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He’d already put in motion the soon-to-be-broadcasted Red Cross appeal, both on television within Zakhar and via the internet ide Juliana’s face, her elish and Zakharan, would soften the heart of anyone, and donations would pour in as soon as the edited film was available He , before hiswith the assessan, the better for the Taryna villagers, no ed its feet on the relief effort
His smile faded when they reached the royal helicopter and he saw Juliana huddled inside, curled up in one of the seats, fast asleep The military pilot, who’d waited with the chopper the entire day, and one of Juliana’s bodyguards—a uard—had both placed their jackets over her, Andre noted But even though she was a little bit of a thing the jackets wouldn’t stretch to cover her entire body She earing slacks and a long-sleeved shirt, but she wasn’t dressed for the mountains, not after the sun went down and the temperature plummeted He cursed under his breath Why didn’t Juliana return to Drago with the film crew earlier? he asked himself Why did she stay here?
He cliies in a distant recess of his brain, and responding to them automatically “Not your fault,” he reassured the sure she was dressed for theThank you for looking after her as you did”
He told hi else would be a mistake But he couldn’t do it He picked her up effortlessly and sat down in her seat, cradling her in his arms for athe baby doll she’d used as a prop that ht by the landslide was still evident
She led closer to him, closer to his warmth, but she didn’t waken If he’d been alone with her he would have kissed her awake But he wasn’t alone And kissing her in front of the chopper pilot and the bodyguards—no matter how discreet they as out of the question Even holding her like this was an indiscretion
With a tiny sigh he lifted her over and deposited her in the seat next to him, then buckled her seat belt She hen he did that Slowly Her eyes fluttering open and staring up at hiure out where she was or why she was there
“Hi,” she said, finally focusing, unable to suppress a sudden yawn A yawn followed by an unguarded s done?”
“For today Tomorrow is another day, but that will not affect you” He turned away from her and reached over abruptly to accept the wireless headset the pilot handed him over his shoulder, then fitted the headset in place and buckled his seat belt He nodded at the pilot’s questioning look, and the engines roared to life
They were less than halfway back to Drago when one of the helicopter’s engines began stuttering, like a car that wasn’t firing on all cylinders Juliana wasn’t worried at first But when the helicopter began bucking and swaying, when they began losing altitude and the pilot and Andre exchanged a quick flurry of words through their wireless headsets, she grew concerned She wanted to ask as going on, but kneasn’t the time Whatever the problem was, it wouldn’t help for her to ask frantic questions She just had to trust in Andre’s military pilotand Andre
Prayer won’t hurt, Juliana decided She’d always been unco for herself, but she wasn’t the only one in the helicopter She closed her eyes and clasped her hands tightly together as she prayed, refusing to watch while the helicopter spun out of control and the earth caly fast to meet them
Juliana was grateful for the seat belt holding her in place, because otherwise she would have been thrown fro fashion with the buffeting the helicopter took Then a strong are hand closed around both of hers, squeezing gently
When she opened her eyes she saw Andre watching her with an expression she was hard-pressed to describe Love was there, but so was reassurance Reassurance they weren’t going to crash And even if they did, his eyes see, she would walk away from it She kneasn’t true She knew if they crashed no one would walk away But it helped Not that she wanted to die, but it helped to know that Andre ith her, that she wouldn’t die alone