CHAPTER ONE

 

 

Five minutes before her meeting with her boss, Rachel Chakrabarti’s phone vibrated with an alert from her personal email. Smiling a little goofily, she stepped into a corner behind one of the many potted plants around The Quinn Hotel and Spa, and sunk down into the comfy chair placed in the quiet nook.

Bob Quinn, the hotel’s owner and general manager, wasn’t going to begrudge her a few moments of peace…especially if he knew what the email was regarding.

Sure enough, her smile grew as she clicked to open the app. The email was from Soulmates.com, which wasn’t unusual; she’d been getting alerts and emails from the site since she joined several months ago. The dating site was simple to use, and she liked that she could focus only on potential dating partners nearby. When you chose to live in the middle of nowhere, Idaho—let’s be honest—it helped to be able to narrow down your dates to fifty miles.

Of course, there were plenty of dating partners in her little town of Quinn Valley, but she’d dated most of them already. There’d been cowboys from nearby ranches, the sports trainers in town with big-name clients who were there to take advantage of the hot springs’ healing properties, and a few locals. Dusty McIver—her boss’s nephew—dated anything in a skirt, and while she found him fun, she was looking for someone a little more serious.

Someone looking for a forever.

So that’s why she was so excited about this new guy she’d been emailing. His name was Andrew, and she knew he worked nearby. But per the ground rules they’d laid out when Soulmates had first connected them, neither had revealed where they lived or what their job was. They also hadn’t shared their last names or anything else which could be used to actually identify them. Instead they’d been chatting about all sorts of other topics; personal beliefs, family stories, food preferences, favorite music, ideal vacations…everything!

It seemed they were compatible in every way, and in last night’s email she’d made the bold—for her, anyhow—suggestion it might finally be time to meet in person.

Just be sure you don’t chew with your mouth open, or trip over your feet or anything, dork!

Sometimes it was hard to ignore her subconscious’s wisecracks, but she tried.

Staring at the email subject line—“You Have a Response from Andrew”—she took a deep breath, then clicked it open.

 

Dear IndianGoddess,

Have I ever mentioned how cute I think your sobriquet is? When I joined this site I didn’t bother coming up with a fake name. Figured it was hard enough to keep all the guys straight anyhow. But “IndianGoddess” gives a good visual, and I like it.

Anyhow, sorry for rambling. I got really excited this morning when I read your email, and had some trouble concentrating on the drive to work. Luckily, it’s not far. Finally getting to meet my IndianGoddess and find out her real name? Yes please!

Heh. My point is, I’d really like to take you on a date. As you know, I have a lot of experience with first dates—but usually not more than that. But you…I dunno. Don’t think I’m crazy or anything, okay? But with you, I really feel that I might have a chance at a fourth or fifth date even.

Alright, I’m going to get to the point before you think I’m a stalker or weird for thinking long-term about a girl I haven’t even met yet: Yes, please, a date!

How about tomorrow night? I know plenty of good Friday night restaurants. Let me know what you’re thinking!

--Andrew

 

Rachel breathed a little relieved sigh as she clutched her phone to her chest, the goofy grin not leaving her face.

A date! Tomorrow!

She resisted the urge to giggle happily, knowing she’d made the right decision.

He liked her! He liked her in spite of her dorkiness, which must’ve come through, right? For Heaven’s sake, she’d chosen “IndianGoddess” for her online name, which was pretty darn dorky, although it had been at her friend Brooke’s urging. So yeah, Andrew must’ve realized she wasn’t completely normal, and he still liked her!

Andrew really was a gentleman; he’d made it clear from the beginning any “next steps” would have to be taken by her, and he’d wait until she was ready. From his response, it was clear he’d been ready to meet her in person for a while, but had given her the power to decide, and she loved that. Also, any guy who could use the words “dunno” and “sobriquet” in the same email was her kind of guy: intelligent and quirky all at once. Plus, she’d realized early on that Andrew was humble about his intelligence, and that made him even more attractive.

No doubt about it; whatever this guy looked like in person, he was already pretty darn appealing.

And tomorrow, she’d get to find out for sure…in person!

Glancing at her watch, she knew she only had a minute to send a reply.

