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Her shock-rounded eyes flew to Linc and she saw him grappling with the controls. It took her a moment to register the fact that he’d turned the plane on purpose. Though it was out of control, he’d managed to force it to do something.
“What are you doing?” Her demand didn’t convey any of her insight, but it was as close as she dared to the question she really wanted to have answered: Are we going to die?
A cowardice she’d never suspected of herself gripped her insides. They were about to die and she wasn’t ready!
The plane dipped crazily and suddenly she could see the treetops loom so close she felt as if she could put out her hand and touch them. She could see the individual leaves on the branches and instinctively pressed her feet against the floor in an irrational attempt to push herself higher.
“Cover your face!”
Madison was too frozen to move. The last thing she glimpsed before the nose of the plane came up and blocked her view was a space of open meadow.
And then the terrible sound of treetops scraping metal filled the plane. She leaned forward and covered her face with her arms. She must have fainted then because she never felt the crash.
Linc wiped impatiently at the trickle of sweat that slid down between his eyebrows, not surprised that his fingers came away bloody. His head hurt like hell, but he was alive. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been unconscious, but it couldn’t have been long. The sun—what he could tell about its position with trees blocking its light—hadn’t moved too far. But he’d been out long enough that the smell of leaking fuel was strong.
He glanced over at his passenger. Maddie finally looked disheveled. Her chin rested on her chest, and she looked as limp as a rag doll. She didn’t seem to have a mark on her, so he reached over to touch her arm and give her a small shake. She stirred then, lifted her head, and let out a small moan.
Madison felt as if every joint in her body had been dislocated. Consciousness ebbed back and with it the memory of falling through the trees. She jerked fully awake and glanced around wildly. Outside the missing windows of the cockpit, tree trunks and branches were everywhere. The tip of a branch had speared through a window space far enough that it was only six inches from her face.
“You all right?” The brusque question startled her, but when she turned her head to look over at Linc, her neck was stiff with pain. The terror and disorientation she felt eased at the comforting sight of him.
He was no longer wearing his Stetson. A cut near his hairline glistened with blood, but other than the cut, he looked as rugged and domineering as ever. His skin was a little gray beneath his tan, but he looked wonderfully, gloriously unharmed.
He gave her arm a small shake that made her aware he was speaking to her. “Are you all right?”
The question sounded a little kinder this time, and for some reason, her eyes began to smart with tears. Appalled, she forced them back and focused on mentally checking herself for injuries. Other than a stiff neck and a body that ached everywhere, she felt remarkably unharmed.
The realization that she was alive sent a gust of pure euphoria through her. “I seem to be...fine.”
Linc didn’t look as euphoric as she felt. In fact, his expression was so grim that she felt a surge of anxiety.
“Then we’d better get out. Carefully,” he added, “since we’ve got a fuel leak.”
Madison smelled it now, and it was strong. She automatically reached for her handbag, then had to rummage on the floor for it. Thankfully, it had been securely zipped so its contents hadn’t been scattered.
Linc bustled her out of the plane as quickly and forcefully as he had at the airport, but they had to fight their way through the broken branches and underbrush that jammed the space around the right wing.
Once they were on the ground, Madison stumbled through the brush, using her handbag to cover her face until they were past the tail of the plane. The meadow she’d glimpsed before the crash was just a few feet away.
Line had obviously not had enough room to land before he ran out of clearing and smashed into the trees. When Madison turned and saw that the nose and body of the plane had speared neatly into a narrow gap between the tree trunks, she couldn’t help being impressed with his aim.
But because the plane had gone into the trees, the crash wouldn’t be easy to spot from the sky. It dawned on her that the hidden crash made it next to impossible for a quick rescue. Linc’s next words confirmed it.
“I’ll get as much gear and luggage as I can. When I throw it out, drag it to the clearing.”
Madison glanced toward the meadow, then back at the plane. The smell of fuel was still strong. “W-will it blow up?”
