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was Mom, too." "Ah, yes. You told me about your meddling mother. So why does she keep pushing jobs at you?" Gill shoved the drapes apart and stared outside. The day had started out so sunny and bright but the sky had turned gray and a steady rain pelted the window, droplets streaming down the glass like tears. She saw Cade s reflection in the glass as he approached her. His warm hand cupped her shoulder. "What s wrong?" His soft words burrowed into her, coaxing her to open up. She resisted, not used to telling her problems to anyone except Mom, but she and Cade had shared so much this weekend. And right now she really hurt inside. Maybe talking about it would help. "She called to tell me about this job because she knows I need one." His brows drew together. "But I thought you were happy at the flying club." She watched a droplet stream down the window and realized a tear also streamed down her cheek. She rested her forehead on the cool glass and swallowed hard, trying to regain control. "Gill?" Cade couldn t understand why Gill had suddenly withdrawn. And what was this talk of a new job? When she didn t answer, he cupped her shoulders and drew her back against his chest. The sight of tears rolling down her cheeks made his gut clench painfully. Good Lord, what could possibly have upset her so badly in that one short phone call. "Tell me, Gill. What is it?" She turned toward him and wiped her palm across her face. "I m & being laid off." Her words trembled with intense emotion. "What?" Damn. He knew how much her job meant to her. This must be what Dave Martin had called her into his office to talk about after the ground school class on Wednesday. She d been keeping this bottled inside for days, file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...ouds%20Elizabeth%20Batten%20Carew%20NCP.htm (135 of 157) [8/28/2005 6:27:04 PM] file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/customer/My%20Documents/e...ks/Beyond%20the%20Clouds%20Elizabeth%20Batten%20Carew%20NCP.htm He took her hand. "Why?" She shifted her gaze to his. "Because I m a woman." "No way." The look on her face told him yes way, but he couldn t reconcile that fact with reality. Her boss couldn t just oust her because of her gender. Besides being morally incorrect, in this day and age there was no way he could get away with it. "That s discrimination. You could lay charges--" She eased away from him and strolled across the room. "I could, but I won t. It s not Dave s fault that students won t sign up with a female instructor." "Is that what he told you?" He couldn t believe Gill would let Martin get away with this. Not Gill. The fighter. The woman he d seen strip a man s ego clean in the last class by simply being better prepared and more competent than anyone had a right to be. "Yes." She sank into the armchair. "And it s true. I ve never had a full load of students and I ve been there for three years. All the other instructors--male--almost always have fully booked days." He sat on the ottoman and took her hand. "That s crazy. You re a better instructor than any of those guys." Her mouth turned up in a small, tremulous smile. "I think you re a little biased, Mr. Smith. After all, you haven t flown with the male pilots." She tightened her hand around his. "And now you ve flown with me in a way bound to sway you in my favor." He raised their joined hands to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. At least she still had her sense of humor. "True, but I still say you re an excellent pilot. In every way. He shouldn t let you go." "I m not going to argue about that but he has no choice. If you ran your own business, you d understand that he can t afford to keep an underutilized resource on staff for long." She slumped in the chair. He blinked at her. He did understand. He d had to lay people off for reasons having nothing to do with their ability to do the job. It was not a decision any boss made lightly. He found it amazing that Gill, looking at it from her side of the pay check, accepted the fact without resentment. She understood her boss had made a difficult business decision. She might have a volatile temper, but she didn t direct it indiscriminately at people she trusted, like she obviously did Dave Martin. "What are you going to do, Gill? What about your goal to become a commercial pilot?" She shook her head. "I don t know. Without this job, there s no way I can get the hours I need to& ." She gulped and he could see she was fighting back tears again. file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...ouds%20Elizabeth%20Batten%20Carew%20NCP.htm (136 of 157) [8/28/2005 6:27:04 PM] file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/customer/My%20Documents/e...ks/Beyond%20the%20Clouds%20Elizabeth%20Batten%20Carew%20NCP.htm He knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Gill, you ll find a way." Her look of despair touched him deeply. A need to protect her, and restore her shattered dream, surged through him. At this moment, the most important thing in the world to him was to make her happy. He stroked a stray hair from her face. "Why don t you do the hours on your own? You don t have to do them as an instructor, do you?" "No, but I don t have the money to rent a plane. You ve seen how much it costs." "So it all boils down to money?" He could easily solve her problem, since he had loads of money, but first he d have to explain who he really was. He d have to tread carefully, though. With her independent nature, it might be tough to get her to accept him providing the money she needed to get her hours. "True." She forced a smile onto her face. "Maybe I should have listened to my mom when she suggested I marry a rich guy." Her joking words made him smile. He loved how fate sometimes gave a neat little twist to life. She d just found the solution to her problem and she didn t even know it. It was also the key to his future happiness. "That s not a bad idea." She snorted. "Sure. There may be some advantages to snagging a rich guy, but I don t happen to have one lying around." He slid his arms around her and drew her to her feet. He couldn t just blurt out that he was a wealthy businessman who d been stringing her along to see if she d fall in love with him. She might get a tad annoyed, so he d have to play his hand as the cards had been dealt. "He doesn t have to be rich. He just has to be able to support you while you finish your requirements for your chosen career. It s not that much to ask of a husband." "So you re suggesting I find any old husband, not specifically a rich one, to help with my career?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |