1 Chapter one

Jackie was flying a plane, so Jackie was happy. Soaring high, catching breezes, Winking at the setting sun, Jackie stretched and the plane stretched. Jackie moved and the plane moved. As though the body of the plane where is second skin to her.smiling, she dipped one wing downward to look Add the beautiful high Mountain Desert of colorado.

At first she didn't believe what she saw. Sitting in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest road, Was a car.thinking that the vehicle had been abandoned, she turned Her plane, dipping in the wings, turning on a dime, to backtrack to have a second look. The car hadn't been there yesterday, so perhaps someone needed help.

She swooped Down as low as she dared not that piñon trees,rarely Over twenty feet tall, were going to interfere with the height she needed to stay aloft. As she came back for a second pass she saw a man stand up from the shade Of the car and raised his arm in greeting. Smiling, she turned her plane back towards her home base. He was all right, then, and as soon as she landed at her airstrip in eternity, she'd call the sheriff to send the stranded traveler some help.

She was chuckling to herself. Travelers often were stranded in Colorado. They looked at the flat landscape of the side of the road and Decide to see nature up close. But they didn't take into consideration the thorns As large as a man's little finger and rocks Whose sharpness had not been worn away by heavy yearly rainfall.

Maybe it was because she was laughing and not watching what she was doing that's why she didn't see the bird, as big as a lamb, that flew Straight into her propeller. She doubted that she could've avoided hitting it, but she would have tried. As it was, everything happened very quickly. One minute she was flying towards home and the next minute they were feathers and blood all over her goggles and the pain was going down. Jack he was a good pilot, one of the best in America. She'd certainly had a great deal of training, haven't received her license at 18 years of age, and now, at 38, she was an old hand. But coping with this bird Took all of her knowledge and skills. As the engine began to sputter, She knew she was going to have to do a dead stick landing, Landing is out of power.

Quickly, sharing of her goggles so she could see, she looked about for a place to set it down. She needed a wide, Long clarion, someplace free of trees and rocks that's good say the wing of the plane. The old Road to the ghost town of Eternity offered the only possibility. She didn't know what had grown or rolled across the road in the many years that it hadn't been used, but she had no choice. Within the flash of an eye, she lined up the nose to the "runway" And started down. There was a boulder blocking the road it had probably rolled down during the spring thaw And she was praying to stop the plane before she hits the enormous rock.

Lick wasn't with her, for she plowed into the rock. As she crashed, She could hear the sickening crunch of her propeller being destroyed. She didn't think anymore. Her head flew forward, hitting the stick; she was out cold.

The next thing Jackie knew, she was being held in a pair a very strong, muscular line items and carried away from the plane" Are you my rescuing knight?" She said Dreamily. When she puts her hand to wipe it away, she thought she saw blood, but her eyes weren't functioning properly And the daylight was fading fast.

"I'm I badly hurt?"She asked,Knowing the man wouldn't tell her the truth. She'd seen a couple of men mangled in airplanes wrecks, and as they lay dying everyone had really reassured them that's tomorrow they'll be fine." I don't think so" the man said. "I think he just bumped your head, crocs it's in bit."

"Oh well then, I'll be OK. Nobody's head is harder than mine." He was still carrying her, but her weights didn't seem to bother him at all. As best she could, considering how dizzy she felt, she pulled her hair back to look at him. In the fading light he looked great, but then,Jackie reminded herself,she'd just cracked her skull in a plane wreck

For all she knew, he had three Head and six eyes. No one could be so lucky as to crash in the middle of acres of nothing and a fine handsome man to rescue her.

"Who are you?" She asked thickly,because all of a sudden she felt really sleepy.

"William Montgomery" he answered

"A Montgomery from chandler?" When he said yes Jackie snuggled against his wide, broad chest and sighed happily. At least she didn't have to worry about his intentions. If it was chandler Montgomery then he was honorable and fair and would never take advantage of the situation; Montgomery's were as honest and trustworthy as the day was long.

More's the pity she thought

When there were some distance from the plane, near his car,which she could just make out in dim light, he gently set her on the ground. Cupping her chin in his hand,he looked into her eyes."I want you to stay here and wait for me. I'm going to get som blanket from the car, then build a fire. When you don't show up at the airfield will someone come looking for you?"No," she whispered.She liked his voice, Like the air of authority in it. He made her feel as though he'd take care of everything including her.

" I was planning to spend the night out here, so no one will look for me either," he said. " While I'm gone, I want you to stay awake, do you hear me? If your head is concussed and you go to sleep, You might not wake up again. Understand?"

Dreamily, Jackie nodded And watched him walked away. Very good looking man, she thought as she lay down on the ground and promptly went to sleep.

Mere seconds later He was shaking her. "Jackie!" She said over and over until she reluctantly opened her eyes I looked up at him. "How do you know my name?" She asked. "Have we met before?" I've met so many Montgomery's That I can't keep them straight. Bill, did you say your name was?" "William" he said firmly,"And, yes, we've met before, but I'm sure you wouldn't remember. It wasn't a significance meeting.""Significant meeting," she said, closing eyes again, but William sat her up, draped a blanket around her sure does, then brought her hands. "Stay awake, Jackie," he said, and she recognize it for the order it was. "Stay awake and talk to me. Tell me about Charlie." At the mention of a late husband, She stop smiling. "Charlie died two years ago." William was trying to collect wood and watch her at the same time.. The light was fading quickly, and he had difficulty seeing the pieces of cholla on the ground, as well as the dead fall. He had met her husband many times, And he liked him very much: