Instant alertness. Complete focus. Breathe through the adrenaline. Stay frosty.

All the training from his time in the military snapped back into place as if he’d never left the Air Force. The sight of Cassie with a gun to her head, blood dripping from the cut on her cheekbone, would be seared into his soul forever. Her sparkling blue eyes were filled with fighting spirit, not fear, and they were sending him an urgent message.

Get help. Don’t get hurt. I got this.

And in that moment, everything became clear, as if a skylight had opened and the sun poured in.

Cassie was the one, forever. He loved her with every part of his being. And he was going to fight for her. And he was going to win.

He shot her a look that hopefully conveyed at least a fraction of those feelings. Then he shut out everything else and focused on the stranger in the cowboy hat. Who was he, and what did he want with Cassie? Was this a robbery in progress?

“Look, man, I have a wallet packed with cash and credit cards. You can take the whole thing. And my car is right outside, you’re welcome to that too. It’s a classic, worth three hundred thousand dollars. Take it. That’s really your best way out of this.”

“You’re her boyfriend,” the man said. “Cassie’s boyfriend.” He said it with a taunting intonation, drawing out the boy. “You think no one knows, but I know. That’s because I pay attention to detail. Most people don’t, that’s why I always come out ahead.” He narrowed his eyes at Kevin. “You were in the Air Force.”

In a sickening flash, he realized who this man must be. He was the one they were looking for. A murderer was holding a gun to the head of the woman he loved. Not just any murderer, but her father’s killer.

“Yes, that’s right. Looks like you know all about me, Matthew Dearborn.” The name came back to him right away.

Dearborn grinned through his dark beard. “You know me. Good. Then we’re all in the picture now, aren’t we? The thing is, I don’t like killing. What happened before, that was an accident.”

Slashed throats didn’t happen by accident, Kevin wanted to say. He stopped himself just in time. This was no time to argue with a lunatic. Whether or not Dearborn saw himself as a killer, he most certainly was one. If he’d taken one person’s life, what was stopping him from taking another?

“That’s good to hear,” he said easily. “I think we’re all agreed there’s no need for bloodshed.”

“Definitely not,” said Cassie. “Especially because my mom would hate that. You don’t want to upset her all over again, do you?”

“None of us do. But this guy had to show up at the worst moment, so now I have to scramble my plans. Improvising is not my strength.” He frowned and rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows, an awkward move because he held a wrench in that hand. For a moment, Kevin thought he might bonk himself on the head with it. But that would have been too easy.

Dearborn lowered his hand, then used the wrench to prod Cassie so she stood in front of him.

The rage that flooded through Kevin as he watched her stumble could have fueled a rocket ship. But he kept it to himself, other than shooting a burning glance her way. She mouthed to him that she was fine.

“Which of those planes can you fly?” Dearborn asked him as he pushed Cassie forward again. He waved at the door. Kevin opened it and stepped outside, followed right away by Dearborn and Cassie. The bright sunshine made this entire scene seem even crazier. Innocent blue sky, twittering birds, waving meadow grasses…and a lunatic gunman? It almost didn’t compute.

Except this was real, and he couldn’t make the wrong move or Cassie might pay with her life. Or he might—which meant that Holly would lose her father. He couldn’t let either of those things happen.

“You can fly all of them, can’t you? You’re a former Air Force pilot.”

Should he mention to the asshole that piloting fighter jets had little to do with flying prop planes?

“Yes,” he finally said. He wished he knew what the man was planning. Should he try to delay? Or would getting airborne give him an advantage? “Gotta run the preflight, though.”

“Well, do it. Takeoff in five minutes.”

“You can’t just take off,” Cassie said. “You have to fill out a flight plan, you have to notify the nearest control tower. Right, Kevin?”

Things were considerably looser at a remote airstrip like this, but he played along. “Yes, and a last-minute flight might set off some alarm bells.”

“Just don’t do anything stupid, it’ll be fine. Pretend you’re Ben or Tobias, no one will know the difference.” The way he said Cassie’s brothers’ names, as if he knew them well, gave Kevin the heebie-jeebies. “You served with Ben. You oughta know how to sound like him.”

