Flight of Her Life

by Diane Saxon

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  Published by The Hartwood Publishing Group, LLC,

  Hartwood Publishing, Phoenix, Arizona

  www.hartwoodpublishing.com

  Flight of Her Life

  Copyright © 2013 by Diane Saxon

  Hartwood Release: October 2016

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Flight of Her Life by Diane Saxon

  Traveling from New York City to Houston to meet her future in-laws and announce her engagement, accident prone Bailey finds herself in a situation beyond her control. All flights are cancelled the night before Christmas Eve, leaving Bailey stranded at the airport with a cowboy from her past.

  Against all odds, Sebastian manages to rescue Bailey from one disaster after another, but is it too late to rescue her from her future? Faced with a heartrending dilemma, does Bailey turn her back on the man who offers her a life of security, or does she run off to Maui with a cowboy?

  Dedication

  To my eldest daughter, Laura, whose spatial awareness has always caused us a great deal of hilarity.

  Early one morning, we were discussing an airport encounter, and as Laura spilled her coffee down herself, flicked it away, and sprayed the dog, she said, “If that was me, this would happen…” Laura instantly changed this story into a romantic comedy.

  Acknowledgements

  Laura, for naming my characters and giving me inspiration.

  Jennifer Hassani, for planting the original airport concept in my head. For all the encouragement and support and laughing in all the right places. Thank you.

  Chapter One

  “So, Bailey. We’ve got it straight?”

  “Yes, Phillip.”

  “What did I say?”

  “Huh?”

  “Do you mean ‘pardon’? That’s the polite way of querying what a person has said.”

  “Pardon?”

  “What did I just tell you?” Her pulse rate increased and she widened her eyes as the impatience in his voice slipped its sharp blade under her skin.

  “Oh. Umm.” She watched his brow crease in irritation, and automatically straightened her spine as she sat opposite him in the fortieth floor offices belonging to Horton & Horton Attorney at Law.

  “You are going to fly to Houston this afternoon.” She recited. “To meet with your parents…” at his sharp look, she corrected herself. “…the senators.” He gave a short, sharp nod. “I will stay here for another two days to attend to matters that may arise in your absence.” She self-consciously checked for a stray curl and patted her hair above her ear. “I will then catch a flight to Houston to join you and the senators for their Christmas Eve party… soiree.” She quickly amended before he could react. “My parents have made their own arrangements to attend.”

  She linked her fingers together and resisted the urge to cross her legs. Phillip said it was considered vulgar and cheap, and God forbid anyone thought she was cheap.

  He seemed to be waiting for her to continue. She closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath and thought.

  “Oh, yes. Senator Patricia Horton…” she glanced up at him to see if it was okay to use his mother’s first name in that manner, but as there were no flickers of disapproval, she continued. “…will show me the dinner service she has chosen.” For us to use for the rest of our lives. “And Senator Benjamin Horton will announce our engagement and the date of our forthcoming wedding—once they have agreed on the date with you later today.” Her smile was pure saccharine as she waited for his nod of approval.

  He snapped his briefcase shut and picked it up, casting a distracted glance at her.

  “Fine.”

  He scanned the immaculate office, nodded again.

  “I’ll see you on Christmas Eve. The senators’ car will meet you at the airport.”

  She stood and crossed the room to offer him a kiss good-bye. Reaching up on tip-toe, she leaned in to him. He stepped back so she almost overbalanced and he turned his head just enough for her lips to graze his cheek, and then he raised his hand and wiped the spot she had touched.

  A low wave of disappointment flowed over her. She appreciated his ideas about work etiquette, but really, he was leaving for two days and the next time she would see him would be in a room full of strangers at their engagement party. A nasty little thought curled through her mind as she wondered if he would deign to kiss her in front of everyone there, when he so obviously seemed to find difficulty in the privacy of their own office.

  “Oh. My mother had this delivered.”

  Curious she dipped her head as he pulled a small, elegant, jeweler’s box from the inside pocket of his impeccable suit and flicked open the lid. The light reflecting from the huge diamond rock almost took her eye out. Her jaw dropped.

  “Phillip. It’s…stunning.” She couldn’t form the words she thought would be most appropriate to describe the monstrosity of a ring he offered her.

  He handed the box to her with the ring inside.

  “Don’t lose it. It was almost two million dollars. A nine carat diamond. The senator has exquisite taste.”

  Speechless, she stared at it for a moment, taking time to consider what dinner service the senator, with her “exquisite taste,” would choose. Not for the first time, a flicker of concern tiptoed secretively through her.

  Phillip stepped away and opened the door. As though an afterthought struck him, he turned back, and her heart gave a hopeful flutter.

  “And Bailey, would you do me a favor and wear your glasses rather than your contact lenses? They make you look so much more…”

  “Attractive?” She provided.

  “No…umm.”

  “Intelligent?”

  “No, no…”

  “Sophisticated?”

