Page 40 of Alaskan Blackout

“Do you? Because McKenna read me the riot act when she thought I might have used foul means to locate you. You won’t find a more warm-hearted, generous—” Quinton broke off as he saw a sly smile spread over Clayton’s face. “What?”

“You love her,” Clay said simply. “That’s what.”

Did he?

The howling wind in his ears quieted as Quinton’s whole world rearranged. The pieces re-sorting themselves as he tried to make sense of the words and his brother’s turnabout. Had Clayton been playing him to get a read on his feelings?

“She’s important to me,” Quinton said carefully while his logical brain tried to turn the clues into something quantifiable. Something shifted in his chest. “And special.”

Clayton waited for a couple of long-tailed ducks to swim past before he skipped another stone. As if the world hadn’t just tilted sideways. “Call it what you want, brother. But you’ve got it bad whether you know it or not. Since when does the family tech genius cool his heels for two weeks in the Aleutian Islands to wait for a woman while she’s out to sea?”

Quinton frowned, answering by rote. “I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Yet that was only half the truth, wasn’t it? He’d shared the deepest secret of his heart with her that night of the blackout, telling her about his mother’s death. That had been a piece of his soul and something he didn’t share with anyone. Ever.

Had he been falling for McKenna even then? No doubt he’d always struggled with relationships after the way he’d lost his mother. But the memories he had of her—vibrant, independent, happy—made him think she wouldn’t want him to live without love.

“You’ve got an answer for everything,” Clayton muttered, heaving the last of his rocks before dusting off his hands and shoving them in the pockets of his navy jacket.

“No, I don’t.” Quinton stared into the distance where McKenna’s red hair was only just visible. He willed her to turn around and come back so he could share some of what Clayton had helped him see. “You’ve just shown me that I don’t have an answer for anything. But I’m going to do my damnedest to fix that.”

“Good. Kenna deserves someone smarter than you’re being lately.” Clayton grinned, the first sign of the brother Quinton remembered from long ago. From the years before Duke Kingsley had bullied Clay into being someone that his son didn’t want to be.

Which reminded Quinton of the mission he’d come to Alaska to complete.

“Fair enough. I’m going to work on being the right man for her. But in order to do that, I need you to get your ass to Silent Spring, Montana, for a few weeks to accept your portion of the Kingsley legacy. I’m also gifting you my shares of Kingsland Ranch, which you know I have good reason to leave forever.”

The shock on his brother’s face was visible beneath his usual reserve. Clay’s dark eyebrows furrowed as he visibly struggled to make sense of the gift. Then, an instant later, the brief visible evidence of his emotions vanished as if it had never been. Something about Clayton’s obvious efforts to mask his real feelings made Quinton decide not to ask him why he’d gone to ground after their father’s death. Why he’d made it a point to evade the private investigator Levi had sent to Dutch Harbor to search for him. Because if he pushed Clay now, he might lose any hope of getting him to come to Montana. He’d allow Clay to share more when he was ready.

Right now, Quinton was just a messenger for the rest of the family. And he’d delivered the news he’d come to share.

“I have plenty of reasons not to want to go back to Silent Spring too.” Clayton’s shoulders tensed. His face serious as he stared out over the water. Clouds had moved in over the surface, making the daylight more muted.

“So don’t stay once the paperwork is settled,” Quinton suggested, sensing he was near closing the deal. “But Levi, Gavin and I are all in agreement that Duke’s will was bullshit and it needs to be righted.”

Clayton scrubbed a hand over his bare head, his close-cropped dark hair hardly moving. “I’m in the middle of a research project up here,” he hedged.

“So finish it up first.” Quinton shrugged, anxious to get back to McKenna. To work things out with her. To tell her he loved her and was willing to put in as much time as it took to heal their relationship. “If you give me your word you’ll come to Montana once you’re done, that’s good enough for me.”

“Will you be there?” Clay asked, one eyebrow raised.

Quinton glanced back in the direction where McKenna had disappeared, the urge to see her now all but overwhelming him.

“I’ll be wherever McKenna wants to be.” He recognized that with absolute certainty. “But I’ll travel to Montana for a week or two while you’re there so we can all sign the paperwork.”

Studying him through narrowed eyes for a moment, Clay finally nodded. “Deal.”

Relief rocked him.

The two men shook hands while the mist settled lower on the lake. From a hundred yards away, the pilot shouted down to them, suggesting they needed to get underway before worse weather blew in.

“I’d better go get McKenna.” Quinton backed up a step, ready to pursue the woman he loved to the ends of the earth if necessary. “I’m going to try to convince her to fly out with me.”

“You do that, and I’ll get her bag packed,” Clayton agreed easily. He jabbed a finger at Quinton. “Just remember to treat her right or I’ll know about it.”

Quinton’s chest squeezed again. This time he recognized the ache for what it was. Love.

“Deal,” he parroted back at Clay before taking off down the beach to ask McKenna for another chance.

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