The Daughter Dilemma

Bus Station.

What business would the girl have there? This morning, none of the D’Angelos had mentioned a family member coming or leaving town.

A vague, uneasy feeling stole over Kari. She went through the glass door. The station was a small, functional place, and in no time she saw Tessa standing near the bus bay. With a boy. Luggage around their feet.

They didn’t see her approach. Both were absorbed in the contents of the bag Tessa held. They looked like kids exclaiming over Halloween treats. They were kids!

“…should be enough snacks to hold us until we get to Albuquerque,” Tessa was saying as Kari reached them. “I got those chocolate-covered raisins you like.”

“Tessa?”

The blond boy looked up, and Tessa swung around. Her features went dead-white, and her eyes moved like a trapped rabbit’s. “Oh, K-Kari,” she stammered out. “Oh, hi.”

Dear Reader,

A long time ago this born-and-bred Florida girl spent a couple of years living in Colorado. What a shock that was! Snow instead of sand, mountains instead of beaches, and for neighbors, wild animals instead of tourists.

Eventually, circumstances brought me back to my home state, but I’ve never forgotten Colorado’s beauty. So when I started thinking of new places to set my next book, I couldn’t help remembering a terrific little family-run resort I’d found on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Daughter Dilemma, the first of the HEART OF THE ROCKIES series, is based on those fond memories.

This book introduces you to Nick D’Angelo, the oldest son. Nick has his hands full running Lightning River Lodge, piloting helicopter tours, keeping his teenage daughter out of mischief and fending off his loving family’s determined efforts to see him remarried. When Kari Churchill literally drops out of the sky and into his life, he can’t wait to see the last of her.

As for Kari, she has her own busy career and her determination to learn more about her late father’s final trip into the wilderness. She’d be only too happy to oblige Nick and catch the next plane out of the mountains.

But neither of them stands a chance once the rest of the D’Angelo family decides they’re meant for each other.

I hope you enjoy Nick and Kari’s journey as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them and this fun, energetic family. In books to come, Nick’s siblings will find their own Happily Ever After. These strong men and loving women typify the characteristics I so often found in the people who live in those mountains in Colorado—commitment, courage and an endless capacity for love.

Regards,

Ann Evans

The Daughter Dilemma

Ann Evans

It’s long past time to say a special thank-you to fellow Superromance author Kathleen O’Brien.

You convinced me to take the leap off the cliff, and only your professional insights, unending generosity and dear friendship keep me from crashing on the rocks below.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

NICK D’ANGELO was one hour and fifty-seven minutes into Angel Air’s deluxe two-hour helicopter tour. One hour and fifty-seven minutes into showing the Pattersons the beauty of Colorado’s Front Range the way birds saw it. One hour and fifty-seven minutes into a pounding headache that made him wonder if, at thirty-four, he was getting too old for this job.

Years ago he’d been a chopper pilot in the war, picking scared army grunts off sand dunes no bigger than a pitcher’s mound, bullets drilling holes into the side of his Black Hawk. No sweat, that.

But the Pattersons—both the rich, obnoxious father and the spoiled-rotten daughter—were making him crazy.

Dwayne Patterson, seated in the copilot seat of Raven One, was the kind of guy who’d die before he’d admit he was scared to death to fly. Every time Nick put the R-44 into a sharp bank, Patterson’s white-knuckled grip dug a deeper furrow into the seat’s leather. Nick didn’t mind that. Hell, plenty of people got nervous once they climbed into a helicopter. If this guy lost his lunch before the flight was over, Nick would clean it up—then charge him double through the “unforeseen incidence” clause in the release form.

No, the nerves didn’t bother him. It was Patterson’s constant chatter over the cabin’s “hot mike” that drove Nick nuts. Nick had smiled and nodded in all the right places, glad that his sunglasses hid his boredom. But the guy wouldn’t shut up.

As for the man’s daughter, Hannah, a more unlikable teenager Nick had yet to meet. Whenever he looked back over his shoulder to see how she was doing, she invariably threw him a pouty, petulant, hurt-baby face. As though the past two hours had somehow been Nick’s idea and not Dwayne Patterson’s pitiful attempt to bond with his kid.

