Shadow Play

When Sam’s sexy female co-pilot is marked for death, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her while fighting the madmen who would unleash hell on the world.

She knows her life is in danger…

Emily asked one too many questions at the last board meeting and ended up having her car sabotaged. She’s become more wary of voicing her suspicions, but she still has them. Someone is using the small charter airline her mother co-founded to smuggle drugs – or maybe something even worse. When a new pilot is hired, she is sure to check him out before trusting that he’s just another fly boy.

He’s on a mission…

Going on undercover investigations isn’t exactly within Sam’s bailiwick, but he’s a highly qualified pilot and the best choice to embed in the small, charter airline on short notice. When he meets Emily, he’s not sure if she’s as genuine as she seems or if she’s hiding some dark secret. Either way, he needs to find out. Working by her side, he soon finds himself intensely attracted to her quick wit and easy manner, but she’s wary of him and he isn’t sure of her despite the attraction that just won’t quit.

Only by working together will they succeed…

When the time comes to trust each other, they will learn whether or not teaming up is the best way to end the deadly threat. Passion flares between them as the entire situation becomes incendiary. Will they be able to overcome their enemies and live to fight another day? Or will they go down in flames…hopefully taking the bad guys with them?

* Previously published under the title “Dead Alert”

“Hi. I’m Emily Parkington. You’re Sam Archer, right?” She walked up to the counter and held out her hand.
The new guy turned and that bright white smile dazed her for a brief moment. Whew. The man was even more potent at close range. Blond, blue eyed, and rugged, he was definitely easy on the eyes. He clasped her hand in his and the warmth of his callused grip made her weak in the knees.
“Pleased to meet you, Captain Parkington.”
Oh, she liked the respect in his tone. She didn’t often get that kind of response from the men she worked with. At least not until they knew who she was and that she owned a not-inconsiderable stake in the company. They treated her with more respect once they realized she could hire and fire them.
“Please, call me Emily.” She remembered to smile as she regained possession of her tingling hand.
Damn. She was going to have to share a tiny cockpit with this mountain of a man. She’d have to get her inconvenient attraction to him under control.
“I’m Sam. Good to meet you.”
“Sissy squared away most of your paperwork yesterday and Buddy said you did great on your check ride.” She looked for a way to get him into the cockpit without making him feel like she was testing him. She was, but she didn’t want him to know it.
Emily liked to do all the check rides for new pilots personally but every once in a while last minute charters interfered. When that happened, Buddy or one of the other long-time pilot employees filled in, but she still took the new pilots up on their first day to be certain they had the chops.
“The jet you passed on the way in was released from repair this morning. How about we take her up for a shakedown ride before we tackle the remainder of the paperwork?”
His charming smile only deepened. “Love to.” He motioned for her to precede him out the door and into the hangar. The man had good manners, she’d give him that.
“You’ve had some military experience, haven’t you?” A short stint in the Army was listed on his employment application and he definitely gave off the soldier vibe. Most of the guys she flew with who’d been in the service were Air Force or even former naval aviators. She didn’t have much experience with Army guys.
“I was in for a couple of years,” he agreed. Like many of the ex-military men she worked with, Sam Archer appeared to be a man of few words.
“I respect that. Thank you for serving.” And she meant it too. She’d always admired those who chose to serve in the military and probably would’ve joined herself, if not for extenuating family circumstances. The death of her mother, for one. Her pesky brother and his Air Force aspirations, for another.
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
She could tell he meant it. There was something in his voice that said more than his simple words.
“You miss it? The Army, I mean.” She looked at him as they walked across the hangar. He was a tall man with long legs and normally she would’ve had to take two steps for every one of his but he was measuring his gait to accommodate her, which was extremely thoughtful.
One of his eyebrows quirked upward as he returned her gaze. “I loved everything about the service. The adventure. The travel.”
“The waking up at oh-dark-thirty to exercise in the rain,” she joked. “My brother is in the Air Force. He’s told me a lot about that kind of thing. Or should I say, he’s complained to me about it over and over again.”
She chuckled at the memory and Sam grinned back at her. Time seemed to stand still as she gazed into his eyes.
A dropped hammer clattered loudly somewhere on the concrete floor of the hangar, breaking the spell. Wow. She really had to get control of herself around this guy if they were going to be flying together.
“I never mind physical training. PT is something I’d do anyway—drill sergeant pushing me harder or not.”
She’d just bet he would. And probably did. The man had to be the most physically fit specimen she’d ever encountered in the flesh. Up close she could see the bulges of his muscles against the cotton of his shirt. When he raised his arms and those giant biceps flexed, she feared for his seams.
“So be all that you can be isn’t just an ad slogan to you, eh?”
He joined in her laughter as they approached the jet she was aiming for.
“I’ve always liked a challenge. The Army gave me that. I think this job will too.” His answer was only the slightest bit cagey.
She turned to look up at him suspiciously. She was getting mixed feelings about him. Usually a good judge of character, she trusted her instincts on new hires and people she met in her work, but she couldn’t read him well at all. Something about him set her radar off. It could be the all too feminine discomfort of being so close to a devastatingly attractive male. Or it could be something far more sinister. Too many odd things had been going on at Praxis Air of late.
She didn’t know this man. She hadn’t hired him. That decision had been made by someone higher up the food chain. There weren’t many people who had more pull in the company her mother had co-founded than she did, so her suspect list was short. All she knew was that something funny was going on at her beloved airline and she was going to figure out what it was come hell or high water.