Page 19 of Air Affair

The senator stood and loomed over Rory. “Now see here, I⁠—”

Hank stood and wedged himself between Rory and the senator. “She asked you to leave.”

Standing tall, Hank had several inches on Edward and was considerably more muscular.

The senator huffed. “I don’t know who you are, you scurf, but I intend to find out. And I will make you sorry you ever came within a mile of Miss Belmont.” Grabbing the ring, he turned and left.

Hank sat down again and looked at Rory. She shuddered, and something inside him clenched at the sight. He hated seeing her hurt like this, even if it was none of his business.

She sat silently, looking in the direction the senator departed, then turned her attention back on Hank. “I’m so sorry. I admit I wanted you here for moral support in case he showed up, and maybe I wanted to make him a little jealous. But I never thought he would jump to such absurd conclusions. Now I’m worried he really will make trouble for you.”

“Princess, you let me worry about me. What’s the worst he could do?”

“He’s smart and powerful. I’m sure he’ll come up with something.”

Hank shrugged. “I have nothing to lose, as he’ll find out if he comes after me.”

“That can’t be true.” Rory’s brows furrowed adorably.

Averting his gaze to his plate, he said, “I have a job that’s trying to kill me and a patch of dirt back home in Michigan nobody in their right mind would want. He wants to take away either of those, he’d be doing me a favor.”

“But you love flying,” she said, putting her hand on his. He forced himself to think of icy locales. The Arctic. The Himalayas. Siberia. Lord, this woman. He let out his breath slowly, glad that a tablecloth hid his reaction to her touch.

“He can’t stop me from flying. Worst he could do is send me back to the front, and I’d rather be there fighting than here delivering birthday cards anyway.”

She squeezed his hand. He was going to need some time to compose himself before standing up from this table.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. And I’m sorry about him.”

“What will your father do?” An image of Major Belmont with a shotgun flashed through his mind yet again. Damn that dream.

“He’ll lecture me, possibly threaten to disown me if I don’t go through with the wedding.”

“Would he really disown you?”

She shrugged. “Possibly. He’s threatened it before. When I got caught kissing a gardener at the Astor’s, he nearly disowned me on the spot. Had Mrs. Astor not promised to hush the whole thing up, he probably would have. There’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind if he did. I could get a job as a teacher or a shop girl and live on my own for the first time in my life. It could be quite liberating.”

Hank laughed. Imagine Rory Belmont working as a shop girl. Even he could offer her a better life than that. If he was the marrying sort, that was. But no woman in her right mind would want to hitch herself to a man that took the risks he did. And besides, high-society ladies didn’t marry nobodies like him.

“Really, it would!” She could probably see the skepticism written on his face.

“The day you become a shop girl is the day I become the king of England.” He popped another tiny pastry in his mouth.

“Very funny. Now let’s get back to the other reason why I asked you here,” she said, a devious look on her face. “You still owe me a flight.”

He chuckled. “How do you figure?”

“You didn’t give me one last week at the airfield.” She leaned forward, her eyes full of enthusiasm. It was all he could do not to claim her lips right then and there.

“No, I did not. Nor did I offer to.”

“Details,” she said brushing his statement away with an elegant hand. “Take me today. It would cheer me up.”

“Not on your life, princess. Do you know how dangerous airplanes are? It’s not for nothing they’ve nicknamed the airmail operation ‘Uncle Sam’s Suicide Club.’”

She leaned back, folding her arms. “Don’t be a bore, Hank. I’m only asking for a short flight. Just up and then down again, a taste of freedom above the clouds and then we come back to earth safe and sound. I’ve ridden in an airplane once before and nothing terrible happened, and I’ve seen what a skilled and capable pilot you are. I’m certain you’ll bring me back in one piece. Please?” She touched his arm again.

It was a bad idea, a terrible idea, but with her hand on his arm, his resistance was crumbling. That senator was really a piece of work, and Hank wanted to do something to cheer her up. Nobody deserved to be treated like that. The urge to whisk her away from all her troubles and do whatever it took to drive away the sadness behind her smile was almost irresistible. And he knew better than anyone what a tonic it was to leave the world behind and soar up in the clouds.