Chapter Three
So far, so good, Rance reminded himself.
They had made it this far. Piece of cake assignment.
Not! When this assignment was done and he had deposited her judgeship back in her courtroom, he would celebrate over a whole weekend with a huge grilled steak, some cold beverages, and think of a way to pay back his boss for giving him such an assignment.
But for the moment, he needed to keep his wits about him, his head clear, and his eyes open.
It was an established fact that the judge was not going to be an amiable protectee.
He could cut her a bit of slack given the lack of any warning of how her life was going to be upended earlier that day.
And she had little time to absorb the facts involving her fellow judges and the gravity of what that meant for her.
But it was also clear that she was used to calling the shots in her world and that habit was on hiatus until he said otherwise.
Which made him the enemy in her eyes. He had protected only a few witnesses prior to this assignment, but none had been close to being like her honor.
Glad for the dark lenses concealing his eyes, he was able to slide a few glances in her direction without being obvious.
His first impression from walking into the courtroom was that she was a rude, stuck-up, full-of-herself woman who was spoilt in having people jump when she spoke, and he was not falling into line in her way of seeing things.
Hopefully, for both of their sakes, this would only be for a day or so and he could get the ‘all clear’ and deposit her right back on her high bench and good riddance.
Until then, well, he would have to be on his toes and pray for a lot of patience.
“We’ll be landing in about ten minutes.”
“Where did you learn to fly one of these? They teach you to do this in the marshal service?”
Rance shook his head. “I’ve been flying one of these or one just a little smaller since high school. It came in handy by rounding up herds of cattle or horses and finding lost ones.”
She gave him a long, skeptical look at that point. He grinned in response. “I was looking for a serious reply,” she said with no hint of a smile in return.
“That was a serious reply. I worked for a rancher during my last two years of high school and through my college years. And we did just what I said. It was a big ranch with a lot of acres and brush and canyons, and we covered it faster in a chopper. Then there was a stint in the military where my skills came in handy.”
“I see,” she finally responded, the debate going on in her brain evident as she gave him another considering look. “And you keep your skills up by using the air instead of the ground to cover tracks with your protectees.”
“I also keep my skills up, as you say, by helping out on that ranch now and then and also on my brother-in-law’s property during his roundup times. So don’t worry…you are in practiced hands.”
That hint of a grin broke through, and he couldn’t help it. Anyone else might find the choice of words amusing, but there was no answering curve on her face. She turned her attention to the scenery next to her.
“We’ll see about that. The jury is still out. Besides, the sooner we land, the sooner we can be headed back to civilization.”
So be it. If the lady expected by the book, then he could show her by the book.
“Can you see that clearing ahead and to the left? We’re going to set her down right there.
” He became all business. But he did catch a quick glimpse of her hands knotting in her lap as they had when they’d lifted off at the beginning of the flight.
So, the steel armor of the lady did have a chink in it?
Fear of flying? Interesting. He filed that away for the time being.
The wind from the rotors caused the tall trees around the clearing to buck and sway, and the craft sent ripples across the grass as it lowered ever so slowly until there was a soft thud and a slight rocking first forward and then aft.
“And we’re on good ol’ terra firma again…
and in one piece.” He might as well get what little enjoyment he could find out of this assignment.
Her reaction to his brand of humor was the match to light the fire of mischief his sisters always said he irritated them with.
Might come in handy to get through the hours of their combined imprisonment.
He cut the engine, and the rotors began to slow.
“So we’re sitting on some patch of ground in the middle of who knows where and we wait for what?” Erin began to undo her seat belt, which was not so easy to do. She was obviously losing patience again as her tone rose.
Rance turned in his seat, reached a hand over and moved one of hers out of the way. Then he simply lifted the latch on the restraint with a couple of his fingers. She jerked the offending straps away and his hand with them.
“You’re welcome,” he supplied for her. “And we’re not going to stay here. Our vehicle is right beyond those trees.” And he nodded to a spot just ahead of them. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t wait for any further conversation.
