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“What about you?” he asked. “Are you seriously thinking about taking the position? Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but you don’t seem to be in love with the idea of flying.”
Was that his way of calling her chicken? The urge to flap her wings and cluck had only happened once so far, during takeoff. “Maybe I need to understand why my dad traveled back and forth between the mainland and the islands. To make peace with where his journey led him.”
No need to tell him she was a coward in more ways than one. That sometimes it was easier to run than to stand your ground and fight.
He was silent for a minute, before he answered softly. “You can’t always make peace with it. Sometimes all you can do is accept what life dishes up and then move past it.”
Or you could always fly away from it as fast as you could.
The plane dipped for a second and so did Molly’s heart. “What was that?”
“Just a pothole.”
“Sorry?” The fear was back, stronger than ever. She licked her lips, trying not to focus on the vibrations of the plane around her but noticing every tiny shiver just the same.
“Turbulence. It’s like bumps in a road. You wouldn’t expect to have glassy-smooth highways forever, would you?”
“No, of course not.” She relaxed her grip on the shoulder harness.
He was right. It was just a pothole. Not even a very big one.
Somehow thinking of it like that made it easier. “My mom hated flying. She never went to the islands with my dad, no matter how many times he asked her to. Not even to take a vacation. She wouldn’t let me go either. And after his plane went down, she became even more…” Demanding? What exactly was she planning to say? “I just don’t want to be like that, you know?”
“Understandable. But if your mom didn’t let you fly with him, then when did you…?” He frowned. “This isn’t your first time up, is it?”
“No!” She bit her lip. “Well, not exactly. I mean, I’ve been on a plane before.”
He scrubbed a hand through his hair, the dark silky locks falling neatly back into place. “Really? When was the last time you were on one?”
“A few weeks ago.” She tossed her head as if it had been nothing special.
He seemed to relax in his seat. “Where’d you go?”
“Go?”
“On your flight.”
“We, uh, didn’t exactly go anywhere.” The mumbled words sounded weird even to her.
“I don’t follow.”
She hesitated. If she didn’t tell him, he’d just ask Doug why she’d acted so whacked out during the flight once they got back to Anchorage. “The plane was part of a desensitization course.”
Something she’d needed to make sure she could survive this trip.
“A what?” His head jerked to stare at her. “You mean you’ve never flown before in your life?”
Indignation washed over her. She had, but why should it matter? It was ridiculous to expect everyone to have flown all over the world from the time they could crawl. “I have flown. Just not recently. I—I couldn’t.”
Not since her father’s accident.
“Oh, hell.”
She shifted in her seat to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means if you’re looking for a pilot to help you get past your fear, you’d better keep looking. A desensitization expert I’m not.” He laughed and the sound was no longer low and mellow. “I know of at least one person who’d testify to that fact. Only she’s no longer speaking to me.”
The anger behind that last comment made her hackles rise. Had he purposely scared someone during a flight? If so, he was right. She didn’t want him flying her anywhere. “Fine. Once we get back to Anchorage, I’ll make sure you never have to—”
“Wrong. Those ‘bumps in the road’ I mentioned? They’re going to get worse the closer we get to the islands. And the landing strip at Dutch Harbor is barely up to FAA standards.” He glanced up as if sending a distress call to some higher power. “Listen, I signed on to take a doctor to Unalaska to scope out the work at the clinic. I’m not here to be the next rung on your twelve-step ladder. If you expect me to sweet-talk you into getting back on the plane tomorrow, you’re out of luck.”
Her chin went up. “I guarantee that’s not going to happen.”
“You’re right. It’s not.” His dark eyes swept over her face and the expression in them chilled her to the bone. “If you’re not on the plane, strapped into your seat, by eight o’clock in the morning, you can find yourself a new pilot.”
* * *
Okay, so he could have handled that better. A lot better.
But from the moment Blake had noticed her clutching her seat, a warning siren had gone off in his brain. He’d quickly dismissed it, chalking up her reaction to takeoff jitters. A lot of people got nervous, especially on flights to the Aleutians, where landings could be very hairy. Transitioning from a jet engine to a turboprop seven years ago had given him a few gray hairs of his own, so who could blame her?
Besides, her dad—a man Blake had looked up to and respected—was famous in these parts, so he’d had some ridiculous notion that Wayne McKinna’s daughter would have logged some serious flight hours. Her physical appearance had only added to that impression. Brown, choppy locks were cut in a way that gave her delicate face a fearless impudent look. And the bold, take-charge style drew immediate attention to her eyes. Green. Intelligent. Framed by incredibly thick lashes.
She looked ready to take on any challenge that came her way.
Desensitization classes. Great.
What the hell was she doing, taking a job that involved medevacing patients to Anchorage?
Even Sharon hadn’t been that afraid of flying. And yet her constant nagging to move back to the mainland and to switch to flying passenger jets had proved to be the final straw in an already disintegrating marriage. Wayne had understood exactly where he was coming from, said he’d fought the same battles with his own wife.
Blake loved the island where he’d grown up. Loved the challenge of landing on that tiny airstrip in Dutch Harbor.
Sharon hated both.
After the divorce, he’d decided no one would take those things away from him. Not again.
