Deadly Safari

by Lisa Harris

  “Yes, I…” He started to answer, then stopped. Photography was part of his work, in a way he couldn’t discuss with her without unveiling the truth. He’d photographed dozens of crime scenes and taken miles of surveillance footage, but those scenes were a world away from the beauty of the African savanna. And the woman sitting beside him.

  “Try this camera,” she said. “The lens is heavy, but you don’t need a tripod, which for me is a huge plus.”

  Her fingers brushed against his as she handed him the camera, causing the hairs on his arm to stand up. He tried to interpret a reaction that didn’t make sense. Somehow Meghan Jordon had managed to capture his attention. Completely. Which wasn’t supposed to happen.

  “Don’t worry.” Meghan took his hesitation as inexperience. “You can’t break it. It’s built like a tank.”

  “I was just—” He gripped the foot-long lens, wishing he could explain. But both his crime-scene experience and his tumultuous reactions to her were off-limits topics.

  He zoomed in on the baby elephant hovering beside his mother’s round, gray belly for protection and clicked. The baby splashed, its tail flapping away the flies, ears fanning back and forth in the morning breeze. One of the adults picked up tufts of grass along the water’s edge. Focused on the animals, his nerves began to calm.

  “Meghan, we’re getting a signal for one of our lions.”

  Alex glanced back at Kate, who was holding up the handheld receiver with its antenna. He’d almost forgotten she was in the vehicle with them.

  “Kibibi?” Meghan asked.

  “No, Tali.”

  Meghan drove away from the water hole, in search of the other lioness. Five minutes later she caught sight of the tawny female.

  “There she is.” Meghan pressed lightly on the brake. “They’re not off on a morning stroll, Kate. They’re after an impala.”

  Alex held up the camera. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Keep shooting. I’m going to get us closer.”

  Alex zoomed in on the lioness and kept clicking still shots. Maybe he’d been wrong about there being nothing but peacefulness and tranquility in this scene. The lioness deftly separated the impala from the rest of the herd. Shoulders hunched, body low to the ground, she moved forward slowly. A second lioness crouched on the left. The impala kicked his hind legs and tried to leap toward safety, but it was too late.

  Alex balanced the heavy lens and kept taking photos as both lionesses lunged after their prey, then felt a moment of hesitation. The danger of the kill wasn’t the only thing he sensed. The smell of cigarettes lingered in the air.

  SIX

  Tires crunched against gravel as Meghan pressed her foot on the accelerator and eased the Jeep forward. Her heart beat as fast as the fated impala’s. The lioness snatched the impala’s neck in her jaws and pulled the dying animal to the ground.

  A moment later the attack ended.

  This morning’s kill wasn’t the first time she’d witnessed the darker side of life in the bush. That thin thread dangling between life and death across the African plain was complex. She’d documented everything from the miracle of birth to the terror of the kill. They were each elements in the circle of life that couldn’t be ignored.

  While the impala lay still on the ground, the females walked away and the male lions took over. Alex snapped another dozen shots before handing her the camera. She paused before looking at them, wondering if she’d made the right decision to have him shoot the scene.

  Photographing a kill was rare. Photographing the scene in perfect clarity even rarer. If she were lucky, one or two of his photos would be usable. Anyone could click the button, but handling a 400 mm lens took time to get used to.

  She viewed the first photo and sucked in her breath in surprise. Instead of the blurry, amateurish photos she’d expected, he’d caught the details at close range. The lioness was vividly portrayed crouched forward, watching her prey. Eyes focused, shoulders raised as she crept closer. The muscles in her legs visibly rippled beneath her tawny coat.

  “Are they okay?” Alex drummed his fingers against the armrest between them.

  “Okay? Yeah. They’re better than okay. These will be stunning for our next blog post.” She continued flipping through the photos on the view screen.

  A few of the shots were out of focus, but the majority captured the progression of the lionesses’ stalk in incredible detail. Yellow grass framed the female’s face sitting hunched in the shadows for protection as she waited for the perfect moment to strike.