Linc ignored her question and started toward the wreck. She seized his arm and held him back, terrified of an explosion.
“We need what’s in the plane, if we can get it.”
Madison let go of his arm. Of course they needed what was in the plane. The clothing she’d brought, her makeup and toiletries, were necessities. But not if the plane was about to explode.
She was terrified again, this time for Linc. If the plane blew up, he’d be killed or seriously injured, and they were too far from help. All she’d seen from the air had been miles of trees and mountains. Anxious for Linc’s safety, Madison followed, but hovered a safe distance from the wreck.
The first things Linc tossed her way must have been his. A packaged blanket, a rope, a bundled piece of plastic, and his duffel bag. Finally, he got to her luggage and hefted out her small suitcase to send it tumbling toward her. She winced when it hit the ground sharply. Panicked, she grabbed it and gave it a careful shake. The sound of small bottles clacking against one another made her hurry through the brush to the clearing to check the fragile contents.
The catch had jammed and she crouched down beside Linc’s things to set her case on the ground and force it open. She was so absorbed in the task and so worried that the contents had been damaged, that she forgot to go back to the plane to help with the rest of her luggage.
“Thanks much, Princess.”
The sound of the suitcase and garment bag hitting the ground next to her made her jump. Madison frowned at the luggage he’d dropped, then jerked her head up to glare at him. He’d located his Stetson and it cast an appealing shadow over his handsome face.
“How dare you throw my belongings around?”
One corner of his handsome mouth quirked. “Didn’t exactly throw them. Unless you’d like me to demonstrate what that would look like, so you can tell the difference.”
Something about the way his dark eyes shifted to her large suitcase made her reach toward it protectively.
But Line stepped over it to get to his duffel bag. Madison watched him mistrustfully until he unzipped the bag before she went back to the stubborn catch on her small case.
“Go through your things and pick out a few essentials,” he told her as he sorted through his bag, discarding one thing after another.
Madison ignored the order. He might have packed things he didn’t consider essential, but she hadn’t. She needed everything she’d brought.
Especially the contents of the small case. The catch remained stubbornly closed. She reached for her handbag to find something she could use to pry it open. The Cadillac key on her key ring was sturdier than her metal fingernail file, so she used it. But the key was too thick for the thin crack of the case.
“Get busy with that luggage.”
Linc’s terse words brought her head up. He was hunkered down, balancing himself on the balls of his booted feet with a forearm resting on a bowed thigh. He’d finished going through his duffel bag and was watching her expectantly. She could see he’d packed the roll of plastic and the rope. The blanket must have been packed in the deeper part of the bag. A pile of clothing sat on the ground next to him.
“I am busy with my luggage,” she shot back irritably. “And you did throw this case. You damaged the catch.”
“Hand it here and start on the rest of your things.”
Maddie looked over at him a moment, reluctant. Did she really trust him with it? What if he managed to open the latch and saw the contents—looked through the contents? Her makeup and toiletries—her feminine hygiene products—were things she considered too personal for male eyes. Certainly too personal for Lincoln Coryell’s eyes.
Eyes that were so brown they were almost black, she noticed, and so intense that they seemed to miss nothing. She suddenly had the feeling that they were probing deep into her brain, as if he could read her next thought before she knew it herself.
No one had ever looked at her like that; she’d never have allowed it. She wouldn’t have allowed Linc to do so now except she couldn’t seem to look away. She couldn’t seem to keep from noticing how attractive his dark eyes were, and how frightening and wonderful it was to feel the odd power of them stroking so deep, so—
The small case slid from her fingers, startling her. She grabbed for it reflexively, but wasn’t quick enough to snatch it. A tug of war would have been undignified, so she pulled back and clenched her fists.
“Sort through that luggage.” The order was low, but this time, it carried a burr of steel that chafed her pride. “Pick the essentials.”