He glanced over at Molly. She was furiously staring out the front window, her arms folded across her chest, her full bottom lip thinned.
You can find yourself a new pilot.
The fact that she’d answered his outrageous declaration with silence told him everything he needed to know.
He’d blown whatever chance he might have had with her.
If he’d even had one. The woman probably had men doing penance laps until their knees bled, hoping for a chance to go out with her.
He’d noticed Molly bustling around the ER over the past year as he’d checked on some critical-care patients he’d flown in from the islands. Her cheery attitude and gorgeous smile had attracted his attention immediately. When someone had told him she was the daughter of the late, great Wayne McKinna, what had started as a tiny spark of attraction had caught and held. She’d been away at medical school when her father had shown him the ropes, so they’d never been officially introduced. By the time he’d realized who she was, she was already spoken for. Besides, he was from the islands, and Molly appeared to be very much a city girl at heart.
As he’d found out the hard way, oil and water might flirt with each other for a while, but they eventually separated.
He should have reminded himself of that fact and kept his distance.
Then she’d broken off her relationship and signed up for the new health-care position the government had opened up in the Aleutians. The temptation had been too much. He’d juggled his schedule so he’d be the one flying her to the islands. Hoping he was wrong and that they might not be so different after all. Surely Wayne’s daughter had vestigial wings hidden somewhere under that lab coat—the love of flying must be bred into her.
Wrong.
His jaw tightened. When would he learn? He should swear off marriage forever.
But he eventually wanted a wife. A family. Just not with someone who wanted to crush who he was and remake him into someone completely different.
That need went both ways, however. If he expected a woman to love him as he was, she had a right to expect the same.
Could he love a woman who was afraid of flying, who might end up hating the islands as much as his ex-wife?
Not a chance—he’d already tested that theory once. But that didn’t mean he had to be an ass about it.
“Hey, listen. About what I said—”
“Don’t worry. As soon as we land, I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Let me hook you up with someone I know who can fly you back. He’s totally safe. Doesn’t take any unnecessary chances.”
“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
She might be all grown up, but the quiet joy that had caught his attention at the hospital was gone.
Reaching over, he touched her hand, marveling at the softness of her skin. “Molly, we haven’t got off to the best start here.”
“You think?”
“I just didn’t expect Wayne’s daughter to be…”
Was there any good way to finish that phrase? He didn’t think so.
“You didn’t expect her to be what? A wimp?”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Well, not those exact words, but the meaning was still there. “Knowing how your father died, it can’t be easy for you to get back on a plane.”
“Good thing you won’t have to deal with that problem any more, then, isn’t it?”
He waited for her to finish chopping him to bits, but Molly was evidently done, and rightly so.
Before he could figure out a way to smooth over the situation, the plane bucked, then settled back into place. He glanced out the cockpit window, realizing their heated words had diverted his attention for the past several minutes. Not good, because they were heading right into a long line of clouds stretching from side to side.
A front.
And an ugly one, from the look of it.
Molly threw him a panicked look, and Blake tensed.
There’d been nothing in the weather reports to indicate rough conditions today. But he knew things could blow up out of nowhere in this part of the world. This wasn’t exactly the way he’d hoped the day would go.
But then again, when did his plans ever fall smoothly into place?
“Make sure your harness is tight.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“See those clouds?”
“Yes.”
“The little bumps in the road we’ve experienced are nothing compared to what’s coming up.” He glanced at her, adrenaline already beginning to spike through his system. “It looks like our smooth highway is about to turn into one oversize construction zone.”
CHAPTER TWO
A SIREN sounded somewhere inside the plane, but Molly was too busy trying not to throw up to open her eyes and look around her.
They’d been bouncing around for what seemed like forever. How much more could the tiny aircraft take without coming apart at the seams?
Her fingers gripped her shoulder strap, the nausea from the turbulence almost overwhelming her. She breathed through her mouth, but didn’t try to talk, too afraid she’d distract Blake and cause him to make some kind of fatal error.
Like her sniping and complaining might have already done.
Why hadn’t she just sat back and pretended she was heading for the warm sands of the Caribbean with a handsome man? Because she was done pretending. Done going along with what others wanted her to be and do.
Maybe he’d report her.
To whom? The Brotherhood of Wronged Pilots?
Pilots probably had to deal with frightened passengers on a regular basis. Molly had just never dreamed she’d end up as a prime example of one.
He could report her to anyone he wanted, as long as he got them through this storm in one piece. And if he couldn’t…
She swallowed the bile that rose higher in her throat. Her mother would have one more loved one to bury. Just like she’d predicted in that last rant before Molly had left the house for good.
Scratch that. They’d never found the bodies of her father or the nurse he’d been travelling with.
If Molly and Blake crashed into the ocean, theirs probably wouldn’t be found either.
The siren cut off. Chancing a glance to the side, she noted the way Blake’s hands fought with the controls, and she hurriedly shifted her attention to his face. The sight there wasn’t any better. The muscles in his jaw stood out in stark relief to the rest of his features, his eyes narrowed in fierce concentration.
That had to be a bad sign. The man who worshipped Evel Knievel was worried.
Are we going to crash?
She kept the words to herself, but they repeated over and over inside her head.
