in terms of surprises and memory-making events. Cody wasn’t at all sure the redhead was up to the job.
On the drive between airports, he had made some attempt to get better acquainted. But her answers had been pretty monosyllabic and she had repeatedly allowed the conversation to die. Okay, so she’d had a long day. Okay, so traveling on to Arizona had not exactly been on her radar. But she was maybe thirty, in great shape—except for her penchant for foot-destroying shoes—and should not be so thrown by a simple change in plans. And where was her joy for her aunt and the fun of planning a wedding for this woman who clearly adored her?
With each thought, Cody’s grip on the wheel tightened until the plane made a slight lurch, alerting him to what he was doing and waking his passenger.
“What?” she said, her eyes wide with fright as she peered out into the blackness of the night.
“Sorry about that.” He raised his voice above the constant drone of the engine. “We’re about twenty minutes out from Phoenix.”
She nodded and flipped open her phone. He reached over and flipped it closed. “Might interfere with communications from the tower,” he explained.
“I might have a message,” she explained.
“It’s waited this long,” he replied and left the rest unsaid.
She stuffed the phone into the pocket of her jacket. She glanced around the cockpit as if looking for something to do. She drummed her manicured nails on her knee then reached for her seat belt. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she announced.
Cody let go of the controls as he reached over to refasten her seat belt. “It’s waited this long,” he repeated with a grin and took some pleasure in realizing that up here, he was in charge, not Little Miss Cell Phone.
She squirmed in the seat.
“We’ll be on the ground in another twenty minutes,” he assured her and slowly turned the plane away from the lights of Phoenix toward the mountains.
“You’re going to circle?”
“Nope. I’m going to land this puppy.”
She glanced around wildly, twisting around to see the last of the lights and then leaning forward as a solid mass of mountains loomed larger and closer.
“Where?” she muttered and he read her lips.
He tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a faint string of lighting at the base of the mountains. She looked at him wild-eyed as she clasped her hand over her mouth. For one terrible moment, he thought she might throw up.
“Bethany? Are you okay?”
She kept her fist jammed against her lips and stared straight ahead. As he banked the plane for the turn away from the mountains in preparation for his approach to the landing strip, she actually closed her eyes and planted her feet. It was clear that she thought they were about to crash. Cody was insulted. He straightened the plane’s course and started the descent to the landing strip below, then tapped her on the shoulder and indicated the view of the ground rushing up to meet the landing gear.
He could see Erika and his father standing next to the golf cart used for moving between buildings on the large ranch. How would they fit all the baggage and three people on one little cart? But he was relieved to see them. It meant that he was free of hosting duties for the evening. He taxied to the hangar, cut the engine and in the sudden silence reached over and unsnapped her seat belt.
“Bathroom is just inside the front door of the house—if it’s not too late.”
“You scared me,” she protested as he climbed out of his seat and prepared to open the exit door. Her tone left no doubt that she thought he had done it deliberately.
“Ma’am, I was just flying the plane. You’re the one who decided to panic for no good reason.” He shoved the door open releasing the short flight of stairs and did not wait for her to go first.
Bethany took a moment to digest the fact that this cowboy son of her aunt’s fiancé had just left her to crawl out of the cockpit on her own. Any gentleman would have helped her out—she was practically family, after all. Exactly who did he think she was? Some hired help brought in to manage the wedding?
“Bethany, dear.”
Erika stood at the door of the aircraft, smiling uncertainly. “Is everything all right? Oh, I told Ian we should let you take a commercial flight tomorrow but he wouldn’t hear of it. Waste of money, he said, since Cody was coming back anyway.”
Bethany climbed out of the cockpit and bent to keep from hitting her head as she followed her aunt out of the plane. “I’m fine,” she assured Erika, then mustered her last ounce of enthusiasm and gushed, “Chicago—now Phoenix—what an adventure.”
Erika grinned with obvious relief. “It’s called my life these days,” she said happily. “Come meet Ian.”
Ian was not as tall or hard-muscled as his son but he was every bit as handsome. They had the same eyes and the same smile—or at least she thought she recalled that smile from when she had first seen Cody holding that ridiculous sign. His smile and cheery outlook had definitely wavered as the evening went on. And was she being overly sensitive or had the man implied that this was somehow her fault?
“So this is Bethany,” Ian said as he held out his arms inviting a hug. “You know, I’ve been telling Erika that it’s time I met her family since she’s already passed muster with all of mine. Welcome to Daybreak Ranch, Bethany.”
Bethany smiled and accepted the hug.
“Where did Cody go?” Erika wondered as the three of them headed for the golf cart.
“He’s making arrangements to get Bethany’s luggage unloaded and delivered,” Ian explained. “I hope he didn’t give you too much of a joyride in that bucket of bolts of his,” he continued to Bethany. “I’ve tried to get that boy to trade up but he loves that old piece of junk.”
Oh, that was heartening, Bethany thought, glad all over again to be back on firm ground.
“Our Bethany is quite the little daredevil herself, Ian,” Erika said as she wrapped one arm around her niece. “Remember, Bethie, that time that your brothers dared you to walk that fence at Grandpa’s?”
Bethany grinned. “It was a wire fence with overhanging tree branches I could hold on to,” she explained to Ian.
“She made it from one end to the other and then dared them to follow. Neither one of them would do it.”
Ian laughed. “Well, little lady, I can see that you are going to fit into ranch life just fine.”
Erika rolled her eyes. “Pay no attention to Ian, dear. Whenever we come to the ranch he turns into Clint Eastwood. Anyone who has done business with him in Chicago is a little taken aback to say the least.”
“Secret of my success,” Ian said as he winked at Bethany, who found that away from the presence of Cody Dillard, she was feeling much more relaxed.
“Home sweet home,” Ian announced as he pulled the golf cart to a stop in front of a rambling