Hannah Patterson wasn’t much older than Nick’s daughter, Tessa, but she was miles apart in temperament. Surly. Jaded. Easily bored. In the past couple of weeks Nick had been at odds with Tessa, but nothing in her contrary behavior even came close to this girl’s attitude.

And he’d been trying so hard to be agreeable to these people, too. He had to. The summer season had been off this year. Too much rain. Too many tourists tightening their belts instead of spending money. But sometimes, Nick thought, you played your best hand and it still wasn’t enough to win the pot.

He’d flown these two over some of the prettiest country God had ever created. It was going to be an early autumn—already the aspen were spreading golden blankets across the green velvet slopes. They’d swooped down over abandoned mines and ghost towns. Followed the winding river through the canyons—so close you could make out the bullet-shaped trout in the crystal streams below. Surely that kind of ride beat anything the theme parks were offering.

But neither of the Pattersons seemed the least bit impressed. Hannah just yawned and rolled her eyes occasionally. Daddy should have spent some of his computer software money on charm school.

He felt a fingertip jab hard into his shoulder and turned his head to find Hannah thrusting forward in her seat.

“How much longer?” the girl shouted, though Nick had explained twice that the cabin radio picked up every word and delivered it right into each of their headphones. “I have to pee like a racehorse.”

Nice mouth, Nick thought. But Dad Patterson didn’t seem to mind.

Instead of answering, Nick pointed out the front right windscreen. Angel Air’s heliport was in sight now, the landing pad a stark blue-and-yellow scar against the mountainside. The small office and hangar looked like a Monopoly house, the company’s other copter, Raven Two, like a kid’s toy.

Somewhere inside the office his sister, Adriana, would be waiting for their return. Probably fuming, if he knew Addy. Which he did.

He pressed the radio switch on the side of the cyclic column that allowed him to talk to the office or any other flight service he might need to raise. “Base, this is Nine-Zero-One-Bravo. Coming in from the west.”

“Roger, Nine-Zero-One-Bravo,” his sister’s voice came through the headphones. “I’ll be waiting.”

One hour and fifty-nine minutes into the tour now. It would be over soon enough, thank God.

He supposed it wasn’t really the Pattersons’ fault that he was in such foul humor. It had been a lousy week. Tessa behaving like a royal pain in the butt over some silly dress. Addy pestering him all the time about wanting more flight time now that she had her license.

It didn’t help that for the past two days Nick and Tessa had been forced to move into one of the two-bedroom guest suites up at the main lodge. Their own cabin was off-limits right now. Tessa had left the back door open and a skunk had meandered in, then scurried out. But not before getting the hell scared out of it and doing what skunks did best. A good three days, the fumigators had said.

He must be going soft. Over the years he’d slept in barracks cots, hammocks, sleeping bags and once, in a three-foot sand coffin with an Iraqi camel parked on top of him. Now Nick mourned the loss of his own bed. That sag in the middle fit his six-foot, three-inch frame like a suede glove.

Lord, he really was getting old.

Rolling his shoulders to work out some of the tension, he thought about how moving back home five years ago had seemed like an answer to a lot of problems. No—in spite of the grim circumstances, it had seemed like the answer.

He hadn’t expected it to be easy. From the moment he’d returned to Colorado he’d known there would be a heavy load of responsibility. Samuel, his father, had suffered a massive stroke. It had thrown the entire family into a tailspin, forcing Nick to take over running Lightning River Lodge—the family inn and tour company. Everyone had quickly grown to depend on him and eventually they’d weathered that crisis. Most of the time he was confident he could handle anything thrown his way.

Except when he had a week like this one. This week, it seemed as though ten of him wouldn’t have been enough to go around.

He eased back on the throttle to cut his airspeed for the landing, frowning at the vibration that passed through his fingertips. One of the main rotor blades might be out of trim. Just as well that the Pattersons were the last tour scheduled for the day. Tomorrow he’d take Raven One off-line and check it over.

