“Do you fly often?”
“Fairly regularly,” he replied. “As CEO of McCarthy Industries, there’s always a meeting to attend or some troubleshooting to be done at one of our branch offices. I got tired of depending on airline schedules, and I like the independence of flying my own plane.”
He could tell she was only half listening to him and knew her thoughts would be for her nine-year-old son, Andrew, and her ex-husband. “I wish I could tell you what Richard was thinking when he pulled this latest stunt.”
A small smile curved one corner of her generous mouth, and Talbot tightened his grip on the controls, trying to ignore how the gesture softened her features and made her more beautiful than he’d have thought possible.
“You and I have never had much luck at second-guessing Richard and his stunts.”
“That’s an understatement,” he agreed. He focused his attention away from her and frowned. He had no idea what his younger brother was up to this time. All he knew was that Richard had picked up his son from school that afternoon, without checking with Elizabeth, on a weekend that wasn’t his usual visitation time.
When she’d gotten home from work, Elizabeth had found a note on her kitchen table that indicated Richard wanted her to go to Twin Oaks, Missouri, a small town just outside Branson, where Richard and Talbot had spent their childhood.
Elizabeth had called Talbot to see if he knew what was going on. Talbot insisted he fly from his home in Morning View, Kansas, to Kansas City. He’d picked up Elizabeth at her apartment and they were now on their way to Twin Oaks.
Talbot suspected that, as usual, they were victims of his impetuous brother and one of his spontaneous thoughtless stunts.
Next to him, Elizabeth shifted position, and he caught a whiff of her perfume. Subtle yet sexy. She’d worn that scent for as long as he could remember. In fact, she’d been wearing it the very first night he’d met her, when she and Richard had come to Talbot to tell him she was pregnant and they were getting married.
Richard had looked scared to death, but Elizabeth’s blue eyes had radiated strength and purpose, and to Talbot’s shame, he had felt a flicker of envy that his younger brother had found such a beautiful, strong young woman to claim as his own.
He’d been appalled by that momentary stab of jealousy, and had consciously attempted to hold himself distant from her in the years of her marriage to Richard. In fact, he’d often been cold and brusque with her.
He’d hoped that attraction had died, but catching the scent of her familiar perfume, he was acutely aware of her presence next to him and of a tiny flame of heat that had ignited somewhere in the pit of his stomach.
Richard’s woman, he reminded himself. And even though she and Richard had been divorced for a year, she would never be anything other than Richard’s woman.
“I should be beside myself with anger at Richard for this,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “But I’ve always found it hard to sustain anger toward Richard for any length of time.”
This time Talbot felt a smile curving his lips. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Despite Richard’s immaturity and thoughtlessness, there was something endearing about him that made it difficult to get really angry with him. He was like a little boy who probably needed a spanking, but usually got away with nothing more than a sigh of exasperation from the adults around him.
Talbot’s smile faded and he frowned thoughtfully. “But he hasn’t been himself this past week.”
“What do you mean?”
Talbot felt her gaze on him, but didn’t turn to look at her. He’d learned through the years that looking at her was dangerous. It often resulted in inappropriate thoughts.
“I don’t know… He’s been unusually quiet, and when he does talk, lately all he talks about is our childhood…the past.”
“Maybe he’s doing some growing up, at twenty-seven. He’s still working for you at McCarthy Industries, right?”
Talbot nodded. “He’s a good personnel manager. He’s good with people.”
Talbot wondered if perhaps Richard was regretting his divorce from Elizabeth, and if this trip to Twin Oaks might not be an attempt to forge a reconciliation.
Richard probably hadn’t expected Elizabeth to call his older brother. But she had, to see if he knew what Richard was up to.
It had been Talbot’s idea to fly her to Branson where they could rent a car and drive to the tiny town of Twin Oaks. She’d readily agreed, preferring an hour-long plane trip to a four-and-a-half-hour trip in a car.
He wondered if Richard did want reconciliation, would Elizabeth be willing to try the marriage again? Certainly Andrew would be pleased if such a thing happened. Although he seemed well-adjusted to the divorce, wasn’t it every child’s dream to see his parents together?
And certainly all Talbot had ever wanted was for his brother to be happy. He’d promised his father a long time ago that he’d do everything in his power to take care of Richard.
He started as a shrill alarm screamed through the cockpit.
“What’s that?” Elizabeth gasped.
Talbot stared in horror at the gas gauge. Almost empty. But that was impossible; he’d refueled before he left Morning View “I don’t know. It looks like we’re losing fuel.”
“But we’re still miles from Branson,” Elizabeth protested, an edge of hysteria in her voice.
“Look outside your window and see if there’s a clearing where I can put down.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
At that moment the engine of the plane coughed once, then stopped running.
The only sound was the rush of the wind buffeting the plane from side to side. “No, I’m not kidding,” he said softly.
“What’s happening?”
“The engine has stopped.” Talbot worked to maintain control of the small aircraft. He picked up the microphone, but with only seconds to radio for help, he dropped it and kept his hands on the controls as the plane began to descend far too quickly.
“What do you mean, the engine has stopped?” Her voice rose slightly.
“I mean I’m no longer in control of this plane.”
“That’s ridiculous!” she cried. “You’re always in control of everything.”
At some other point in time, her comment would have warranted further discussion, but at the moment, he needed all his energy, all his focus, to keep the plane in the air. And it was a battle he was losing.
“We’re going down,” he said.
“I’ll never forgive you for this, Talbot McCarthy!” she exclaimed just before they hit the trees.
Elizabeth had always believed there’s a moment before death when your life flashes before your eyes, and all