  “I’m impressed. Very impressed.” She shook her head. “We should have hired you as an extra cameraman instead of a gofer with these hidden talents.”

  He laughed, and she caught the hint of relief in his eyes. “I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I’m glad you might be able to use them.”

  “You’ve clearly had some experience.” Her words came out as a statement rather than a question.

  His focus switched for a moment to the male lions continuing their feasting before responding. “I’ve always had an interest in photography. Took some classes at a local community college, mainly for my own personal use. I’ve never had a chance to test my abilities in the open bush like today.”

  “I find that hard to believe.” She held up the camera, focused the lens, then shot another sequence of photos. “There’s a learning curve when using a longer lens. Beside that, not everyone has an eye for composition.”

  Something Mr. Cowboy definitely had.

  “My mother was an artist, though I can’t claim to have inherited any of her talents. If you like these photos, you should know that they’re about as good as you’ll get out of me when it comes to anything artistic.”

  Despite the modesty of his response, Meghan was beginning to think that Karen was right and that she’d rushed to judgment. Mr. Cowboy was apparently more qualified than she’d first given him credit. Despite his initial fumbles on arriving, he might actually turn out to be an asset if he could keep up with paperwork as well as he could film female lions honing in on their breakfast.

  She kept snapping photos, wishing the man sitting beside her didn’t fascinate her as much as the scene she was photographing. Beneath his cowboy veneer was a depth she found herself wanting to explore. A depth entangled with a hint of mystery that was managing to keep her off balance.

  “What kind of artist was your mother?”

  “Oil paintings mainly. Nature scenes. Some wildlife. My father has a number of them hanging up at the ranch.”

  “Which reminds me of something. I spoke to my boss last night on the phone.” She turned to him and caught his gaze. She wasn’t going to mention how his overprotectiveness had her looking over her shoulder constantly or that his nearness had her heart pounding, but she still had some hesitations about him. “She happened to mention to me that you own that ranch.”

  *

  So she’d been checking up on him. Alex had expected the personal questions to start at some point, but it still took him by surprise. What else had she uncovered? Did she know that he was a Ranger? While he intended to respect the request of her father if at all possible in keeping his real reason for joining her production team a secret, he’d prefer not to have to flat-out lie to her. Working undercover had always stretched his comfort zone. He’d learned early on that the closer he kept to the truth, the easier it was. A string of lies typically brought nothing but trouble.

  But that didn’t mean she had to know everything about him, either.

  “It’s a fourth-generation family ranch called La Bella Raina, named after my great-grandmother.”

  Her eyes widened as she nodded toward his hat. “So you really are a cowboy.”

  “You could say being a cowboy’s in my blood.”

  She flashed him a broad smile. What was it with women and cowboys and cowboy hats? He looked away. What was it with him and safari girls? Or rather, one particular girl. Of course, what interested him in the woman beside
him went a whole lot deeper than her khaki safari jacket and hat.

  “Tell me about the ranch.”

  Alex hesitated. As long as he could keep the conversation focused on West Texas, he should be safe. At least, that was what he was hoping. “It’s still a working ranch. My great-grandfather drove two thousand longhorns down from Colorado back in the late eighteen hundreds. Built a bunch of corrals and a homestead, then over the years expanded from there.”

  “Wow. I’ve never been to West Texas, but I bet it’s beautiful.”

  “It reminds me of South Africa in a lot of ways. Rugged with small mountain ranges. Acre upon acre of bush, cactus and wide blue skies.”

  Meghan set down her camera for a moment. “So, I have to ask. Why apply for a job as a gofer? Isn’t it a bit of a demotion from ranch owner?”

  “I needed a change of scenery, knew the job was temporary. It seemed perfect.”

  A perfect distraction, anyway. She didn’t have to know he spent most of his time away from the ranch, canvassing neighborhoods, running interrogations, gathering evidence and photographing crime scenes. And she definitely didn’t need to know about the woman he’d failed to protect—the woman he’d buried his heart with a year ago.

