Free Some Girls Do by Leanne Banks Page B

come back if she doesn't want to?” she asked, her gaze turning suspicious. “You're not planning on doing something stupid like abducting her, are you?”
    “Abduction is a strong term,” he said, pulling T-shirts and socks from his drawer, but still watching her from the corner of his eye.
    Katie rolled her eyes. “Abduction should give you big points with Ivan.”
    “Okay,” he said, turning around to face her. “As far as I'm concerned, you're dead weight and you'll only slow me down. Why should I let you come along?”
    “Because I understand the way Wilhemina thinks.”
    “You already said that. Give me one good reason and I'll let you go.”
    She gave a heavy indignant sigh. “Because I know Texas better than you do,” she said, in a drawl that dripped with southern hospitality and a sex appeal so strong he was speechless for at least three seconds.
    He stared at her. “I knew you weren't from Philadelphia. Bits of your accent leak into your voice every now and then.”
    “So give yourself a gold star: When do you want to leave?”
    Grudgingly admitting that she might be useful, he shrugged. “Five minutes ago. Pack light and fast.”
    She barely blinked. “No problem,” she said as if she had experience packing light and fast. He would wonder when she'd gotten that experience another time. Now he had to focus on finding Wilhemina. And the damn cat.
    Katie was going to hell.
    She had always felt that returning to Texas would be her own personal trip to hell. If the airplane crashed and she didn't make it to Texas, then she would probably go to hell for not taking out a life insurance policy on herself to protect Jeremy's future and for telling Wilhemina the fairy tale that had inspired her to run away.
    She sat in the-center seat of the 737 trying to appear as if she were a seasoned air traveler. She surreptitiously looked: through the seat pocket in front of her, poring over the emergency instructions and locating the air sickness bag. Upset to learn there was no parachute, she twisted in her seat between Michael and a pregnant woman with a young toddler on her lap as the plane taxied down the runway.
    “White knuckle flyer?” Michael asked, glancing pointedly at her fingers clutching his sleeve.
    Embarrassed, Katie immediately jerked her hand to her lap. “Sorry, I thought it was the armrest.” She couldn't stop thinking about Jeremy. Although she had a small life insurance policy as part of her employee's benefits, she knew Jeremy's care would be expensive. When she thought about what might happen to him if she should die, she could hardly breathe.
    “It's okay. Lots of people are uneasy about flying,” he said, surprising her with his charity. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”
    She shook her head, fearing that if she tried to swallow anything, she would need to use the airsickness bag. The engines roared and the plane picked up speed, barreling down the runway. Her heart pounding, Katie closed her eyes and prayed. “I know I haven't been perfect, but if you could please just keep me alive until I get a life insurance policy,” she whispered.
    “What did you say?” Michael asked.
    The plane miraculously lifted off the runway and went airborne. She held her breath.
    “Did you say something about insurance?” Michael asked.
    Still holding her breath, she gave a tiny shake of her head. “It was nothing,” she managed, keeping her eyes closed. The plane hit a bump and she grew light-headed.
    She felt Michael tug at her arm. “Damn, you look pale. Katie, Katie…”
    The plane hit another bump and everything inside her turned to gray.
    Alarm shot through Michael as he watched Katie's head slump to one side. Reaching for her hand, he touched her wrist and felt for her pulse. Thank God, she had one. She must have fainted, he thought, shocked shitless. If there was one person he would have never expected to faint, it was Katie Collins. She gave the impression she could eat glass if the