Good Lord, how much did this psycho know about him? Kevin was starting to get seriously freaked out.

“Five minutes,” Dearborn said. “Tick-tock.”

“Where are we flying to?” Cassie asked. “If you’re looking for my mom, a plane isn’t going to help. The Reinhards don’t have a landing strip.”

He gave a high-pitched laugh. “Good point, Cassie.”

Kevin wanted to smack him across the face just to get Cassie’s name out of his mouth. How dare he talk to her as if they were…friends? Or something even closer?

“I’m going to make Janine come to me. Your boyfriend is going to fly us to Mexico. She’ll join us there. We’ll have a nice honeymoon in Acapulco. I was hoping to honeymoon in Jupiter Point like all those tourists, but she’ll just have to make do.”

Jesus. This dude was a complete whackadoo. “That’s a nice thought, but there’s a lot that could go wrong in the meantime. Do you even know if Mrs. Knight has her passport? What if she can’t get across the border?”

“Actually, it just expired,” said Cassie. She was scared, he could see it in her dilated pupils and the pulse leaping in her throat. But she was holding on to her cool, even with a gun to her head. Smart girl. Amazing girl. Her biggest worry seemed to be him, judging by the fierce look in her eyes.

That was his Cassie. Loyal to the end, even when he’d treated her like crap.

“You don’t need a passport to get to Mexico,” Dearborn said as he shoved Cassie across the runway. Kevin knew he could take the guy—physically, he was more than a match for him. But at what cost? He couldn’t take the chance that Dearborn’s finger might slip on that trigger. Or that he’d just snap and lose his mind completely.

So he went where Dearborn told him, make sure to move slowly and keep his hands visible. Don’t spook the crazy man.

As they moved across the tarmac, a plan formed in his head. If he could get Dearborn to switch to the Robinson helicopter, it just might work.

“What if you decide to take a little side jaunt to Costa Rica while you’re down there? Those rainforests are really something.”

“My mom has always wanted to go there,” Cassie chimed in, following his lead like a champ. “That’s a great idea.”

“So what’s your point?” Looking irritated, Dearborn prodded Cassie to hurry across the tarmac. Kevin scanned the airstrip, the reception office and the parking lot, searching for signs of life. But Dearborn had chosen his moment well. The place was deserted.

“My point is, why wait until Mexico to see Janine? Why don’t we go straight to the Reinhards’?”

“You think I trust the two of you in a car? Forget it.”

“A car? No. But that helicopter over there…just think about it. You can land like a rock star on the lawn at the Reinhards’. You invite Janine to come onboard, which of course she will, because Cassie will be there. You ask her to come to Mexico with you. You let Cassie go. Then I’ll fly you and Janine there, first class all the way.”

“Fly us to Mexico? In a helicopter? Can you fly that thing too?”

“It’s not my specialty, but I’m rated for rotorcraft, yes.” More importantly, he knew the Robinson’s engine inside and out, knew how the entire craft was put together. “And no, we can’t fly the Robinson to Mexico, but we can fly back here and switch to a Cessna. That’s the fastest way to pick up Janine and get out of town. You got yourself a pilot, you got yourself a hostage. Now why don’t you go get yourself a woman.”

Dearborn stared at him with eyes filled with madness. The wind lifted the brim of his cheap-ass cowboy hat and sent it tumbling across the tarmac. The surprise of it made him jerk, and for a world-stopping moment, Kevin thought they were through. Cassie went white, her gaze flying to meet his—and in her eyes, he saw the same emotion burning in his heart.

I love you. You’re it. Forever.

Forever. If we survive.

The hat came to rest against one of the Robinson’s skids. Dearborn laughed, and the unbearable tension eased. “Guess my hat knows where it wants to go. Let’s do it, Air Force. I’ll be right next to you with the gun, so nothing stupid.”

“You got it.”

Dearborn herded them toward the helicopter. When they reached its door, he stood aside, holding the gun on both of them. “Open it up.”

Kevin opened the door and hauled himself into the pilot’s seat. He turned on the master switch, then inched his hand toward the radio. If he turned it on maybe he could—

“Radio silence,” Dearborn ordered him as he pushed Cassie into the belly of the chopper. He pulled her hands behind her back and tied them with one of the bungee cords stashed in a mesh pocket. Awkwardly, she maneuvered herself into a sitting position on the helicopter’s floor.

