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Darcy must be very sure Jen was going pass in order to make that suggestion. Before she could find another error, Jen hurried out into the bitter cold afternoon.
* * *
The flight school office was as frigid as an icehouse and just as quiet. Dan Wagner set his Stetson on the battered oak table and took a seat. Across from him sat Jack Hunter, owner of the school, and Hendrick Simmons, owner of the aeromotor factory that he’d read about in one of his aviation magazines. If the article was right, they had an engine that would win him the airmail contract and let him leave stunt flying forever.
After introductions, Dan drove straight to why he’d come across the country in this coldest of months. “I’m looking for an engine that’ll run reliably at temperatures well below freezing.”
He had already told Simmons that when he visited the factory this morning. Instead of answering, Simmons had brought him to the flight school to talk to Jack Hunter. That name was vaguely familiar, but Dan couldn’t quite place the man. Why Simmons insisted on this meeting was beyond his comprehension. Either he had an engine that met the specifications or he didn’t. End of story. Bringing in a third party only muddied the waters in Dan’s opinion, but Simmons wouldn’t back down.
Hunter, a suave sandy-haired man with the look of a first-class aviator, glanced at Simmons before taking the lead. “We’ve been working on that problem for over a year. Longer, in fact. My wife and I first started puzzling it out after our failed transatlantic attempt. We brought in Hendrick once he had the factory up and running.”
Simmons, a man of few words if today was any indication, nodded.
“Transatlantic attempt?” Dan couldn’t get past the tidbit that Hunter had glossed over so casually. “I followed all the newspaper reports back in ’19, but I don’t recall your name. How far did you get?”
Hunter’s easy grin told Dan he didn’t harbor any regrets. “We never made it to Newfoundland thanks to the icing problems. Solving that is a big part of a successful polar attempt.”
“Polar attempt?” Now Dan was truly stunned. In such a small town, he’d never expected to hear the words polar and attempt in the same sentence. He must have misunderstood. “I thought the navy scrapped their dirigible expedition. Is it back on?” He looked from Hunter to Simmons. If they were making the engines for some as yet unannounced naval expedition, then there was big backing behind Simmons Aeromotor. This was exactly what Dan was looking for. “Or are you supplying engines to Amundsen?” It seemed a far stretch for a company in a tiny American town to send motors to the Norwegian explorer, but he supposed it was possible.
“Nope.” Hunter grinned. “We’re not helping any other expedition. We’re competing.”
Dan’s jaw dropped at the audacious statement. “You? Attempt to fly to the North Pole?” He raked a hand through his wavy hair. “That takes a lot of logistics and some mighty big funding.”
“That it does.”
Apparently the man had a lot more backing than Dan had figured. “Who is on your flight crew?” He looked at Simmons. “Do you fly?”
Simmons shook his head violently.
Hunter laughed. “Hendrick’s no aviator. My wife planned to come along.”
“Your wife?” Dan sat back in shock. Many women flew. Some, like the Stinson sisters or Ruth Law, had done so with unquestioned expertise. Still, a polar attempt was different. Dangerous. Deadly. “You’d risk your wife’s life?”
“I wouldn’t have had a choice. This was her dream.” Hunter’s expression softened. “But she pulled herself off the expedition. We’re expecting a baby.”
“Congratulations,” Dan said automatically. “She’s a smart woman.” He shuddered at the memory of the accident that had ended his season. If a baby had been involved, he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself. As it was, he couldn’t shake the taste and smell of death. “Some people don’t know when to stay on the ground.”
Hunter gave him an odd look. “Enough about our plans. Hendrick tells me you want to run in some pretty tough conditions.”
The change of topic had to be deliberate. Hunter had mentioned their plans to impress him, not interest him. Fair enough. Dan had plans of his own. “Montana gets bitter in the winter. Snow, wind, blizzards. The airmail route I’m aiming to bid on goes clear to the border. Some of these folks are isolated. Receiving and sending mail would be a godsend. I could even bring in a few supplies. Medicine, food, necessities,” Dan ticked off an impressive list. “This isn’t just an airmail contract. This is a lifeline for those folks. I need a more reliable motor than what I have now.”
The next hour was absorbed by a discussion of Dan’s current plane, a modified Curtiss Jenny, and the motor’s limitations. Neither Simmons nor Hunter seemed to recognize him. He’d wanted it that way to keep prices down. Most men figured Daring Dan Wagner, headliner on the air-show circuit, had barrels of money. He didn’t. His earnings went to keeping the family ranch out of the bank’s hands. Every year seemed to bring a new crisis that tapped his funds. This year had been quiet—except for his accident—and he aimed to keep it that way. Daring Dan had made his last death drop.
“I assume you’ve had problems?” Hunter asked.
“The motor works great in the heat,” Dan said, “but I have fits keeping it going in cold weather. I’m hoping your engine will solve the icing problem.”
