Tailspin. Elizabeth Goddard
Читать онлайн книгу.
hurt. But in her eyes, those hazel eyes, Will saw her unbridled determination and knew she wouldn’t accept his help.
What man could help but admire her?
They neared the tree line and he followed the brook that would eventually lead them to the off-grid cabin where John Snake lived. Snake—he liked the nickname to keep out the riffraff—usually met Will near the beach for his packages, but that was when he knew to expect Will.
He turned to check on Sylvie, but she was farther behind than he’d thought. Frowning, he made his way back. She was strong, but she’d been through a lot both before and after he’d come on the scene in his floatplane.
“Hey, you doing okay?”
Seeing her purse her lips, he got the sense she wanted to smile, but couldn’t. “How much farther?”
Will hated to tell her it was still a couple more miles, and the terrain wasn’t getting any easier. Add to that, the rain was icy cold and coming down harder.
He didn’t like the glazed look in her eyes. “A mile, maybe.”
She dropped to a log and hung her head. “Okay. I can do that. I just... I think I might have sprained my ankle. These diving boots are no good in this type of terrain.”
He frowned. “No kidding.”
“Give me a minute to rest.”
Was she serious? Will wouldn’t expect her to walk if she was injured. In fact, he shouldn’t have let her walk to the cabin even before finding out about her ankle. What with hypothermia setting in and she hinting at having decompression sickness, she was in a world of hurt, but he didn’t want to step on her strong and capable toes, so he hadn’t offered any help.
Until now. There wasn’t time to rest. They had to get out of the weather.
He scraped his arms under her knees and around her back and lifted her.
“What are you doing?” Alarm jumped from her gaze and her voice.
Will settled her against him until she felt right. She was lean and solid, as divers tended to be, but light enough he could manage the distance. “Don’t take offense, Sylvie. I need to get you out of this weather.”
Her gaze softened. “Thank you. I didn’t mean for you to have to do this.”
“I figure I owe you. After all, you pulled me from a sinking plane and swam me to shore. Saved my life. So it’s my turn to carry you.” There. Hopefully, he hadn’t offended her strong and capable woman sensibilities.
Sylvie didn’t argue and instead rested her head against his shoulder. That ignited familiar feelings inside. Protective feelings. He’d forgotten he could feel that way and instantly remembered why he hadn’t wanted to. A year ago he’d given it all to Michelle and she’d made a fool of him, practically leading him around town by the proverbial ring in his nose until she’d dumped him. In the end she couldn’t take the fact Will was a bush pilot. He was gone all the time and he wasn’t there to do her bidding or entertain her. She’d claimed she was afraid he would die out there in the bush and she’d be left alone. It was her or flying. He’d had a choice to make.
So he’d come back early, canceled a job and was almost ready to give it all up for her—against his mother’s strong advice, of course—when he found Michelle with someone else.
Everyone had seen the fool that Will had been except for Will until it was too late.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen again. But this situation had nothing to do with that one.
Two different women.
Two different scenarios.
If Sylvie had any hint of his thoughts she’d be out of his arms in a second, and that would do neither of them any good. Will had to get his mind off Sylvie’s proximity. He tried to focus on the steps he took rather than the warmth of Sylvie’s body against his.
If he could get her talking about what happened today, maybe it would distract him and they could find some answers to boot.
“Tell me about those men, Sylvie. Why did they try to kill you?”
“I already told you I don’t know anything.”
Was she telling the truth? “So this was just random, then? Two men were there, and you were at the wrong place at the wrong time? What could you have stumbled on? I can’t imagine they were out there minding their own business and decided to kill whoever showed up for no reason.”
Had she stumbled on something and was hiding that fact? There had to be much more to this story. That something gnawed at his mind again, just out of his reach. A cup of warm coffee and some rest might ease the ache in his head and set him thinking clearly again.
She released a sigh that tickled his neck. “Obviously I have a lot to figure out, but I can’t think a straight thought.”
“Right. You need food and warmth and sleep.” Just like he did. If only he could find that cabin. He hoped he didn’t run into those men after Sylvie. But they couldn’t have followed him. He’d take comfort in that. Then again, letting down his guard could be a mistake neither of them could afford.
Too many unknowns made him edgier by the second.
As the cold rain came down harder, tumbling through the canopy of spruce and hemlock, Will focused on stepping his way over slick boulders and freezing ground, careful to avoid slipping, especially with his burden. Though Sylvie was small, carrying her the distance began to weigh on him. His arms ached, challenging his confidence. He should have come across Snake’s cabin by now. If he wasn’t going to find the cabin, then they needed to make shelter while there was still enough light.
The rain eased to a fine mist, blunted by the forest canopy.
He stopped, thinking about putting her down so he could build a fire.
“Will.” Her warm breath caressed his cheek. “Through the woods...”
Will’s pulse jumped. The cabin? He peered through the trees, eyes following where she gestured. An elk. Disappointment jabbed through him that it wasn’t the cabin. How could he tell her the disheartening news that he didn’t know where he was going, after all? He set her down, steadying her to sit on a fallen log, and drew in a breath to tell her the bad news. Before he could say the words, the fog in his mind lifted, and he saw clearly what he couldn’t understand before.
Sylvie had been looking for her mother’s missing plane—the same as him.
His next words took a different tack altogether.
“Tell me about the plane you were looking for.” Ever since she mentioned her mother’s plane, Will suspected they were both on the same search. His mother’s plane was the only one that had gone missing in the area in more than a year, and there had been one passenger. A woman. Sylvie’s mother—he was sure of it. And from the look on her face, she was making the connection, too.
“You’re a bush pilot. Mountain Cove Air. That’s your company?”
He nodded. “My mother was flying a surprise package back to Mountain Cove two months ago when her plane went missing. I’ve been searching for her ever since. I think we’ve both been looking for the same plane.” How could it have flown so far off the intended path that search parties—Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Fire Service, Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife Guard, the list went on—hadn’t found them? Then again, they had thousands of square miles of islands, water and mountains to search even on the flight path she should have taken. Not counting where she might have detoured.
That was it, then. She’d taken a detour and Will suddenly knew. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? She’d kept a postcard his father had sent her years before of a beautiful waterfall. What if his mother had been showing Sylvie’s mother the sights, including her favorite?
Will remembered the postcard because