Scarlet Wilson - A Bond Between Strangers

‘Damn! I thought blondes were meant to have more fun?’

Curiosity piqued him. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Now, why would I tell my name to a man who prefers brunettes?’ She was as sharp as a whip. ‘What’s your name, stranger?’

He liked her. For the first time in a long time he actually liked a woman. ‘John Carter. But my friends just call me Carter.’

‘Then I guess I should just call you John.’ Her answer came as quick as a flash. She stuck her hand out towards him and looked over her shoulder. ‘Here, at this airfield, they call me Dynamo.’

Their hands met, the electricity between them so loud it practically crackled. She was slim without being skinny, but with enough curves to make you look twice.

Carter gave a wider smile, ‘I wonder why….’ His voice trailed off then he fixed his eyes on her again. ‘Dynamo seems appropriate.’

She looked over to the car park. ‘How long have you had your bike?’

He shrugged. ‘A couple of years. I’d wanted one for quite a while and when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it with both hands.’ He looked back at his bike. ‘Probably time to trade it in for a newer version.’

Her brow puckered. ‘I like the colour scheme. It’s even nicer than my baby.’ She pointed to the other end of the car park where her silver and red Ducati was parked.

He gave a little start of surprise. ‘Looks like we’re a matching pair.’ His eyes met hers.

She looked up and down his tall frame. ‘Most of the bikers I meet in San Francisco are the long-haired, hairy type. Either that or they’re gay. Where did you spring from?’

He snorted with laughter. Her sassy attitude and spark was beginning to draw him in. Make him lose focus and forget the reason he was there. To find the donor. To win back his child.

He straightened his shoulders. ‘Nice to meet you, Dynamo, but I’d better be going.’ He strode off into the hangar.

‘Hey, John,’ she shouted after him, pausing whilst he turned back round. ‘I think you should reconsider your decision. You’re cutting out almost half of the female population, restricting yourself to brunettes.’ A twinkle appeared in her eyes, ‘Plus you didn’t ask if I was a natural blonde.’ And with that she stuck her helmet back on her head and headed out onto the airstrip.

He gave her a smile, holding back his laughter at the pointed use of his first name. Who on earth was she? He walked further into the hangar to the group of nervous-looking jumpers, all standing in their regulation flight suits next to their carefully packed parachutes. ‘Hey, Dan, I was wondering if you could help me find someone?’ Dan was leaning downwards, looking at someone’s ankle, and Carter gave him a slap on the shoulder.

Dan didn’t miss a beat. ‘Perfect. Carter, take a look at this for me. This man’s been bothered with his ankle this week and developed a limp—I don’t think it’s wise for him to jump at the moment.’

Carter fell to his knees and stripped the ankle of the thick woollen sock protecting it. The dark purple bruises made him sit back. He gave a wry smile, ‘I don’t even need to touch that.’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no way you can jump with an ankle like that. Your ankles take all the impact when you land. You could do some serious damage.’

The man looked panicked. ‘But I’m about to raise three thousand dollars for the charity. If I don’t do it, the charity won’t get the money.’

Dan looked from one to the other. ‘Does it have to be you that does the jump or does it just have to be someone?’

The man blinked. ‘Eh….someone, I think.’ He held his hands up. ‘But there’s no extra people around and we’re due to take off in ten minutes. Where on earth will you find a replacement?’

Dan’s face broke into a wild smile. ‘Easiest thing in the world. Meet Carter. High-flying doc. Done more jumps than I could count. I’m sure he’ll fill in for you—won’t you, Carter?’

Carter hesitated—obviously for a fraction too long because Dan slid an arm around his shoulders. ‘It’s for charity.’ He tapped him on the chest. ‘And I know you, you wouldn’t want the charity to lose money because they didn’t have enough people to do their jump.’

Carter sighed. ‘I’ll do it on one condition.’

Dan raised his eyebrows, ‘And what’s that?’

‘You help me find this girl—Lily Grayson. Someone at the hospital where she works told me she was doing a jump here today.’ He’d pulled the crumpled photograph from his pocket. It was already looking dog-eared. He’d printed it from his computer off the clinic’s website.

Dan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why are you looking for Lily? Has she done something wrong?’ Almost immediately Carter sensed the vibe. The protective vibe. He’d be wise not to say too much if he was looking for help.

‘No—nothing’s wrong. She’s done something really good. I just wanted to thank her.’ Not strictly true, but it was the best he could do at short notice.

Dan looked over Carter’s leather-clad figure. ‘Better get changed, then. Lily’s up in the next jump—you can thank her then.’ He pointed in the direction of the lockers, ‘Take one of my suits, they’ll fit you fine. But be quick, we need to be ready to go in five minutes.’

Carter strode over to the lockers, stripping off his leather jacket and unfastening his trousers. He found alternative clothes in Dan’s locker and pulled them on before donning the red flight suit and matching helmet. He glanced back around the room. There were several women there. But all had their helmets hiding their hair and faces. Hopefully Dan would point Lily out once they got in the plane.

He spent the next few minutes checking his parachute and signing his paperwork. Since he’d done it so many times before it was all routine to him. He caught sight of the purple-suited figure scrambling onto the plane ahead of him. What was that writing on her back?

He moved through the crowd until he was closer to Dan. ‘Which one’s Lily?’ he asked as they stepped into the aircraft.

The rest of the party was all sitting along the sides of the plane, ready for take-off. Dan looked up. ‘Far end. Purple flight suit, pink helmet. This is her twentieth jump.’

The engine and propeller started up, filling the back of the aircraft with noise. Carter felt a lump in his throat. She was Lily?

The one woman he’d met in the past year that he’d had even the vaguest connection with? It seemed unreal.

Worse than that, it was a disaster. She was as much a daredevil as he was. Twenty jumps? She’d almost matched his record. Plus, a matching Ducati.

He groaned. This wasn’t what he’d hoped for. Worse than that, this wasn’t what his attorney had hoped for.

When they hadn’t been able to find Tabitha, the attorney had suggested trying another tactic. They needed to build a case for Carter to keep the baby that some other woman was currently carrying.

The genetics might be obvious. But some judges took pity on the poor woman implanted with the wrong baby and the possible risks to her health. This woman wasn’t a willing surrogate. This woman had thought she was getting a baby of her own.

In a way, it was lucky they’d only found out at around the twenty-eight-week mark. By that point she had been visibly pregnant and it had been too late for termination—no matter what the reason.

Carter needed to build a case for himself. He needed to prove he could be an able parent. And with no current partner, that could be difficult. Sometimes judges, rightly or wrongly, didn’t look favourably on male, single parents. So his attorney had suggested he find the egg donor.

It shouldn’t be too hard—he’d already seen her photograph and knew her most basic details via the clinic database. But he only had a few days to do it. The newspapers had already got a whiff of the story and any day now it was going to be front-page news. So he had to find her quickly. All he had to do was persuade her to side with him in court. Maybe even pretend to have a vested interest in this baby.