Touch the Heavens (25 page)

A sigh escaped from her as she leaned against his strong, steadying body. “I can’t help but wonder what kind of publicity this whole fiasco brought the test-pilot school and the Air Force. I was trying so hard to be the perfect student, Dan, so that other women would have an easier acceptance. I wanted things to go smoothly so there wouldn’t be a blotch or stigma attached to women as test pilots.” Frustration laced her voice. “And I blew it. Right in front of everybody. You must have seen the television news. What did they say?”

Dan compressed his lips. “You didn’t do a thing, Chris. Get that through your defensive head. Brodie is the one who was wrong.”

“And the school? What about its image?”

“Colonel Martin and the public-affairs people have done a credible job of salvaging the Air Force’s image. Although allowing Brodie to resign for the good of the service didn’t make me very happy.” He frowned. Dan had preferred to see charges leveled against Brodie for his actions. He forced himself back to the present, regarding her upturned face with renewed pleasure. He would never tire of gazing at her mobile, expressive features.

A slight grin edged his mouth. “You came out of this looking like the heroine you are, honey. And nothing short of that.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done in my place,” she groused. “We’re paid to save aircraft, not destroy twenty million just because of extraneous circumstances.”

Dan gave her a fierce embrace. “I don’t call being blinded an extraneous circumstance, Raven. I know I would have punched out and let the bird go.” He sobered, his blue eyes wide with admiration. “Hey, what do you say we leave this serious talk for tonight? There’s a number of things I’ve got to discuss with you before we go back to Edwards. There is liable to be some press there when we arrive.”

“No, Dan,” she groaned. “What if I’m blind?” her voice cracked. “Please don’t let them embarrass me like that! Can you see me trying to get out of the cockpit without seeing what I’m doing?”

He placed a finger on her lips. “Ssh,” he commanded. “I didn’t say they would meet us on the ramp. After we land and file our report and get settled, we’ll get briefed. There won’t be any damn cameras on the ramp, I can promise you that. Now, come on. We’ve got a date with a small lake over that rise. A careless grin came to his mouth. “Bring a bathing suit?” he teased.

Chris grudgingly allowed the worries that plagued her to recede. She rallied at Dan’s teasing tone. “No. But I don’t dare get these bandages wet. I’ll just wade along the shore and cool my feet off. How about you?”

“I’m not going to wade. Too bad you can’t go swimming.” Dan grinned. “I’d dunk you.”

She gave him a game smile. “There will be other times,” she warned, picking up his challenge.

“Will anyone be around to see us?”

“Just a few Herefords and they’re all females. I don’t think they’ll mind.”

She smiled. “Okay, hotshot jet jockey, let’s go. I’m ready to cool down!”

In no time they had approached the fenced in area that held the lake. Dan dismounted, disregarded the keep-out sign, and opened the gate. Leading the horses around it, he shut the gate and remounted, guiding them over the rise. At least thirty Hereford cows with newly born calves remained on the shore at one end of the small, beautiful lake. One third of the area was surrounded by a steeply sloped region covered with brush and thickets. A large stand of cottonwood graced the opposite end where most of the animals stood beneath their shade trying to escape the burning sun.

Dan took the time to explain the layout to Chris as they rode their horses toward the grassy bank. She turned toward him, puzzlement written on her face.

“I thought Howard moved all the herds to the southern pastures? Didn’t he say he was going to allow the grass to grow up here?”

Dan nodded. “You’ve got a razor-sharp memory,” he congratulated her. “For some reason I guess he wants this herd to remain.”

“And they won’t bother us while we swim?”

He reached over, catching her hand and giving it a quick kiss. “No, city girl. Cows and calves are much more frightened of you than you are of them. They’ll probably just stare a lot.”

Chris grinned. The consistency of the earth changed beneath the mare’s hoofs, and Chris could feel the horse sinking down into what she was sure was grass. She inhaled the changing scents, the smell of the lake nearby. “How close are we?” she asked, excitement in her voice.

“Just another few feet,” Dan cautioned. “There’s a bank with about a one-foot drop-off. The water is pretty deep at this end, and muddy at the edge. Most of the cattle come here to drink, and it’s pretty torn up. I used to swim here when I was a kid.” Dan watched her carefully.

“You’ll have to get out about a yard from shore before you hit a steeply sloped sandy bottom. It’s only a couple of feet deep and perfect for wading. Matter of fact, you can use the mare and have her go through the mud. Then you can slide off the saddle into the water.”