“We’re working on it,” Simmons said.
That did not sound good. “Are you close? The bids are due by the end of next month.”
“We plan to make the next test run as soon as the winds die down,” Hunter chimed in. “Could be tomorrow if the forecast is right.”
“I’d like to see that flight,” Dan said. “Your engine could give me the edge I need to land the contract.”
“Fine with me, if it’s all right with Hendrick.”
Simmons nodded. “We couldn’t produce another engine in time for your deadline, but we could get it done in, say, three months.”
“That’ll have to do.” Dan hoped a letter to that effect would sway those making the decision. “First we have to make sure it does the job.”
“It will.” Simmons seemed confident.
Hunter was less so. “Even if this engine takes care of carburetor icing, how do you plan to combat icing on the wings and fuselage?”
Dan was impressed. Hunter had nailed the next biggest problem right on the head. Wing icing was deadly. Any pilot worth his salt knew it. “You’re the one planning a polar attempt. You must have come up with some ideas.”
Hunter shook his head. “Weather will be an issue. Too cold, and the engines won’t start. Too warm, and moisture ices the plane.”
“Then you haven’t found a solution.”
“Not yet.”
Dan sensed opportunity. “Surely bright minds like ours can come up with something.”
Simmons looked skeptical. “How? There’s not a material out there that’ll prevent icing.”
“Not that anyone has discovered yet.” Dan looked each man in the eye. “But we have to try—for both our projects. I’d stake my reputation on the experience gathered in this room.” He sat back with a grin, waiting for one of them to admit they’d recognized him. When neither did, he hinted, “I do know something about flying. Perhaps you’ve heard of me.”
Hunter echoed his grin. “I’d be a fool not to know who Dan Wagner is. Altitude, distance and speed records, not to mention the number of downed enemy planes over France. I don’t suppose you’d consider—”
The office door burst open, drawing Hunter’s attention away from his question and toward a tall woman with the brightest hazel eyes Dan had ever seen.
“Jack, I wondered if—?” The woman stopped midsentence when she noticed Hunter was not alone.
Her flustered confusion sat so awkwardly that Dan suspected she was seldom at a loss for words. She obviously didn’t care about public opinion, because she wore men’s trousers, a flannel button-down shirt and a ragged mackinaw. Her cracked and scuffed men’s leather boots dripped muddy snow on the floor. Her cropped brown hair stuck out in all directions, as if she’d just yanked off a knit cap. She wasn’t at all the type of woman that usually attracted him, so the tug in his gut came as a big surprise.
“I’m sorry.” She looked around the small room, pausing when she reached him. “I didn’t realize you were in a meeting.”
Her cheeks, already pleasantly flushed from the cold, got even pinker. Dan was surprised to feel his pulse quicken with the hope that he was the cause of that blush.
She squared her jaw and thrust a hand toward him. “You’re new in town. I’m Jen Fox.”
He allowed a slight smile. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Fox.” He noted her frown. “Not much for formalities, eh? Well then, I’m Wagner. Daniel Wagner.” That was a test. Did she recognize Daring Dan by his full name or was she just another gal who swooned over aviators?
She matched his smirk. “Pleased to meet you, Wagner.”
He shook her hand. Her grip was as firm as that of a vigorous man. He flexed his fingers when she let go.
She cocked her head to the side, as if assessing him. “Are you a new instructor at the school?”
Hunter snorted and then pretended to cough.
Dan grinned. This gal was definitely not an aviation devotee. She could use a little brushing up on the social graces and a decent wardrobe, but her directness was refreshing. “No, I’m not.”
“Oh. You look like a flight instructor.”
“I didn’t realize flight instructors had a certain look.”
“Oh, yes.” Her head bobbed emphatically. “They’re confident, almost arrogant, as if they think the world revolves around them.”
Hunter didn’t succeed in covering up his laugh this time.
“Except Jack, of course,” she added hastily.
Dan was surprised at the informality. Clearly the pair knew each other. Perhaps some relation of Hunter’s wife.
Hunter chuckled at Miss Fox’s backtracking. “I’ll admit that there’s some truth to what you said. We are an overconfident lot.”
Mollified, she turned back to Dan. “Then, Wagner, if you’re not an instructor, you must be a student.” Her hazel eyes twinkled, as if enjoying some unknown joke. “Sorry, but the flight school doesn’t open until March.”
That sent Hunter into unbridled guffaws.
Miss Fox drew back. “What did I say? Why else would anyone be here in January?”
Since Hunter was laughing too hard to speak and Dan didn’t want to spoil the fun, Simmons ended up explaining, “Dan Wagner is interested in the cold-weather engine we’ve been testing.”
Her eyes widened. “Dan Wagner? The Dan Wagner?” She clapped her hands to her cheeks. “I thought you looked familiar.”
