“I’m putting us down in the first clearing I find,” she told the dispatcher.
“Roger,” the dispatcher replied. “Good luck.”
The problem was that she didn’t see a clearing large enough to land in without going in nose first. Survival was questionable. Disaster seemed imminent.
Two words kept replaying in her mind: “What if…?”
What if their fathers, King Grayhawk and Angus Flynn, hadn’t been mortal enemies? What if Brian’s elder brother, Aiden, hadn’t caught Brian making love to her after the junior prom? What if her fraternal twin, Victoria, hadn’t made it clear that if Taylor didn’t stay away from Brian, to her mind just one more of “those awful Flynn boys,” she would never speak to her again?
Brian had become a firefighter and married someone else. She’d become a corporate pilot and gone through several futile engagements. They were both free now, but Brian’s divorce a year ago had left him so heartsore and gun-shy that he was likely never to fall in love again.
None of that mattered now. Very likely, she and Brian were going to die in the next few minutes. What made her heart ache was regret for what her life might have been like if only…
“Tag?”
She looked over her shoulder at the tall, broad-shouldered man who’d been forbidden fruit when they were teenagers. She’d run her fingers through his thick black hair, holding on tight as they made love. His piercing blue eyes had seen past her movie-star-beautiful, confident, blond-haired, blue-eyed exterior to the abandoned child inside who desperately wanted to be loved.
She’d grown up with an older sister as a mother, after her own mother had run off with one of her father’s cowhands. Her wealthy father had been mostly absent, serving two terms as Wyoming’s governor in Cheyenne while he left his four daughters back home at his ranch in Jackson Hole.
Because of the animosity between their families, she’d started out determined to seduce Brian Flynn—and dump him. It would be fair repayment for all the nasty things he and his three brothers had done to her and her three sisters. His heart was supposed to end up broken, not hers. She hadn’t planned on liking him. Brian was the first boy to offer affection in return for the sex she’d been offering to any boy who gave her a kind look—and some whose looks weren’t so kind—hoping to find someone who would care about her.
“I’m not leaving without you, Tag,” Brian said. “Get out of that seat and get your beautiful ass over here!”
Their eyes met, and she felt the past flooding back. All the things she should have done…and hadn’t. All the things she shouldn’t have done…and had.
The thought of a future with Brian almost had her rising. But there was too much water under the bridge. Or water over the dam. She’d been disappointed too many times by too many men. Some people are lovable, and some are not. She was just one of those people who wasn’t destined to find a man who could love her. Brian Flynn had had his chance. She no longer believed in the possibility of any kind of happily-ever-after. Her life was liable to end in an altogether gruesome way.
“You go,” she said, turning back to peer through the windshield in search of the clearing she knew had to be there somewhere.
A moment later she felt a strong hand gripping her arm, yanking her out of her seat.
“I am not, by God, going to take the blame for leaving you behind, you stubborn brat!”
The plane shuddered, and the wings tipped sideways.
“Let me go!” she cried, reaching back toward the controls to attempt to right the plane. But he pulled her inexorably toward the door, which was already tilting upward at an angle that might keep them both from escaping.
Taylor jerked free and rushed back to her seat, grabbing the control column and bringing the plane back to level. She glanced over her shoulder and said, “Just go, Brian! Someone has to keep the plane steady so you can get out the door.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you, Tag. Get that into your head. So you can either join me in getting out of this plane, or we can both go down with it in flames.”
BY JOAN JOHNSTON
Bitter Creek Novels
The Cowboy
The Texan
The Loner
The Price
The Rivals
The Next Mrs. Blackthorne
A Stranger’s Game
Shattered
Sisters of the Lone Star Series
Frontier Woman
Comanche Woman
Texas Woman
Captive Hearts Series
Captive
After the Kiss
The Bodyguard
The Bridegroom
Mail-Order Brides Series
Texas Bride
Wyoming Bride
Montana Bride
King’s Brats Series
Sinful
Shameless
Connected Books
The Barefoot Bride
Outlaw’s Bride
The Inheritance
Maverick Heart
JOAN JOHNSTON is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many historical and contemporary romance novels. She received a master of arts degree in theater from the University of Illinois and graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law at Austin. She is currently a full-time writer living in Colorado.
joanjohnston.com
Facebook.com/JoanJohnstonauthor
@JoanJohnston
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