A Match Made in Alaska Read Online Free PDF

her face, Annie held up a granola bar.
    “Voilà! It’s not a five-course meal, but it should tide us over until tomorrow.” She pointed at the pile of snacks set out in front of her.
    Declan’s stomach grumbled with appreciation at the sight of chocolate, trail mix, beef jerky, peanut butter and crackers. And a bottle of water. For someone who hadn’t eaten since this morning, it was a veritable feast. God was good!
    “It’s a divine meal as far as I’m concerned,” Declan said as he accepted the granola bar she held out to him. “It was brilliant of you to bring all these snacks on the flight.”
    A smile lit up her face. “Not brilliant. Just practical. I sometimes get low blood sugar, so I always make sure I have a bunch of snacks on hand to give me a boost in case I need it. And some of these I stuffed in my luggage. I wasn’t sure if peanut butter was big in Alaska. Call me a snack hoarder,” she said with a laugh.
    “Snack hoard all you want. It’s a lifesaver,” Declan said, taking a huge bite of a granola bar. He closed his eyes as the morsel slid down his throat. A granola bar had never tasted so good in his life! As hungry as he was, it almost tasted like steak and potatoes.
    Annie Murray was shaping up to be quite a woman. She was smart and resourceful and plucky. Right about now he’d expected her to be a sobbing, frightened mess. He really needed to stop making rash and unfair judgments about people. Just because she was wearing fuzzy leopard pants didn’t mean she was an airhead. On the contrary, Love’s newest transplant was shaping up to be a keeper. Her stash of rations was going to save them from hunger pangs. Thanks to Annie, one of their major problems was solved. Now it was up to him to tackle another issue. Fire.
    “As soon as I get this fire going, we’ll really be in good shape,” he said. This was his moment to demonstrate his skills and to show Annie that he could take charge of the situation and protect her. He took a few dry sticks and began to rub them together frantically. Over and over again he rubbed the sticks in an effort to make a fire out of friction. As soon as he saw a hint of smoke, he would toss the sticks onto the pile of tinder and pray that a roaring fire would start burning.
    “How’s it going?” Annie asked over his shoulder. She was so close he could feel her breath on his neck. Talk about pressure!
    “Any minute now, this tinder is going to go up,” he said. “And we are going to have the world’s most roaring fire to keep us warm.”
    Precious seconds ticked by. Frustration began to set in as his efforts to get a fire going failed over and over again. It didn’t make any sense at all. Why wasn’t this fire sparking? The sticks were dry. He was exerting a lot of energy making sure that there was plenty of friction between the two sticks as he rubbed them together. Yet nothing was happening.
    “May I try something?” Annie asked. Declan looked up at her. She was standing beside him and digging around in her purse. What was it with ladies and their purses? The bags almost seemed like an appendage. Annie’s purse was like a clown car. She appeared to be able to fit endless items inside.
    Bless her for wanting to help with the fire. “This is pretty complicated,” he said with a shake of his head. “Have you ever tried to light a fire before?”
    He frowned as he watched Annie remove the battery from her cell phone. She then pulled a pocket knife from her bag. “Oh, I’ve never done it before. But I’ve read up on the subject. One of the best perks of being a librarian is all the books at our disposal. I find it amazing that knowledge is always at our fingertips.”
    Declan wanted to groan with frustration. Life wasn’t learned through books. Knowledge was accumulated by living. At least, that’s the way he’d always handled things. Tackling situations head-on was life affirming and empowering. Burying your head in a book was a surefire way