Stranded With The Boss

“So make up your mind, miss. We need to leave before the fog comes in.” He spoke like a man accustomed to getting his own way.

How could she refuse, when this might be her only chance to get to Anchorage with the twins? “Yes,” Tessa said, taking the plunge. “I’d be happy to accept your very kind offer.”

“Fine.” He glanced down at her stacked luggage, which held more clothes, snacks and diapers for the twins than things for herself. “Are these your bags? I’ll have them put aboard.”

“Yes, thanks. But right now I need to get something. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”

Tessa raced down the hall toward the waiting room. She should probably have told her rescuer about the twins. But now that she’d agreed to go, she didn’t want to take a chance on his changing his mind. He’d said there was plenty of room. And even in a small plane, the flight from Bellingham to Anchorage couldn’t take more than a few hours. How big an imposition could two little children be?

Such a riveting man. Why did that chiseled Slavic face seem so familiar? Where had she seen it before? In a magazine? Maybe on TV? If she didn’t remember his name soon she would have to swallow her embarrassment and ask him.

* * *

Dragan watched her hurry away, admiring how her tan slacks clung to her shapely little rump. Too bad the pending lawsuit made bedding her a bad idea. She was definitely his type—petite, curvy and spirited. He imagined she could be a little wildcat between the sheets. Maybe after the trial, if things worked out to everyone’s satisfaction...

He shook his head, amused by the predictable wanderings of his mind. He was a shamelessly physical animal who enjoyed pretty women. As long as a lady didn’t expect anything beyond a few dinners and nighttime romps, then maybe a diamond bracelet as a parting gift, that was enough for him. Emotions and other such complications were a waste of time and energy.

As for love, if there even was such a thing, it had no place in his world. Now that his uncle—who’d brought him to America after Sarajevo and raised him as a son—had passed away, he had no one left who was truly close to him. No family, no personal attachments of any kind. Dragan was comfortable with that. It made everything simpler, leaving him free to concentrate on the shipping business he’d inherited and forged into an ocean-spanning empire.

His new private plane sat fueled and waiting on the tarmac. Dragan gave orders for a worker to put Miss Randall’s luggage—one large suitcase and two smaller ones—in the cargo bay behind the seats. He could tell from the way the man lifted them that they were heavy. The lady must’ve brought enough clothes, shoes and makeup for a long stay in Anchorage. He could only hope she wouldn’t need them—that they’d be able to come to a quick, amicable agreement.

Turning toward the window, Dragan surveyed the thirty-six-foot craft from its single turbo propeller and fifty-two-foot overhead wing to its gleaming tail. The Swiss-built Pilatus P-6, known as the Porter, was engineered for short-distance takeoffs and landings, making it ideal for Alaska. This one was just out of the shop, where it had been custom fitted with floats above the wheels and heavy-duty tires for landing on rough ground. With these additions, the plane could take him almost anywhere he wished. Dragan looked forward to trying out his new toy, especially with a sexy redheaded passenger aboard.

But this wasn’t a pleasure trip, he reminded himself. If he couldn’t charm Miss Tessa Randall into a fair settlement of her lawsuit, they’d be facing each other in court.

If it came to that, the gloves would be off. His lawyers would use every dirty trick in the book to discredit her. And her attorney, Helen Carmichael, whose reputation as a feminist ball-buster was widely known, would do her damnedest to portray Trans Pacific as a company that exploited women and cast them aside in their time of need. No matter the outcome, a court battle was bound to be ugly—unless the delicious Miss Randall agreed to settle.

Had she recognized the stranger who’d offered her a flight? Since she’d showed no sign of it, Dragan could only conclude that she hadn’t realized who he was. That in itself wasn’t surprising. Trans Pacific was a huge company. As its CEO he tended to work behind the scenes, dealing only with upper-level supervisors. He couldn’t say for sure if he’d even visited the Anchorage offices in the years she worked there.

She was bound to learn the truth about his identity eventually. But it might be wise to keep it from her until they were in the air. Otherwise, all this trouble—tracking her plans and then showing up here in time to cancel her charter and offer his services—could be for nothing.

He glanced at his watch. Miss Randall had been gone several minutes. She was probably just in the ladies’ room, but he needed her to hurry. The fog was rolling in across the Sound. For safety’s sake, he needed to take off and get above it before the airport became blanketed in a cloud of gray-white mist.

He was about to go looking for her when he heard the ring of her low-heeled pumps on the tiled floor. Relieved, he turned toward the sound—and stopped cold, as if he’d run into a concrete wall.

Dragan had always prided himself on being able to handle any situation. But, heaven help him, he wasn’t prepared to handle this.

Tessa Randall was pushing a baby stroller—one of those ungainly contraptions with two seats side by side. Strapped into those seats, their cornflower eyes taking his measure as if sizing up their next victim, were two toddler-size girls with hair as red as their mother’s.