 

Andrew,

I guess if we’re going to meet, there’s no need for silly sobriquets any longer. BTW, do you know how hot it is when a guy can use big words like that? Very.

But I suppose you should start calling me Rachel. I’ll give you my last name tomorrow, because it’s a doozy. But Rachel’s good enough for now.

I’m pretty excited to meet you too. I live near Quinn Valley, and there’s a yummy restaurant here called Quinn’s Pub, a very popular Friday night date spot. What do you think?

See you tomorrow!!! (And you’re lucky that doesn’t contain eight exclamation points.)

-Rachel

 

It really did take a concerted effort not to giggle with excitement as she shut down the email app and put her phone to sleep. She took a few deep breaths, trying to switch gears back to being “professional,” and pulled out her work tablet. Standing, she straightened her shoulders and her slim black jacket, then prepared for her daily meeting with her boss.

Still, she couldn’t keep her dorky smile hidden as she let herself into his office, and he noticed.

“You’re almost a minute late,” Bob Quinn said, a teasing sparkle in his eyes.

She knew he wasn’t angry, was just looking for a reason to poke at her, so she nodded somberly as she slipped into the leather chair placed on the other side of his desk. “And you know me, so punctual otherwise.”

Bob snorted as he reached for his old-fashioned planner and flipped it open to today’s date. “I’d call you many things, sugar, but ‘punctual’ ain’t one.”

Rachel had to press her lips together to prevent her smile from growing even bigger. In most hotels, a general manager calling the assistant general manager “sugar” would be a big no-no and grounds for a lawsuit. But here, they were more of a family.

Bob and his wife April Lynn had purchased and renovated the hotel several years ago, and all four of his daughters worked there. Well, actually, his three younger daughters all worked with their mother in the spa and didn’t want anything to do with the hotel, but he’d just promoted his oldest daughter, Roxie, to the hotel’s event coordinator, and she couldn’t be happier. In fact, Roxie was the one who’d suggested her father promote Rachel to AGM during Bob’s health scare a few months back.

Rachel had worked in hotels for years after getting her degree in hospitality and tourism at the University of Idaho down in Moscow, which is where her parents still lived. She’d moved to Quinn Valley for the front-desk manager job, even though it’d been a step down from her previous positions. She’d seen the potential in the hotel and had been thrilled when Roxie had suggested her for AGM.

Even if Roxie never could remember her name.

Still, it was time to be professional, so she forced her serious face. “Regardless of my brilliant time-keeping abilities, shall we get started?”

Bob hummed thoughtfully and cocked his head as he tapped his finger on the planner. “There’s something not quite right about you, girl.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re too…bubbly. You’re acting like Roxie after she met that boy.”

That boy, Ciran, was now Bob’s son-in-law, but Rachel knew he prided himself on his stern manner, so she didn’t remind him. “Sorry. I’ll try to be more dour.”

He snorted again, obviously not buying her contriteness, and pointed one beefy finger at her. “Are you in love, girl? That’s what it looks like.”

Her eyes widened.

In love?

“Don’t be silly,” she scoffed. “I’ve got a date tomorrow, but it’s a first date, and I barely know the guy.”

Well, that wasn’t one hundred percent accurate. She did know Andrew fairly well, assuming he wasn’t an ax murderer who was really good at pretending. But he wouldn’t even know her real name until he read that last email, so there was no way she could be in love with him.

But Bob was nodding smugly, as if he’d figured out a big secret. “I knew it! First date, true love…” He made a weighing motion with his hands. “Same difference.”

“I’m not in love with him, Bob.”

Bob smiled slightly as he settled back in his chair, as if conceding. “You know I think of you as one of my daughters, sugar. That’s the only reason I’m teasing you.”

“You only think of me as one of your daughters, old man,” she said with a grin, “because you can’t keep your daughters’ names straight, and I fit right in.”

He burst into laughter then. “You’re right! Roxane, Renae, Raina, Riley and Rachel! You do fit right in.”

“But I seem to recall you weren’t feeling very teasing when Roxie fell in love.”

He sobered. “Right again. But Ciran is a good guy, even if it took me a while to accept that, and marriage is forever. Never forget that, Rachel. Don’t commit until you’re sure.”

