Northern Rebel Daring in the Dark - By Jennifer Labrecque Page 0,6

sweetheart, isn’t she?” the man next to her said, but it was in one of those talking-to-the-dog voices.

“Do you have a dog?” he asked her. She could hear the smile in his voice.

She did not want to be charmed by this stranger, smiling voice or not. “No.”

“Are you always so talkative?”

Dammit, she refused to laugh and be charmed. She’d decided that minding her own business would be the best course of action. She’d still have her old job if she’d had enough sense not to be chatty and friendly with DeWitt. “No.”

Okay, time for a tactical change. Obviously monosyllable responses weren’t going to shut him down or freeze him out. And he was dangerously charming.

She turned to face him...and he was right there. His eyes were the most unusual shade of brown—depths of brown but translucent at the same time, like stained glass backlit by the sun. She’d guess the fine lines bracketing those arresting eyes were compliments of duty tours in the Middle East, but it wasn’t her business and it certainly wasn’t the business at hand. “Okay, Sergeant, I have no idea why you feel compelled to sit right next to me, but since you seem to demand my attention, you’ve got it. So, go ahead. Regale me with your charm. Wow me with your life story. Obviously I’m a captive audience.”

He paused for a second and then laughed. “I’m not particularly charming—” right, she thought “—and my life story isn’t so interesting.” She didn’t believe he actually thought that for a hot minute. “I suppose I’m just curious as to why you’re so antisocial.”

“I’m not antisocial. I simply want to be left alone. It’s not so difficult, is it? Wait, apparently it is for you. You certainly don’t follow social niceties.”

“How’s that?”

“You’re practically sitting in my lap when you could’ve chosen any one of three other seats. Because I’m a decent human being, I’m going to let you know that I suffer from motion sickness. I took medication but I’ve never actually traveled in an aircraft this small so there’s no guarantee I’m not going to lose my lunch.”

In a moment of spectacular timing, Juliette spoke to them over her right shoulder. “We’ve been cleared for takeoff. So, you’ll need to put on your headsets.” She sent a glance of inquiry Delphi’s way. “You okay? You ready?”

Delphi picked up the small barf bag Juliette had provided earlier. “Ready.”

Lars piped up. “Give me a second to switch seats.” He moved across the aisle, rebuckled and gave Juliette the thumbs-up. “Thanks,” he said to Delphi.

“No, thank you.” She turned her attention to the window again, closing her eyes as Juliette throttled forward. It was always better if she didn’t have to watch everything whiz by.

What seemed like a short lifetime later, but was really only a matter of probably a few minutes, Delphi released her death grip on the armrests. Thank goodness for motion sickness meds.

“You okay?” Juliette asked again, her voice coming through the headset. Kind of weird, that.

“Yes, thanks. Being in the air is usually okay. It’s the takeoffs and landings that get me.”

Baby sat up and rested her head on Delphi’s knee, gazing at her with sympathetic eyes. She had a sweet masked face. Delphi didn’t know a whole lot about dogs but this one looked like a small version of what she thought of as a “sled dog.”

Juliette glanced over her shoulder. “Just push her away if she’s bugging you.”

“She’s fine,” Delphi said. She could easily grow attached to this animal.

“Malamute?” Lars asked, startling Delphi. They were all tuned in to the same frequency so his voice, with its hint of gravel, sounded right in her ear.

“Husky,” Juliette said. “She’s my copilot. She’s been flying with me ever since I got her.”

Delphi swore the dog smiled at that point.

“So,” Juliette said, “we can finally have a wedding now that you’re here.”

Delphi should be minding her own business but she had to admit her curiosity was piqued. This man was flying all the way to Alaska to get married? She wasn’t quite sure why that should surprise her so much, other than the fact that she’d thought he was flirting with her earlier. Perhaps because she’d felt more than a little bit of sexual interest from him. Then again, she’d probably misread him. Honest to Pete, her judgment seemed to have thoroughly deserted her.

“Tansy’s been incredibly patient. My leave’s been jerked around a couple of times,” he said. It was really silly that hearing him talk