In deference to Dwayne Patterson’s stomach, he set the skids down especially easy on the pad, then cut the rotor. The blades had barely stopped making their whoop-whoop noise before Addy was at the chopper door, helping Hannah Patterson find her feet.

“Well, how was it?” she asked no one in particular. Bright enthusiasm was Addy’s idea of good customer service.

Hannah lifted one thin shoulder. “We saw mountains. Big surprise.”

The girl pushed past Addy as though she were parting drapes, heading for the office’s small bathroom.

Addy smiled at Dwayne Patterson as he stepped out. “What about you? Did you like it? Did Nick point out all the abandoned silver mines? Those are some of my favorites.”

“Very nice,” the man said absently. He was already consulting his guide book, eager to find the next thrill. “If we take this road, can we get to Estes Park before nightfall?”

While Nick continued to shut down the engine, Addy helped Patterson with his map. She then headed toward the office, presumably to make sure Hannah had managed all right.

Nick came around the front of Raven One. Dwayne Patterson looked slightly uncomfortable, as though he didn’t know what to say while they waited for sullen Hannah to emerge.

“Certainly a beautiful day for a flight,” Patterson finally said. The clouds bunched along the Front Range were almost purple in the late-afternoon sunlight.

“We’ll get a thunderstorm later,” Nick said. Addy would lecture him if he didn’t make nice with the customers.

“You really think so?” Patterson frowned up at the sky as though he could find an argument for Nick’s statement written across the blue canopy. “I hope we can make Estes Park tonight.”

Estes Park sat at the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. “You and your daughter plan to blitz the Rocky Mountains in one weekend?” Nick asked.

“Actually, I think Hannah would rather be home with her mother,” the man admitted. “Anywhere away from me. I’m recently divorced, and we were supposed to spend the summer together. It didn’t happen, and she’s still sulking over it.” When Nick didn’t respond right away, Patterson added quickly, “I needed some time to myself. But I’m making it up to her now. That should count for something, right?”

Personally, Nick didn’t think that counted for anything. The guy wanted credit for shouldering his responsibility now? After he’d already made it clear to his daughter that she came second in his life? Fortunately he was saved from making any kind of polite answer. Hannah and Addy emerged from the office to rejoin the two men at the helicopter.

The girl headed in the direction of Patterson’s rental SUV. When she found the doors locked, she cupped her hands and yelled, “Are we going or not? Come on!”

The car keys quickly appeared in Dwayne’s hand. He turned toward Addy and Nick once more, his features sheepish. “Kids,” he said, as if that one word explained everything. “You know how they are.”

I thought so, Nick wanted to say. But I guess I’m still learning. If he’d been really savvy, last night’s argument with Tessa might not have happened. “Hard to know what’s in their heads,” he agreed. “But then, I guess that’s the way they intend it.”

Patterson nodded, then stuck out his hand to say goodbye.

“Come back again,” Addy encouraged. “There’s plenty more scenery around here, and next time, see it from the back of one of our horses. Lightning River Lodge has a really fine stable.”

The man gave her a noncommittal smile and went off to join his impatient daughter. In another few moments they would be gone, heading back down the winding mountain road and onto the fastest route to Estes Park.

With his arms crossed over his chest, Nick stood beside Addy and watched them go. His sister waved—the quintessential tour guide sending her chicks off to explore new territory.

“Smile,” Addy said without glancing his way. “Pretend you’re happy.”

“I am happy,” Nick replied. “Happy to see the last of them.”

“Well, you didn’t have to take them up. I told you I could handle it.”

“I wouldn’t be so cruel.” He turned toward his sister, cocking his head at her speculatively. “The lodge has a really fine stable?”

“I haven’t given up on the idea. You and Dad need to hear me out about expanding.”

“You want to run the stable or fly?”

“I don’t see why I can’t do both. Especially since you don’t seem willing to let me do much flying.”

Addy headed toward the office, a trim, dark-haired beauty who had boundless energy and about a million ideas to make the family businesses run better. Some of them were even pretty good.