  “No, Bailey.” His mouth pursed with irritation. “Presentable. They make you look more presentable.”

  “Oh.”

  The door snapped shut and she stared at the enormous stone glaring out of the box at her. If anyone asked her what her opinion of vulgar was, she would have said the ring.

  She took it out of the box, reverently slid it on to her ring finger and held her hand at arm’s length. The ring was far too big and as she dropped her hand down to her side the rock spun to the underside of her finger. Perhaps it was safer tucked into her palm anyway. She was likely to get mugged, flashing something like that around in New York City.

  She gazed around the office, sighed as she noticed the paperwork he had left in a neat pile on his desk for her to clear away. She was supposed to be an associate, not his secretary, but he’d got into the habit of letting her clean up after him.

  Bailey picked up the envelope with her flight ticket inside and tucked it into her handbag.

  She needed to leave early to buy Christmas presents for his parents. She thought Phillip and she would have bought them between them, but Phillip said he’d already got them something from
him. What the hell would they want for Christmas if they could afford to spend two million bucks on a diamond ring?

  She already had presents for her own parents. A pretty silk scarf for her mom and a box of Nicaraguan cigars for her daddy, but really what would the senators appreciate from her?

  At least she was going to see Mom and Daddy too. They were staying in Houston for the engagement party. She missed them so much it made her heart ache.

  Bailey needed to pack her case with smart, presentable clothes. She wasn’t sure if she had enough for an entire week. Items that were neither work suits, nor were they jeans and sweaters.

  She locked the office door and hustled along the empty hallway to the elevator, most employees had already left for the Christmas holidays. She pressed the button for the lobby and waited, and then she stepped inside the elevator where the annoying sound of piped Christmas music greeted her. The familiar feeling of nausea hit her as the elevator lurched down and her stomach stayed on the fortieth floor for a moment longer before it decided to join her.

  The lights flickered, the Christmas music stuttered, the elevator ground to a halt and the doors remained closed. Bailey leaned forward, a heavy feeling of disbelief filled her chest. Please don’t let this happen. Not now, not today. She pressed the button for the door and stared in horror as they slid open to reveal a solid brick wall in front of her. The elevator was stuck between floors.

  Chapter Two

  One entire week! How in hell’s name was she supposed to keep up the pretense for one whole week? Honestly, when Phillip’s parents saw beneath her cultured voice and her ability to dress slick, the premier family of Houston, Texas were going to run her out of town. They were going to realize what a fraud she was when she made her first move and destroyed their house with a flick of her wrist. Then their precious boy would never be allowed to marry her.

  Bailey crossed her legs to relieve the ache in one buttock and give the other side of her bottom a little more weight. Sitting on the floor of the elevator for three hours again the previous night had not been the most comfortable experience of her life and her backside hurt. She hated that goddamned elevator. Next time she’d take the stairs. She was going to cross her legs on this occasion, but she needed to get out of the habit as soon as she could. After all, she didn’t want people to think she was cheap.

  She wondered if she would be considered vulgar for spending three hundred dollars on a rare bottle of bourbon and an expensive fragrance in order to impress people she hadn’t even met.

  Impatient, she flicked her gaze up to check the flight board for the millionth time. She pressed her lips softly together to make sure her lipstick was still in place and glanced around the crowded New York City airport lounge, nervously patting her neat blonde coiffure which had taken her forty minutes to strap down.

  As her eyes anxiously scanned the room, they fell on the familiar sight of a cowboy by the checkout in duty free. Second time she’d noticed him in an hour and she’d tried not to make eye-contact in case he decided to come over and re-acquaint himself.

  Unable to resist, Bailey raised one perfectly sleek eyebrow, and leaned forward, pushed her black rimmed glasses further up her nose to take a closer peek. Nice. Purely from a female’s perspective, she could see nothing wrong with the male specimen in duty free. Long lean legs in pale, worn denim, and those thighs under that denim contracted as he bent to pick up his rucksack, sending an unwelcome fission of heat burning a rapid line through her stomach and into her loins, just like he had always managed to do. If she had to judge, she’d bet those muscles filled his jeans better than they used to when she’d been sixteen and he’d been…

  Aware of her heart rate accelerating, Bailey jerked upright with a short sharp gasp, her eyes widening as the overwhelming sensation of carnal desire took her by surprise. She was an engaged woman—almost—she shouldn’t even be looking at tall, well-defined cowboys, especially ones she had already been…intimate with. Not that it should count as it had been so long ago, but he obviously still managed to make her mouth water.

  Rucksack flung across his shoulder, his eyes caught hers and pierced through her like a blue laser as he walked straight toward her, leaving no doubt he’d been perfectly aware of where she was the whole time. Desperate not to be caught staring, Bailey dipped her eyes, uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them the other way. She accidently flicked her half-filled coffee cup as she flexed her knee, and searing hot liquid splashed down her legs and soaked through her short, neat black skirt.

