Tundra Threat. Sarah Varland

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СКАЧАТЬ had on his best friend.

      “I’ll try not to be too hurt.” There he went with the teasing again. “Piloting is what I do up here. I work for a guide service, shuttling people around on big-game hunts.”

      She raised her eyebrows. “So I’m here to save the wildlife and you’re up here to shoot it?”

      He bristled. “You know me better than that. I care about protecting the wildlife, too. But as long as the laws are followed, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with hunting, especially for someone who’s planning to eat what he gets.”

      And Will did that, too. McKenna respected that about him.

      “Fine,” she conceded. “And about your offer, thanks, but no. I have a pilot assigned to shuttle me around. I don’t need the help.” Although she did feel a sinking in the pit of her stomach, something like a large block of glacier ice, when she thought about being alone with Chris again. Something about the way he studied her every move...She shivered.

      “I’m not talking about just being your pilot. Officially, sure. But I can be an extra set of eyes for you. You can fill me in about the other details of the case as you learn about them and I can help you solve this thing so you can move on with your life and get out of this town.”

      She jerked her gaze up to meet his. “Get out of this town?” Had Luke told him how much she’d dreaded this “promotion” and all it meant? She was going to have to rethink her choice of confidant pretty soon.

      “You always planned to get out of Seward and to the city as quick as you could. I’m guessing that hasn’t changed?”

      Was it her imagination, or was that hope in his voice? McKenna shrugged. “I do prefer Anchorage to small towns.” Prefer was an understatement. Kind of like saying a polar bear was large.

      “What do you think?”

      “About you flying me around? I already told you no.”

      He raked a hand through his curls and shook his head. “You’re too stubborn for your own good, do you know that? You have to learn when something is too much for you and let people help.”

      “What if I don’t think it’s too much for me?”

      “People are dead, McKenna. And there’s a good chance the guy who killed them, shot them in cold blood, was in your house last night. You’re on your own out here. You have no backup. Let me help.”

      Several beats of silence passed as the truth of his words sunk in. She felt her shoulders sag slightly. “You can’t just go around demanding things of people. I have a right to make my choices.”

      “So you want me to offer you something and then say please?”

      She sighed. “No, but you know what I mean.”

      And then Will’s hand was covering hers, setting her pulse racing twice as fast as it had during the scare the night before and making her hand tingle as though a thousand tiny fireworks had exploded inside. She gulped and tried to remind herself that they were just friends. And that they’d never be anything more.

      “So. How about it. Let me help?”

      He had the decency to phrase the last bit as a question, though she suspected he was just humoring her. Still, a look at his eyes showed that as he’d said, he did care.

      “And how much are you charging?”

      He looked insulted that she would ask. “I won’t charge you anything to fly you around. I’d like to be reimbursed for gas, if the troopers have the budget for that, which I’m assuming they do. But for the flying time? There’s no need.”

      “Don’t you need your boss’s permission to use the plane?”

      Will smiled. “It’s mine.”

      “Okay, but this can’t be full-time for you—you need to work.”

      “Yes,” he agreed quickly, and she thought she might have found her way out of this situation until he spoke up again. “But the next few weeks are pretty easy for me. I can fly for you around the schedule I already have set up at work. There’s plenty of time.”

      McKenna was running out of logical arguments.

      His offer made sense. But she wanted to refuse him. Had to.

      Then she thought about the man who’d broken into her house, the quick glimpse she’d caught of the back of him. He was tall; she knew that. So was the pilot she’d been using to fly her around the North Slope Bureau. If she turned Will down, she’d have no choice but to continue using Chris for transportation and that was just about the last thing she wanted to do.

      While Chris had been working on a contract basis with the troopers, he was paid by assignment. McKenna didn’t think there would be a problem calling Captain Wilkins and requesting permission to give the contract job to Will instead. He’d have to pass a basic background check of course, but since he wouldn’t be doing any on-the-books investigating, just serving as a chauffeur, that was all that would be necessary.

      She felt chilled through when she thought about boarding a plane with Chris again. Hadn’t she felt uneasy around him yesterday, felt as if he was watching her reactions more than he needed to? One thing she was sure of—law enforcement officers of any kind were supposed to trust their gut instincts. And hers said that there was more to that pilot than met the eye.

      That could spell disaster for her.

      On the other hand, the extra time with Will might be difficult. The last thing she wanted was to fall into some childish attraction to him again and embarrass herself. Surely she was past all that, though. As adults, their personalities were far from compatible. Will’s being comfortable with changing plans last minute and flying her around proved that. He’d always been easygoing, ready to take life as it came. And McKenna liked to have a plan. A relationship between them wouldn’t work, so surely she could remember that and keep from humiliating herself in front of him. And if nothing else, accepting his offer would give her a chance to prove to him once and for all that she was a strong woman, capable of taking care of herself. If he got the message, he might even convince her brother to knock off the overprotectiveness. Okay, that wasn’t very likely—but she could still hope. There was a lot she didn’t like about this promotion, but maybe it would give her that longed-for chance to show the people in her life what she was capable of. It was worth a shot.

      McKenna took a deep breath. Nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

      And as another brilliant grin split Will’s face, her stomach simultaneously danced and churned as she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.

       THREE

      McKenna eyed the plane in front of her and then looked back at Will. “You seriously know how to fly this thing?”

      He just laughed and continued his preflight checklist. “Would I have offered to help if I didn’t?”

      She shrugged.

      Will brushed off his hands and stood from СКАЧАТЬ