Lost and Found Groom by McLinn, Patricia (most difficult books to read .TXT) 📗

there was no past, no future. Just now. Just you and the plane and the sky.”

He’d been staring off to a patch of sky over the next rise. He glanced at her, then away, one shoulder lifting in a half-shrug.

“Anyway–” The faintly self-mocking tone was back. “–I had to see what was making this thing fly and find out what was out the cockpit window. I was lucky there, too. The pilot wasn’t a drug runner and he didn’t have a heart attack when I popped up. Turns out he’d flown in World War II as a kid. Joe was an Australian, and he knew more about flying than any hundred pilots I’ve met since. And he showed me. He showed me.” Daniel shook his head in remembered wonderment. The gesture stood out starkly as his first completely unguarded moment since he’d started talking.

“It was like . . . being given the sky, but not having to give up the earth. I never lived until I learned to fly.”

A chill crossed Kendra’s shoulders.

She could hear her mother’s soft, wistful voice, If he hadn’t loved flying more than me, he’d still be here.

Just like her father, Daniel Delligatti would probably keep flying until he didn’t come back one day. But she wasn’t her mother. She would never let herself rely so much on a man, let him count so much in her life that she’d fall apart if he didn’t come back.

Never.

“He started showing me things right off, and I knew flying was what I was meant to do. By the time we got back to the local airport, I was ready to sell my soul to the devil if it meant I could fly.” His mouth quirked. “It wasn’t quite that bad–but I did have to toe the line–no flying if I didn’t have decent grades. Besides, math helped with navigation. And geography–”

Kendra suddenly didn’t want to hear any more about his flying.

“C’mon, let’s ride.” Without waiting for an answer, she tapped Rusty’s sides, and he responded immediately. As she’d known he would, Ghost lumbered along behind, trying to keep up with Rusty’s light canter.

Daniel didn’t fall off.

She wasn’t sure if she’d expected him to, but it wouldn’t have surprised her, either. The canter was not Ghost’s smoothest gait, unlike most horses. Ghost was steady-footed at a walk, like a truck with bad shock absorbers in a trot and the same thing but with a hair’s-breadth worth of speed added in a canter.

She reined in Rusty for the last uphill.

Daniel was no Grand Prix rider, but he wasn’t even holding the saddlehorn. His toughly muscled thighs had a firm grip around the horse and he’d lowered his torso near to Ghost’s neck, cutting the wind resistance.

Ghost did an even better job of cutting that wind resistance by dropping back to a walk as soon as he’d caught up with Rusty.

“Does this egg beater have a faster gear?”

She tried to stifle a chuckle, only half succeeding. She should have known he’d want speed. “You mean forward or up and down?”

He groaned. “I think I’ve had enough of the up and down. Okay, I’ve gone riding with you. Now it’s only fair–come flying with me. I guarantee you won’t be as sore as I’m going to be. There’s a little strip I found, and I can borrow a plane again–”

“You’ve been flying? Here?” Her chuckle dried up.

“This morning. Met a great guy out there. He had knee surgery so he can’t take his planes up and he’s feeling grounded. After we talked a while, he had me take him up. He says I’m welcome to fly them any time.” His eyes lightened with pleasure. “The air here is so crisp and dry, I really had a good feel for the machine. In Santa Estella the humidity made it like flying through Jell-O. We could go up tomorrow–”

“No.”

It was emphatic enough to halt his stream of enthusiasm. “Are you afraid of flying?”

“No. I have no trouble flying. I’ve flown a lot.”

The look he slanted at her resembled a doctor checking a diagnosis. “Jets?”

“Yes,” she said defensively. “And smaller planes.”

“Commuter flights,” he said in resignation.

“Yes, commuter flights. They’re not exactly double decker jumbo jets with a full movie screen, you know.”

“Well, that’s something.” He sighed, then grinned. “But all jets can do is go fast and faster. Now, in small planes–you and a passenger or two or three–you can see all the details of the earth, but you’re above it. Close enough to observe the constraints of the world, but not bound by them.”

And now she understood, with a chill that sank into her bones.

It wasn’t speed he craved, but freedom and danger.

And no matter how much he said he wanted to stay, he’d keep chasing freedom by flying away, until someday, he would stop coming back. Whether because he didn’t want to come back or because he couldn’t–to a little boy like Matthew which reason wouldn’t make much difference.

She slid from the saddle, and took Rusty’s reins.

“We need to walk the horses. Cool them down.”

“Okay. But how about flying? Maybe–”

“No. I said no.”

He studied her. “I can show you testimonials to my flying.” He held his hand up like a boy scout. “No stunts, I promise.”

“No thanks. I don’t take unnecessary risks.” She spun on him, unable to stop the words. “And you shouldn’t. Not if you intend to be in Matthew’s life. I don’t want my son to have a father who doesn’t come back–no matter how noble the cause. I know how that feels.”

Before he could answer, she walked ahead, putting space and two horses between them.

CHAPTER SEVEN

This time when the phone rang shortly after seven in the morning, Daniel wasn’t surprised to hear the voice at the other end.

“Daniel? This is Robert. Your brother.”

“Hello, Robert. Everything okay?”

“Yes, if you mean with Mother and Father. But . . . Have you found your son?”

On one level he wasn’t surprised, which was a little unsettling. “How do you know about that. Mother and Fa–”

“Know nothing. Though