Two (#ulink_a20dd60b-5925-5e89-beff-e991eb103f21)

Tessa caught the displeasure—and the surprising flicker of panic—in the stranger’s glacial eyes. Most people dissolved into smiles and silly talk at the sight of her adorable twins. But this man was staring at them as if she’d just wheeled in a pair of ticking bombs.

He cleared his throat in the silence. “Well, this is unexpected,” he said.

Tessa lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “It’s not like I can just leave them behind. And you did tell me you had plenty of room.”

He exhaled a long breath as if mentally counting to ten. “So I did. Your bags are already on the plane. But I don’t know if that big stroller will fit. And you can’t hold your babies on the flight or let them run loose. They’ll need to be strapped into the rear seats. Can you manage that?”

“No problem. Their stroller seats double as car seats. They can be lifted free and buckled into place. With the seats gone, the stroller folds flat.”

“I see.” He glanced at the twins.

Maddie was struggling to wiggle out of her harness but Missy returned his gaze, looking up at him with a smile that would melt a heart of ice.

This stranger’s heart, however, must’ve been carved from solid granite. “We’re wasting time,” he growled, turning away. “Weather’s moving in. Let’s get going.”

He held the door while Tessa pushed the stroller outside to the nearby plane. The sleek silver-white craft, with its long, tapered nose, looked new and expensive. During her six years of work in Anchorage, she’d seen plenty of bush planes—mostly Beavers, Otters, Cessnas and Pipers—but never one quite like this, with a custom undercarriage that featured both floats and wheels.

He opened the passenger door. “Unfasten the stroller seats. Then climb in. I’ll pass them up to you.”

He was clearly accustomed to taking charge. Tessa saw no reason to argue with him when his suggestion made sense. And, anyway, she was still relieved he hadn’t kicked up more of a fuss about allowing the twins on his plane. She released the levers that fastened the seats to the strollers then stepped onto the float to boost herself into the cockpit.

“Careful.” He reached out a hand to steady her, his fingers strong and cool. Tessa clasped them for balance as she swung upward, feeling the electric contact between them. By the time he let go, her pulse was fluttering. Between her pregnancy and caring for the twins, she’d almost forgotten what a man’s touch felt like.

Had the compelling stranger been thinking of seduction when he’d offered her a lift? If so, she could thank her twins for dousing that idea. She wasn’t looking for a hot one-night stand. If and when she let a man back into her life, it would be someone kind and responsible, someone who wanted to make a life-long commitment and who’d be a good father to her little girls.

Inside, the plane smelled like a new car. The seats were butter-soft beige leather, the wood-grained instrument panel a polished array of dials and gauges. Whoever her rescuer was, he wasn’t poor.

Looking down from the doorway, she waited as he lifted Maddie in her car seat and carried her toward the plane. The twins were old enough to recognize a strange situation and react. Maddie broke into an ear-splitting howl. Her sister followed suit.

“Good God! Here, take her!” He thrust the screaming baby upward into Tessa’s outstretched hands. Setting the car seat safely down, she turned to take a frantic Missy from the man’s arms. The pained look on his lordly face left no need for words.

Tessa busied herself with buckling the twins securely into the two rear seats of the plane. They were still howling, their little cherub faces splotched with tear stains. Tessa wiped their runny noses, kissed them and murmured a few vain words of comfort. When she looked out the open door, the plane’s owner was wrestling with the stroller frame. Scowling, he glared up at her. “How the devil do you fold this thing?” he demanded.

“There’s a release button on the handle. Try pushing it,” Tessa said.

He tried again and managed to make it work. After stowing the stroller and closing the door, he walked around to the other side and took his place in the pilot’s seat.

“You’re flying the plane?” she asked, surprised.

He glanced back at her, one dark eyebrow quirked upward. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Tessa shook her head.

“Then sit down and buckle up.” He indicated the seat next to him. “We’re about to take off.”

Willing herself to ignore the twins’ cries, Tessa slid into the front passenger seat and clicked the belt buckle.

In profile, her pilot looked even more familiar than before. Who was he? This was getting ridiculous. Once they were in the air she would have to ask him.

“Here.” He handed her a set of headphones with an attached mike. “Put these on. They’ll cut down on the engine noise and let us talk without having to shout.”

Tessa took the headphones. Before slipping them on, she glanced back at her daughters. They were still crying but she could tell they were winding down. They’d been awake long enough to be exhausted. With luck they’d soon fall asleep.

Her mysterious pilot had put on his own headphones. He checked the gauges and then switched on the power. The propeller spun to life with a roar of smooth-running power. Tessa glanced back at the twins. They were wide-eyed but didn’t seem upset by the noise. Maybe it was like riding in a car, which usually tended to settle them down.

Humming like a high-end European sports car, the plane taxied past the hangars and out onto the runway. Tessa’s pulse skittered. She held her breath as he opened the throttle and pulled back on the wheel. The sleek craft rocketed down the runway, left the ground and soared into the air.