Raven's Prey

have made things much simpler.”
    “I thought it would just confuse you. I wanted your first time up in the air to be simple and fun.”
    “Let me tell you, Judd Raven, I haven’t had this much fun since the night my car broke down on a deserted highway and I had to figure out how to work a jack for the first time in my life! On second thought, I had a lot [_more _]run that night because at least no one was around to yell at me!”
    “I didn’t yell at you!” he shouted as he brought the Cessna to a smart stop beside the old hangar. “I was giving you directions.”
    Honor opened the door on her side of the cabin, unfastened her seat belt and jumped out onto the pavement. “You give directions with all the patience and finesse of a stampeding buffalo! I feel as if I got trampled up there in the aid” She plucked at her perspiration-dampened shirt. “Just look at me. I was a nervous wreck. You’re supposed to go slowly when you teach someone something so complicated. Even my father had more patience when he taught me to drive a car and God knows he never had much patience with me!”
    “I’m not your father, damn it!” Judd finished shutting down the Cessna and leaped out onto the pavement, striding around to confront her. “This is something we’re going to do together. I want you to be good at it. After all, my life is going to be in your hands during the times you’re at the controls! And what about your own neck? Don’t you want to know what you’re doing when you’re up there?”
    “And let’s not forget the precious airplane, either,” she came back roundly. “We both know how you feel about that Cessna. If I were to damage it—”
    “I’d take a horsewhip to you if you ever damaged my airplane!” he vowed in a thundering voice that she had never before heard from him. Judd Raven was definitely not in full control of himself. He faced her with his hands clenched into fists on his hips, dark eyes glaring and hard mouth set in a taut line.
    “See what I mean?” Honor nodded her head in defiant vindication. “That proves it. You care more about the damned airplane than you do anything else, including my feelings! You don’t shout at that Cessna the way you’re shouting at me!”
    A few of the men who had been hanging around the field when Judd and Honor had arrived began taking an interest in the brawl that seemed to be developing before their very eyes. Lounging against the old metal frame of the hangar building, they pulled their caps down low over their eyes and watched in growing amusement
    “If I hadn’t shouted at you a couple of times up there you would have tried to kill us!” Judd rasped furiously.
    “I respond much better to calm, polite instructions. But you never tried that technique, did you? From the moment we got in the plane you began hammering away at me, telling me what to do.”
    “Well someone had to tell you what to do! What did you think? [_That _]you were going to get into the plane and fly it all by yourself without any help?”
    “I needed a little professional instruction. Not a lot of yelling and screaming! I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it this morning when you first suggested it, but I was willing to give it a try. Let me tell you something, Judd Raven. You may find all this a lot of fun but to me it was sheer torture! Furthermore, the way I feel right now I don’t ever intend to get back into the cockpit of ah airplane with you again. At least not until you learn a little self-control in the air!”
    “Honor!” Judd abruptly slid a seething glance toward the small gaggle of men hovering just within earshot. “Come on, let’s go home. We can discuss this some other time!” He reached out to grab her arm but Honor stepped back hurriedly.
    “Oh, no, you don’t! I’m not even sure I want to get into a car with you right away! Who knows? You may feel I need a little instruction in driving or something. I don’t think my nerves could take much more today!”
    “Honor, you’re being ridiculous!” he grated and in the bright desert sunlight she could have sworn that the high bones of his cheeks were stained with red.
    Was she embarrassing him in front of his fellow pilots? Honor wondered, relishing the prospect of a little revenge. After all, Judd deserved some recompense for what he had just put her through in the Cessna. “Tell me what else you do for fun around here,” she invited scathingly, gesturing vaguely at the rest of the