Her firm, “Everything I packed is essential,” brought his dark gaze homing in on hers like an arrow on a target.
“Humor me, Princess. I’m having a bad day.”
The harsh set of his mouth was surprisingly intimidating. And effective. Madison hesitated a moment before reaching for the suitcase. When she did, those dark eyes fell away to focus on the small case.
Madison opened the large suitcase, gave everything a token perusal, then snapped it shut. She went through the garment bag just as swiftly.
“Valium?”
The gruff question got her attention and Madison glanced Linc’s way. He’d got the small case open and she automatically reached for it before the grim look on his face registered. He was holding a prescription bottle between two callused fingers.
“You addicted to these things?” His obvious disapproval made her give a quick, “Of course not.” He ignored her outstretched hand.
“How often do you take them?”
She leaned forward to claim the bottle from him, but he closed his hand and held it just out of reach.
“How often?” The no-nonsense look he was giving her warned he meant business.
Madison’s temper shot high and hot. “None of your business. Give them to me.”
Instead, he glanced down at the bottle to read the label. “Looks like a big dose for a beginner.”
She felt her face flush. “Are you suggesting I’m an addict?”
He leveled a hard look on her and studied her face a moment. “What’s a woman like you got to be nervous about?”
The low question hit her like a slap. Line Coryell had not only gone over the line, he’d managed to strike deep into painful places. The emotion that surged up caught her by surprise and her eyes were suddenly stinging.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she shot back, dismayed that her voice was choked. And that made her angry. “Give me the bottle.”
Linc slipped it into his shirt pocket and buttoned the pocket flap. The action sent her temper skyrocketing.
“How dare you?” Her voice shook with outrage.
“You keep asking that, Miz Maddie,” he said calmly, his gaze unwavering. “I dare a lot, and I’ll dare a damn sight more in the next few days. But I’d rather walk out of here with a neurotic sissy on my hands than a neurotic stoned sissy.” He nodded in the direction of her luggage. “Now let’s get that out of the way.”
The quick shift of subject and his smooth move to reach for the large suitcase caught her off guard.
He had it open in a moment and began to sort through everything. The sight of his big hands rifling carelessly through her personal belongings offended her.
“I need everything there,” she repeated, then reached over to close the lid of the suitcase. Before she could, Line seized her wrist. Her gaze flew to his.
“Look around, Maddie.”
The solemn order sent a spear of terror through her that made her forget her luggage. The utter grimness on Linc’s face was unmistakable. A picture of dense green forest and high mountains flashed in her mind. But the endless forest she’d glimpsed from the sky would look even more awesome and terrible from the ground. The weird sensation she had—that the wilderness was closing in around them—sent her terror bounding higher. In spite of Linc’s order, she couldn’t look around, couldn’t make herself.
CHAPTER THREE
LINC SAW THE TERROR in her eyes. He could also see that she was in shock. Madison St. John might be vain and obsessed with her looks, but she wasn’t stupid. She had at least enough common sense to know they couldn’t carry everything out of the mountains with them. Her fixation on her luggage was a denial of what lay ahead for them both: a long and probably dangerous hike through the wilderness. And certainly the worst hardship imaginable for a pampered little aristocrat like her.
He felt the weight of the valium bottle in his pocket. If she couldn’t cope with life’s little jiggles without sedation, she’d never get through this. Instinct warned him not to coddle her. If he did, she’d go to pieces. If he could tap into her legendary temper and distract her, they’d both be better off.
He released her. He ignored the way she rubbed the wrist he’d touched, almost as if she was trying to soothe away pain. There shouldn’t have been any pain for her to soothe.
He hesitated a moment more to study her pale face. She wasn’t looking at him now; she was staring to the left of the suitcase into the grass. Her slim, perfectly manicured fingers still circled her wrist, but the soothing motion she made was an absent one. Clearly, her mind was on other things—and from the stark look of vulnerability about her—she was about to fall apart.
