So be it. If the lady expected by the book, then he could show her by the book. “Can you see that clearing ahead and to the left? We’re going to set her down right there.” He became all business. But he did catch a quick glimpse of her hands knotting in her lap as they had when they’d lifted off at the beginning of the flight. So, the steel armor of the lady did have a chink in it? Fear of flying? Interesting. He filed that away for the time being.
The wind from the rotors caused the tall trees around the clearing to buck and sway, and the craft sent ripples across the grass as it lowered ever so slowly until there was a soft thud and a slight rocking first forward and then aft.
“And we’re on good ol’ terra firma again…and in one piece.” He might as well get what little enjoyment he could find out of this assignment. Her reaction to his brand of humor was the match to light the fire of mischief his sisters always said he irritated them with. Might come in handy to get through the hours of their combined imprisonment. He cut the engine, and the rotors began to slow.
“So we’re sitting on some patch of ground in the middle of who knows where and we wait for what?” Erin began to undo her seat belt, which was not so easy to do. She was obviously losing patience again as her tone rose.
Rance turned in his seat, reached a hand over and moved one of hers out of the way. Then he simply lifted the latch on the restraint with a couple of his fingers. She jerked the offending straps away and his hand with them.
“You’re welcome,” he supplied for her. “And we’re not going to stay here. Our vehicle is right beyond those trees.” And he nodded to a spot just ahead of them. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t wait for any further conversation. Time was ticking and he wanted to get settled. Remembering his manners, he crossed around the front of the chopper, but his passenger had already found her way out of the seat and managed to reach the ground. She was smoothing her skirt, which had ridden high enough to show off a very nice set of legs, but he shot his gaze upward and met hers. Caught. But neither of them said anything about it, and it was just as well.
“You lead the way, Marshal Parker,” she said instead, raising her voice, her stance indicating her annoyance with the whole situation.
“Don’t worry, Your Honor,” he responded, “I don’t expect you to walk very far.” His nod sent her gaze to where a path was evident, and he headed in that direction. She followed.
As they reached the path, a tall figure appeared through the bushes, and he was standing beside a forest-green-colored Jeep that had seen better days and had a layer of fresh dirt-road dust settled on top of previous layers. A tall cowboy moved to meet Rance.
“Was afraid I’d be late or I would have taken a better vehicle,” he said and gave a dip of his head toward the woman in their midst. He handed over the keys to Rance.
“No problem, Adam. I got held up a bit at the airfield, but all is good. You know what to do with the chopper after you refuel it.”
“Yes, sir. And everything else is in place for you.”
“Good deal, and thanks,” Rance said, extending his hand and they shook.
The cowboy soon disappeared in the direction of the helicopter. “Let’s go.” Rance moved forward and slid into the driver’s seat. He sat looking at her, hands on the wheel.
She squared her shoulders and slid her bag onto her shoulder as if it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to climb into a roofless, doorless jeep during her normal workday.
“You need to put the lap belt around you—these roads are a little rough. And sorry about the lack of air-conditioning and fine leather,” he said, turning the ignition on. The engine was loud so that he had to raise his voice above it. The noise was intensified by the sound of the chopper lifting and moving overhead at the same time. That only stirred up the ground debris of leaves and more red dust into swirls around them.
She clipped the belt in place, and they were off.
Rance tried to miss as many of the rough spots as possible in the dirt road, which was no more than a washed-out rutted old firebreak with heavy brush and trees on one side, and a barbed wire fence on the other side. But he had to admit that she was staying silent and taking it in stride, while one hand grasped the seat beside her and the other hung on to the dash in the deeper ruts.
The wind was whipping around the two of them and conversation was not easy to come by, so silence was the best choice. It was probably just as well. A city girl and a country guy wouldn’t have much ground in common anyway. Rance reminded himself of that more than once. With any luck, it would soon be over and then maybe he could actually enjoy another day or two with a fishing rod in hand.
A few minutes later, they’d rounded another curve and then the ruts turned into a paved blacktop road that became a driveway dipping down toward an expanse of green grass lawn. It surrounded a single-story cabin that sat beneath huge cypress trees lining banks of a ribbon of blue water that flowed past it. The jeep came to a halt beneath a lean-to cover at the side of the structure. He switched the engine off and silence took over. It was a definite change from the last few minutes.
“You can relax now,” he said, pushing out of his seat belt and sliding from beneath the steering wheel to stand beside the jeep. Rance moved around the front of the vehicle and came to stand beside it, hand offered to his passenger.
She undid the seat belt and then used her hands to try to restore some semblance of order to her hair that had been rearranged by wind whipping through her usual restrained hairstyle. He waited. Then she withdrew the leather tote bag from her shoulder and that was pushed into his outstretched hand. She extricated herself from the seat and stood in her newly deconstructed footwear beside him, her gaze moving slowly over the scenery before her.
“So, this is the fishing cabin? Or is it hidden someplace close by and this is just a decoy? This is not a cabin. It’s the size of a whole house.”
Nothing had lessened the skepticism of her voice. Rance wasn’t surprised.
“This is the fishing cabin…been known as that as long as I can remember.” He turned, her bag in hand, and left her to follow as he headed for the steps, which hugged the side of the cabin.
She followed but didn’t go toward the door where he had stopped, waiting for her. Instead, she moved across the wide expanse of deck and came to a stop at the railing. Her hands rested on the top rail. Her gaze took in the new view.
Rance smiled. His gaze swept the view she was intent on searching.
“It does have that effect on people who come up here the first time. Guess we tend to take it for granted. But this is Destiny’s River…flows from springs above it to the west, and over some rapids to get here, where it calms down and makes for some good fishing and swimming, and then it goes around the bend down there and into more rapids, where it becomes a wider river and goes down through the ranch, into town and beyond, eventually joins into the Guadalupe and down a few hundred miles to the Gulf.”
“It’s not what I expected. And who owns this ranch and this cabin?”