Her smile was indulgent when she plunked her tablet down on his desk. “If we’ve finished tearing my lack of love life apart, can we please get on with business?”

Bob’s eyes were still twinkling when he ran his finger along his list of things to discuss. They covered their usual topics: room maintenance, housekeeping issues, and the weekend’s occupancy projections. With autumn over and winter on its way, most of the hotel’s guests were people who’d come for the medicinal benefits of the local hot springs, and who stayed for the glorious relaxation the spa offered. On Saturday, they had a readers’ group from Spokane coming in for a spa retreat, and Rachel had already met with April Lynn to cover everything the group might need.

All in all, it was a typical meeting once Bob left off his teasing of her romantic exploits, up until the last bullet point, that is.

“Alright,” Bob said with a sigh, checking off something in his planner. “Where do we stand on the Engineering job?”

She’d been expecting this, and knew she had to give it to him gently. “I only posted the position yesterday, Bob,” she reminded him softly. “We have to give it time.”

“It’s the internet!” He shook his pencil at her. “A magical world of mechanically minded people just standing around waiting to jump on a chief engineer position!”

She hid her smile at his fanciful description. “If we lived in a big city, I’d probably have at least one applicant by now. But there’s a limited number of available engineers in the panhandle of Idaho. We’re going to have to give it a while.”

“ ’A while’ is simply something we don’t have,” he grumbled.

Bob was right. The Quinn Hotel and Spa currently had an engineering team of four, and though they all were capable in their own roles, they still needed a fifth person to run the team. Last week Lester, their chief, had quit unexpectedly when one of the other hotels in town had offered him an outrageous hiring bonus. The remaining four engineers were stretched thin; four engineers, at five shifts per week, didn’t even cover the requisite twenty-one shifts in a week. Luckily, the hotel ran well enough without an engineer on duty for the eleven-to-seven a.m. shift, so they were only worried about first and second shifts. But their four guys needed to have some overlap, so one would be on duty while another handled preventative maintenance and special projects.

And honestly, Rachel didn’t have the time, energy or interest to worry about engineering shifts. The chief should be reporting directly to Bob, but they didn’t have one! They needed a new chief to assign shifts and handle all the other supervisory business which came up. Two of the engineers were too inexperienced to consider promoting, the third, Jimmy, only wanted to work second shift, and the fourth engineer, Mickey—everyone called him Mickey Four Fingers, even though he had all his digits—had already stated he didn’t want a supervisory role. So that left Rachel to find a new chief engineer, and fast, or she’d be stuck doing the chief’s job indefinitely.

So she sighed in agreement with her boss. “I know. I’ll see if I can find a few other sites to post the job on.”

Bob was frowning down at his planner and hadn’t seemed to hear her. “I wish Andrew wasn’t so stubborn.”

The unexpected name jerked Rachel’s attention away from her own woes. “What?”

“Oh, sorry.” Bob’s brow was furrowed when he met her eyes. “My nephew, Andrew. Libby’s oldest. She’s older than me, married a man who lived over by Riston. Her two oldest don’t have much to do with our family, and no one’s really sure why.”

Rachel tried to force her pounding heart to calm down. Andrew was a common enough name; it was just coincidence her new dating partner shared a name with Bob’s nephew. After all, Bob had like twenty nieces and nephews, along with his own five kids. The Quinns believed in big families, and it was inevitable they’d use up all the common names, right?

Rachel cleared her throat, a little confused. “He’s stubborn?”

Bob’s little bark of laughter wasn’t pleasant. “You could say that. The boy—well, he’s gotta be close to forty now!—is an engineer, a darn fine one. Went to school for it and everything. He’s been working for the Westons over at River’s End Ranch since he graduated, and I’ve heard he’s kept that property together through a lot of emergencies.” Bob sighed and sunk lower in his leather chair. “When April Lynn and I bought this place, I tried to entice him away from Riston. Family should stick together, yeah? We needed an engineer, and I was happy to pay him what he was worth to get him to come back to his family.”

The way the older man twisted up his mouth told Rachel all she needed to know. Still, she asked, “He didn’t come?”

