Beth Cornelison - Soldier's Pregnancy Protocol

“Easy, sweetcakes. I’ve got everything under control.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

Deep breath. Slow exhale . The exercise didn’t help. Her nerves still jangled, and her stomach pitched.

“Alec, why am I in this plane? How did I get on this plane? I thought you were taking me to a hotel!”

He angled another look over his shoulder. “Anyone ever tell you that you sleep like the dead? I decided I’d get fewer arguments from you if I didn’t wake you until we were in the air.”

“ You’re kidnapping me now?” She gaped at him, stunned by his stunt.

“Trust me. It’s better this way. Because of your concussion—a minor one, the doc assures me—you needed someone to watch you for the next day or two.”

Erin’s heart gave a little kick. She hadn’t had anyone looking out for her interests in a very long time.

“But I had to get out of town, shake the men who’ve been following me.” Alec returned his attention to the dials and gauges in front of him. “At the safe house, I’ll have the facilities to start tracking Daniel and protect you at the same time.”

She grabbed the back of Alec’s seat as the plane jolted through another air pocket. “So why are these men following you? What do they want?”

Alec didn’t answer.

“Can you at least tell me which side of the law you’re on? Are you one of the good guys?”

He shrugged. “Depends who you ask. We’re getting close. Better get ready to go.”

Erin shifted to look out the front windshield at the mountainous terrain. “I don’t see any airstrip. Where are we supposed to land?”

“We’re not landing.”

A prickle started at the base of Erin’s neck. “Pardon me?”

“We’re jumping. I only had one chute in the plane, so I picked up a tandem harness before we took off.”

Pinpricks of dread crept down her spine. “We’re jumping? As in parachuting? As in … No!” A cold sweat beaded on her lip as an image of Bradley’s final moments flashed in her mind. “No, Alec! I can’t!”

He flipped some switches and slid out from behind the controls. “Fine. Stay on the plane. Although you only have a couple minutes’ worth of fuel. Do you know how to land a Cessna?”

“No. I—” Erin’s breathing grew ragged, and her heart clambered. “A couple minutes of fuel? But if we jump, the plane—”

“Crashes. I know. That’s the point. With luck, the people after us will believe we’re dead.” Alec stepped over her toward the back cargo area of the tiny plane.

“But—” Erin’s head pounded, and her mind spun.

This was a nightmare. No, worse than a nightmare. This was real.

“Please, Alec. There’s got to be another way to do this! I can’t jump!”

“You’ll be strapped to me. Perfectly safe. I’ve done this dozens of times.” He handed her a nylon mesh harness. “Put this on.”

Bile burned her throat, and she swallowed hard, searching for her voice. “Alec, wait! You don’t understand. Bradley died—”

A screeching siren from the controls interrupted her. “Low fuel! Low fuel!”

“This is our stop.” Alec cinched a strap tighter across his chest, then looked at the harness still in her hand. “You coming or not?”

Erin scrambled to don the device, and Alec stepped closer to show her how to arrange the straps and clips. “Please, don’t make me do this, Alec! Stay with me! Turn the plane around and land it somewhere. I can’t do this!”

He tested one of her straps with a firm tug. Then, grasping her shoulders with strong hands, he met her eyes with his piercing blue gaze. “Yes, you can. I’ll be right there with you the whole time. I won’t let you get hurt.”

His assurances echoed with a distant familiarity. Her stomach lurched. “That’s what Bradley always said.”

Alec forcibly quashed the sympathy that stirred in him when he looked in Erin’s terror-stricken eyes. “Turn around so I can hook up your harness.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, and a tear leaked onto her cheek. The sight of that tear as she dutifully complied with his directive landed a sucker punch in his gut.

He had to shove down his reactions to Erin and focus on the jump, focus on getting them both safely to the ground. Drawing a cleansing breath, Alec slid a hand around her waist and pulled her back against him. With his hand splayed on her belly, he held her in place while he fastened the D-rings of her harness to his. With effort, he shut out the sweet scent of her hair, the odd firmness and round swell of her stomach, the shudder that shimmied through her.

“Alec,” she said, her voice trembling, “It has to be dangerous for a woman in my condition to—”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll protect your head when we land.”

“I don’t mean—”

“Time to go. Walk with me.” He nudged her forward. Opened the rear cargo door. Braced as the slipstream roared into the plane.

“Alec!”

“We jump on three! One … two …”

“Alec!”

“Three!”

After their canopy opened with a crisp snap, Erin opened her eyes and drank in the view of sprawling mountains, the terra-cotta sunset, and the bushy evergreens dotting the jagged slopes of the Rockies. Beautiful .

She inhaled the pine-scented air and felt the tension in her muscles seep away. The spectacular view, the exhilarating freedom as they floated on a pillow of air was heady stuff. Despite her fears, every adventure Bradley had taken her on had given her something she treasured. She came away from each challenge energized with the joy of being alive.

The joy of being alive …

In a flash, the thrill of their descent evaporated, replaced with chilling memories of the last trip she’d made with Bradley, the trip that had left her bereft and alone. Erin tensed every muscle and turned her attention from the sunset to their rapid approach to terra firma. Rather, toward a stand of lodgepole pines.

“Alec, we’re headed for those trees!” Erin gripped Alec’s arm, digging her fingers into his hard muscles, as he toggled their parachute toward the hillside below. She could barely hear herself over the swoosh of blood in her ears and the adrenaline-charged cadence of her heart.

“We’re fine, sweetcakes.” His voice was irritatingly calm and assured.

When they landed, she was going to deck him for putting her through this.

“Right on target,” he crooned.

“You’re aiming for the trees?”

She felt the vibration of his answering grunt against her back, reverberating in her own chest as if they were one.

“Of course not. I’m gonna set us down in that clearing to the left. When we land, bend your knees—”

“And roll. I know. I’ve done this before.” But when she’d parachuted with Bradley, she hadn’t had a throbbing knot on her head or memories of her husband’s death replaying in her mind like a film clip looped to repeat ad nauseam.

“You’ve been skydiving before?” Alec sounded truly shocked.

“A couple times. With Bradley.”

They glided over the treetops, and she heard Alec’s smug hum of satisfaction, imagined the I-told-you-so gleam in his eyes. As they sailed smoothly to earth, Erin readied herself for landing as Bradley had taught her. Alec wrapped his arm around the top of her head and held it securely against him, protecting her head from further injury as he’d promised he would.

Her feet met the rocky ground with a jarring thud, and her knees buckled. She tried to roll as Alec had instructed, but he lunged the opposite direction. She was hauled with him in a tumbling heap, falling awkwardly on top of him, butt first.