Finding Paradise (A Paradise, Alaska Romance, Band 2) - Softcover

Dunlop, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593332989 ISBN 13: 9780593332986

Verlag: Berkley, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

Passion heats up in Paradise, Alaska, for two people who couldn't be more different in this sweet, sizzling romance from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Dunlop.

Accomplished Los Angeles lawyer Marnie Anton has always been sensible, but when her friend Mia Westberg asks for help with a ridiculous matchmaking project, she can't say no. The idea of transporting city girls into the small town of Paradise, Alaska, is so crazy it just might...work? Against her best judgment, she tags along. Having grown up in a family of intimidating men, Marnie developed a preference for the urbane lawyers and clients in her life in LA. But when she meets a mountain of a buff Alaskan man with an intriguing snake tattoo, intimidated is definitely not the first thing she feels.

Conrad "Cobra" Stanford was skeptical of the matchmaking event from the start. Big-city women weren't adventurous, they were judgmental. They'd take one look at him and scorn his lifestyle, just like his first love did. Cobra planned to give the women a wide berth, but one of them won't be ignored. Marnie's everything that's wrong and everything that's right for him all at the same time. Just when he thinks he's got her pegged, she blindsides him with a startling past, falling into his arms and igniting his protective instincts and so much more....

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Barbara Dunlop has published over fifty novels with Harlequin Books and eight novels with Tule Publishing. Her stories have ranged from light hearted comedies to family sagas. Barbara is a four time finalist for the RWA RITA award, and her Tule novel His Jingle Bell Princess has been optioned by Motion Picture Corporation of America for a Hallmark movie. Barbara's Tule novels have ranked as high as #1 on Amazon.com.

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Chapter One

o

Enjoying the last sip of a bubbly Dom Pƒrignon from her blown-crystal flute, Marnie Anton paused beneath the vaulted ceilings of LA's Lafayette mansion to ponder irony and the twists of fate.

"I see you need more champagne," Hannah Lafayette observed, her voice light and cheerful as she approached Marnie in the great room. She gave a discreet wave to a nearby waiter who was standing at the ready.

Hannah had grown up in the mansion and was completely comfortable in its grandeur and opulence.

Marnie, on the other hand, had grown up behind an auto shop in Merganser, Kansas.

A crisp-dressed, white-shirted man refilled her glass with the dry, deeply flavored golden champagne that foamed partway up to the rim. In a town full of entertainment power brokers, the late Alastair Lafayette still had an unbeatable wine cellar.

"Thank you." Marnie gave the waiter a truly grateful smile. She might have grown up playing in a wheel alignment pit instead of a wine cellar, but that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate a great vintage.

"I can feel the excitement from here." Hannah gestured to the dozen women chatting and laughing over drinks and hors d'oeuvres in scattered groups around the gracious room.

"You didn't have to do all this." Marnie had been surprised when Hannah and her twin brother, Henry, had so wholeheartedly embraced supporting the Finding Paradise Alaskan matchmaking venture. They were hosting a launch party tonight, giving the selected women a chance to get to know one another before tomorrow's flight to Anchorage, then Fairbanks, then on to the small, rural town of Paradise.

"We're more than happy to help out," Hannah said with what sounded like sincerity. "I know Mia transferred ownership of the house to us, but we still consider it hers too." She paused for a moment, a thread of humor coming into her voice. "And Henry wouldn't have it any other way. He got a haircut, picked up a new suit and shaved at four o'clock this afternoon."

Marnie couldn't help but smile at Henry's eagerness to meet the young, eligible women who were participating in the endeavor.

Her legal client and close friend Mia Westberg was the driving force behind the Alaskan matchmaking project. At twenty-seven, Mia was only two years older than her stepchildren, Hannah and Henry, and over the past few months, they'd battled each other in a drawn-out court case over Mia's husband Alastair's estate. By rights, Marnie and Hannah should still be adversaries.

Marnie had successfully argued for the fashion empire and mansion to go to Mia-as Alastair had directed. But Mia had promptly shared ownership of the company with the twins, handed over the family mansion to them, then ceded control of the company and moved to Paradise, Alaska.

Having met bush pilot Silas Burke and having seen the diamond ring he put on Mia's finger, Marnie didn't blame her friend for falling in love. But Mia had turned a clear court case win into what felt like a partial loss. It was hard for the competitive streak in Marnie to accept the final outcome.

