Mac's Angels: The Last Dance: A Loveswept Classic Romance Read Free Page B

truthfully, the quilting designs bring in as much money as my boxing matches.”
    “Can’t we go any faster?” he asked the driver of the vehicle.
    “And what do you do, dear?” the old woman asked Sterling.
    At that moment Sterling saw the man in the gray suit and his expanded number of escorts moving through the crowd, stopping everyone. Behind them, her boss, Conner Preston, raced down the concourse, giving a great imitation of a passenger about to miss his flight. What was he doing here?
    Sterling’s heart sank when she saw the waiter from the bar being rushed toward the man in the gray suit. They talked briefly for a moment, then theaide touched his head and extended his hand as if he were giving an urgent order.
    “Darling,” Sterling said, “I think we’d better hurry. I feel a little odd.” She touched her stomach and bent over, whispering, “The real Conner’s here. How’d he know?”
    “I told my office to call him,” Mac said under his breath, then more loudly, “You can’t have the baby here, darling. We’re almost at our gate.”
    Mac had seen Conner and Conner had just seen them. Though how he managed to get here when he was supposed to be at a luncheon, she couldn’t imagine. He came to a sudden stop and engaged the senator’s aide in conversation. The conversation became heated. Conner suddenly drew back and belted the aide. Instantly, the guards surrounded Conner, turning their backs on the tram.
    The tram came to a quick stop. Mac lifted Sterling out of the car and dashed down a corridor, leaving the old man and his wife in stunned disbelief.
    “Sorry,” Mac called behind. “We have to hurry. We’re having our baby at home. In—Aspen.”
    “Aspen?” Sterling repeated, breathless from being in his arms. “I’m sorry, Mac. But Aspen?”
    “Sure,” he said, pushing through the double doors and past a desk where two pilots were studying charts. “What’s wrong with Aspen? I like snow, don’t you?”
    “Not a bit.”
    He moved through another set of doors, then nodded at an employee at the foot of the steps leadingup to a sleek silver jet. “Fine, once the baby comes, we’ll move to Hawaii,”
    There was no sign of the policemen, but Sterling knew it was only a matter of minutes before they’d show up. She tried to hide her fear by keeping with the silly conversation Mac had started.
    “Okay, Mac. Hawaii, it is.”
    Mac climbed the stairs without a hint of strain. “Close the doors, John. Let’s get out of here while we can. The posse is right behind us.”
    “Yes, sir, Mr. McAllister.”
    By the time Mac had deposited Sterling in one of the luxurious leather seats, the plane was taxiing across the tarmac, headed toward the runway.
    “Are you all right?” Mac asked Sterling.
    “Well, my stomach has settled down, but I’m having trouble with this ‘baby’ poking into my ribs. I think his skin is made of leather.”
    “Complaints, complaints, that’s the way with you pregnant women. Here, let me fasten your seat belt.”
    She could have done it herself, but for now she was content to let him help her. Until he leaned forward and reached for the belt behind her. Big mistake. Her body felt as if
it
were the object taking off into the sky and not the plane.
    “Mac, if you’ll let me deliver our … baby first, it’ll be easier.”
    “My mama told me that I should never take the easy way out.” He pulled the long end from beneathher bottom, snapped it into the buckle, then adjusted the location of the belt.
    “Mine too. But she also said if you want a thing done right, you’d better do it yourself.”
    “And everyone knows that Sterling Lindsey is a do-it-herself, in-charge-of-her-fate woman, don’t they?”
    “Yes, she is.” Sterling caught his hand and held it for a moment. “Mac, thank you. You probably saved my life.”
    “Don’t thank me yet. We’re not off the ground.”
    She was much too close, too trusting, and as his mother might have said, he