4. Maintain my social connections here in Britain, as part of the titled class.
As for values, I believe we have loads in common, based on what your parents have told me. I care about the environment, I’m opposed to hunting, and I’m a vegetarian. Can we build a solid marriage from that basis? I don’t see why not. To my mind, it would be absurd to pass up the chance to have lots of money and a title. Just think of how much power we’d have to make change in the world.
Let me address our age difference. At fourteen, it was enormous. Now that I’m twenty-three, thirty doesn’t seem far off. When we’re sixty, we probably won’t even notice the gap. That said, your age is one more reason to start a family right away. To be completely honest, a part of me wishes I had more time to be a young single man, sow my wild oats and so forth. But I have resigned myself to giving up that phase of life and moving directly to family man.
Have you given much thought to this decision that we face? I had a Zoom call with your parents and they explained that you’ve been fully committed to your graduate studies in Hawaii. But they say you’re still single and not in love with anyone. They said you haven’t closed off the option of marriage to me. I hope that’s true, and I hope you will consider this proposal carefully.
Yours in ancestral bemusement,
Duncan Aberdeen
Mathilda had found the letter charming. Straightforward, unpretentious. The arranged marriage angle did make sense, even though it seemed like such a relic to her. But it wasn’t if you considered India and probably other parts of the world. People married for all kinds of reasons. Romantic ones, practical ones, financial ones, ambitious ones, accidental ones.
If she had her heart set on romance, maybe she should have fallen in love with someone by now. The fact that she hadn’t…well, maybe that was a sign. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried. Every time she’d felt an attraction to a man, she’d given it a chance. But never had she lost her heart to anyone. Maybe she just wasn’t built that way. Maybe she was always going to be more passionate about endangered birds than she was about any man.
Except…this thing with Rory. It felt different. But the circumstances were so unusual, it was hard to tell what she felt for him. Until just now, she’d thought he was an entirely different person.
She watched as he searched the tent, appreciating the long lines of his body and his smooth movements. There was definitely something between them, something that felt new and unlike any of her other attempts at romance.
For one thing, she’d had every reason to dismiss him, thinking he was from the very world that she’d wanted to escape. But as hard as she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to resist the pull between them.
God, if only she could have more time to figure out what this was, this connection, this attraction. Duncan wanted an answer soon because the dreaded deadline was so close.
But they had at least a week, didn’t they? She still had a little time.
“I’ll come with you,” she blurted to Rory.
He turned in surprise. “Okay, but where are we going?”
“You want to call in Lincoln’s security people, right? That means getting to a cell signal. I’ll go with you. I was planning to go to Hilo anyway.”
“I don’t know.” He scratched at his jaw, where several days’ worth of scruff was emerging. No razor, poor guy. They’d had extra toothbrushes, but no one had been able to rustle up a spare razor. Lucky for him, that dark growth only enhanced his high cheekbones. It made him less “pretty” and more “freaking hot.”
“It could be dangerous,” he said soberly. “We’ve got armed commandos popping up, we’ve got drones, a possibly sabotaged plane. I don’t want to put you in any more danger than I already have.”
“Yes, I get it. But those people obviously know about this camp already. We’d probably be safer leaving it.”
A shout sounded from outside. Their eyes met in alarm.
“What now?” Rory threw up his hands. “Tornado? Wildfire? Alien invasion?”
She was already heading for the zippered door. “Don’t forget the menehune.”
21
The others were all gathered on the platform deck of the yurt, staring at a spiral of smoke rising over the jungle canopy to the north.
“Is that…” Rory shaded his eyes against the brilliant sun.
“The helicopter? That’s what we’re trying to figure out. Don’t know what else it could be. There’s nothing but jungle that direction, and we haven’t seen any other aircraft,” said Robert.
“Shit.” Rory’s gut twisted. Lincoln Kerr couldn’t possibly be gone, not after everything he’d already survived. An entire business empire depended on him. He’d grown to like his boss, and the thought of him dying here in the jungle horrified him.
“Man, that dude has the worst luck,” said Bjorn, who was staring at the smoke through a set of binoculars. “Survives one crash, falls into a coma, finally wakes up, and right away gets kidnapped and dragged away into a chopper that then crashes? That’s some intense karma.” He pulled the binoculars from his face. “Does anyone else want to take a look? You, pilot man. Maybe you can identify the smoke.”
Doubtful, but Rory took a look anyway. “It’s definitely something metal, judging by the color of the smoke. But whether it’s that same helicopter, I can’t say. How far away is that?”
They all conferred, and agreed it was about five miles away. It hadn’t gotten far before it had gone down.
