Love by Design. Christine Johnson

tried to concentrate on the task. That was another reason not to include women. They had a way of distracting a man that could lead to disaster. He stared at the white linen tablecloth until his head cleared. What had he been about to say? White. Snow. Cold. Ice. That was it. “We might have to deal with ice.”

      “Probably will,” Jack said. “That’s why we’re working on the engine.”

      “That’s not what I meant.” Dan glanced at Jen to see if she had perked up.

      She turned to Mrs. Hunter.

      “I don’t see a solution for wing icing other than watching the weather,” Jack said.

      “I meant the runway or whatever spot you have for taking off. Do you plan to use skids or wheels?”

      “I planned skids. What’s your opinion?”

      They debated the merits of each form of landing gear as well as the best places to use as a takeoff location. Though Alaska and Greenland were temptingly close, Point Barrow wasn’t accessible until late summer. They could get to Etah, Greenland, by the first of August, but Spitsbergen Island was accessible by April. The latter made the most sense, but getting the plane across the Atlantic would be costly. Dan hoped Hunter didn’t plan to fly it there. Transatlantic flight was as difficult as it had been in 1919. Doing so in spring would be almost impossible.

      The conversation should have fascinated anyone interested in the expedition. It certainly held Mayor Kensington’s attention, but Jen Fox looked away every time he glanced her way. That disappointed him more than it should have.

      Dan returned his thoughts to the expedition. “How much flying have you done in subfreezing temperatures?”

      “As much as the weather allows,” Jack answered.

      “Any in subzero?”

      Jack shook his head. “It hasn’t gotten that cold yet this year.”

      That was a problem. “Then the new engine hasn’t been put through its paces yet.”

      Hunter admitted that was true.

      “It’s a good engine,” Jen blurted out.

      Dan grinned. In return, she pointedly turned away. That woman was definitely not worth the effort.

      Again he focused on the status of the engines. “If the engine isn’t ready, then I assume the plane isn’t, either.”

      Hunter shook his head, and a bad feeling gnawed at Dan’s gut. Why was Hunter waiting to run the tests? Without testing they wouldn’t know if the engines could perform under the rigorous Arctic conditions.

      “As soon as the wind drops, we’ll take her up,” Hunter said.

      It took a minute for Dan to calculate what Hunter was saying. “Are you telling me the new engines are on the plane already?”

      Hunter grinned. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

      Dan whistled. No wonder Hunter was holding back. It was one thing to lose an engine, but crashing the whole plane meant the end of the expedition.

      By the time the evening ended, Dan had a good grip on the status of preparations and no grip at all on Miss Fox, whose initial spunk had vanished behind a wall of ice. It shouldn’t have bothered him. After all, she wasn’t his type. Nothing about her fit the kind of woman that usually attracted him. Her hair was too short. She had no feminine grace and almost no social skills. She was moody and strong-tempered and spoke her mind. She had unfounded confidence in her abilities and an irrational idea that she belonged on a dangerous expedition. In short, she offered nothing but trouble.

      Yet as he walked the short distance back to the boardinghouse, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

      * * *

      The next day Jen sat across from her sisters at the dress shop’s worktable, the place where the three of them generally ended up working out problems. With the flight school closed and the winds high, Jen had nowhere to go but home and the dress shop. Both were filled with memories of their father, but at least at the shop she didn’t have to endure her mother’s pointed questions.

      “How will you pay for the flying lessons?” Mother had asked as Jen headed for the kitchen door.

      Jen didn’t have a good answer. Flight time cost a dollar and a half a minute, and that was the discounted rate that Jack and Darcy extended to her. She needed hours and hours of practice. With no job this winter and no savings, she couldn’t hope to pay for a single fifteen-minute session.

      “I’ll figure something out,” Jen had answered as she donned her coat.

      “Consider nursing,” Mother had urged for the umpteenth time. “It will only take two years. Doctor Stevens thinks you have the perfect temperament for it.”

      Jen had shut the door on the conversation, but she couldn’t put that neat an end to the problem. She had to find a source of income sufficient to pay for flight lessons. All the hospital nursing programs Mother had promoted lasted two years. It might as well be forever. By the time she finished, every aviation milestone would be conquered, including reaching the North Pole.

      So she looked to her sisters for ideas.

      Her older sister, Ruth, and younger sister, Minnie, both worked at the family’s dress shop. Ruth managed it along with her husband, who was in the back room placing orders at the moment. Minnie helped with the sewing and oversaw the shop’s new upholstery service, at least until she got married in May.

      Both worked while Jen recited the events of last night. “Can you believe Jack would ask Dan Wagner to be the navigator? He wasn’t even interested in joining the expedition until Mr. Kensington offered to pay him.”

      “Mmm,” Ruth mumbled around a mouthful of pins. She was putting together a new dress, which, based on the sketches, was just the type of gown Beattie would love.

      “In one shot, they killed my dream,” Jen mourned. “What am I supposed to do now?”

      Minnie cocked her head. “It seems to me that you’re the one who is always telling us to fight for what we want.”

      “That’s true,” Ruth agreed as she finished pinning a panel on the dress form. “You told me to go after Sam, and look what happened.” She gazed at little Sammy asleep in the cradle by her side. “Everything my heart desired and more. I agree with Minnie. You need to fight for what you want. Tell Mr. Wagon—”

      “Wagner,” Jen corrected.

      “Wagner. Tell him that you want to be the navigator.”

      “I can’t do that.”

      “Then tell Jack.”

      “I can’t.” Jen’s sisters meant well, but they didn’t understand. “Jack offered it to Dan. He accepted. Mr. Kensington is paying him. Moreover, he’s a professional. He has his license. He’s experienced. He has set dozens of aviation records. How can I compete with that?”

      “You’re a friend of Darcy and Jack’s,” Ruth said, as if that made any difference. “Friends always come first.”

      “Not with something this important. Besides, even if Jack changed his mind and gave me the spot, what would Mr. Kensington say? He’s paying Dan, not me.”

      Ruth lifted an eyebrow. “Dan? Do you realize that’s the third time you used his first name?”

      “Wagner, then. But that’s not the point. No one ever gets paid to go on an expedition. They sure wouldn’t pay me.”

      “You don’t have the license,” Ruth pointed out.

      “I know that, but I intend to get it as soon as I get my flight time.”

      “Then do that,” Minnie said.

      “I can’t afford it. Mother only gave me enough for the