Chris dismounted and sat down, taking off her cowboy boots and rolling up her jeans to her knees. Groping for the reins, she remounted by herself. “Which way, Dan?” she called.

He had just taken off his shirt, throwing it on the ground beside his boots and socks. “This way,” he said leading the mare to the edge of the water. “Okay, just nudge her forward about five feet. Then you can slide off the saddle onto the sand instead of the mud.”

Giving Dan an eager smile, Chris clucked to the mare. “Meet you in the water,” she called, waving to him.

Dan smiled, watching her for a few seconds while the quarter horse negotiated the sticky mud along the shore. Then he turned his back to finish undressing.

Suddenly Chris felt her mare tense and slip. She grabbed for the saddle horn, but in doing so, her heel sank deeply into the horse’s flank. Instantly, the gray took a huge lunge forward, sinking heavily in chest-deep water. Chris clawed at the horn, completely unbalanced. She was jerked free of the saddle midair by the mare’s frantic jump. Suddenly, she was airborne. She screamed for Dan just as she slammed into the water, landing heavily on her back. Icy coldness closed about Chris’s head and she fought down the panic. Water surged up into her nostrils flowing down her throat, suffocating her. She fought her way to the surface. Her feet weren’t touching bottom! What had happened? She heard Dan shout in the distance. A whinney of a horse pierced the air. Floundering, panic eating away at her normal calm, Chris vomited up the water, choking.

Out of survival instinct, Chris jerked the bandages off. Light pierced her widened, frightened eyes. The world was a blur, water trickling down into her eyes. The gray mare swam past her, causing turbulence and throwing Chris below the surface. She felt lancing pain through her head, momentarily dizzied.

Suddenly she felt strong arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her upwards. Breaking the surface, she gasped as Dan swam toward the shore. Desperately Chris clung to him until her feet finally hit bottom.

“Chris,” Dan rasped. “Are you all right?” He steadied her in his arms, holding her trembling body close to him.

“Fine... he mare... I kicked her accidentally....”

He shoved the wet strands of hair off his forehead, tightening his grip as she swayed unsteadily. “It’s okay,” he gasped. “Come on, just a few more feet and we’ll be out of this mud.”

They wove drunkenly to the water’s edge. Trying to shield her ailing eyes, Chris put her hand up to cut the sun’s blinding rays. Her breath was coming in short sobs as she squinted up at him.

“Oh, my God...Dan!” Chris halted abruptly, staring wildly up at him.

He scowled, swinging his attention to her. She looked like a drowned puppy, her black hair limp and plastered to her skull and face. Mud clung to her lower legs and knees. “You okay?” he asked quickly, pulling her away from him, anxiously perusing her. “Your bandage,” he began and his breath lodged in his throat. “Your eyes....”

Chris sobbed and then laughed. “I can see! Dan, I can see! I—everything happened so fast!”

It was true. Dan looked into her beautifully violet eyes and felt his heart constrict with relief. He breathed in sharply, watching her black pupils dilate and contract. The same lovely golden flecks rested in their mauve depths. The dancing, intelligent quality was back in her eyes. Tears came to his eyes. “You can see! You can see,” he repeated reverently.

Shaken, Chris could only grip his arms, hungrily drinking in his sweaty, dirt-encrusted features. “Oh, Dan, you look so good!” she cried, throwing her arms around him in utter abandon.

He laughed solidly, holding her until he thought he might break her in two. Gradually he released her, anxiety giving way to his joy. “You shouldn’t be out in this sunlight. Come on, let’s get you into some shade.”

Chris took another long look at the blue that surrounded them. She couldn’t remember ever being so happy. Dan was in the rear cockpit, she had the stick of the T-38 in her hand, and they were flying together in the arms of the welcoming sky. She smiled. “I never thought anything could ever look so good,” she whispered. “God, it feels wonderful to be flying.”

“I know what you mean, Raven. And it feels great having you at the stick again. You haven’t lost your touch.”

Chris warmed to the intimacy in Dan’s voice. The soft smile continued to touch her lips beneath the oxygen mask she had to wear. “And you haven’t lost your touch, either.” Warming memories swam back to her of last night. The fact that Chris could see once again was overwhelming news, and everyone had celebrated it. Dan had taken her into the hospital immediately afterward. By nine that night, Dr. Chen had given Chris permission to fly once again.