“He never comes to family events. Him or that sister of his. She’s got two kids, did I tell you that? But since her divorce, she never brings ‘em back home. Libby and Randall must see ‘em, I guess, but I haven’t seen those two kiddos since they were small. They’re part of the next generation of Quinns, and it’s a shame they’re not being raised back here in Quinn Valley!”

She was beginning to feel lost. “Wait, this is Andrew? Or his sister?”

“He’s got three sisters and a brother…Dusty. I think you know him?” Bob’s usual smirk was missing when he teased her.

Dusty McIver was this nephew’s brother? Rachel had never bothered to learn all the Quinns’ family relationships; there were more Quinns in Quinn Valley than she could shake a stick at, so it never seemed worth it.

“Yeah, I know Dusty.” Every single woman between the ages of nineteen and eighty-five knew Dusty, and had all probably been on the receiving end of that particular Quinn cousin’s gorgeous cowboy charm. There was a guy who knew what to do with a dimple! “And I remember him telling me about his twin sister and nephew.”

“Yeah, that’s Alyssa and Jeremiah, they live here in town. And so does Katie, their older sister. But the two oldest—Andrew and Heather—they don’t want anything to do with us.”

That was…sad.

Rachel had been in Quinn Valley for over a year now, and absolutely loved the place. She loved how everyone treated everyone else like family, even if they weren’t part of the far-flung Quinn clan. With every generation of Quinns having five kids—some type of genetic quirk or fairy magic or something—there were a lot of Quinns around these parts. And with only a rare few exceptions, every single one of them was open and loving and welcoming. As someone who had really benefited from the Quinn family’s sense of family, Rachel didn’t know why anyone who was already part of the family would want to avoid them.

“I’m sorry. That sounds rough on the rest of you.”

Bob was staring back at his open planner, but it was clear he wasn’t really seeing it. “I feel sorry for my parents, honestly. Andrew’s they’re oldest grandchild, and I know it hurts them he’s not here. And Heather’s two kids are their great-grandkids, and there’s only a few of those.” His frown deepened. “They haven’t come to any of the family get-togethers in years, but I know it would mean a lot to them—especially Pops—to see them there.”

Rachel hummed in agreement. “The holidays are coming up.”

“My parents always do a big Thanksgiving feast at the ranch, and everyone is expected to attend. Of course, Bobling hasn’t been there since he joined that special forces unit, but he always calls.”

Rachel had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smirking at Bob’s ridiculous nickname for his only son, even though everyone around town called the poor guy that.

But all she said was, “Thanksgiving should be a special time for the family to get together. It’s a shame not everyone can be there.”

“Oh, I’m sure Andrew could be there, if he wanted. He’s just stubborn.”

Ah, yes, bringing them back to how this all started. “Well, if he won’t even attend family dinners, I’m assuming that’s why he turned down the job to work for you?”

“Yeah, whatever his problem is, he’s not over it.”

Rachel released a sigh of relief. She was positive now her Andrew wasn't Bob’s Andrew. Her boss’s nephew sounded bitter and full of anger, the complete opposite of the Andrew she was meeting on Friday. She couldn’t imagine any reason why a person would choose to stay away from a family as wonderful as the Quinns, especially on Thanksgiving!

She cleared her throat, trying not to be depressed over this nice family’s loss. “I’m sorry.” Tapping a few points on her tablet, she saved and minimized her notes, then sat up straighter. “I’ll get this job listing posted to a few more places. If we can’t get anyone local by, say, November sixteenth—that’s a Friday—we can discuss what we can offer to bring in talent from farther afield. Deal?”

 “Deal.” Bob’s smile wasn’t anything like its former self. “I know you don’t like being without a chief engineer, anymore than I do. We’re living on borrowed time here, just hoping nothing goes wrong that Jimmy or Mickey Four-Fingers can’t handle.” He sighed and closed his planner. “So I guess you know we’re all counting on you.”

I’m counting on myself.

Without a chief, Rachel’s job was twice as hard, and she dreaded to think what they’d do in a real emergency. It was just a shame Bob’s nephew didn’t know how desperate they really were. Maybe if she could track him down, he’d reconsider coming to interview in Quinn Valley.

Or maybe he really was too stubborn.