Dan groaned. From the impudent upstart, she’d turned into the dreaded ingenue. He sank back in his chair. “Afraid so.”
Her cheeks glowed red, but apparently not from embarrassment. “You should teach stunts. Shouldn’t he, Jack? Everyone wants to learn them. The loop-de-loop, the death drop—”
“No.” Dan cut her off. “I retired from stunt flying.”
“Retired?” Her shock mirrored that of his former manager.
The man had nearly wept when Dan delivered the news. Then he had pleaded, even offering to decrease the number of appearances or raise the fee they demanded from air-show sponsors, but Dan could not be swayed. As much as his manager had glossed over the accident by calling it a casualty of aviation, that single event had changed everything. His stunt flying days were over.
“But you’re famous,” she exclaimed.
“I’m alive,” he said dryly. Surely she’d read about the crash. The newspapers had seized the story and blown it into something even more horrific than it had actually been, if that was possible.
The office door opened again, ushering in a lovely brunette, clearly with child. Must be Hunter’s wife. Though more conventionally dressed in a wool dress and pretty by anyone’s assessment, she didn’t have Jen Fox’s spunk.
She smiled at her husband and then addressed Miss Fox, “Jen, let’s go to the classroom.”
“The classroom?” Disappointment briefly flashed across Miss Fox’s face before being replaced by trembling hope. “Did I pass?”
Mrs. Hunter smiled and pointed to the door. “To the classroom. We have to work out a schedule for flight training.”
“I passed! I passed!” Her whoops could have been heard clear to the train station. “You know what that means, Jack.”
Hunter squirmed in his seat. “Congratulations.”
She must have taken that as confirmation of whatever she expected from him, for her smile outshone the electrical lighting. When she next turned it on Dan, unexpected pleasure surged through him. “Pleased to meet you, Wagner. I hope you stay in Pearlman for a while.”
“That will depend on the test run of the new engine.” Yet as he said it, Dan found himself hoping that the winds stayed too strong for the test flight, at least for a day or two.
* * *
Jen could hardly rip her gaze from Dan. Just think. Dan Wagner. Daring Dan Wagner was right here in Pearlman at Jack and Darcy’s flight school. Sure, some aviators got bigger newspaper headlines, but in her estimation Daring Dan was the top flier in the country—if not the world.
It didn’t hurt that he was incredibly handsome. Wavy auburn hair. Brilliant blue eyes. A commanding jaw and that absolute confidence she’d spotted at once. Sure, a pale scar slashed across his chin, probably from the horrible crash he’d suffered in November, but it only added to the legend. She tried to recall the details of that accident. Somebody got hurt, she thought, but she’d been too distraught at the time over Daddy’s passing to concentrate on newspaper articles.
Dan Wagner!
Her knees wobbled as she left the office. She was glad to sit down in the classroom, but the cold wooden chair couldn’t diminish her excitement. Finally, for the first time in ages, something truly exciting was happening in Pearlman. In addition, it meshed with her dreams. A pilot the caliber of Dan Wagner could teach her stunts. Even if he wasn’t flying air shows anymore, he could talk the sponsors into hiring her. Maybe he could not only teach her, but he could also become her manager. The possibilities were endless.
“Thank you, God.” She’d never received a better answer to prayer.
“For what?” Darcy asked as she took the seat across the table. “That Dan Wagner is here?”
Jen hadn’t intended anyone to hear that. “I’m thankful that I passed the examination.”
“Of course.” Darcy grinned. “But you do seem taken by Mr. Wagner.”
“No more than I would be for any other star aviator.” Jen stared at the chalkboard, which was still covered with notes from last fall’s classroom sessions. “This is my dream. Why wouldn’t I get excited to see the best pilot in the world?”
“The best in the world?” Darcy chuckled. “Some might debate that, but he’s certainly accomplished.”
“He can do everything. Don’t you see? It’s the perfect opportunity to learn from the best.” Jen frowned. “But Jack said he’s not an instructor. And Mr. Simmons said he’s only here to look at the new engine. Do you really think someone like Daring Dan Wagner would come all the way to Pearlman just for a motor?”
“I have no idea, but there isn’t a lot for a pilot to do this time of year other than the exhibitions in Florida and California.”
“And he said he’s done with air shows.”
“He did?” Darcy seemed as surprised as Jen had been. “Interesting. The crash must have gotten to him. I can see why. Jack was pretty shaken up by our crash. It took a lot of nerve to get in a plane again.”
“But he did. And so did you. Wagner doesn’t seem like the type to run away.”
“Wagner?”
“That’s what he told me to call him.”
Darcy shook her head. “Oh, Jen.”
“What do you mean by that?” Though she knew perfectly well that Darcy thought her hopeless when it came to men. Many a time Jen’s friend had counseled her to give a man a chance, but Jen had yet to meet someone who made her pulse race.
