Sandra's Classics - The Bad Boys of Romance - Boxed Set Read Online Free Page A

had been some welcome to the West, hadn’t it? Imagine that... that cowboy thinking he could take advantage of her! Was she supposed to have fallen into his arms and welcomed his advances?
    She blushed hotly, remembering the way she’d melted into his arms after the first shock of surprise. Well, of course she’d melted. She’d been scared half to death. He’d been relying on that, hadn’t he? A clear image of him flashed through her mind. The broad shoulders, the rakish smile, the firm chin...
    Why would a man like that have to rely on anything but his own good looks? Not that she liked the type, she thought hastily, wincing as the suitcase bounced against her leg. Behind that ‘aw, shucks, ma’am’ exterior lurked the instincts of a tom-cat, which explained why he’d zeroed in on her fright. It made her an easy target. But he’d seemed so sensitive, so carin g….
    Jessie snorted.
    All that bouncing in the plane must have scrambled her brain.
    She paused and let the suitcase drop to the floor.
    It couldn’t be much further now.
    For one thing, she was going to run out of corridor, soon. The end of it was just ahead. But there were still WestAir signs on the wall every now and then. In fact, she noticed with a surge of hope, wasn’t that one coming up larger than the others? Yes, yes it was, and it pointed to the left. With a sudden resurgence of energy. Jessica lifted the suitcase and started to walk quickly towards the green sign.
    ‘Thank goodness,’ she whispered.
    There it was, in small print down at the bottom of the sign. Wind River Charters. Charters? She’d flown a charter flight once, to Ohio, to visit her parents. It had been a regular 727 and they’d served lunch and drinks and she’d survived, which was really all that counted.
    Her footsteps slowed.
    The green sign had said all the right things, but she was in the wrong place. She had to be. There was a waiting area, all right, with chairs and tables, but the place was dark and empty. The flight gate was closed; it, too, was deserted. But there was nowhere else to go. The corridor ended here.
    There was nothing but an exit door . Jessica’s breath caught in her throat. Had she missed her plane? That had to be the answer.
    S he was late—five minutes late. The plane wouldn’t have waited for her.
    What now? She could picture the models, pho tographer, light man, make-up man and the Macello Fur people all standing around at Eagle Lake, waiting for her, waiting while a seven figure account went down the tubes because she hadn’t been able to find a trolley when she needed one...
    ‘Wind River? Are you the passenger for Wind River?’ Jessica jumped at the sound of a human voice. ‘Yes, I am,’ she said, smiling hesitantly at the man who’d pushed open the flight gate door.
    He wiped his hands on his overalls and nodded. ‘They said you might be looking for the right gate.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘It’s just outside, ma’am. Through here.’
    ‘Well,’ Jessica said brightly, trying not to groan as she lifted her suitcase again, ‘that’s good to hear. I’d about given up hope. It was nice of them to hold the plane for me. I’m sorry I’m late, but...’
    Her explanation tapered off into silence as the man edged into the corridor and let the door swing shut behind her. She blinked in the sudden daylight; she’d expected to find herself on the boarding ramp leading to the plane, not on the airfield.
    In fact, there was no plane. Well, she thought, looking around her in confusion, that wasn’t entirely true. There were planes, lots of them, but they were all little ones, the kind that had always made her think of Charles Lindbergh or Amelia Earhart.
    . She turned back to the door and tried to open it, but it seemed to have locked automatically.
    She sighed and dropped her suitcase to the ground.
    So, she thought unhappily. She really had missed her connecting flight after all.
    Either they’d taxied away only a