She didn’t protest, even though it must have hurt.

“Don’t you worry,” he murmured. “I have no intention of harming my future stepdaughter.”

“You do realize that I can’t feel my hands right now, right?”

A muscle flicked in his jaw as he stared down at her.

“Do you think I’m going to try some kind of crazy escape while we’re airborne? Jump out of the helicopter or something?” She snorted. “You can pretty much count on me doing whatever you say until we’re back on the ground.”

“Fine. As soon as we’re in the air, I’ll loosen the cord. Until then, shut up.”

“Picture me saluting, sir.”

Kevin hid a smile. There was his sassy Cassie. As long as she kept that fighting spirit, and her cool head, maybe they’d get through this.

Dearborn closed the rear door and came around to the seat next to the pilot’s. “Ready to fly?” He buckled himself in and propped his elbow on the armrest so he could point the gun at Kevin.

“Seriously? A loaded gun inside a helicopter cockpit? Are you insane? If you shoot me, we all go down.”

Slowly, deliberating, Dearborn lowered the gun to aim at Kevin’s leg. “I won’t kill you, if that’s what you’re worried about. But it will hurt.”

Either this guy didn’t know shit about helicopters or he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Hard to fly a helo without your feet. That’s how I work the rudder pedals.”

“Then you better do exactly what I say.”

“At least put the safety on. I don’t want to crash because we hit an air pocket and that thing puts a bullet in my leg.”

Warily, he narrowed his eyes. “I’ll put the safety on if you disable the radio.”

Kevin unplugged the comm connection with a flourish of dangling wires. “Done.”

Dearborn clicked on the safety and motioned for him to get underway.

Heaving a deep breath, Kevin made a show of familiarizing himself with the controls. He opened the throttle, got the rotors spinning, then pulled up on the collective and worked the foot pedals that controlled the tail rotors. The chopper lifted off the tarmac. He tilted the craft forward to get more air under the rotors and felt it shudder as the lift generated by the rotor blades overcame the downward drag of gravity.

As a mechanic, he knew exactly what was happening to the helo as it lifted off. He knew that a helicopter didn’t always need forward movement, that once it had momentum, it could generate enough force through autorotation.

That knowledge was exactly what he was counting on.

The tarmac fell away underneath them. The little collection of Knight and Day buildings, and the surrounding meadows and the incandescently blue seashore, looked so picturesque and idyllic compared to the reality of their situation.

Kevin glanced in the mirror that allowed him to see the back. He saw Cassie furiously working on the bungee cords wrapped around her wrists.

To make sure Dearborn didn’t notice, he leaned forward as if to check an instrument.

“What are you doing?” The gun whipped toward him.

“Making sure we don’t crash. Something doesn’t look right with this airspeed indicator.”

“Hurry, then.”

He tapped on the gauge—as if that would do anything. There was nothing wrong with it, but he needed the dude’s complete attention. “Shit,” he muttered.

“What?”

They were now flying over the strait between the coastline and the biggest offshore island, known as Sand Island. If he was going to pull this maneuver, now would be the time. No chance of anyone else getting hurt. He checked on Cassie again. She was now sitting quietly, no longer working on her bonds. Had she given up? Had she gotten her hands free? Could he count on her help?

He couldn’t tell for sure. He’d just have to take a chance.

“Shit,” he said again. “Something’s wrong with the air intake.”

Would Cassie know that wasn’t even a thing on a helicopter? With a quick glance in the mirror, he saw that she was watching him closely, eyes bright with awareness.

“Well, fix it! You’re a mechanic.”

“I can fix it, but we have to head back. It won’t take long. Hang on.” He initiated a wide turn that would take them in the direction of Knight and Day.

In the middle of it, he throttled back the power.

The sudden absence of engine noise was deafening.

“What happened?” Dearborn shouted.

