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"you can do anything you want." Lee's voice glided along his senses. "long as you don't touch the controls".
 Pinching his eyes shut, he folded his arms, tried not to clutch the fabric of his suit coat. 
  Perspiration dampened his forehead. His stomach whirled. 
  "I'm right beside you",Lee said into the headphones when the plane began to move.
 He listened to her voice while she gave their coordinate to the seattle tower, and the plane skimmed the ocean, lifted, buzzed into the sky. 
  He listened to the tone of her words more than their meaning. That assured tone, the quiet, steady tone. 
 And when he bit the inside of his cheek, he felt her fingers curve around his forearm. "you'll be okay with me". And in that heartbeat, Rogan believed her.
    He really did... 
 She never believed that an unexpected pregnancy or handsome new passenger would push her carefully mapped out plans wildly off course! But charter pilot Lee Tait had to focus on her business and she couldn't bear the thought of getting hurt again. She and her baby would be just fine on their own.
  As soon as widowed single dad Rogan Matt met vivacious Lee, he felt the pieces of his shattered heart began to mend. Now all he had to do was convince the beautiful pilot that some risks in life are worth taking......

BABY MAKES FOUR...

"In my son's truck. The glove compartment."


   "Oh". Then she remembered. Remembered the night Oliver had taken her for a drive to the side of the island. The night before he had gone back to Iraq. She had worn a belted green shirt dress and arranged the scarf above her collar. When talking transferred to kissing, Oliver had removed the scarf, inhaled it's scent, her scent, and stored it in the glove compartment. (I want to take it with me, he'd told her. I want something of you there).


     That he'd forgotten the scarf sent a fierce pang through Lee.


   "Only one reason your clothes were in his car," lucien growled.


"You heard me. You've always wanted to get your hooks into my son since you were young as a kid".


"Don't think I was blind to what you were up to, missy".


  Lee squared her shoulders. "We were adults".  She glanced at the door behind him, Rogan's door---which her neighbour had yet to close completely. Was he listening on the other side?


   The old man's eyes grew frigid. "Don't know what Oliver saw in you."


      She tried to laugh. "Tbh, neither do I. But he was a wonderful friend. I'll always miss him".


   He jerked as if slapped. "You're not good enough to miss him".


  Before she could acknowledge the cruel remark, her neighbour's door swung wider and Rogan stepped to the threshold. "Trouble?" he asked mildly.


    Lucien gave Lee a slit-eyed look, then thundered down the stairs and slammed out the ground-level door.


   Lee whistled a breath. "Welcome to Burnt Bend." Vying for a lightheartedness she didn't feel, she asked, "Sure you still want to live and work in our community?"


      Rogan set a gentle hand against her cheek. "Wouldn't dream of going anywhere else".


   "Then you're braver than most." She turned into her apartment, turned from his touch, the one that had her wanting to press herself into the protection of his big, sturdy chest. He followed her across the landing and into her doorway. "Lee, who is he to you?"


  "Nobody."(just the grandfather of my baby). A man who would likely hate her forever when she gave him the news. She tossed the scarf carelessly beside the telephone.


She walked to the teapot that continued to steam on the counter. "He has a right to an attitude. He lost a son two months ago in Iraq".   Rogan closed the door and walked into her kitchen. "I can empathise," he said quietly. "Still doesn't give him the right to intimidate you".


   "He didn't intimidate me." From the curio, she selected the ten-inch-tall limoges teapot, her favourite in her heritage collection. "Would you like a cup of peppermint tea?" she asked. 


  "Sure." he moved closer. "This is serious business, Lee. Don't make light of it. I defend victims against people like him".


    "I'm not a victim, Rogan. You know nothing about me. I was born and raised here. I know these people, know where they've come from, where they've gone.


"I don't like his attitude"