Bet You'll Marry Me by Darlene Panzera Page B

chest a bit faster. “The farm truck?”
    â€œStill broken. Wayne drove his pickup into town for supplies. Yours?”
    â€œBillie took it to buy groceries.”
    Jenny’s face fell. “There’s no other vehicles on the property. The neighbors are gone for the weekend and Harry will never make it if we have to wait for an ambulance. The hospital is forty-five minutes away.”
    â€œI can cut the time in half.”
    â€œHow?”
    Harry’s entire body shook, startling them both, and Nick realized he was trying to cough.
    â€œHang on, Harry.” Tears streamed down Jenny’s cheeks as her uncle’s eyes fluttered open. “Please, hang on.”
    â€œSorry.” The whisper hung softly on Harry’s lips as his right hand inched across the ground to grasp hers.
    Nick swallowed hard. He couldn’t let the old man die. But what would he tell Jenny when she saw N.L.C.’s logo on the helicopter? He hit the first number on his cell phone.
    â€œSam,” he said, his voice hoarse, “I need a chopper at the O’Brien ranch. “ Now! ”
    J ENNY SWAYED OVER Harry’s still form as the helicopter angled to the right. If it weren’t for the sharp metal buckle of the seat belt biting into her middle, she’d never believe any of it was real. How could her big, strong uncle be so weak? How could they be flying, instead of driving, to the hospital in Wenatchee?
    Just minutes before, the helicopter had swooped over the southern hillside, its blades whirling like a monstrous hummingbird. As it set down in the field, the propeller’s wind whipped at her hair and her clothes.
    Her main focus had been on Harry as she helped Nick and the pilot set him on the floor of the helicopter. It wasn’t until she went to climb in with her uncle that she saw the emblem on the side door.
    Jenny gasped. Let out a shriek. Involuntarily tried to step back. Instead, she tripped and fell. Landed on her butt in the dirt.
    She pointed to the hateful blue-and-green spiral. “This is N.L.C. Industries’ helicopter.”
    â€œIt’s the only one in the area,” Nick said, taking her arm to help her up. “We have to go. Harry’s life is on the line.”
    Well at least N.L.C. Industries had finally been good for something. She looked over at the hard-faced G.I. Joe look-alike at the controls of the chopper. According to Nick, it was a lucky coincidence his pilot friend, Sam Reynolds, was in town. Nick assured her that Sam didn’t work for N.L.C. Industries, but the company had brought him in to evaluate the airstrip they’d acquired south of town.
    Nick sat beside him, pushing buttons and monitoring data, as if they’d worked together their whole lives. Where did Nick meet him? And where did Nick learn to operate the inside of a helicopter? She didn’t quite buy the fact Sam was here by coincidence but she had more important things on her mind—like the pallid complexion of her dear sweet Uncle Harry.
    Her head swam and her stomach felt downright sick. Everything seemed to float around her, as if she were trapped in a terrible dream.
    â€œRadio the hospital in Wenatchee,” Nick instructed Sam. “Tell them to call Dr. Carlson.”
    Frowning, Jenny leaned forward and placed her hand on Nick’s arm to gain his attention. “Who is Dr. Carlson?”
    â€œHarry’s cardiologist.”
    Jenny stared at him, openmouthed, unable to speak.
    Nick gave her a swift compassionate look. “He didn’t want you to worry.”
    â€œHe told you? You knew about this?”
    â€œIt’s the reason he hired me.”
    Her thoughts flew back to Nick’s first day on the ranch. No wonder Harry had insisted they keep him. Her throat ran dry as guilt squeezed the air from her lungs. All this time she’d been trying to make Nick quit, she’d only been thinking of herself.
    â€œOh, God,” she said, her