"Scarlett Kensington seems particularly amped up." Hannah continued the conversation like she and Marnie were old friends, nodding to one particular group of women.

Marnie took in Scarlett's flushed cheeks and her brisk hand gestures where she chatted with Olivia Axler and Willow Hale in front of the wide stone fireplace that soared to the ceiling-a portrait of Grandfather Lafayette gazing down from its face. Scarlett was twenty-two and worked as a production assistant in the film industry.

Mia and her cousin Raven, who also lived in Paradise, had carefully selected each applicant, choosing women they thought might fit in best in small-town Alaska. There were plenty of robust, hardworking men in Paradise who were eager to meet new women. And the women here were eager to meet honorable men.

"Scarlett's into surfboarding and parasailing," Marnie said to Hannah, having studied the background of each of the successful applicants. "She also said she likes to hike in the San Gabriel Mountains."

"I guess that's the kind of thing you'd be looking for."

"Willow hang glides, and Olivia's been fly fishing with her grandfather. We built outdoor sports into the algorithm."

"That seems smart," Hannah said, tilting her head to study another of the conversation groups. "From the pictures Mia sent, Paradise is nothing but mountains, trees and rivers. You'd have to be outdoorsy to put up with that."

Marnie had seen those same pictures. "They have a café, a bar, housing-well, cabins and camp trailers mostly. But there's the health center, the school, Galina Expediting's warehouse and West Slope Aviation at the airstrip."

Galina and WSA were the main employers in the town, its reason for existing, in fact.

Hannah pouted her pretty red lips. "Not a single designer boutique, no fine dining, no beachfront, never mind a country club."

Marnie cracked a smile at the justified criticism. "Plus, the bugs and the bears. Definitely not my idea of paradise."

"Whose was it, do you think?" Hannah looked perplexed, giving her champagne flute a small wave of emphasis. "Who got there, looked around and said, 'Ahh, Paradise, that's the right name'?"

Marnie's grin widened. It felt strange to chat amicably with Hannah after the bitterness of the court case.

Marnie had later learned that Hannah's mother, Alastair's ex-wife Theresa, had been the driving force behind the hostility. Still, it was unsettling to have Hannah's attitude turn on a dime like this. Marnie kept expecting Hannah to voice some sharp disagreement or have an angry outburst like she'd done a couple of times in the courtroom.

"Silas is picking them up in Fairbanks?" Hannah asked after a moment of silence.

Marnie nodded. "I'm not sure he's thrilled to be dropped into the middle of the whole undertaking. But he can't say no to Mia."

Hannah took a sip of her own champagne. "Mia made it sound like his boss was the real grouch."

"Most of the guys can't wait to mix and mingle. The entire town is in desperate need of more estrogen. But his boss, Brodie, thinks it'll be disruptive to his airline's operations."

"It probably will."

"True, and he's skeptical that any of the women will settle down in Alaska."

"Even if they do meet their perfect match?" Hannah asked.

"Even then."

"What do you think?"

Marnie had to agree with Brodie-even though they'd chosen women who skewed toward outdoor pursuits. "Would you leave LA for Paradise, Alaska, population four hundred?"

"With gravel roads, a single restaurant and an average winter temperature of ten below?" Hannah grimaced.

Marnie lifted her flute in mock toast to their evident agreement. "Exactly."

They both drank, then pondered for a moment.

"I hear the guys are super sexy," Hannah ventured.

"I suppose they'd keep you warm at night," Marnie allowed.

Hannah stretched out her fingers and gazed at her perfect coral manicure. "I'd miss Celeste's esthetic talents . . . and my friends at the club . . . and where would you even wear your Castille or your Faux?"

Marnie couldn't afford either of those fashion designers, but she understood the point. "I have a dozen pairs of perfectly good shoes that would not survive gravel roads and muddy pathways."

Hannah's sculpted brows furrowed. "Mia's been wearing those brown leather boots all the time up there, waterproofed, I think."

"Barely a heel." Marnie had seen them in pictures, splattered in mud. They looked tragically practical, reminding her of a time in her life she preferred to forget.

"No calf elongation whatsoever." Hannah glanced down at her own...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593332989
• ISBN 13: 9780593332986
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar