out for any society events yet? You’re sure to see her there.”

  “We have something next week. An opera function.” Kate waved it off like it was no big deal, but the acid churning in her stomach told a different story. She harbored the very real fear that she’d make an ass out of herself with Jason’s elite social circle—one she’d only read about in magazines and imagined from books.

  Grier took a sip of her wine. “They’re not so bad. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them fun, but there are worse ways to spend an evening.”

  Kate had hesitated to ask Grier too much about her old life. While the two of them had moved past the initial harsh circumstances that brought them together—no knowledge of each other while their father was living and a contested will for Jonas Winston’s belongings after he passed—Kate hadn’t quite worked herself up to talk about Jason with any degree of frequency.

  The fact that he was Grier’s ex-fiancé was the subject of much speculation in Indigo and she hadn’t figured out how to casually ask all the questions and concerns that perpetually hovered in her mind.

  Was she going to be able to fit into Jason’s rarefied life for the long haul?

  Did she have what it took to be a partner’s wife?

  And did she even desire his lifestyle?

  The questions churned over and over, assaulting her at quiet moments, forcing her to examine what it really meant to fall in love with someone who came from a completely different place.

  • • •

  Jason Shriver took a deep swig of his beer as he watched a mismatched wrestling bout start in the middle of Maguire’s bar. The two men with him—Walker Montgomery and Mick O’Shaughnessy—had assured him these bouts happened with a fair amount of frequency, but he couldn’t help feeling the slightest twinge of concern at what was about to take place.

  A big man—linebacker large, with shoulders that stretched his T-shirt wide across his chest—nicknamed Bear (or he hoped it was a nickname) and a lean, lanky man named Skate were circling each other in an area that had been cleared of tables.

  “Bear never can take him.” Walker shook his head at Mick. “I don’t know why you continue to bet on the big man.”

  “He’s bound to win sooner or later.” Mick, fiancé to Jason’s ex-fiancé—and wasn’t that a weird kick?—took a long drag of his beer. The bush pilot had an easy demeanor about him, and Jason had been more than surprised to find the two of them got on well enough.

  Well enough Jason was willing to embarrass himself with a few questions about the ritual they were observing. “He’s a long shot? The big guy.”

  “Yep. Skate’s like a pretzel, and those wiry arms are shockingly strong. He’ll have Bear in a headlock in ten seconds flat.” Walker shot a glance at Mick. “Eight seconds.”

  “No way.”

  “Just you wait.”

  Jason was skeptical, but figured he should trust the obvious experience in Walker’s tone since he really didn’t know any better. On his trip up to Indigo the previous winter Jason had kept to himself and avoided the locals at all costs.

  Except for Kate.

  They’d met unexpectedly in the bar of his hotel when he was waiting to talk to Grier, and the resemblance was so strong he’d done a double-take.

  And then fallen so hard he still saw stars.

  Walker nodded. “Just watch.”

  True to his word, the match was over nearly as fast as it had begun. A bit of catcalling from the bar and a lot of good-natured laughter from Bear couldn’t change the fact that Skate snuck out of a headlock and had the bigger guy in a tight grip with shocking speed.

  “How long have they been doing this?” Jason smiled as the two men shook hands, evidence there were no hard feelings.

  “High school,” Mick offered up as he gestured to their waitress for another round. “Skate knocked Bear upside the head in the hallway out of the science lab when we were all in the tenth grade.”

  “You remember this?”

  The two men glanced at each other before Walker added the color commentary. “It was the highlight of sophomore year. That and Kathy Anderson’s unfortunate prom incident.”

  “Prom incident?” Jason wasn’t sure he could even remember his prom, let alone recite incidents from the event nearly two decades later.

  “Great girl,” Mick said before adding, “but very poor choice in prom dress. She bought the first one in the wrong size apparently thinking she’d lose a certain amount of weight by prom, and when that didn’t happen, she needed an emergency one flown in from a store in Anchorage.”

  Jason knew better than to respond to any story revolving around a woman’s weight, so he opted for the second most-obvious point of the story. “And you both really remember this?”

  “Wait for it.” Walker took two beers from their waitress and handed them around before snagging his own.

  “So sweet Kathy had, well, let us say some rather sizable endowments. And, well . . .” Mick hesitated. “Her strapless dress fell during the Macarena.”

  “No shit?”

  “She was magnificent,” Walker exhaled on a smile full of warm memories.

  “Oh, God, someone’s waxing rhapsodic about Kathy Anderson.” Avery Marks came up behind Walker and smacked him lightly on the head. “Memory like an elephant.”

  “Who’s Kathy Anderson?” Sloan’s eyebrows were sky high as she stared at her fiancé. Walker’s bright smile and quick “Oh honey” didn’t fool her in the least as she took a few steps back, out of the reach of his arms. “Who?”

  “A sweet, lovely girl Avery, Mick and I went to high school with.”

  As Avery recapped the prom incident—her tone far more matter of fact than Mick’s—Jason felt Kate slip in next to him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and the light scent of honeysuckle he’d come to associate with her caused those stars to shoot through his brain once more.

  Mick jumped up to kiss Grier before reaching for a nearby table to drag against theirs, and Jason was surprised to find their guys’ night out turn quickly into a couple-fest. The conversation was easy and light and full of laughter.

  Even Sloan—who had barely tolerated him throughout t
he years he and Grier dated—seemed far warmer to him than ever before.

  “Did you have fun?”

  Jason saw the anxious question in Kate’s eyes, even as her tone stayed purposely light and casual. “A lot of fun. I’ve certainly gotten a sense of the town.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

  He couldn’t hold back the wry smile. “It’s good.”

  “It’s nearly summer, which means the days are a lot longer. Everyone’s in a better mood with more sunlight.”

  “So that’s why it’s still bright outside and it’s nearly eleven?”

  “Exactly.”

  “It’s sort of like Vegas.” When the earlier anxiety in her eyes shifted to confusion, Jason tried to explain what he meant. “The whole atmosphere makes you forget how late it is.”

  The confusion didn’t fade fully, but her swift nod was one he’d seen on more than one occasion. She had no frame of reference when he mentioned skiing in Aspen or beach parties in the Hamptons or trips to Europe.

  Jason tried to ignore the evidence of how different their lives had been up to now and simply focused on Kate. For the first time in his life, he understood what it was to need a woman and not simply want her. The knowledge was as heady as it was frightening.

  He reached over and took her hand, pleased when her fingers linked with his.

  They’d figure it out. Get their footing with each other—something solid that went beyond the overwhelming attraction they had for each other.

  They had to.

  Chapter Two

  Kate glanced around their hotel room at the Indigo Blue. It felt funny to stay in a hotel in her hometown, yet there really was no choice. Her house was already rented, and while she and Grier had come a long way, both thought it was a lot to ask Jason and Mick to share the small cottage Mick owned on the outskirts of town.

  She’d briefly toyed with staying with her Aunt Maeve, but her dear, sweet, reclusive aunt wasn’t big on company, and it was awkward enough to introduce Jason to Indigo without adding strange family dynamics to the mix. Their visit with her earlier that day had been more than enough for all of them.