She shook her head. “Like I said, not an option.”
“Then we’re at a standstill, aren’t we?”
She paused as if to consider her options, then finally laid on the charm. “Are you sure you can’t just…take care of this for me?” she asked sweetly, flipping back her lustrous hair.
Figuring she didn’t try the femme fatale routine very often, Will remained steadfast. He shook his head. “You know the terms.”
Samantha folded her arms and leaned toward him, far from oblivious to the way her stance was lifting the soft curves of her breasts. “And you know I can’t agree to those terms, on principle.”
“Then you’re just flat out of luck, aren’t you?”
She released a long-suffering sigh and pursed her lips again. “Look.” She moved one hand in a graceful gesture, not about to give up. “You seem like a nice man.”
Who was about to be played by one hell of a Texas beauty. “So you said,” Will drawled.
The smile she gave him was infinitely seductive. “Can’t you just convince my brother that I don’t want anything to do with him and let that be that?”
Wishing he could act on instinct, forget his mission and make a move on her, Will shook his head. There would be no hauling her into his arms and kissing her, now or any other time, he warned himself sternly. No blurring of boundaries. No action on his part that would give her an excuse to run the other way from the only family she had left.
“Surely if you told Howard how opposed I am to any reunion, he’d believe you. And let this ridiculous notion of his go.”
Will once again shook his head. “That’s something you need to tell Howard yourself, face-to-face.”
Her lower lip took on a kissable pout. “I can’t go to Texas because I don’t have the money to come back.”
Will had already suspected that she was short of cash. “Howard said something about you being let go from your job last September.”
Her cheeks turned pink with humiliation. Looking more miserable than ever, she dropped the temptress act and shoved a hand through her thick, glossy brown hair. “My brother knows I was laid off by the advertising agency?” she probed.
Will edged closer. “Yep, which is part of why Howard wants to see you so badly. He wants to make sure you’re all right.”
Samantha scowled. “He wants me to settle in Texas.”
Will could see her there, too. In jeans, boots, a snap-front Western shirt and a hat that was all attitude. With family nearby. He closed the distance between them, not stopping until they were nose to nose. “Would that be such a bad thing?”
“Yes.” The look in her eyes grew turbulent. “All the best advertising jobs are here.”
Will leaned toward her ear and whispered conspiratorially, “So don’t move back there.” Ready to play peacemaker if it would end the decade-long feud between Howard and Samantha, he advised, “Just go see him. Tell him you’re no longer family and never will be again, if that’s what you want. When you’ve said your piece, I’ll fly you back here from Texas.”
Samantha scoffed. “I can guarantee you he won’t pay for that.”
Will gave a careless shrug. “Doesn’t need to—I can fly one of my jets here whenever I want.”
“You have more than one?” she asked in an interested tone.
“Six,” he confirmed, happy to see that she appeared as impressed as he was by his hard-won success. “And ten pilots,” he continued, “although a couple of them only work part-time.”
He could see she was on the brink.
“You should do this, Samantha,” he urged, using every bit of persuasion in his arsenal. He cupped her shoulders lightly. “Family is important.”
She exhaled deeply, unbearable sadness coming into her pretty eyes. Then she stepped away, undeterred. “I just wish I had one.”
Chapter Two
“Second thoughts?” Will asked, emerging from the cockpit several hours later.
Samantha did not know how the sexy pilot had read her mind—she’d spent years perfecting her poker face. To the point that most people hadn’t a clue what she was thinking or feeling. Will McCabe not only spotted her vulnerabilities, he seemed determined to get around them. She unclasped her seat belt and stood. “About succumbing to your persuasive ways?”
He opened the hatch that also served as the staircase, then watched as she squared her shoulders and slung her purse over her shoulder.
“It’s not going to be that bad,” he told her with a wry smile.
Unsure whether it was resentment or nerves twisting her stomach into knots, Samantha countered, “You don’t know that.”
“Sure I do.” He carried her small suitcase down the steps, then waited for her at the bottom.
Together, they walked across the tarmac toward the hangar.
He reached over and gave her elbow a companionable squeeze. “’Cause I know Howard.”
Another reason why not to develop any kind of friendship or camaraderie with this man, she thought, since his primary allegiance was clearly to her estranged older brother. Not to her, no matter how chivalrous he was acting. Trying not to think about the way her skin was tingling from just that brief, casual contact, Samantha drew a stabilizing breath. “Let’s get this over with,” she muttered, spotting the silhouette of a man coming out of the brightly lit building in front of them.
Samantha hadn’t seen Howard in close to ten years, but she would have known her brother anywhere. He had the same tall, lithe build, dark hair and eyes that she did.
Howard closed the distance between them quickly. He started to hug her, but read her reserve and changed his mind. He moved back awkwardly, then looked her in the eye with a sincerity and warmth she found disquieting. “I’m glad you could come,” he told her, as Will looked on, clearly uncomfortable being put in the middle of this family drama.
Feeling unaccountably glad that Will was with her, so she didn’t have to face this alone, Samantha turned her attention back to Howard. She studied the gray at his temples. That and the crow’s-feet around his eyes were the only signs that her brother had just turned forty. She forced herself not to see the similarities to both their parents. Or the regret on his face. He’d hurt her badly. She wasn’t going to let him do it again. “What’s this about?” she asked wearily.
Howard’s mouth took on a determined slant. “I think it’s time we ended this cold war between us.”
That, they could have said on the phone. Had she picked up, which she wouldn’t have.
Ignoring the wordless entreaty from Will to cooperate, Samantha shrugged. “Well, I don’t.”
Will set her suitcase down beside her. “If you need me, I’ll be in the office,” he said.
Samantha latched on to his arm before he could depart, and reeled him back to her side. “I need you now.”
Will lifted a brow at her and gave Howard a glance. Her brother shrugged. “I don’t mind if you hear everything we say, as long as I get to say it.”
She added, “And I don’t want to be alone with him.”
Will gave Howard a look that let his friend know he was doing this against his better judgment, and Samantha one that told her she was being childish. She didn’t care. Hardening her heart against further devastation was the only way she had survived the