Linc glanced into the suitcase. He spied a small, neatly folded stack of frilly panties and grabbed them. They were the first things he sent sailing into the grass, making sure they landed in the exact spot her eyes were focused on. A flimsy scrap of bra followed before he got down to business with the contents of her suitcase and silently counted the seconds.
Two...three...
“How dare you?”
She’d used that low cat growl again. He pretended to ignore her as he lifted out a sky-blue satin robe and stripped the tie belt from its loops. He discarded the robe beside the suitcase, but tossed the belt toward the duffel bag. He added two rolls of thick white socks to the satin belt, and a stack of packaged panty hose. Next, a fold of netting got his attention and he pulled it out. It was a bag, probably for dirty clothes, and it was a good size. He gripped the netting in his hands and gave it a stout yank to test its strength before he tossed it to the pile on top of the duffel bag.
Madison looked on, appalled at his rough treatment of her belongings. It was clear that he only meant to select a few odds and ends from her suitcase before he forced her to leave everything else behind. She clutched the wad of panties and bra to herself. My God she couldn’t go anywhere without clean underwear! The fact that he’d thrown her most intimate apparel into the grass with bugs and chiggers infuriated her.
Wary of him because he was so rough with her things, Madison cautiously reached for the satin robe and bundled her underwear in it. She retrieved the net bag from the top of his duffel and stuffed the rolled robe into it.
Linc got out her shoebag next and rummaged through it, selecting the athletic shoes she’d had packed. He tossed them in her direction and they fell to the ground at her feet.
“Put those on and take the laces out of the boots you’re wearing.”
Madison stared down at the shoes, then at the lightweight boots. “These are hiking boots,” she said, struggling to keep her voice steady while she defied the order. She’d accidentally glimpsed the dense wall of trees on the other side of the high meadow. The sensation of wilderness creeping closer was strong again. Arguing with Linc was the only thing she could think of to distract herself from mindless terror.
“Fakes,” he said bluntly. “The leather’s like paper compared to the other pair.”
Madison stared down at the white athletic shoes, her thoughts racing. The very fact that he’d ordered her to switch her faux hiking boots for sturdy athletic shoes suggested that he anticipated an ordeal far more lengthy and arduous than a short hike in the woods. And he was right about the boots. The leather was flimsy compared to the Nikes.
“Change the damned shoes, Princess. We’ve only got so much daylight.”
The terse order brought her eyes to his face, but he wasn’t looking at her. He grabbed the things he’d discarded and crammed them back into her suitcase before he closed the lid and pressed down on the latches. Then he unzipped her garment bag to paw through the carefully pressed clothing in there. He added another belt to the pile, then two crisply pressed pairs of jeans and two cotton blouses.
Madison quickly grabbed the jeans and blouses and packed them into the net bag. Thank goodness she wouldn’t have to fight with him about extra clothes. At least she’d have something clean to wear later.
Later.
How much later? How many hours would it take to walk back to civilization?
Her next thought—that she might not get to Aspen in time to catch her mother—set off an explosion of panic.
“How long will it take to get to Aspen?”
Linc looked at her then, his mouth shifting into a sarcastic slant as he harshly surveyed her from head to foot. “The way you’re movin’, about a month.” He swiftly zipped the garment bag and shoved it toward the suitcase before he stood.
Madison couldn’t seem to move as the implication of not getting to Aspen in time began to impact her. If she embarrassed her mother with her new husband by not showing up, she’d never hear from Roz again. She’d forever lose the chance to be close to her. Roz would never know she’d outgrown her homeliness. She’d never know a moment’s sorrow for giving up on her only child and abandoning her.
“Get busy, sweetheart.”
The order snapped her out of her thoughts. The way he’d said the word “sweetheart” was no endearment. She-hated the male condescension in his low drawl. And she loathed the pet name, “Princess”.
Her gaze narrowed with sudden inspiration.
