“You really are a case,” she muttered, switching knobs.
Before he could comment, she popped the clutch, rammed down on the gas and sent them speeding onto the narrow dirt road.
“Libby.” He cleared his throat, then pitched his voice above the noise of the engine. “I was doing what I thought was best for you. I didn’t want to involve you any more than I already have.”
“That’s swell.” She yanked the gearshift back and sent stones flying. “Just who do you work for, Hornblower?”
“I’m an independent.”
“Oh, I see.” Her mouth tightened into a grim line. “You sell to the highest bidder?”
The renewed anger in her tone puzzled him. “Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Some people don’t put a price on their loyalty to their country.”
Cal pressed his fingers to his eyes. He hadn’t realized they were back to that. “Libby, I am not a spy. I don’t work for the CAI—”
“CIA.”
“Whatever. I’m a pilot, I run supplies, people, equipment. I deliver to spaceports, colonies, labs.”
“So you’re playing that tune again.” She gritted her teeth as she sent the Land Rover over a sloping bank and across a stream. Water gushed up the sides. “What are you claiming to be this time—an intergalactic truck driver?”
He lifted his hands, then let them fall. “Close enough.”
“I’m not buying it anymore, Cal. I don’t think you’re crazy. I don’t think you’re deluded. So cut it.”
“Cut what?” When she only hissed at him, he decided to try again, once more, calmly. “Libby, everything I told you is true.”
“Stop it.” If she hadn’t needed both hands on the wheel, she might have slapped him. “I wish I’d never seen you. You literally fall into my life and make me care about you, make me feel things I’ve never felt before, and all you do is lie.”
He saw only one option. On impulse, he reached out and turned off the key. The Land Rover bumped to a stop. “Now listen to me.” With his free hand, he grabbed her sweater and yanked her around. “Damn it.” The oath came out as a murmur when he saw her face. “Don’t cry. I can’t stand it.”
“I’m not crying.” She wiped angry tears away with the backs of her hands. “Give me back the key.”
“In a minute.” He released her, holding his hand palm out in a gesture of truce. “I wasn’t lying when I said I was leaving this morning because I thought it was best for you.”
She believed him. And she hated herself because he could so easily make her believe. “Will you tell me what kind of trouble you’re in?”
“Yes.” Because he couldn’t resist, he trailed a fingertip across her damp cheek. “After we’ve found the—where I went down—I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“No more evasions or ridiculous stories?”
“I’ll tell you everything.” He lifted her hand, then pressed his palm to hers. “You have my word. Libby...” He linked his fingers with hers. “What do I make you feel?”
She drew her hand away to grip the wheel. “I don’t know, and I don’t want to think about it.”
“I’d like you to know that I’ve never had the same feelings for another woman as I have for you. I wish things could be different.”
He was already saying goodbye, she realized. A rippling ache spread in her chest. “Don’t. Let’s just concentrate on what needs to be done.” While she stared straight ahead, he slipped the key back into the ignition. “You were right up there,” she told him as she switched it on. “At the curve. The best I could say is that you were coming from that direction. I got the impression when I saw you crash that you went down along that ridge somewhere.” With a frown, she lifted a hand to shield her eyes. “Strange... it looks like there’s a break in that bank of trees up there.”
Not strange, Cal thought, when you considered that a ship over seventy meters long and thirty across had come down in them. “Why don’t we take a look?”
Libby turned off the road and started up the rocky slope. The part of her that was still annoyed hoped the jostling ride gave Cal the willies. But when she glanced at him, he was grinning.
“This is great!” he shouted. “I haven’t done anything like this since I was a kid.”
“Glad you’re having fun.” She turned her attention back to driving and didn’t notice when Cal pushed a series of buttons on his watch. Excitement began to drum in him as he studied the directional beam on one of the dials.