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

few minutes ago or the mechanic had a bad sense of humor.
    Not that it mattered .
    Getting to Eagle Lake Lodge was vital.
    . There had to be a bus or train or a car she could rent. But she couldn’t face the thought of dragging that damned suitcase another inch. If she could just leave it here and arrange to have a porter pick it up...
    A flicker of movement alongside one of the small planes caught her eye. Jessica peered across the field. Was there...? Yes, there was someone there, a man, doing something or other to the plane, cleaning it or fixing it.
    She lifted the suitcase and hurried towards him. Maybe she could leave the thing with him for a few minutes. Of course, if he was half as helpful as the mechanic or the maintenance man, he wouldn’t let her, but there was a chance. Maybe if she offered him a tip...
    The man’s back was to her. Jessica cleared her throat and took a deep breath.
    ‘Hello,’ she called, as loudly as she could, but there was no answer. It occurred to her that she could hardly expect one; the field was alive with the noise of large planes landing and taking off.
    Her suitcase felt as if it weighed a ton, and her feet hurt. Her stiletto heeled boots had looked terrific when she bought them but they weren’t really made for walking endless miles of airport corridors.
    Well, the worst was over.
    She’d arrive late at the Lodge, but she’d get there before they began shooting tomorrow. It was true, she was a day late to begin with, but that wasn’t her fault. She was replacing Marla Anderson, who had got sick an hour before the agency had flown everybody out of New York yesterday morning.
    It wasn’t even her fault that she’d missed this connecting flight, either.
    Just as soon as she got this mechanic to agree to watch her luggage, she’d find out about renting a car or whatever...
    The man was out of sight, behind the plane. She dropped her suitcase for the last time and sat down on it wearily.
    Her eyes flickered idly over the plane while she waited for him to reappear.
    It was blue and white and she couldn’t help but think it looked a little like one of the wind-up toys you saw kids playing with in Central Park. She almost expected it to have a rubber band instead of a propeller, but it had a propeller, all right, although it was in a funny place, not in the plane’s nose but on top of it, and facing backwards.
    There was no accounting for tastes.
    It was a weird-looking little plane; even more weird was the thought that anyone would be willing to fly inside something so strange and insubstantial. Not that she would tell that to the mechanic or the owner or whoever they guy was who was coining around the plane, of course. The last thing she wanted to do was to insult the man.
    She got to her feet and smiled brightly. ‘Hi there. Nice day, isn’t it?’
    He straightened up and looked over at her. She couldn’t see his face; he was wearing one of those Western hats and huge sunglasses, but she’d caught his attention. He wiped his hands on his overalls and watched her.
    ‘Look, I wonder if I might ask a favor of you,’ she said, walking slowly towards him. ‘I was supposed to catch a four o’clock flight here. On a Wind River plane?’ Why on earth had her voice drifted upwards like that; she sounded like a nervous kid. She cleared her throat and started over. ‘‘The thing is, I missed my flight and I broke the wheels on my suitcase and if you’d just let me leave it here, I’d be very grateful. I’ll get a porter to pick it up.’
    The man shook his head.
    ‘No?’ she said. ‘You mean, I can’t do that?’
    ‘Sorry,’ he said.
    ‘I’ll only be gone a few minutes. Look, it’s important to me...’ Jessica blinked and tilted her head. There had been something familiar about his voice, something she’d heard before. But then, everybody sounded the same in this place.
    They all drawled and...
    No, she thought staring at him. No !
    He was unzipping his greasy