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“I told you it’s a surprise,” he said, grinning smugly. He led her into the garage and held the door of the sleek Mercedes she’d discovered he kept in addition to his serviceable truck. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
He drove her northeast through the city to Scottsdale Municipal Airport where he apparently already had arranged a flight. But when they walked onto the airfield, Elizabeth stopped and resisted his hand on her arm urging her forward.
“That’s a small plane,” she said in dismay. And it was. Though she’d often taken puddle-jumpers back and forth between Wynborough and the U.K., this plane looked like a life-sized toy. Two men standing outside the single door waved when they caught sight of Rafe and again he urged her forward.
“It’s a twin-engine and it’s bigger than some private planes,” Rafe said. “If I had a pilot’s license, we could have taken a two-seater.”
“And how many seats are there in this?” she asked apprehensively.
“Four. That’s the pilot and co-pilot waiting for us.”
“It takes two men to fly something this small?”
“Not normally, no. This usually is only used for pleasure tours around the city.”
“Ah-hah! So we’re going somewhere outside Phoenix.”
By then they had reached the waiting pilots, and after quick introductions Elizabeth was led up a very small, very steep flight of steps into the tiny cabin.
It was beautifully appointed, far nicer than she’d expected. Served her right for forgetting that while Rafe might act like nothing more than an American businessman, he had a small fortune at his disposal.
As she settled into the comfortable leather seat she asked, “Now do I get to know where we’re going?”
“Actually, we have two destinations,” Rafe told her. “We’ll only be doing a flyover of the first one, though. Just settle back and enjoy.”
“Settle back and enjoy,” she grumbled. But the anticipation dancing in his eyes seduced her into an equally good humor, and as the little plane rose and circled to the north, she relaxed and enjoyed the receding view of the city and the interesting combination of desert and mountain around it.
“That’s Flagstaff,” Rafe told her a few minutes later. “And in just a minute, if you look out your window, you’ll see the highest point in the state of Arizona, Humphrey’s Peak.”
“Who was Humphrey?”
He laughed. “I don’t have a clue. See, I told you I didn’t know everything about this country.”
She continued to gaze out her window at the peaks and valleys they passed, and then they flew over a densely wooded forest. “Where are we now?” she asked.
“Just keep watching.” Rafe unbuckled his seat belt and came to kneel at her side. “In another minute or two, you should be able to see it.”
“See what?” She was intensely aware of his big warm body so close, the clean smell of newly showered man and cologne. To distract herself she angled an elbow at his ribs, but
he dodged away, chuckling. He was impossible to resist in this mood. And she was so tired of forcing herself to ignore the pull of sensual promise that his intense eyes promised.
“Now look,” he said in her ear and she turned her head and peered out her window, resolutely ignoring the shiver that rushed down her spine at the sensation of hot breath bathing her sensitive earlobe.
“Oh! It’s—it’s incredible. Beautiful. Huge.” Below their little plane the Grand Canyon yawned wider and deeper than she’d ever thought possible. She turned to him, overwhelmed. “Oh, Rafe, thank you! I hadn’t expected to get to see this during my trip.”
His face was only inches away, his broad shoulders and arms bracketing her seat and creating a small haven of intimacy. Before she allowed herself to think too much about it, she leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss over his lips. Then she quickly turned her head and looked out the window again.
“What happened to the ‘no kissing’ edict?” he asked in her ear. His voice was deep and seductive, and she took deep breaths until the urge to turn back into his arms subsided enough to control.
She cleared her throat. “I made the rule. I can break it if I like,” she said.
He laughed yet again and warm breath played over her ear. Slowly his arms came around her from behind, drawing her back against his chest, surrounding her with heat and scent and the feel of his hard forearms clasped over her belly. Her breasts rested against his arms and her breath began to come faster as desire rushed through her.
To distract herself from her body’s messages, she concentrated on the glowing colors of the canyon and the distinct striations in the rock that she knew marked different periods of Earth’s geological history dating back millions of years.
The plane banked to the left, turning away from the morning sun and heading west as they followed the shining ribbon that was the mighty Colorado River winding through the canyon. The canyon narrowed, then widened again and finally a huge, gleaming lake appeared beneath them.
“That’s Lake Mead,” Rafe explained. “It’s man-made, a result of the Hoover Dam, which you’ll see in a minute.”
