Sandra's Classics - The Bad Boys of Romance - Boxed Set Read Online Free PDF Page A

overalls; underneath, he wore a denim jacket and jeans.
    ‘ Hi,’ he said pleasantly, pulling off his sunglasses. ‘What a nice surprise.’
    Jessica closed her eyes. After a second, she opened them again. The man from the plane was still there, smiling at her. In fact, he was moving towards her.
    ‘I had no idea you were—‘.
    ‘I'll just bet you didn’t,’ Jessica said quickly. ‘Don’t bother coming any closer. What did you do, follow me?’
    His smile broadened. ‘You seem to have followed me. I was here first, in case you hadn’t noticed.’
    ‘Never mind all that,’ she answered, brushing aside the logic of his remark. ‘I’m going into the terminal. Don’t you get any ideas.’
    ‘You can’t,’ he called, as she hurried towards the door. ‘It’s locked, Miss Howard.’
    She stopped half-way there and took a deep breath. Of course it was locked. Well, she thought grimly, then she’d walk across the airfield. There were people off in the distance. She’d have to pick her way among the planes taxiing back and forth, but it was better than staying here. Anything was better than ….
    ‘How did you know my name?’ she demanded. ‘Did you ask the flight attendant? She shouldn’t give out personal information .’
    The man came up behind her and reached for her suitcase.
    ‘She didn’t,’ he said, while they silently grappled for possession of the handle. He won easily, taking the heavy case away from her as if it were empty. ‘Actually, I only just figured out that you must be Jessie Howard.’
    ‘Jessica,’ she said immediately.
    ‘Jessica,’ he repeated politely. He started towards the little blue and white plane and she had no choice but to hurry after him.
    ‘Wait a second,’ she gasped, her heels clicking loudly on the asphalt. ‘What are you doing with my luggage?’
    It was such a senseless question; she could see what he was doing with it. He was tossing it into the toy plane.
    ‘You can’t do
    ‘Take it easy, okay? You haven’t missed your connecting flight to Eagle Lake.’
    ‘I haven’t?’ He shook his head and she looked all around her. ‘But I must have. I don’t see a Wind River plane ...’
    Her words whispered into silence as she stared at the little blue and white plane.
    How had she missed it? she wondered dumbly. There, neatly printed beneath its identification numbers, were the words WIND RIVER CHARTERS.
    ‘No,’ she murmured, backing slowly away from the toy plane, ‘no, it can’t be.’
    ‘I’m afraid it is,’ he said quietly, and his lips twitched in what she figured was a suppressed grin. ‘And that’s not even the worst of it.’
    ‘You mean ...’
    This time, he chuckled aloud. ‘You’re a fast one, Jess,’ he said, ‘Yup, that’s right. I’m your pilot.’

CHAPTER THREE
    The first thought that came into her head was that there was a hidden television camera nearby.
    Perhaps she was the subject of one of those horrid reality shows that depend on the embarrassment of people caught unawares in set-up situations.
    But it was a desperate thought and she discarded it as soon as it surfaced.
    A practical joke, then.
    But she knew no one who went in for such grim humor; besides, you needed an audience for a practical joke, didn’t you?
    And, even in the panic of the moment, she knew that not even this... this range- riding Romeo standing in front of her would go to all this trouble just to be alone with her.
    She refused even to consider the possibility that this really was her connect ing flight to Eagle Lake.
    Her mind veered away from such an awful thought without any conscious effort at all. That meant it had to be a mistake.
    Absolutely, a mistake.
    After all, she’d seen the models and the cameraman and the others fly off in a regular plane, a real plane, just yesterday.
    ‘There’s been some sort of mix-up,’ she said calmly. ‘I’m with the Allen Agency.’ The cowboy nodded. ‘In New York,’ she added, and he nodded again.