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“Don’t worry. We’ll behave.” Wiping away the last of her tears, she grinned at him.

“You’d better,” he said, wagging his finger. The hypocrite. But she knew he couldn’t help himself. He was the best brother in the world, even if he was a total pain in the patootie sometimes.

Ernie stayed with her until Jack arrived a few minutes later in clean but rumpled clothes, his face drawn and careworn as he looked her up and down as if searching for a wound.

And she was wounded, even if she wasn’t bleeding. That was the most terrifying evening she’d ever spent. Even when he went away for war, it hadn’t been this bad.

Giving them both stern looks, Ernie put his hands on his hips. “I’m going to go change, and I’ll be gone for a few minutes, but I expect you both to be on your best behavior. No hanky-panky. Got it?”

“Got it,” they said in unison.

Ernie narrowed his eyes, giving them one last glare and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

They were alone at last.

She started to get up, but Jack put his hands on the arms of her chair and dropped to his knees in front of her. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I never wanted to put you through that. I’ve made an appointment with August Belmont next week to go see the property I’m proposing to buy for the flight school. If he agrees to invest, I can quit this job, and you’ll never have to go through this again.”

That gave her hope. Until he quit, she’d have to live with uncertainty, but at least there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Still, he’d scared her so badly that she didn’t know how she was going to recover. “I know you didn’t mean to scare me, and I’m glad you have a plan to move on to a safer job. But that was so terrifying. If you ever make an emergency landing again, please call and tell us how you’re getting home. And don’t take unnecessary risks to get here faster. You could have stayed the night in Dover and flown home in the morning. It would have been so much safer.”

He closed his eyes and nodded. “I’m sorry. I made the wrong choice. I wanted to get home to you as fast as possible, and I wasn’t thinking straight. I promise I’ll be as safe as I can from here on out. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course, I can.” That was the easy part. It was banishing dread from her heart every time he took off that would take time. But there was nothing he could say to make that go away. “Now, hurry up and kiss me before Ernie comes back.” They had limited time, and she didn’t want to waste it.

He stood and offered a hand, pulling her up so that she was flush against him. Lord, his muscles felt good crushed against her chest. Wrapping one arm around her, he caressed her face with his other hand, tilting her head back and taking her in for a long moment before lowering his lips.

“I love you, Constance,” he murmured, his nose touching hers. “I should have said it before, but I thought it was too soon. But life is too uncertain to hold anything back.”

After the night they’d had, she couldn’t agree more. Her heart was raw and bleeding, but she couldn’t pretend she was anything less than madly, desperately in love with him, and his declaration only sank her deeper. She was all in, come what may.

“I love you too,” she whispered, a moment before his lips descended, consuming her and sweeping her away. Jack Thompson loved her, and no matter what he put her through, those three little words made her heart soar.

This was what they all lived for, wasn’t it? The exhilaration of cheating death and flying like a bird. The pilots all called her tender-hearted because she couldn’t stand to see anyone risk getting hurt, but she understood now why they all whispered “Death or glory” to each other before taking off. In Jack’s arms, she let herself climb to perilous heights, knowing full well the consequences of a fall.

He was alive. He was here. He was hers. Letting go of her cares, she gave in and flew.

By the time knocking on the door pierced her consciousness, she could have sworn she was floating on a cloud. She and Jack weren’t a man and a woman in an embrace. They were elemental, intertwined, inseparable.

But Ernie’s voice brought her down abruptly. “I’m coming in, and you’d better be standing at least two feet apart.”

She and Jack jumped back from each other, holding in laughter.

The door opened and Ernie charged in, wearing a clean change of clothes, looking back and forth between the two of them with narrowed eyes. “I’m glad you two think this is funny. I, for one, am exhausted, and we have a long drive ahead of us. Jack, I’ll see you at dinner tomorrow. Constance, let’s head home.”

“Of course.” She hurried to his side. “Goodnight, Jack,” she said over her shoulder, drinking in the sight of him one last time.

“Goodnight, Constance.” That devastating smile made her wish she could turn around and drag him off somewhere private so that they could spend the night together. I love you, he mouthed, giving her a wink as Ernie pulled her out of the room.

He was going to be the death of her, but her heart was all his, come what may.

22

With a basket of delicacies hanging from his arm and a dozen roses in his hand, Jack rang the doorbell for Thursday dinner at the Pritchards’.

There was bread in the basket, of course. He always brought that. But then he got to thinking that maybe he should bring something more exciting. Piero’s tiramisu? Imported pineapple from Olsen’s Market? Dahlgren’s cinnamon cookies? In the end, he’d bought all three.

Maybe he was laying it on a bit thick, but he wanted to sweeten up her parents as best he could for the conversation he planned to have with them after dinner. He’d been practicing it in his head all day. It never hurt to be over prepared.

He’d even gotten a marriage license, just in case. He knew he should do the right thing and court her for a respectable period, and he would for as long as she wanted. But the moment she decided she was ready to be his wife, he wanted to tie the knot. Judging from that unforgettable evening at the apartment, they might not last very long before things progressed, no matter how good their intentions.