“Engine cut out.” Kevin worked the cyclic. He needed to get the rotor blades at a good angle for autorotation—which meant that the air flowing through the blades would keep them spinning even without the engine. “Help me out here, would you? This thing’s like a bucking bronco. Grab the cyclic here, we need to tilt it. Oh God, it’s getting away from me!” Grappling with the cyclic, he raised his voice to call over his shoulder to Cassie.

“I love you, Cassie! Just want you to know that before we hit the water.”

“I love you too, Kevin!” Her voice vibrated with despair. “That stupid air intake, I thought we fixed it!”

The helicopter drifted toward the ocean. Autorotation would keep them going for a while, but if the RPM’s got too low, they could be in trouble.

Finally, Dearborn propped the gun on his lap and placed both his hands on the cyclic.

“Good man,” Kevin gasped. “If we can keep the blades about like this, we might have a chance. Damn, it feels like a frickin’ freight train. Hang on tight, might be something else I can do. You got it?”

Dearborn grunted, and Kevin let one hand go. He reached for the instruments, which was just a fake-out—he planned to knock Dearborn out with an elbow to the throat.

But before he could do that, a thump sounded from the passenger seat. The Robinson quivered as Dearborn’s grip on the cyclic loosened. Kevin grabbed on again and wrestled it back where he needed it.

When he was sure they weren’t going to crash, he swung around to see what was happening.

Dearborn slumped in the passenger seat, blood welling from a gash on his temple.

Cassie was on her knees behind the passenger seat, brandishing a fire extinguisher over Dearborn’s lolling head.

Kevin reached over and grabbed the gun, made sure the safety was on, then tossed it into the back. “Well done. He’s out.”

She dropped the fire extinguisher with a thud. “Are we going to crash? Do you need help up there?”

“Nope, I got it. You don’t have to knock out the bad guy and rescue us from crashing. I can help out a little, you know.”

She burst out laughing, then disappeared for a moment. When she came back, she held a length of nylon rope, the kind used in rescue gear. She wrapped it around Dearborn and his seat, over and over again. “What kind of idiot uses a bungee cord to tie someone up? I thought he was such a good planner. He didn’t even have rope!”

“We threw him off his game,” said Kevin. He needed to throttle up again, but the cyclic needed all his attention. “Grab this, would you?”

Cassie crawled close enough to grab onto the cyclic. Good thing she had such strong hands and forearms, not to mention such a cool, collected head on her shoulders.

Quickly, he throttled back up, and the engine roared back to life. For a few moments, he devoted all his attention to getting them back to a safe altitude and flying level.

Then, finally, he could relax. Cassie was still huddled close, watching him work the controls. “How did you know how to do that?” she asked, a hint of awe in her voice. “You said helicopters weren’t your specialty.”

“I used to be a stunt pilot, remember?”

“For helicopters?”

“I didn’t mention that part? Yeah, there aren’t too many of us. I did helicopter stunts for movies, shows. Deadstick landing. Fun, huh? Never did it with a gun aimed at me though.”

Cassie whooshed out a long breath. “Wow! That was the most amazing thing. So you got him into the chopper so you could pull that maneuver and freak him out?”

“Yup.” He managed a grin. Sweat was dripping off his forehead. “It’s been a long time since I did anything like that. Glad it came back.”

“Please don’t say it was like riding a bike.”

He laughed. The adrenaline was wearing off and he had to get this bird back on the ground. And all he wanted to do was kiss Cassie.

“Can you take the controls again? Just hold a steady course. I have to get the radio plugged back in so we can notify everyone in creation.”

“Sure.” She slid her hands on top of his so he could let go. “You saved my life.” Her voice hitched.

He reached for the comm connection on the instrument panel. “I don’t know about that. I don’t think he intended to hurt you—at least not until I showed up. God, I nearly had a stroke when I saw him with you.”

“No.” Her hands shook wildly on the cyclic. “You saved me. You saved us. Our whole family. My mom. Aiden. Oh my God! Aiden! He told me he has Aiden locked up somewhere. We have to tell Will! The police! Everyone!”

“Hey, hey. We will. That’s what I’m doing here, getting the radio going. It’ll be okay, my love.”

“Your—your what?”

He glanced back at her and caught her wide eyes, her surprise. At least she wasn’t panicking anymore.

