Crash Landing by Lori Wilde Page A

new way of being. In the grand scheme of things, if his project could make life better for many people, she was the one who had to adapt.
    Spoiled. She was spoiled. She was the baby of the family and people had indulged Sophia her entire life. Something occurred to her then that had never occurred to her before. Maybe her brothers and sisters weren’t as happy as she’d thought about Poppy having given her the plane. Or that she’d been the one he taught to fly. When the others were growing up, he’d been too busy making a living, then too grief stricken once their mother had passed away. Maybe her siblings had kept their opinions to themselves because it was habit, something they just did. Spoil their baby sister.
    It had the ring of truth. While she might be adept at sizing up others, when it came to putting herself under the microscope, she looked the other way.
    Sophia reached out a hand, stroked one of El Diablo’s rivets and murmured, “We could certainly use something revolutionary to travel in now.”
    “Did you find out what’s wrong?”
    She let out a startled, “Eek!” She hadn’t heard Gibb come up behind her. Stealthy billionaire.
    He touched her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
    “I’m sorry for getting upset,” she said. “It was just an unpleasant surprise. Like you said, it will take years to build the prototype. Who knows? Maybe by then I will decide to get married, have a big brood and give up flying.”
    “You’ll never give up flying,” Gibb said staunchly. “You love it too much.”
    “You’re probably right, but the point is, who knows what the future holds? Things can turn on a peso.”
    He nodded. “What did you find out about the plane?”
    “It was something minor, excess water in the fuel tank. Normally when there is water in the fuel it settles to the bottom and is siphoned out, but fighting that strong headwind sloshed the water around and it accumulated in the carburetor, causing the engine to sputter. All I had to do was drain off the water, problem solved.”
    Gibb did a little jig that looked so comical on him that she almost smiled. “Great! So we can take off at dawn?”
    “Um,” Sophia said, hating to break the bad news to him. “Not so fast.”
    He stopped in mid–happy dance. “What?”
    “We hit a palm tree during the emergency landing.”
    “And?”
    “Remember when the plane dropped after we stopped?”
    “Yes.” He sounded wary.
    “A cable on the right rudder broke.”
    “But you can fix it, right?”
    She blew out her breath. “I don’t have the proper equipment to repair a broken cable.”
    “Could you jerry-rig it?”
    “Possibly, but I don’t know if I can repair it to the level that I trust a jerry-rigged cable to get us very far.”
    “We could shoot for Island de Providencia.”
    “With miles of nothing but ocean between here and there. If we have to land in the water...”
    He jabbed a hand through his hair. “What else can we do? You said we probably couldn’t raise an air tower on the radio.”
    “No, but when a plane flies over, we can contact them and have them radio for help.”
    “So all we can do is wait for an aircraft to fly over?”
    “Yes. I will still try to competently rig the cable, but I don’t recommend holding your breath.”
    “Either way, it could take days before we’re rescued?”
    “That’s correct.”
    He muttered a curse word.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s not your fault. I’m just frustrated by the circumstances.” He pulled a palm down his face.
    “You could look at it this way. Maybe the universe is trying to tell you it’s time to reevaluate your life.”
    He stared at her as if she’d suggested he start wearing crystals and chanting “om.” She’d merely been trying to help make him feel better about the situation. She wasn’t all that happy about being stuck here any more than he was. Her family would be frantic.
    “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the way I live