Jo gave an explosive sigh. "You know how kids just assume everything's okay? It turns out the ranch never did as well as I thought. Mom and Dad are barely keeping it together, but if the bank wasn't still locally owned, it'd probably have been foreclosed on. So Josh and I?—"
"Josh? Your brother?"
"Yeah. We've been trying to help, but one of those huge, and I meanhuge, ranching corporations wants to buy the land, and…it's kind of looking stupider and stupider not to sell. But I love it, you know? I grew up all over the acreage, learned to fly when I was fifteen so we could keep an eye on it all more easily, and I don't want to let it go. I just don't know how to keep it, either. Good grief, Iamsharing all my deep dark secrets. I haven't really told anybody about this!"
"Sometimes it's good to get it off your chest. So is that why you do charter flights?" Colton asked. "To help bring in some money."
She chuckled, a more rueful than happy sound. "Yeah, although people aren't usually trying to throw ten grand at me for it."
"Twenty."
"Please. I wrecked the plane and landed you in the middle of nowhere. I'm lucky to get anything besides a lawsuit." She eyedhim. "You're not going to sue, are you, Mister Big City Attorney-At-Law?"
"Not a chance," Colton promised. "And I'm not kidding, Jo. If you'll let me, I'll help you with a new plane."
She inhaled until it seemed like she might suck up all the air in the tent, then blew it out again in a huge sigh. "If I can prove it wasn't my fault, the insurance will probably pay out. Otherwise, I don't know, I might have to actually take you up on it. But it's a lot of money, Colton."
He made a face. "I make a lot of money, and frankly I don't get out of the office enough to spend it. Helping to fix a situation I caused would be a better use than I usually have for it."
"You didn't make a bolt of lightning hit the propeller," Jo said a bit sourly, and he leaned toward her like he'd nudge her with his shoulder. He couldn't: they were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, but she smiled at the gesture anyway.
"Youalsodidn't cause a bolt of lightning to hit the propeller, and you wouldn't have even been in the air if I hadn't offered to throw money at you. And," he said firmly, "I'm pretty sure you'd have refused to fly at all if you genuinely thought it was risky."
"Yeah." She rubbed her hand through her hair, sending static electricity everywhere so the fine red strands hung in the air like a halo. "It was clearing up there before we left, even if it would've been hours before they got the runway cleared enough for the jets to come in."
"So the insurance is going to come out in your favor, but in the meantime, let me help." His eyebrows went up a bit. "Let me help argue with the insurance, for that matter. If you need somebody to, I mean. Haggling over legal details is kind of my thing."
"Yeah? Not winging through the air like the magical being you are?"
"Nah, that's moonlighting, not the day job."
"You're pretty great," Jo said quietly. "I kind of wish I'd met you under different circumstances."
Colton's heart leapt, although he tried to keep his voice and face relatively calm. "What kind of other circumstances?"
"Ones where you were local? Or at the very least, just arriving on your mountain vacation, instead of leaving from it. I'd like to spend more time with you," she said wistfully.
"I can be on the first plane out here once my court case ends." Colton spoke as lightly as he could, but he meant it from the bottom of his soul. Some of that must have come through despite his attempt at keeping it light, because Jo's gaze darted to his. He saw hope there, and then confusion as her eyebrows drew down.
"You're kidding. You must be kidding?"
"You just said you'd like to spend more time with me. Is it so unlikely that I'd like to spend more time with you, too?"
She laughed, an unexpectedly bitter sound. "Kind of, yes."
"That makes no sense to me," he admitted. "You're incredible. Brave, smart, prepared, beautiful, strong, determined. And that's just on the surface, from knowing you a few hours. I can't imagine how much more there is to find out, but I'd love to be allowed to."
"Oh, come on. I'm tall and skinny and have carrot hair and bad skin."
Colton couldn't help lifting a hand to not-quite ghost it across her cheek. The skin therewasraw and chapped now, but it had been red from the cold and wind when he'd first seen her, too. "Not bad at all. Glowing, maybe. Outdoorsy. And your hair is the color of embers, not carrots."
"Embers," she told him drolly, "are orange. Just like carrots."
"Carrotsareorange.Embersare the deepest reds and brightest golds, just like your hair." He pulled his hand backbefore it touched her hair, though the little flyaway strands practically begged for him to smooth them.
She was shaking her head and smiling, though the smile looked a little achy. "Boy do I wish you'd been in my high school. Although you'd probably have done the same thing everybody else did, so maybe not."
Colton, trying again to sound light and funny, said, "Do I need to swat a former quarterback or something? You'd be amazed how far I can swat something."
