Can't Say No by Sherryl Woods Page B

back from her face. “We’ll be fine. Even if we have to take the balloon down sooner than I’d like, John will come after us.”
    â€œDon’t try to kid me. I heard what he said. He can’t bring the truck on this side of the ridge. They’ll have to come in on foot. It could take days, maybe even weeks. Do you know anything about what berries we can eat?”
    He grinned at her. “I doubt we’ll need to hunt for berries to keep from starving. That creek down there is probably loaded with fish.”
    â€œAnd I suppose you brought along a fishing pole?”
    His face fell. “Well, no. But we can improvise. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Would it be so awful spending a night under the stars with me?”
    â€œIn the pouring rain?” she responded incredulously. “Do you even have to ask?”
    â€œThese storms never last. We can make a campfire. We have food and wine.”
    â€œFor tonight. What about tomorrow?”
    â€œHush,” he whispered. He ran a finger across her lips and added provocatively, “It would be very romantic.”
    â€œAnd cold,” she reminded him. “It would also be very cold.”
    â€œWe could keep each other warm.”
    The notion didn’t seem to appease her. If anything, she looked as though she was beginning to suspect that this was some devious scheme he’d had in mind from the first.
    â€œAudrey, don’t even think it.”
    â€œThink what?”
    â€œI did not mean for us to get stranded out here. If this is anybody’s fault, it’s nature’s.”
    â€œWe aren’t stranded yet,” she reminded him. “And if you’re very smart, Blake Marshall, you’ll see that we aren’t.”
    That was the precise moment when a sudden gust of wind blew the first huge drops of very cold rain in their faces.

Seven

    â€œA re you splashing water around again to test the air currents?” Audrey asked hopefully.
    â€œNo.” Blake’s tone was disturbingly curt and his tight-lipped expression was not one bit reassuring.
    Her mind made a deft leap to a terrifying conclusion. “We’re going to crash, aren’t we?” Her voice was amazingly calm for a woman who’d just gone into panic. She was clearly tapping inner resources she’d never known she possessed.
    â€œNo.” He apparently caught the disbelief in her eyes, because he tilted her face up until their gazes clashed. “I promise. We’re going to land perfectly safely...as soon as I find an open field away from the power lines.”
    He picked up the radio. “John, are you there?”
    â€œI’ve been here all day, boss. You just haven’t been listening. Ain’t it about time for you to bring that sucker down?”
    â€œI was just thinking the same thing. Any ideas?”
    â€œYou’re the one with the view. Where are you?”
    â€œYou mean you can’t see me?”
    Blake’s question was greeted with an extraordinary variety of muffled curses before John finally calmed down and said, “I’ve been telling you that for the past hour, but you had to go and get yourself behind a mountain range. What the hell have you been doing up there?”
    Audrey’s heart raced anxiously and she shot him a warning look. “I hope you don’t plan on answering that question.”
    He grinned at her. Covering the radio with his hand, he said in a low voice, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I never kiss and tell.”
    Audrey regarded him skeptically, but her pulse readjusted to something close to normal.
    â€œBlake, where did you go?” John interrupted impatiently. “Answer me.”
    Blake winked at her. “I’m trying to come up with a plan. Give me a minute.”
    â€œHow about I try to reach some of the other pilots and see if they can spot you?”
    â€œTry it, but I don’t think it’ll