Chapter 2 #2
Suddenly, his exhaustion disappeared, replaced by the familiar exhilaration of flight.
The roar of the engine vibrated the whole plane.
A breeze, nonexistent moments before, blew the sweat from his face.
The ground dropped away, and he was a bird in the sky, flying toward the unreachable heavens.
Maybe someday mankind would build a plane that could reach the stars, but for now, he was content to know he flew as high as any man ever had.
There was nothing like the freedom of flight.
Every time he took off, he was gambling with death, but there was a peace in knowing the dice had been rolled already.
He was in the air and he would either land safe or not.
His skill could only take him so far. Fate held his life in the balance.
One day, he would lose this gamble, but nothing made him feel more alive than cheating death time and again.
Turning back toward the runway, he said a silent prayer and cut the engine.
No matter how many times he did this, it was a white-knuckle ride.
It should have been peaceful, quietly gliding, the only sound the whistle of air through the wires on the wings.
But death was coming toward him fast. If he didn’t maneuver the plane just so, he would crash, giving the cadets a lesson they would never forget and follow his brother, Benny, into the hereafter.
“Not today, Death, you son of a bitch.” He adjusted the angle of approach. Closer, closer. Benny’s face came to mind, as it so often did when he was in danger. Taking a deep breath, he pushed away the memory. He needed all his concentration for the task at hand.
Pulling up at the last moment, the wheels made contact with solid ground—a clean, gentle landing.
The skid dragged against the runway, slowing the plane to a halt, and he said another silent prayer of thanks.
He wasn’t a churchgoer, but no man who did what he did could live long without someone to pray to.
Facing the thin line between today and eternity again and again did that to a man.
It wasn’t wise to tempt fate like that over and over, but the thought of finishing his engineering degree and taking a desk job filled him with dread. He wasn’t ready yet. The rush was addictive, and he couldn’t let it go.
As he came to a halt, the cadets cheered and ran over to the plane, almost distracting him from an expensive black car that drove up and stopped in the distance.
A chauffer discharged two passengers, one a man, one a woman.
Some sixth sense prickled the hair on the back of his neck.
Who were they, and why did they make him so damned nervous?
He went through his landing checks mechanically, describing aloud what he was doing, then he climbed down to rejoin the group of starry-eyed recruits who insisted on slapping him on the back and shaking his hand.
Behind the cadets was a stranger in uniform—a major in the Army Air Service, judging from the man’s epaulets.
He had a thick mustache and dark, piercing eyes.
His posture and bearing were unmistakably aristocratic.
Beside him was a blonde with a suspiciously familiar silhouette, wearing a powder-blue confection that matched her eyes. No. It couldn’t be.
“Ah, there you are, Lieutenant Hawley,” said Major Fleet.
“Major Belmont here arrived just in time to see your performance.” Hank jumped to attention, surreptitiously checking Major Belmont for a gun.
Sweat trickled down his back. He forced himself to smile.
Simply delighted to meet you, sir. Never mind that your daughter and I had a little rendezvous last night in this very hangar.
Major Belmont smiled back. “I brought my daughter, Aurora, with me. She’s fascinated by airplanes and insisted I bring her along.”
She smiled and nodded at Hank with cool distance, as if he was a stranger. Well, what did he expect? A kiss?
“Hawley here is the best pilot we have,” said Major Fleet. “He served under me in France. I brought him home to the States when we launched airmail service back in May. He’s been with us from the start.”
Princess Rory was looking around at anything but him.
He would do well to watch the two majors instead of her, he reminded himself.
As he dragged his eyes away, she met his gaze for a split second.
Something crackled and sparked within him in that moment, just as it had last night.
Did she feel it too? Whatever this was, it was too dangerous to indulge.
Fortunately, her father seemed not to have noticed.
“Major Belmont, I have to ask,” said Fleet, “what brings you out here today? It’s always a pleasure to see you, but we weren’t expecting you.”
Major Belmont shrugged. “I had a free morning and wanted to see how this airmail experiment was going. By the way, how much longer do you think you’ll be using my racetrack as an airstrip? I’m happy to support the cause and all, but the noise of the airplanes scares the horses.”
“I don’t know, Major. We’re working as quickly as possible on an alternative. If the postmaster general had only given us a chance to prepare properly before starting service—”
“No need to explain, Major. I still don’t know how you got this operation up and running on such short notice. It’s nothing short of a miracle if you ask me. When the war is over, you come look me up. A man like you could go far.”
Major Fleet smiled. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.”
As if Major Fleet needed a millionaire to give him a leg up. As if he hadn’t climbed the ranks and earned the same rank that Belmont bought. The condescension was astonishing!
“Papa?” Princess Rory said, putting her hand on her father’s arm. “Do you suppose that nice gentleman over there—” she pointed at Hank, and his heart stopped, “—might be willing to show me one of the planes? You know how I love to see them up close.”
Major Fleet answered by calling out, “Lieutenant Hawley. The young lady wants to see one of our Jennies. Can you show her while the major and I catch up? O’Donnell, Pritchard, take the cadets and walk them through the steps for landing with engines cut.”
She sauntered over and took his arm, as if she were strolling through the park with her beau. The intoxicating scent of magnolias wafted over to him. He did his best not to flinch at her touch.
Clearing his throat, he led her over to the nearest Jenny. “Miss Belmont—”
“Rory,” she corrected quietly.
“Not on your life,” he murmured for her ears only. “Your father’s standing right there.”
She smiled. “Show me the airplane, Lieutenant Hawley,” she said aloud.
“Of course, Miss Belmont,” he answered in a loud enough voice to carry to the majors.
She dug her nails into his arm. Lovely fingers. Flawless manicure. Her nails were the palest of pinks.
“This model of plane is called—”
“A Jenny, short for Curtiss JN-4, manufactured up in Buffalo by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company based on a design by Glenn Curtiss and B. Douglas Thomas. It has a Hispano-Suiza 8 V-8 engine with one hundred-fifty horsepower and a maximum speed of seventy-five miles per hour. It has a wingspan of forty-three feet seven inches and a length of twenty-seven feet four inches. It’s nine feet eleven inches high and weighs just over a ton empty. ”
He swallowed hard.
She trailed her fingers along the fuselage, and it took all his concentration to avoid imagining those fingers on his own flesh. Dorothy. Focus on Dorothy. Poor Dorothy. I’ll have to let her down easy.
“I want to learn to fly, you see, but Father won’t let me.
” She looked at the plane with the same hungry reverence he felt the first time he was close to one.
If man could fly, then he had to try it.
From the moment he set eyes on the rickety contraption, he was lost. If only Benny hadn’t been bitten by the same bug.
Turning to look him in the eye, Princess Belmont said, “Take me up? I want to feel the wind on my face.”
What?
“I don’t think your father would approve, Miss Belmont.”
“Papa!” she called out. He was still standing with Major Fleet beside the hangar.
“Yes, dear?”
“I’d like to go for a short flight. May I? This nice young man has offered to fly me.”
“I did not,” Hank whispered furiously at her.
“I’m afraid not, my dear. We must be going. Another time,” her father said.
Hank watched her jaw and fists clench, but she said nothing. “Another time,” she said as she stroked the fuselage one last time. Turning to him, she said, “Until next time, Hank,” and sauntered off.
As he watched their car drive off, he took a deep, shuddering breath. He could only pray there wouldn’t be a next time. The woman was a danger to his health. Thank heavens she was completely out of his reach.