Page 23 of Air Affair

“I’m finished, by the way,” he said, stepping back. “We can leave as soon as you’re ready.”

“It’s safe?” She gave the machine a dubious look. Much as she enjoyed the thrill of their landing, she had reservations about subjecting herself to a repeat.

“It’s never safe, as this morning should have made clear. But she’s as safe as she can be. I’m going to need your help to get her started. At my signal, I need you to start the engine.”

Accepting his hand up into the cockpit, she tried to tamp down her trepidation about flying again, not to mention about returning to deal with Edward and her father. He climbed up on the wing and stood beside her, instructing her on what she needed to do. Her hand shook slightly as she carried out his instructions to open the throttle from her cockpit while he got the propeller started, but everything went smoothly. The engine started, and he climbed into the rear cockpit quickly. They taxied and took off.

8

On the trip back, Hank watched Rory closely. She hardly moved. Gone was the exuberant woman who whooped with glee as they flew into the sky. A melancholy seemed to have settled on her, and he ached to chase it away. It pained him to see her like this. He knew exactly how he’d chase it away too. Preferably in the cockpit of a Jenny. But some madness had possessed him in that field, and he turned her down. What was he thinking?

He no longer wondered what she wanted from him. She’d made her interest abundantly clear. She wanted the same thing he wanted of her. Except that wasn’t quite right. Something made him hesitate when faced with the possibility of a tryst with her. Making love to her once and then never seeing her again felt all wrong, though he couldn’t say why. He couldn’t expect an ongoing relationship with her, nor was he the sort of man who engaged in relationships.

She had him all mixed up. There was no two ways about it. He no longer knew what he wanted from her aside from continuing to be near her. The only thing he was certain of was that this was not the end. Not yet. Somehow, they would see each other again. She couldn’t stay away any more than he could. Something kept bringing them back together. They couldn’t escape each other’s orbits until something knocked them free of their gravitational attraction.

The return journey was uneventful and surprisingly brief. Before he knew it, he was coming in for a landing at Polo Field as if the last three hours hadn’t happened. When they came to a stop, he walked around to her and caught her as she slid down instead of getting the ladder—anything for a bit more contact. Her breath hitched as he held her for a moment too long when she landed on the ground.

She stepped away, avoiding his gaze. They were back in public now. Appearances mattered once again. The distance between them grew staggering as they stood facing each other, trying not to kiss.

“You should go,” he said at last, unable to force his feet to walk away.

“Yes, I should,” she said, meeting his gaze at last.

They stood looking at each other for far too long. It took the lanky silhouette of O’Donnell walking his way to snap him out of his reverie.

“You should go now. O’Donnell already suspects. If he tells Major Fleet, I’ll lose my job,” he said, nodding in the direction of his friend who seemed not to have noticed them yet.

She nodded and turned to go, looking back one last time as she walked off. He swallowed hard and forced himself to turn away.

O’Donnell sauntered over, glancing at her retreating figure. “Was that Miss Belmont?”

“None of your business, O’Donnell,” Hank snapped.

“Oh my! I’m right. It was Miss Belmont. Well done. I was wondering why you didn’t show a bit more enthusiasm at the club last night. By the way, when did you leave? I missed you. Thompson said you went off with some blonde whose boyfriend jilted her.”

Thank God O’Donnell didn’t know he’d left with Rory. The last thing he needed was O’Donnell spreading the rumor they spent the night together. It was bad enough that the senator thought that.

It could have been true, he thought with growing regret. If he’d kissed her in the cab, he was sure she would have invited him up. And then this morning in the field… Something was wrong with him. He never turned down a good time, nor did he find risk daunting. He thrived on it. So what was holding him back? Aside from common sense and self-preservation.

“Nothing came of it. She was too upset,” he said honestly.

O’Donnell shrugged. “You should have stuck with the blonde at the bar with the tremendous knockers. She was heartbroken when you left. I had to buy her a drink and call you a cad to cheer her up.”

“How selfless of you,” Hank grumbled.

“I found a sweet little brunette named Patty looking for a good time. We got a room together and kept each other awake ’til dawn. I tell you I am dog-tired today.”

Hank tried not to roll his eyes.

“Then what brings you out to the field?”

“Checking tomorrow’s schedule. I wanted to see whether I could enjoy Patty’s company for another night and catch up on sleep in the morning before I fly. I’m in luck. I’m not scheduled to leave until 1 p.m.,” O’Donnell said with a wide grin. “Care to join me in some calisthenics? I’m hoping it will help clear the cobwebs from the old cranium.”

Hank said, “Sure,” without really thinking about it. His mind was still on Rory. As he went through the motions of pushups, squats, sit-ups, and then jogging with O’Donnell, he turned over the moments when he said “no” again and again in his mind. He wanted her. There was no question. The mere thought of her sent blood rushing to places where he didn’t need it right this moment. It wasn’t lack of desire or fear of risk. And then it hit him.

Oh no, Hank, you idiot. You’re falling for her. You won’t sleep with her because you want something more.

Of all the stupid, ridiculous, impossible, irresponsible… Christ. This was a disaster. He was falling for Rory Belmont, princess of New York. Never mind that she was totally unreachable. Never mind that he didn’t want entanglements. And neither did she. To her, he was only a bit of fun. Hadn’t she said so? But with Rory Belmont, his heart completely ignored his head, not to mention his cock.