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“You need me for anything?” asked Jack.
Simon shook his head. “I’ll take care of it. But you’ll have a few hours to kill.”
Jack nodded then turned to find Hunter and Leonardo both on their feet. Leonardo was helping Kristy into her coat, balancing the little dog in his arms while he tried to be of assistance in the narrow aisle.
“We might as well go inside,” Jack said to them. “It’ll take some time to do the incident report and look at repairs.”
“Can I be of assistance?” asked Leonardo.
“Don’t worry about us,” said Jack. “Simon or I will call you when we know anything.”
“Thanks,” said Leonardo, handing the dog back to Kristy and giving it a pat on the head.
Jack gestured for Kristy to be first out of the aircraft, and one of the firemen came partway up the stairs to take her hand.
“I’m fine,” she protested.
“It’s slippery from the rain, ma’am. If you follow me to the car, security will take you to the terminal.”
Jack shrugged into his overcoat and followed them down the stairs. Hunter was right behind him, and the three hitched a ride in the back seat of the sedan to the main terminal at McCarran International.
As the glass doors of the terminal glided open, he breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was safe, and the plane was intact. But, as soon as those facts were neatly filed away, his pragmatic brain began calculating the silver lining. At the very least, he’d bought himself three or four hours. Because, despite his connection with Kristy during the emergency landing, his mission hadn’t changed. And he now had some extra time to figure out how to stop her wedding to his grandfather.
The doors swooshed shut, and the noise and confusion of the main terminal engulfed them. They joined the crowd snaking its way past the luggage carousels and rental-car booths, and Jack fought an urge to put an arm around her shoulders and keep her close to his side. Ridiculous, he told himself. She’d had a bit of a scare, sure. But she was from New York City. This crowd certainly wasn’t going to rattle her.
He raised his voice so that Hunter and Kristy would hear him over the din. “I say we head for Bellagio’s.” He couldn’t see hanging around an airport for three or four hours. Not when Le Cirque was so close by.
“I’m going to grab a commercial flight,” said Hunter, slowing down and stepping out of the main pedestrian stream. The escalator next to him stretched up to the departures level. “I’ve got a golf date with Milo and Harrison in the morning,” he finished.
Jack glanced at Kristy, worried she might hop on a commercial plane, as well. But he quickly realized she wouldn’t want to pay full price for a same-day ticket.
“I guess it’s just you and me,” he put in, before it occurred to her to call Cleveland and ask for his credit-card number.
Kristy glanced around the crowded terminal. “You go ahead. I can wait here.”
Was she masochistic?
“My treat,” he clarified, in case money was stopping her. He would have paid for her dinner in any case.
It was his plane. She was his guest.
She started to back away. “I’m sure you have plenty to do without me hanging around.”
“Like eat a steak and drink a martini?”
She smiled at that, and it was hard to imagine she was a gold-digging opportunist.
“Reports to read?” she asked. “Phone calls to return?”
It was nice of her to offer. Really it was. But didn’t she know enough to shut up and take the free dinner? Besides, he had no intention of letting her out of his sight.
“I’m honestly only planning to eat,” was his answer. And conspire against her, of course. But he didn’t think it was necessary to divulge that bit of information.
She gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him. “What about Dee Dee?”
“The hotel will take care of her. You won’t be the first celebrity to show up with a pet.”
“I’m not a celebrity.”
“Yeah, but they won’t know that. I’ll get us a really long limo, and I guarantee the concierge will find a solution.”
He could see she was still hesitating, so Jack brought out the big guns. “Do you really think my grandfather would ever forgive me if I abandoned you in an airport?”
Her eye twitched, and he knew he had her.
He knew he had her even before she opened her mouth.
“Okay,” she finally said with a nod. “We don’t want to upset your grandfather.”
“That’s right. We don’t.”
Hunter gestured to the up escalator with a jab of his thumb. “You two kids have fun. I’m off to find another ride.”