Time was ticking and he wanted to get settled.
Remembering his manners, he crossed around the front of the chopper, but his passenger had already found her way out of the seat and managed to reach the ground.
She was smoothing her skirt, which had ridden high enough to show off a very nice set of legs, but he shot his gaze upward and met hers.
Caught. But neither of them said anything about it, and it was just as well.
“You lead the way, Marshal Parker,” she said instead, raising her voice, her stance indicating her annoyance with the whole situation.
“Don’t worry, Your Honor,” he responded, “I don’t expect you to walk very far.” His nod sent her gaze to where a path was evident, and he headed in that direction. She followed.
As they reached the path, a tall figure appeared through the bushes, and he was standing beside a forest-green-colored Jeep that had seen better days and had a layer of fresh dirt-road dust settled on top of previous layers. A tall cowboy moved to meet Rance.
“Was afraid I’d be late or I would have taken a better vehicle,” he said and gave a dip of his head toward the woman in their midst. He handed over the keys to Rance.
“No problem, Adam. I got held up a bit at the airfield, but all is good. You know what to do with the chopper after you refuel it.”
“Yes, sir. And everything else is in place for you.”
“Good deal, and thanks,” Rance said, extending his hand and they shook.
The cowboy soon disappeared in the direction of the helicopter. “Let’s go.” Rance moved forward and slid into the driver’s seat. He sat looking at her, hands on the wheel.
She squared her shoulders and slid her bag onto her shoulder as if it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to climb into a roofless, doorless jeep during her normal workday.
“You need to put the lap belt around you—these roads are a little rough. And sorry about the lack of air-conditioning and fine leather,” he said, turning the ignition on.
The engine was loud so that he had to raise his voice above it.
The noise was intensified by the sound of the chopper lifting and moving overhead at the same time.
That only stirred up the ground debris of leaves and more red dust into swirls around them.
She clipped the belt in place, and they were off.
Rance tried to miss as many of the rough spots as possible in the dirt road, which was no more than a washed-out rutted old firebreak with heavy brush and trees on one side, and a barbed wire fence on the other side.
But he had to admit that she was staying silent and taking it in stride, while one hand grasped the seat beside her and the other hung on to the dash in the deeper ruts.
The wind was whipping around the two of them and conversation was not easy to come by, so silence was the best choice.
It was probably just as well. A city girl and a country guy wouldn’t have much ground in common anyway.
Rance reminded himself of that more than once.
With any luck, it would soon be over and then maybe he could actually enjoy another day or two with a fishing rod in hand.
A few minutes later, they’d rounded another curve and then the ruts turned into a paved blacktop road that became a driveway dipping down toward an expanse of green grass lawn.
It surrounded a single-story cabin that sat beneath huge cypress trees lining banks of a ribbon of blue water that flowed past it.
The jeep came to a halt beneath a lean-to cover at the side of the structure.
He switched the engine off and silence took over.
It was a definite change from the last few minutes.
“You can relax now,” he said, pushing out of his seat belt and sliding from beneath the steering wheel to stand beside the jeep. Rance moved around the front of the vehicle and came to stand beside it, hand offered to his passenger.
She undid the seat belt and then used her hands to try to restore some semblance of order to her hair that had been rearranged by wind whipping through her usual restrained hairstyle.
He waited. Then she withdrew the leather tote bag from her shoulder and that was pushed into his outstretched hand.
She extricated herself from the seat and stood in her newly deconstructed footwear beside him, her gaze moving slowly over the scenery before her.
“So, this is the fishing cabin? Or is it hidden someplace close by and this is just a decoy? This is not a cabin. It’s the size of a whole house.”
Nothing had lessened the skepticism of her voice. Rance wasn’t surprised.
“This is the fishing cabin…been known as that as long as I can remember.” He turned, her bag in hand, and left her to follow as he headed for the steps, which hugged the side of the cabin.