  “But wouldn’t a vacation have been an easier route? Especially if you wanted to see your mother’s home.”

  “I—”

  “Kibibi’s moving again, Meghan.”

  Kate spoke up from the backseat. He’d almost forgotten she was in the vehicle with them. As a person who paid attention to details, he was surprised Meghan had managed to completely distract him. Which was a major problem. He was here to keep her out of danger. Period. And he couldn’t do that if he let his attention stray.

  Meghan snapped a few more photos as the females moved closer to the kill. “They won’t be going anywhere for a while, though I would like a few more shots from a different angle.” She signaled to Kate. “We need to go around to the other side of that crop of bushes for some close-up video.”

  “Closer than this?” Alex asked.

  At the moment, stepping out of the vehicle with a pride of hungry lions in the vicinity didn’t seem like the best way to ensure she stayed protected.

  “You’re actually thinking about getting out of the vehicle?” Alex brushed her arm with his fingers, then pulled back. The idea seemed crazy. How was he supposed to guard someone who didn’t seem to possess an ounce of fear over an animal who had just ripped an impala in two? He might not be an expert, but he knew enough about the bush to recognize the dangers. Forget the threats made against her—this was simply foolishness. “You can’t go out there on foot.”

  “I can’t?” Her eyes widened, but there was a hint of amusement in them. “This isn’t the pride where the male lion has the final say, especially when I’m the boss here. Besides, you worry far too much.”

  “I’m just being smart. Without any kind of weapon for protection—”

  Her raised eyebrow dismissed him. “We’ll be fine.”

  Alex frowned. He could see he was annoying her with his overprotectiveness. Clearly she knew the risks. And knew they were all risks she was willing to take to get the footage she needed.

  He wasn’t sure what approach to take to change her mind. “This isn’t the zoo with a fence. This is the wild where there are no boundaries or fences or safety zones.”

  “If it will make you feel better, keep the motor running just in case we need to make a quick getaway.”

  Her smile might make his knees feel week, but he wasn’t buying the backup plan.

  In the background, the male lions roared as they tore apart the impala. If she asked him—which she wouldn’t do—this was nothing more than a recipe for disaster.

  She grabbed her camera back and opened the Jeep door, then looked back at him. “They’ll fill their bellies, then spend the rest of the day lounging. They won’t even notice we’re here. I promise we won’t get close enough for them to bother us.”

  He nodded. “And I’ll be right here waiting to sweep in and save the day when those lions decide they need dessert.”

  *

  His response made Meghan laugh as she jumped out of the Jeep, camera in hand, trying to ignore the pain in her leg and the fact that he was concerned about her. Maybe what was really bothering her was that she liked having someone worry about her. Which sounded crazy. Her father had always been uptight, but his worry had never truly been directed toward her. Or rather, he’d never seemed afraid that she’d get hurt. Mostly it appeared that he expected her to disappoint or embarrass him, say the wrong thing in front of his colleagues. He was anxious she’d be late for a meeting. Never really worried about her and her needs. That was something for the boarding school to take care of.

  Still, it was oddly reassuring to know someone was looking after her, even if she didn’t really understand why he seemed so protective.

  Kate crouched down beside her a safe distance away from the feast. The females had finally been given permission by the males to join in. She held up the camera and started filming, her focus on the scene in front of her not keeping her from teasing Meghan. “Have you noticed you’ve been acting like a schoolgirl all morning with a Texas-size crush?”

  Meghan pulled back her camera and stared at her friend. “A Texas-size crush? Are you serious?”

  “‘You’ve got some talent’…‘we should have hired you as an extra cameraman’…‘you really are a cowboy.’”

  Meghan felt her face flush as Kate mimicked her comments in the Jeep. She turned back to the lions devouring their kill. She’d only been trying to be nice. Throw out a few deserved compliments as she got to know him—on a professional level only. Nothing more. Because she had no interest in Alex Markham in that way. Just because she couldn’t help her reaction to his good looks… Well, she was human.