Nick loved her dearly, but he also knew his younger sister could be foolishly stubborn, shortsighted and impetuous. Only recently had she seemed to settle down, deciding that she wanted a career flying helicopters. Two months ago she’d passed all the tests, accrued enough flight time. But would she stick it out, Nick wondered, when things got boring and a little too routine?

He followed her inside. The office furnishings were pretty sparse—Nick liked things clean and uncluttered. Military style. There was a waist-high counter that created a friendly barrier between staff and customers, a water cooler and a couple of utilitarian chairs. Through the back door lay the hangar area, where both R-44s would be wheeled in tonight before they locked up.

Nick had moved a second desk into the back area for Addy in an effort to show that he took her seriously as a fellow pilot. Not surprisingly, the top of it was nothing but a haphazard pile of clutter.

She plucked a handful of pink slips off a spindle. “As usual, I’ve been playing secretary.” One by one, she handed him the messages. “Leo Waxman says the estimate for rewiring the spa area is ready, and you should be prepared for a shock because it needs major work. Mr. Yokomoto called and wants you to call him back as soon as possible.”

She grinned as she handed him the last one. “Aunt Ren said to tell you that there was a wolf wandering near the back door when she took out the trash this afternoon and she’s not going back outside until you do something about it.”

Aunt Renata and Aunt Sofia, his mother’s widowed sisters, had come from Italy to help out after Nick’s father had suffered his stroke. Somehow they’d never left. Aunt Sof loved the Lightning River area and considered the breathtaking mountain vistas a little slice of heaven. Aunt Ren, on the other hand, still didn’t believe Colorado had ever won statehood. She’d yet to come to grips with the region’s abundant wildlife.

“A wolf?” Nick remarked absently as he fingered through the slips. “Probably Leo Waxman’s German shepherd. The dog goes everywhere he does.”

He frowned at the message from one of their best clients, Kiyoshi Yokomoto from Genichi Tech. Every other week for the past year G Tech had sent a handful of execs to Lightning River for R and R. Part of their stay always included a lengthy helicopter tour. Nick liked them. It was steady, easy money from people who appreciated the beauty of the Rockies.

He settled into his chair, pulled the phone closer and punched in Yokomoto’s office number. Kiyoshi seldom called, and Nick felt a nagging sense of doom that sent his headache rippling across his eyelids with renewed force.

“Don’t look so worried,” Addy said as she plopped into the chair behind her own desk. “He probably just wants to book a couple of extra guests.” She went suddenly upright in her chair. “Hey, if that’s what it is, we could both take up a Raven. Fly in tandem. That would be fun.”

Nick waited for the call to connect. With a scowl, he yanked off his sunglasses and wagged his hand toward the towering pile of paper perched haphazardly on Addy’s desk. “Do something with that stuff before it’s everywhere.”

Addy ignored that advice and reached to pick up the framed picture of her pilot’s license that sat proudly on one corner. “You’ve got to let me take up G Tech next weekend, Nick. See this?” she said, pointing to the license. “This says I’m perfectly capable of handling it.”

A huge, colorfully painted sign hung on the back wall of the office. It depicted a winding river between towering mountain peaks, bisected by a jagged lightning bolt—the family logo. Angel Air, the sign read. And below it: Nick D’Angelo, Owner/Operator.

Nick pointed toward it. “And that says I’m still the guy who makes that decision.”

His sister sighed in exasperation. Then the call went through and Kiyoshi was on the line. Nick listened to the man’s excellent English for a few minutes, made a couple of sympathetic comments, then placed the receiver back in its cradle.

Seeing the look on his face, Addy frowned. “Bad news?”

“Kiyoshi’s canceled everything for the next month. The head execs are flying out tomorrow because of some trouble in the Tokyo office.”

“Ouch. That’s a big one to lose.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“Well, at least that will give us a little breathing room to concentrate on the Graybeal wedding,” Addy said with her usual optimism. “We’re going to need all the help we can get to be ready for that one.”

Chuck Graybeal, the busiest dentist in three counties and an old family friend, had booked the entire lodge for his daughter’s upcoming wedding. The resort had never catered such a large, complex function before, but if everything went as planned, Nick could envision a whole new world of opportunity opening up for the family business. But first, they had to get through this latest hiccup.