“My love,” he repeated firmly. “Did you think I was pretending when I said it before? I wasn’t. That’s what I came out here to tell you. I love you, I’m crazy about you. I didn’t know if you’d ever speak to me again, after the way I acted. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Maybe as soon as we get this chopper back on the ground, you’ll tell me to take a hike. But if you do, I’ll just start over. I’ll be patient, I’ll keep working right beside you, I’ll take you to the movies, I’ll cook you dinner, then maybe sometime Holly will have an overnight—you know, in about three years, when she’s not grounded anymore—and I’ll take you to bed and convince you all over again that we belong together.”

He finally got the radio connector back in place. He was about to turn it on and send out a May Day, but she forestalled him with a hand on his arm.

“You think we belong together?” she asked.

He took control of the cyclic back from her. “Like a nut and a bolt. A hook and an eye. A block and a tack—”

“I get the idea.”

Since she was laughing at his mechanical references, he decided to branch out. “Like nachos and cheese. Ice and cream. Jalapeños and…everything.”

She drew in a quick breath, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “I love you too, Kevin. I wasn’t just being dramatic when we were headed straight down. I really love you.”

His heart sang with joy. It wasn’t too late. He hadn’t screwed everything up. “Hold that thought.”

He turned on the radio and dialed the transponder code to seventy-seven hundred, the code for inflight emergencies. “May Day, May Day, May Day. This is November Eight-Niner-Niner-Sierra, declaring an emergency.” He rattled off their position.

A dispatcher came on the line. “This is dispatch, go ahead, November Eight-Niner-Niner-Sierra.”

“This is Kevin O’Donnell and Cassie Knight. We’re seven miles off the coast inbound for the Knight and Day airstrip with a suspect on board. He was armed and dangerous, now unconscious, and he may have information about a hostage. And if anyone can get ahold of Will Knight, or any of the other Knight brothers, they’ll probably want to be part of this.”

“Roger that. Sending a team over there now. Are either of you in any immediate danger?”

“No, the suspect has been restrained. We’re okay, but maybe you could send a medic.” With one hand, he reached back and cradled Cassie’s face, where blood from the cut was already drying.

“I’m okay,” she called toward the radio. “No need for a medic.”

“You don’t always have to be tough,” he said gently. “That bastard hit you. He put a gun to your head. He terrorized you.” They were closing in on the Knight and Day tarmac, so he initiated the descent.

Her eyes filled with tears. She dashed one away as it spilled down her cheek, but another followed right away. “He wouldn’t have hurt me. You heard him. You, on the other hand? He would have gotten rid of you without a second thought if you weren’t flying for him.” She gave up on stopping the tears, instead just letting them flow. “I saw the look in his eyes. He would have shot you and called it an accident like with my father.”

She buried her head in her hands for a moment. He longed to take his hands off the collective and comfort her, but in the midst of a descent was not the time.

“But he didn’t,” he said. “We’re both alive. I love you. I want everything with you, Cassie. I want you in our family. I want you in my bed. I want you in my wedding photos.”

“Your what?”

“You heard me. I already told Holly that’s what I want, so it’s not just because I saw that asshole with a gun to your head.”

“Wedding photos,” she said faintly. “It’s true that we looked really great on that brochure Deirdre made.”

He chuckled as he brought the Robinson into a hover over the tarmac. “Is that a yes?”

“Everything okay up there?” the dispatcher asked.

Before Kevin could answer, Cassie leaned forward. Even though her face was wet with tears, her eyes were shining. “Yes, everything’s fine. We’re getting married!”

Now that was more like it. Tossing her a slow grin and a thumbs-up, he began lowering the chopper toward the ground. In the distance, he saw two police cars heading down the road toward Knight and Day, with a sheriff’s department cruiser and Will Knight’s rig close behind.

The cavalry was arriving. The town of Jupiter Point closing forces to protect them.

“Congratulations,” the dispatcher said dryly. “Maybe this is the right time to mention that this frequency is strictly for emergencies.”

Kevin flicked off the radio. Once again, it was just him and Cassie. “Ready to go home, my love?”

She dropped a kiss onto his shoulder, the closest part she could reach. “Pretty sure I already am.”