As they taxied down the grass runway and lifted off into a westerly breeze, Daniel gripped the yoke, his pulse racing as he thought about what lay ahead. In a few short hours, they’d be in Vegas getting married.
* * *
Megan’s fingers curled around the armrests as the plane left the grass strip and climbed into the sky. When they were far enough away from the ground that she didn’t have to worry about crashing, she settled back and relaxed.
“I knew the Coltons had a plane, but I didn’t realize you all knew how to fly it.”
“Not all of my brothers have learned.”
“Just how long have you been flying?”
“Since I was about fifteen and Big J bought the plane. He paid for my flight lessons while he learned to fly, as well. It’s always a good thing to have a copilot in case something happens to the pilot.”
Megan’s stomach fluttered as she stared at the yoke in front of her. “Just so you know, I don’t have a clue how to fly this thing, but I’m willing to learn.”
He smiled over at her. “It’s not a requirement, but I’m glad to hear you’re willing. Not many people are interested.”
She liked it when he smiled at her. He had the faith in her to think she could learn to fly an airplane. She’d always been interested in flying, but her parents wouldn’t have allowed her to take flying lessons any more than they wanted her working with large animals. To say they were overprotective would be a gross understatement. Hell, she’d learn to fly if it was something Daniel wanted.
“My parents are likely to flip when I come home with a husband. Just so you know. We’re likely to incur resistance.”
“I can handle it,” Daniel assured her.
“I placed a call to the attorney who handled my grandmother’s will and arranged an appointment with him in two days. I also arranged to meet with a horse broker.”
“Good thinking. By this time a week from now, we should be sitting pretty. You with your horses, me with my breeder stock semen.”
Megan nodded. “Sounds easy enough. However, I’ve never known anything to be that simple.”
Daniel shot a glance her way. “True.” He held out a hand. “We’ll get through this together. We make a good team.”
She took his hand, that same sharp crackle of electricity shooting through her. She had no doubt they’d make it, and she refused to think about what would happen afterward, when their marriage of convenience was no longer needed.
“Hey.” Daniel squeezed her fingers. “It’s going to work out.”
She nodded, comforted by the gentle pressure on her hand.
“You didn’t get much sleep last night. Why don’t you relax and take a nap? I might need you later to spot me through the mountains.”
Her heart leaped into her lungs. “Mountains?”
“Unless you want to take the long way around, we’ll be flying just south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico.”
She bit on her bottom lip.
Daniel let go of her hand and brushed his thumb across her lip. “Don’t worry. I’ve flown this route several times.”
“I have, too. In a 747, not a crop duster.” She stared out the window at the ground several thousand feet below them. “Something tells me it will be a lot different than flying over at thirty thousand feet.”
“It is, but I think you’ll like it.”
Megan settled into her seat, letting the hum of the engine lull her into a trance while they were still over the flat terrain of Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. At least the danger of the flight took her mind off her coming nuptials.
She must have fallen asleep somewhere between thinking about crashing into the mountains and a cheesy wedding in Vegas, because the next thing she knew, they’d hit a speed bump on the Vegas Strip.
Megan’s eyes popped open, and she stared around the interior of the airplane. It hadn’t been a speed bump they’d hit. The little plane hit another pocket of air and jerked.
She sat up straight and stared out at a darkening sky. Thunderclouds rose high to her left, lightning flashing. “Is everything okay?”
“Should be,” Daniel said through gritted teeth. His fingers gripped the yoke, his knuckles white. “Remember that storm my brother was talking about coming out of the southwest?”
“I thought we were going around it?”
“That’s the idea. Only it’s getting bigger as we speak. We won’t be going through it, but we’re getting some of the bumpy air around it.”
Mountains rose ahead of them, their snow-covered peaks appearing beautifully dangerous. Megan’s heart lodged in her throat. “I thought we wouldn’t be going through the mountains on this trip.”
“In order to go around the storm, I’m having to fly farther north. We’re nearing the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.”
Megan’s pulse raced, her breathing becoming shallower. “Just how much experience do you have flying through mountains?”
He laughed, though it sounded strained through the headset. “Too late to ask now, isn’t it? But for what it’s worth, I have over two thousand hours flying this plane.”
“That sounds like a lot. How many of those hours were in this kind of weather?”
“There are never enough hours flying in this kind of weather. The idea is to avoid these conditions.”
“Should we put down?”
“Can’t. Not here. The best we can hope for is to swing wide.”
They hit more turbulence, and the plane dropped like someone had pulled the rug out from under them.
Megan swallowed a scream and held on.
Daniel moved his feet and scanned the instrument panel, his hands steady on the yoke. “Just a little farther and we should clear the side of this storm.”
She caught and held her breath as they neared the snowy crags a lot lower than she liked.
Lightning flashed nearby. A rumble of thunder sounded over the roar of the engine and through the muffling of her headset.
Megan had never been so frightened in her life. But seeing Daniel in the pilot’s seat, his jaw set, all his concentration on flying the airplane, made her feel a little safer.
Until the next big dip brought her even closer to the jagged peaks. Her stomach clenched, and she bit down hard on her tongue to keep from screaming again. Daniel didn’t need a crying woman in the cockpit with him. She had to be strong, even though she shook from head to toe.
The clouds billowed higher, blocking the sun, making the sky ominous.
Megan found herself leaning away from the turbulence, willing the little plane to fly safely around the storm and up over the mountains.
They seemed to be heading straight into the mountains instead of flying over the top, and the storm appeared to be engulfing them in its fury.
Tearing her gaze away from the mountains, she risked a glance in Daniel’s direction. His face was tense, a muscle flicked in his jaw and his knuckles were white on the yoke.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said softly, as if speaking the words out loud would make it so. She sent a silent prayer to the heavens to deliver them safely through the storm and over the mountains they were racing toward.
“Hold on,” Daniel said in her ears.
Her