  “Shit.”

  With a feral growl, she ducked her head and flicked at the scalding liquid with a small napkin that had come with the coffee, dismayed to see tiny white balls of tissue gathering across her wet skirt as she dabbed furiously. Her jerky movements caused her heavy rimmed glasses to clunk off her nose and smack painfully onto her chin. Rolling her eyes, she raised her head and came face to face with the handsome cowboy.

  Crooked smile in place, his amused blue eyes met hers as he hunkered down next to her, slowly reached out, unhooked her glasses from behind her ears and removed them from her chin. He folded them and offered them back to her.

  “Hey, Bailey. Fancy meeting you here.” His familiar low drawl made her mouth drop open. She wasn’t sure whether he could see the saliva dribbling from the corner of her lips, but she raised shaking fingers and slid them across her skin to check just in case. Annoyed with herself, she’d been convinced she had moved on. She had found a new life existing without him, when obviously he still had an overwhelming effect on her.

  His eyes followed the movement of her fingers, skimmed further up to stare at her mouth, his own firm lips parted and his tongue took a slow swipe across his bottom lip, sending her pulse into overdrive.

  “Hi.” Short, sharp, and efficient—after all she was about to become engaged to be married and he had to realize he had no right coming on to her in an airport lounge, no matter how long she had known him. She reached out her left hand, twizzled the rock back the correct way, and deliberately dazzled him with her nine carat diamond ring as she grasped her glasses, and tried to take them back.

  His smile stuck as he held on. She bared her teeth at him through her own tight smile and pulled the glasses toward her in a restrained tug-of-war. Her perfect manicure gripped the frame, the left lens popped out, completed a slow-motion somersault, and smacked onto the hard tiled floor in front of her, breaking in two.

  “Shit.” Dropping off her seat to the floor, Bailey frantically grabbed the two broken pieces of her lens, stabbing the nail of her forefinger sharply into the floor tile in her short-sighted desperation. She felt the snap of it, like a part of her own finger had cracked. Heat blazed across her cheeks as her heart filled with anguish, her finger throbbed with agony, and she flicked rapid glances at the dark haired cowboy whose smile had spread across his beautiful face, showing even white teeth. His wide, muscular chest and broad shoulders shook with laughter.

  “Bailey, you shouldn’t hide your pretty face behind those frames, just to make yourself look sophisticated.”

  “Shut up, Sebastian.” She flung herself back on the seat and felt the snag and tear as her tights caught on the edge of the tubular seating. “Oh my God.” Despair had her wailing as the cowboy’s laughter burned her ears. He reached out a hand, cupped the calf of her leg in his warm, rough palm and unhooked her tights with the fingers of his other hand, stealing her breath as he smoothed those long, warm fingers up the back of her knee.

  Breathless, she gazed down at his handsome, angular face.

  “I don’t think you should do that.”

  “Really?” He shuffled closer, his hand edged higher to skim up the back of her thigh. Her breath came in short, panicked gasps.

  “No, my fiancé wouldn’t like it.”

  Laughter rumbled out of him as he removed his hand from her leg, kneeled in front of her and leaned his forearms lightly across her knees, raising himself up so she felt his breath dance across her c
heek.

  “Good, because I’m not going to do it to your fiancé.”

  Snorting out a laugh, despite herself, Bailey moved in closer so her nose almost touched his, the small breaths she managed to persuade into her lungs weren’t going to be enough to sustain her. Her eyelashes fluttered, her eyelids started to close. They flew open again as she felt him give a sharp tug at her hair.

  It tumbled over her shoulders, wild and bouncy, sending pins flying in all directions as she slapped his hand away.

  “You’ve ruined it. What am I going to do now? Keep your hands off.”

  His smile was wide and lazy, making her heart hitch as he wrapped a curling tendril of her long blonde hair around his index finger and drew her face back down to his.

  “I love your hair. Why would you do that to it when it’s just perfect as it is?” Reluctant pleasure at his admiration spread glowing warmth through her chest. His mouth hovered closer, then closer still, his breath fanned across her skin before he dipped in, touched his lips to hers and made her melt.

  Terror gripped her as she realized what she was doing and with a strength born of desperation, she slapped her hand on the cowboy’s shoulder and sent him sprawling to the floor.

  “Jesus Christ, Sebastian, what do you think you are doing?”

  “Saving you from yourself.” He sat up, drew his knees up to his chest and draped his forearms over his knees. “You’re about to make the biggest mistake of your life and someone has to stop you.”

  Taking a long, slow draught of air-conditioned oxygen, Bailey stared down at his all too familiar face and felt sheer panic engulf her at the thought of how much damage this man could do to her heart.

  “I don’t need to be saved. There’s no mistake.”

  “Well, where in hell’s name is he? It’s the day before Christmas Eve, it’s minus ten out there, a blizzard’s coming, and he left you alone. Why?”