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The engine purred, and we moved on.
A gasp left me the moment the gravel turned to tarmac. Valentine sped up, eating the miles out of town.
He plucked the jacket off me. “All right down there?”
“We’re free, aren’t we?”
“As a bird. I’ll take ye back to the cottage. You’ll probably have to stay put for the afternoon, if that’s okay? No telling if the arsehole is going to hang around until your boy gets home.”
So long as I didn’t get whisked back to London, I’d happily stay locked in that darling cottage for the rest of my life.
I gave him a nod of utter relief, and he grinned bigger.
“By the way, Daisy stashed your painting supplies in the boot. Maybe that can entertain ye?”
The idea of taking my feelings out on a canvas had never been sweeter.
Chapter 30
Raphael
The rainstorm battered the plexiglass cockpit, and we dropped altitude, the ground seeming to rush up to meet us.
We were heading to a crash, the violent drop almost guaranteed to end us in a crumple of engine parts and a fuel fire. What was it that Gordain once told me? Planes are designed to fly. Cut the power and they’ll soar for miles. But helicopters? Those fuckers only ever want to plummet to earth. Our job as pilots was to do everything to prevent that from happening.
Lucky for us I was damn good at my job.
I centred our position and lowered us slowly the last fifty feet, touching down neatly on the McRae hangar’s concourse.
Jackson threw me a grin, and I returned it, still buzzing from the fast pace I’d set to get us home, the storm front hard on our heels.
“Christ,” Dori muttered. “That was abrupt. Anyone would think you had a princess to get home to.” Despite his tone, he flashed me a smile.
I secured and powered down the aircraft, waving to the mechanic who approached through the storm to take back ownership.
Before we climbed out, Jackson touched my arm. “Ben sent a message when we were in the air. Barrington Bray is around, looking for you because he can’t find Alex.”
My pulse skipped a beat. “He’s here?”
“He tracked Ben down to the house clean. Don’t worry, Alex is safely hidden away at your cottage. He didn’t get to her, and Ben told him ye didn’t have her with ye. But he’s sure Barrington is lurking.”
I exhaled hard, my brain whirring where the rotor blades had just stopped. “Why didn’t ye tell me?”
“It wouldn’t have changed our actions in any way. Ben and Valentine handled it. She’s safe, and we were flying back at speed. Distracting the pilot is never a good idea.”
He was right, but I hated being out of the loop.
“Trust in your team,” Jackson warned. “Ben instructed Val to watch Bray. He’s across the loch at the village, in the pub, maybe to hide out from the rain.”
I swore, jamming my fingers into my hair. “Fine. I’ll need to see him. Or for him to see and stalk me. I’ll lead him back to Braithar then challenge him. He can search all he likes but he won’t find her. Does that sound good?”
“Aye. Pretty much what the boss suggested.”
Which meant not seeing Alex. Not getting to witness her face light up when Dori appeared, or to see if she did as Jackson said and still looked to me.
“Can ye…” I jerked my head at Dori in the back.
“I’ve got him.”