Excerpt: Aleutian Star

“The bunny slippers are non-negotiable.”
A camera motor drive whirred, and Skip Taggert glanced with annoyance from the young woman in front him to the group of photographers huddled behind a flimsy barrier made of twine. California Paparazzi in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. What next?
“Miss Chapman! Haley? So are you leaving the slippers?” One photographer laughed as he called to the girl he was there to shoot.
The pretty brunette opened her mouth, even while she continued to glare at Skip, her blue eyes bombarding him with fiery sparks, but he spoke up first.
“Yes. She is. Would you excuse us, please? Gentleman.” The last word held barely concealed sarcasm and he took Haley Chapman by the elbow and hustled her to the far corner of the harbormaster’s office.
“Get your hands off me.”
He wasn’t holding her hard, but he dropped her arm immediately. A sure, confident voice belied her clueless rich-girl reputation and came from the petite frame in a fierce, growling whisper. “I don’t care what you think of me but at least have a little respect for my parents. And your own father, for crying out loud.”
Haley Chapman was a spitfire. Skip smiled in spite of himself. She was like a little wet cat, all bristly fur and defiant hiss. So different from the happy-go-lucky image the media had always portrayed. If he didn’t hate so much that she and her damn entourage were here, he’d have said he liked this image better.
“My father is completely on my side, I guarantee you, and with a five minute talk I could get your father to join us. As for your mother—maybe she pulled some strings to get you on this trip, but that’s where her influence ends. She isn’t a senator yet, but even if she were she would not get your, or anybody else’s, bunny slippers on my research boat.”