He scraped a hand across his jaw, quickly calculating what the lost revenue from G Tech would mean. “The lodge will still be booked pretty solid, but this means Air is going to be hurting for business next weekend.”

“We can make it up. Vail’s got its big aspen festival coming up. That’ll mean lots of tourists checking out the I-70 corridor. Some of them are bound to be looking for a fun way to kill a few hours.” Her voice took on more enthusiasm as ideas started to pop. “Maybe we could do a flyer. Blitz the parking lots and shops with a two-for-one deal on an hour flight.”

“Pretty short notice.”

“You know I’m good at mobilizing, Nick. I can do it.”

That was certainly true. When Addy set her mind to something, she was like a laser on a target. “Let’s talk about it with the family tonight at dinner.”

“Fine,” she conceded, but Nick could see the wheels still turning in her head. “Talking about this will be tons better than listening to you and Tessa argue.”

“The arguing part’s over,” Nick said, balling up the messages and lobbing them into the trash can that sat between their desks. “The dress goes back. And you aren’t to encourage Tessa to any further rebellion.”

Addy shook her head at him. “But—”

He scowled at her and she subsided.

His daughter was fourteen and turning into a lovely young woman that any father would be proud of. But sometimes he wasn’t sure he and Tessa were connecting at all. After years of trying so hard, coming so far in their relationship…

“She’s growing up, Nick.” Addy cut quietly into his thoughts, as though she could read them. Maybe she could. Addy had a way with people.

Nick smiled at her. “I can accept that. But she doesn’t need to show everyone just where she’s growing. That dress was indecent.”

“You’re such a prude.”

“I’m her father. She’s too young. You weren’t allowed to wear anything that sexy to school dances.”

Addy’s mouth quirked in derision. “How would you know? You’d already married Denise and left home by the time I was fourteen.”

Nick couldn’t resist laughing. “Are you kidding? Between your escapades and Matt’s overachieving and Rafe getting into trouble all the time, my mailbox was full of letters from Mom and Pop, and I memorized almost every word. The night of your first Sadie Hawkins dance you wore a modest yellow dress with daisies along the neckline.”

Addy straightened in surprise. “How do you know that?”

“Because Pop kept asking Mom who Sadie Hawkins was, and she described the dress very vividly to me. Said it looked like melted butter on you.”

Addy settled her chin on her hand. “It was pretty,” she said with a sigh. Then she gave Nick a sly sideways glance. “Too bad I didn’t wear it. I switched it for a midnight-blue slip dress with a plunging back. That was the night I let David McKay kiss me for the first time.”

Nick thought she looked a little dreamy, maybe even sad, but he gave her a glance that said she was completely hopeless. “No wonder Mom and Pop spent so much time threatening to lock you in your room.”

“So is that how you want to handle Tessa? Threaten her with punishment all the time? Make her quake with fear instead of having her respect? Is that the way to raise children?”

“It worked for us.”

“Did it?”

He knew what she was getting at. The four D’Angelo offspring—Nicholas, Matt, Rafe and Adriana—had been raised by Samuel and Rose, people with strong values and a belief in exercising firm, loving control over their children. As parents, they had been tough, but devoted. Demanding, but fair.

Nick had always known what was expected from them, where he stood. So had the easygoing Matt, who was now a skilled surgeon living in Chicago. And though she’d been in and out of mischief for most of her growing-up years, Addy had done all right, too.

The real problem had been Rafe. The youngest son had been a black-eyed, black-tempered hell-raiser. As a teenager he’d always been at odds with their father and, after one particularly bitter fight, he’d run away from home.

He hadn’t been back since.

“I miss Rafe,” Addy said, jogging Nick out of the past.

He made a noncommittal sound in his throat. She and Rafe had been close. He suspected Addy was still in touch—she received mysterious phone calls and the occasional postcard. She’d probably forgive him anything. But he and Rafe had never seen eye-to-eye and he was still resentful that his brother had not returned—even for a visit—during his father’s health crisis.