Free LS02 - Lightning Lingers by Barbara Freethy Page A

aiming for what looked like a clearing in a thickly forested area. He was almost there, but a tree branch took off the right wing tip.
    He had the terrible and shocking feeling that this might actually be the end after all...

Five
    Katherine woke up with a jolt, disoriented and shaken. Where the hell was she? She wasn't in her apartment in Houston. She wasn't in the lounge at the hospital where she sometimes caught a nap in between shifts.
    It was the seat belt cutting into her chest that made her realize she was in a plane—Jake's plane. She hadn't been dreaming. The nightmare was real. The cockpit window was smashed, the branches of a tree coming through the jagged glass. She saw cuts on her arms and hands, and her face stung, but she was breathing, and her heart was still beating in what seemed like a miraculous way.
    She turned her head and her joy at being alive vanished as she saw Jake slumped in his seat. He was knocked unconscious, blood dripping down his face.
    Her brain immediately jumped into doctor mode. She fought her way out of her seat belt and unhooked Jake's belt. "Jake," she said, putting her hand on his neck. He had a pulse, thank God.
    She gently pushed back the hair on his forehead to see a gash. It wasn't too bad. He could probably use a stitch. What she needed to do now was stop the bleeding. She pulled the scarf off her neck and wiped the blood from his face, applying pressure to the wound.
    Jake stirred, groaning as he came back to consciousness. He swatted away the scarf, and she paused in her efforts as he opened his eyes. Seeing his amazing green eyes focus on her filled her with relief. "Jake."
    "Kat," he murmured.
    The shortened version of her name on his lips had always been sexy, seductive and tender—at least before they'd broken up—which was probably why it brought a pang of yearning to her heart now.
    "How do you feel?" she asked.
    "Like I just hit a tree," he said with a wince.
    "Good guess."
    "Not really a guess." He tipped his head toward the branches coming through the cockpit windows.
    "We're alive. That's the important thing. I can't quite believe it."
    "I never had any doubt."
    The cocky light in his eyes reassured her. "I'm sure you didn't. Is there a first-aid kit on board? You cut your head."
    "It's in the cabin. Are you all right, Katherine?" His gaze swept her face. "You've got some cuts, too."
    "Nothing bad. I'm more worried about you. You might have a concussion. Let me ask you a few questions."
    "Not necessary. I know who I am. I know who you are and what happened. Does that cover it?"
    "Okay." She let out a breath of relief. "Do you also know what we're going to do now?"
    "I'm still working on that." He reached for the radio, but it was as dead as the rest of the instrument panel. He pulled out his phone. "No signal."
    She scrambled around the seat to grab her bag. Her phone was intact but also showing no signal. "Mine isn't working, either. Do you have any idea where we are, Jake?"
    "We're in a heavily wooded area somewhere in Mexico."
    "I can look out the window, too."
    He shrugged. "Everything went off when the lightning hit the plane. I have no idea how far we were blown off course. But we're on the ground, and we're alive, so I'm going to count this as a hard landing and not a crash."
    "A hard landing? The wing came off."
    "Not all the way." He got out of his seat and entered the main cabin. She followed close behind, curious to see the damage.
    The cabin was fairly intact. A couple of the windows had blown out, and there was glass and debris from the storage area, but at least they had some shelter while they figured out what to do next. "Do we need to worry about fire?" she asked, taking a sniff.
    "I don't smell any smoke, and it's raining pretty good out there, so I think we're all right."
    "Okay, good. I want to fix that cut on your head," she said, spying the first-aid kit.
    "I'd rather get outside and see where we are before it gets dark."
    She caught him by