  “So I let him use my camera and he took a few good—great—photos that I complimented him on. I find the fact that he owns a ranch interesting, but that doesn’t equal a crush of any size.”

  “You’ve been flirting with him ever since he arrived. And back there in the Jeep, you completely forgot I was even there.”

  “You’re wrong on both counts. I was definitely not flirting.” Meghan lowered her camera. She enjoyed working with Kate, but today something had robbed her of all common sense. “I’m trying to be nice. Nothing more.”

  Kate raised her eyebrow. “I don’t remember your being so nice to Jared.”

  “Jared was…Jared.”

  Meghan frowned. Okay. So there was a slight difference. Jared was a twenty-two-year-old intern. He was nice. Even good-looking. And as for his work ethic, he’d been reliable and dependable.

  But he didn’t make her heart stir.

  Not that Alex did, either, of course. She took another peek at the Jeep. Apparently Mr. Cowboy had forgotten about the dangers of her stepping outside the relative safety of the Jeep and was enthralled by watching the pride.

  He was good-looking. Okay, better than good-looking. He sat in the Jeep, cowboy hat tipped back, perfect-fitting black Wrangler jeans and boots. He looked as if he’d be just as comfortable working a tractor as sitting on the back of a stallion. She could picture him out on that Texas ranch, feeding livestock, mending fences, moving herds and hauling hay with the deep colors of the sunset behind him at the end of the day. Most of the guys she knew back home rarely stepped out of their cubicles and away from their computer screens. They were definitely not the outdoor type. Definitely not the cowboy type. And definitely not her type.

  Not that she was looking for the cowboy type. She wasn’t. Just like she definitely hadn’t been flirting.

  “See what I mean?” Kate interrupted her thoughts. “You can’t keep your eyes off him.”

  “I was just—” Daydreaming. Ugh. She hated getting caught. But that didn’t mean she was going to admit it. Not yet, anyway. “You’re imagining things.”

  “Am I?”

  Meghan pressed her lip
s together. She shouldn’t be defending herself, because this wasn’t some junior-high feud. Still… “He took some great photos. Is he good-looking? Yes. Interesting? Yes. But I’ll say it one last time. That doesn’t mean I was or am flirting with him.”

  “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Kate kept her camera going as two vultures set down a dozen feet away, waiting for their turn with the kill. “Jared knew his job, did everything you asked him to without ever complaining or questioning. Alex, on the other hand, clearly has taken your heart and turned it upside down.”

  “My heart has yet to move in any direction.”

  “Then tell me what happened after the rhino charging last night that left you stranded out there together.”

  Meghan rolled her eyes at Kate. “We talked. We connected over a few things we have in common. He lost his mother like I did. She was from South Africa, so he has a love of this country.”

  Kate pressed her lips together, looking apologetic. She knew that Meghan didn’t find it easy to talk about her family. “You know I’m just teasing. Besides, you don’t have to make excuses on my account.” She focused on the view screen of the camera. “Personally, I can’t say that I blame you. If I wasn’t still reeling from my last broken relationship, I might be giving him a second look.”

  “Trust me, Kate. You can have him.”

  “I don’t think it matters what I think—our Mr. Cowboy clearly only has eyes for you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

  Meghan set the camera down and turned to her friend.

  “The way he looks at me?”

  Now Kate was being just plain crazy. Meghan had known Alex for less than twenty-four hours. They’d be done here in another couple weeks. After that, he’d go back to doing…whatever a cowboy like him had done before he’d flown halfway around the world to play gofer for her.

  “Finding yourself attracted to someone isn’t the worst thing that can happen, you know.”

  “I never said I was attracted.”

  She never said she wasn’t, either. But while Meghan might admit to an initial interest—honestly, who could resist a good-looking cowboy—that didn’t mean she planned to act on it.