“Close it then, and stop talking.”
He did, but he could still hear her moving about, until she took the seat across from him.
“I can’t believe you actually picked me up and carried me onto this jet.”
“You weren’t coming willingly, so I was compelled to use force.”
“I should really hate you about now.”
Newman opened his eye an inch. He watched her settle in the seat then lift the leg rest, and sighed.
“Comfortable?”
“And then some.”
“So I’m curious, Hope. No savings to live off from all those magazine shoots and wildlife expeditions?”
She didn’t speak.
“He take that too?”
“Some.” Her voice was small. “He took my cash.”
“And the rest of it?”
“I use the money I don’t need for good causes.”
“God save me from idiots.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that!”
“There is when you find yourself without a job, and have no money to live off.”
“I had money in a place in my room. He took it.”
“You should try a bank, Hope. They look after your money for you, so you don’t have to.”
“I just hadn’t got round to it.”
Newman raised his head to look at her, not quite believing they were actually having this conversation.
“You haven’t got a bank account?”
“Of course I have. You saw my credit card, idiot!”
“Right, I forgot about that.” Newman settled back into his seat.
“I would have been fine if you hadn’t kidnapped me.”
“You do know that because of you I’m going to get teased mercilessly about this eye when I get back to Howling,” Newman said, deciding he’d poked at her enough.
“And I should care why?”
“Heartless wench.”
“I’m not going back, Newman. I’ll stay in Brook for a bit, then start hiking around Oregon. I can see now it’s the best place for me to be, but it would have cost me too much time and money to get there. So thanks for organizing the ride.”
All he could see of her now was the soles of her boots. Like him, she was lying back.
