10 "I'll get you home safe,"

"Thought you'd never ask."

At the door, Johnny shouldered into a dark designer jacket. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, R.B."

Words he'd heard a hundred-folds. "Yeah. Me, too."

---------

At one and on her second flight to the mainland that day, Lee again skimmed the seaplane across Lake Seril. A tall, charcoal suited figure stood on the Dock, briefcase in hand, black hair tousled by the breeze.

Rogan.

The sight of him sent a pang in her belly. She wouldn't consider herself an emphatic woman--not like her sisters Emma and Kat whose heart rode their sleeves most of the time--yet something about Rogan Matt dug deep.

Standing there as she taxied in he seemed almost forlorn and a little.... lost.

"That your fare back?" her brother in-law asked from the Co-pilot's seat. Skip Dalton had married Emma last Thanksgiving, following a Five years separation incited by their fathers because Emma had become pregnant in high school. When Lee thought of the despair her baby sister endured through those years, it made her chest hurt. Thank goodness for Skip's return to Jeju Island. Today, Emma's joy spilled from every glance, word and smile.

Maneuvering the plane gently into the dock's bay, Lee said, "That's him." she wasn't looking forward to another angsty trip, and planned on advising Matt to use Duvall's foot ferry in the future.

Skip gathered up a battered attache case from the rear seat. "Yep, looks like an ambulance chaser, all right," he wisecracked.

She unbuckled her safety belt and felt a pang for the man on the pier. "Truth is lawyer jokes aside," she said, "he's been a decent guy so far."

"Huh. What I can't figure is why he bought a farm." Skip pursed his lips. "Wouldn't surprise me if he plans to put a string of beach houses."

She glanced out the window. The mas stared back at her as though he eavesdropped on their discussion. Surely, he wasn't hoping to rezone the Riley place into a cluster of grandiose properties?

Skip shot her a wicked grin." Let's ask him. If he says yes, you can dump him in the sound on the way home."

Lee rolled her eyes. "Oh, that makes so much sense."

At Skip's laughter, she threw open the door and climbed from the plane. For all her huff and puff, she couldn't tear her gaze away from Rogan as he walked toward them.

Those big shoulders, that wind-messed hair, those deep-set gray eyes.... The man was walking, talking GQ cover.

Her brother in-law stepped forward to introduce himself. "Skip Dalton. I hear you'll be flying with Lee for a while."

Rogan's gaze flicked to her. "Guess news really does fly."

Eyes narrowing, Skip observed the man waiting to board---and watching Lee. "For the record," her brother-in-law said, "we're a close family." with that, he headed down the dock, whistling.

Lee stared after him. Talk about testosterone standoff.

"Well," Rogan drawled. "That was enlightening."

She took the briefcase, set it on the seat behind the co-pilot's chair. "Don't mind him. As the only adult male in a family of females, he's a little territorial. Especially now that my younger sister is seven months pregnant. Why don't you get in and we'll head back?"

When they both settled in the cockpit, she reignited the engine." You okay?" The colour had left his face once more and his hands gripped his knees.

" I'm fine."

He didn't look fine."Concentrate on my voice." she steered the plane towards open water through her checklist. Rudders, flaps, fuel, wind velocity.... "If you're this uncomfortable flying," she advised when she saw him clench his fists, "you should seriously consider travelling by water, regardless of schedule."

"I won't do that to my son. Schools can be terrifying for new kid."

(then maybe you shouldn't have moved to our island.) As if their minds were linked, he said, "I don't plan to do this much longer, anyway."

"Oh?" Did he mean lawyering?

"I can't explain---" He released a gut-deep groan as the plane lifted off the water and arrowed into the sky.

Issuing the coordinates to the tower, Lee kept vigil on her passenger. His mouth was a pale, stark line; his eyes focused on his knees jutting in the confines of the cockpit. Single prop planes were not vessels of comfort for a man with a lumberjack's flame. Or, one with an apparent phobia.

"I'll get you home safe," she offered. "Weather's clear. Great day for flying."

Maybe if he talked about the root of his problems, he'd realise planes weren't all bad.

"What happened to you to make you this nervous, Mr.Matt?"

They were almost across the sound when he finally pried his tongue loose. "I lost my family when their plane used a forest as a landing strip."

Ah, geez. "Rogan..." Lee felt sick at heart for what he must have suffered. "I don't know what to say."

For the first time he looked at her. An ocean of pain glimmered in his eyes. "It's been three years and, hell, I don't know what to say. I'm still trying to figure it out, still trying to fix what's left of my family."

Turning away, he focused on his knees again. "All night I kept thinking, what if something goes wrong? What'll happen to my boy? He's seven, just a baby. He needs me to stick around, be there until he can take care of himself. I also know the probability of dying in a car crash exceeds that of dying in a plane, and that my apprehension is all out of whack. But there you have it."

Except he had experienced tragedy-by-plane.

"I'm so sorry." Lee said pitifully.

He blew a long sigh, scraped at his hair. "Hell, it's me who should be sorry, dumping on you like this."

"No," she said. "You have a right to feel the way you do." And she meant it. Losing half a family.... She shook her head, unable to imagine the horror, the grief.

"A defective fuel line is what they're claiming," he went on. "more like poor maintenance on the part of Abner Air."

Abner Air? Oh. My. God. He'd lost his family in that plane?