North of Heartbreak Read Online Free

of either.
    “This is for you.” He handed her a paper cup.
    She took it, but held it at arm’s length. “What is it?”
    “Tea. Two sugar, two cream, right?”
    Willa blinked in surprise. “How did you…”
    “Jason told me. There’s also a BLT waiting for you in the plane, and we—” he glanced at his watch, “—are due back in Stony Creek.” He swept his hand toward the waiting aircraft. “After you.”
    Frowning, Willa exited the terminal and headed in the direction of the plane. As happy as she was to be leaving, why was he being so nice to her? She watched him closely, but he seemed oblivious to her as they walked across the tarmac.
    Stop it. Good-looking doesn’t always equate to selfish jerk. Though, in her experience, most of the time it did.
    She circled around the aircraft to the passenger side door.
    “Do you need a hand getting in?” he called out.
    “No, thanks.”
    “Good enough,” he said, jumping into the pilot’s seat and shutting his door.
    She got in, buckled up because he’d probably quote regulations again if she didn’t, then stared at him.
    He ignored her, his hands moving over the controls with a confidence she’d only seen in his boss, Jason.
    “Something wrong with my face?” he asked after a few seconds.
    “No,” Willa said with a snort, then realized how that must sound. “Of course not.”
    “Of course not?” He gave her a sexy grin and a wink.
    Darn it, this was a conversation she didn’t want to have. “Never mind,” she said quickly. “Just forget it.”
    He turned his head away, but not before she caught a glimpse of another smile. When he turned back a second later, it was gone.
    “Good. Better put that tea down.” He pointed at a cup holder on the floor between their seats.
    Willa rolled her eyes. “Another regulation?”
    “Yep.” He put his headset on and the plane moved forward, taxiing toward the runway.
    Willa shook her head and opened the lid of her cup to take a swallow of tea before putting it in the holder. She didn’t trust this Liam fellow. Not at all. Surviving her ex-husband had taught her how to be strong, how to take care of herself, how easy it was for a man to misrepresent himself.
    She put him out of her mind. Joe was going to need a fairly long recovery period and months of physiotherapy. She didn’t have a lot of equipment, so she would have to improvise, something she’d gotten good at. But improvisation only went so far. She’d have to write yet another letter to the town council begging for more money to buy that equipment, a larger space and a full-fledged, honest-to-God doctor.
    Liam kept glancing at her, then finally handed her the copilot’s headset. She took it and put it on.
    “I taxed the engines pretty hard on the way down,” he said. “Didn’t quite wreck them, but our ETA to Stony Creek is around two and a half hours.”
    She looked at him then. “That long? I was hoping we’d get there sooner. I’ve got a lot to do.”
    “Sorry.” He shrugged.
    “Don’t worry about it. Getting Joe to the hospital in time is more than worth it.”
    Silence.
    After several long, empty seconds he asked, “How often do you go to the city?”
    “I’m in Fairbanks every couple of months for staff meetings and training, why?”
    “No, I meant Seattle or Portland. You do go south once in a while don’t you?”
    “Sure.” She darted a confused look at him before replying, “Once every six months or so. I visit some friends, see a bunch of movies and shop. Why?”
    “Just wondered. I’ve only been up here for a couple of weeks.”
    “So you said before.”
    A long pause.
    “What brought you here?”
    This was beginning to sound like twenty questions. “I like small towns, and city life had become…” How could she put this without giving too much away? “Too restrictive.”
    “But there’s so much to do in a city.”
    “That’s not what I mean. Here, I work for myself and every day is a new challenge, without