Her eyes had been severely bruised by the buffeting that had taken place in the open cockpit. The capillaries had healed, the swelling reduced. By the time she had ripped the gauze off her head, her eyes had been ready for use once again. Chris took a deep breath, thankful for her sight as never before. They arrived back at the ranch by eleven. Howard and Melvina rejoiced with them. By midnight Chris had fallen into Dan’s arms, exhausted but happy.

Her body still tingled from Dan’s exquisite love-making. To be able to see his face, the changing color of his eyes as she adoringly loved him made it more poignantly special. Dan had more than a few bruises from his rescue of her. And so did she. Chris grinned, touching her right thigh that held a spectacular bruise she must have gotten when flying off the gray mare and landing in the water.

“Well, nobody can say you lead a quiet, sedate life,” Dan teased.

She laughed. “Listen, hotshot, it’s all your fault, you know. As if I don’t get enough excitement being in the Air Force, you have to drag me to a Texas ranch and damn near get me drowned.”

“The mare was a little upset, wasn’t she?”

Chuckling, Chris shook her helmeted head. “I was never so frightened.”

“Think you want to sign on at the ranch as a hand?” Dan teased.

Her violet eyes darkened with silent laughter. “You damn Texas cowboy. As if it isn’t enough you’re a fine test pilot, you also have to have a second career as a rancher. Do the two images fit?”

“Sure they do, Raven. Both require strength, special skills and the ability to ride out the situation.”

“Give me a helmet anytime.”

“No cowboy hat?”

“I won’t take the hat, but I’ll take the cowboy,” she teased gently.

“Raven, you’re all heart. I promise not to wear my cowboy hat or spurs to bed.”

She laughed solidly. “McCord, you’re so full of bs—”

“There she goes again,” he teased. “Being her normal, nasty test-pilot self.”

“And you love it!”

“Every beautiful inch of you, I do,” he promised huskily. “Hey, you realize in another hour we’ll be home?”

Home. It sounded good to Chris. Back to their air base and back to flying once again. The incident with Brodie now seemed like a bad dream. She lifted her chin, looking through the dark, protective visor drawn down to fit against her mask. The sky was clear with the exception of a few mare’s tail cirrus clouds. Up there, everything looked so peaceful and quiet. The ranch had given her a similar feeling. Chris could understand why Dan could move so easily between two seemingly very different environments.

As she taxied the T-38 up to the ramp after landing at Edwards, Chris could see a knot of people waiting with the ground crew. “What is this, our welcome-home party?” she asked, trying to make out the faces.

“Yeah. I know Karen and Mark wanted to see you. I think I recognize Julio. Hey, there’s Rondo!” Dan’s voice took on an edge of admiration. “Rondo did one hell of a fine job of landing at your wing tip. It was a fine piece of flying by both of you.”

Chris hit hard left rudder, revving up the engine to turn the T-38 around and guiding it forward until the ground crewman gave the arm signal to stop.

“I’m going to pop the canopies,” Dan said. “Looks like you’ve got one hell of a welcoming committee that can hardly wait to greet you, lady.”

Chris was overwhelmed by the fact that at least forty of her schoolmates had come out to meet them on the ramp. Clambering down the ladder, Chris was immediately engulfed by her fellow test-pilot students. Karen managed to wriggle through, hugging her and crying at the same time.

Dan stood on the ramp, helmet beneath his arm, a wide grin on his handsome features as he watched the scenario. Chris was crying openly. But then, so were a few others, including Karen and Julio. Dan saw Rondo walk up to Chris and pump her hand in welcome. His eyes weren’t exactly dry, either, Dan noted, suppressing a warming smile. Colonel Martin finally made his way through the milling crowd to shake Chris’s hand and welcome her back. A shout went up as Rondo and Julio lifted Chris off the ground, resting her precariously on their shoulders. Chris glanced around, her eyes wide with surprise and happiness. Karen grabbed Chris’s helmet, shouting along with all the others.

Dan followed the crowd, his blue eyes dancing with pride.
You deserve this
,
Captain Chris Mallory
. No longer was she a woman who hid behind walls to protect her vulnerability. There wasn’t a person present who wasn’t touched by Chris when she simply allowed those walls to melt away. And this was the result. He studied the other students’ faces and knew without a doubt that they all respected her flight abilities. More than that, they liked her as a person. Picking up Chris’s duffel bag, Dan happily followed the crowd, which he was sure was headed to the O’Club for some mighty celebrating.