AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just give it a minute,” Declan said. He was saying something over and over again under his breath. She couldn’t quite make out the words. She felt numb. What would they do now? Even if they screamed at the top of their lungs, no one would ever hear them.
Suddenly the plane came back into view. It began circling above them. Within minutes, it began to descend, bit by bit. It was coming for them!
Declan waved his arms high in the air. “They see us, Annie. They see us!” His face was lit up with joy. Unable to contain herself, Annie jumped up and down. She hooted and hollered. Declan’s grin stretched from ear to ear. They were both ecstatic.
“Oh, Declan! We’re saved. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“It’s beyond wonderful,” Declan gushed as he swept her up in his arms, then twirled her around. Annie felt almost giddy as her feet left the ground and Declan whirled her in the air. As he settled her back on the snow-covered ground, she looked up at him and directly into his ice-blue eyes. Their gazes held and locked. Something simmered in the air between them that caused her legs to shake like the branches of an unstable tree.
Having never experienced this particular feeling before, all Annie could do was pray. Dear Lord, please keep my feet firmly planted on earth. Declan is not the right man for me, regardless of the way he makes my heart race. Please allow me to continue the path You have been leading me on. The path straight to Love.
* * *
Declan tried to catch his breath. Between their imminent rescue and the romantic tension brewing between him and Annie, he couldn’t decide which was causing his pulse to race more. He stepped back from Annie and swung his gaze toward the sky. He began waving his arms in the air again until the plane dipped down farther and farther. From this vantage point he recognized the plane as his own, Ethel. Within the space of a few minutes, it landed in a clearing about three hundred feet away from them. Declan let out the breath he had been holding since the very moment he knew Lucy was in trouble. He felt as if the weight of the world had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders.
There was only one person who knew how to fly Ethel with such finesse. Finn! He knew that his brother was the pilot as surely as he knew his own name. Boone was the first one to step out of the plane. He made a beeline toward Declan. A few moments later, Finn emerged. He stood next to the plane, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He hung back and surveyed everything going on around him.
Declan met Boone halfway, thrilled to the bone that his best friend had come looking for him. In truth, he wouldn’t have expected any less from him. Their relationship had always been rock solid. Boone clapped him on the shoulder before saying, “Do you have any idea of what you put us through?”
Before he could even respond, Boone wrapped him up in a bear hug. Declan went with it, hugging Boone back with equal ferocity. When the hug ended after a few moments, Declan took a good look at his best friend. Boone appeared as wrecked as Declan felt. Boone’s chin trembled. A sheen of moisture gathered in his eyes. He shook his head. “I’ve never been more relieved to see anyone in my whole life, Declan.”
“Thanks for coming to find me,” Declan said, feeling overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment. In all the years of their friendship, Boone had never once let him down. He hoped Boone could say the same about him.
“Don’t thank me. I just came alo
ng for the ride. Finn was the one who organized everything,” Boone said, jutting his chin in Finn’s direction. “He really came through in the clutch. We were desperate to locate you.”
Declan reluctantly swung his gaze in his brother’s direction. Finn was standing off to the side with his hands jammed in his back pockets. He was next to Annie, who was talking a mile a minute. Declan studied his brother for a moment. With his dark hair and emerald green eyes, Finn didn’t really look like him, although they shared a similar build and height. As far as Declan was concerned, they were polar opposites. Declan needed human contact in his life, while Finn was content to backpack by himself in the Himalayas for weeks at a time. Finn ran away from life, while Declan had always been the one to stick around and face the problems head-on. It had put them at odds for most of their lives.
He had to give it to Finn, though. For once, he’d come through for him.
Annie and Finn made their way over to them. Finn held out his hand so Declan could give him their special knuckle bump. They’d been doing it ever since they were kids.
“Glad you’re still in one piece,” Finn said, his expression shuttered. But Declan could see the telltale sign of his brother’s distress. A bluish vein was jumping around by his eye. It was a nervous tic he had. It spoke volumes about his current stress level.
“It would take more than a plane crash to take me down,” Declan said in a teasing voice. Boone shot him a questioning look. His best friend hated when he minimized serious situations and hid his real feelings behind a jovial mask. Later on, when he was safely back in Love, he could let his guard down and fall apart a little. For now, he was going to try his best to hold it together.
“Annie, this is Boone Prescott, otherwise known as the sheriff of Love, Alaska.” Declan said. He shot Boone a pointed look. “Boone, this is Annie Murray, our new town librarian.”
Annie beamed at Boone and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Sheriff. I’m thrilled to make your acquaintance, but I wish it was under less stressful circumstances.”
Boone shook Annie’s hand and said, “It’s a pleasure, Annie. I hope this misadventure doesn’t tarnish your opinion about Alaska.”
“Not one little bit,” Annie said. “How many people can say they crash-landed in an Alaskan forest and lived to tell the tale?” She let out a chuckle. “I’ll be telling this story to my grandkids.”
“Annie has been terrific.” Declan rushed in to praise her. “First time in Alaska and she handled herself like a pro after the crash. She lit a fire, kept us with food in our bellies and maintained her cool in a harsh and unforgiving environment.”
Annie’s face turned a pretty pink shade as she waved her hand at him. “Don’t listen to him. He puts the H in hero, if you know what I mean.”
“The two of you are a regular mutual admiration society,” Boone drawled, his lips twitching with amusement.
Uh-oh. Declan frowned. He knew that look. Boone made that face whenever he was teasing him about a prospective love interest. Declan needed to set Boone straight in no uncertain terms. Annie was a tenderhearted librarian looking to settle down and live out her dreams. He was the last man in Love who could offer her the white picket fence and promises of forever. Those things were meant for other men. Not him.
Just knowing that he wasn’t capable of such a huge commitment caused an uncomfortable pressure to lodge against his chest. More and more these days he was finding himself wishing things could be different. Seeing Boone’s whole life open up after meeting Grace served as proof that true love was possible.
When Boone continued to grin at him, Declan subtly jabbed him in the side. He swiftly veered the subject toward another topic. “And it looks like you’ve already met my brother, Finn,” Declan said, nodding in his brother’s direction.
“I sure did,” Annie gushed. “I’m mighty impressed that both of you are pilots. You must make your parents really proud.”
