On Friday, the ship sailed with the two couples aboard. Jace and Johi searched for Jim Hanes to question the safari guide.
“Come clean, Jim, your leg was never broken. How much did Chadwick Hamilton pay you to fake that injury so I’d take his job?”
Jim sent him a sly grin. “Ten thousand. He’s gone now, so why lie about it? He really hates your guts, Jace, so I’m a little baffled by why he wanted you as his guide. He paid me twenty-five thousand to trail you homeward, kill you, and hide your body in quicksand. He said you’d be carrying another twenty-five I could steal. That’s a mighty high price on a man’s head. What did you do to him?”
“Not what he thinks. Why are you telling me this?”
“Why not? I’m not going to murder you or any man for money, not even for fifty thousand pounds. I took the bastard’s money because there’s nothing he can do to get it back. If he learns I didn’t carry out his orders and returns, I’ll be long gone. I’m sailing for Australia tomorrow. He provided me with a nice stake.”
“I’m glad you told me the truth. I knew he hated me, but not enough to murder me.”
Jace waited until the man who worked in the telegraph office locked up and left to eat. He had been unable to sneak inside last night to steal a copy of Reid’s telegram because the employee also lived in rooms attached to the office. When Jace located the handwritten page, he stuffed it into his pocket and slipped away unseen.
Before leaving town, he sighted the two men who had attacked Leigh at the old Portuguese fort. He and Johi raced them down and beat one man into answering his questions. He learned that a woman with “hair like fire” had paid them to abduct and sell the sunny-haired female into slavery. Jace turned the men over to the local authorities.
While riding on the train toward the river to catch a boat to the stop nearest Nairobi, Jace withdrew the paper and read it. He smiled, then frowned in rage. At last he had a piece of enlightening and incriminating evidence in Reid’s handwriting. When he was confronted with it, Chad would be furious. Jace was eager to wave this stolen page in the guilty bastard’s face.
At dusk, Leigh was washing her hair and bathing. Jace should arrive any day now, and she wanted to be ready to confront him at her best. She stepped from the tub and reached for the drying cloth.
“Still as beautiful and enchanting as ever,” Jace murmured.
Leigh whirled, dropping the bath sheet from her light grasp. Jace was leaning against the doorjamb, grinning broadly with a devilish sparkle in his green eyes. She retrieved the cloth and wrapped it around her naked and dripping body. Her heart pounded from more than startlement. Her face glowed a vivid pink from more than modesty and anger. He had caught her off guard, and her wits scattered at his sudden appearance and close proximity. “Damn you, Jace Elliott! How dare you sneak up on me like that! Get out of here, and close the door!”
“You weren’t shy or reluctant when you enticed me to join you for a bath after that quicksand incident,” he murmured in a husky voice, and strolled forward. He yanked her into his confining arms and teased, “Is this any way. to greet me after such a long and painful separation?” His mouth closed over hers.
When he released her, Leigh stared into his merry gaze. She felt weak and anxious. Her breathing was fast and shallow. Her cheeks were aflame, as was her body. Her pulse raced like a wild and unbroken mustang that was fleeing wranglers across the plains. Her heart throbbed in her chest and ears, and she wondered if Jace heard it, too. His allure was overpowering, his touch burning like a skin-searing tropical sun as his potent gaze and strong embrace held her captive. “Let me go,” she ordered in a strained voice, her throat clogged with warring emotions. “This wouldn’t look proper to Abena. Get out and let me dress. Then we’ll talk. You and I have a lot to settle, Mr. Sneaky Elliott.”
“Abena has left for the night. We’re all alone, my tawny lioness. She said you’ve … mostly been a good girl. That was wise.”
Leigh gathered her wits and used them. “Stop playing these silly games, Jace. We both know why I’m here. I’m your prisoner.”
“Partner, love,” Jace corrected. “I won our wager, so you owe me your undivided attention and delightful company.”
“I don’t owe you anything!” Leigh argued. “You lied and cheated. I lost points only because you plotted and carried out devious incidents. You can’t force me to honor a deal you won unscrupulously. I won’t!” she stated adamantly. “I only agreed to rules one, two, and four. I never agreed to rule three to wager a year with you.”
Unyielding, Jace persisted, “Our bargain is binding, Miss Webster, so you’ll have to abide by the rules we agreed upon. You allowed me to include rule three and you signed the contract.”
“As a joke, and you know it, you sneaky devil.”
“Did you mark it out or change it and initial the revision? No, so it’s part of our deal. I warned you to read carefully before signing. I won fair and square. Actually, under rule two, you owe me over an extra month because you were in trouble and danger every day. Why not admit you wanted rule three in and you wanted to break it?”
“I’ll admit to no such thing, Mr. Lawbreaking Elliott. I did fine without your interference. You ended the safari, not me, so I win.”
“Even if I agreed, the contract says if I terminate the safari for any reason, you get an extra prize: me, any way, any time, and any place you desire. Well, here I am: ready, willing, and able.”
Leigh frowned at the grinning man. “I decline my extra prize.”
“If you prove to me you won,” Jace reasoned, “you can’t refuse me. You can’t change the rules. We had a deal. You gave your word.”
“So did you,” Leigh protested, “not to cheat. All right,” she conceded with a taunting grin, “by the contract, I want you … in London, in prison, and for life.”
Jace laughed. “There’s only one catch, love; I never quit the safari. I finished it, but you didn’t. Therefore, I am the winner.”
“I didn’t finish because you tricked everyone. Kidnapping and faking deaths are illegal, even here in the jungle. This is British territory, and under English law. We’re both English citizens.”
“But I’m a criminal, Miss Webster; they don’t obey laws.”
“‘Alleged’ criminal according to what you told me.” Leigh scoffed in frustration. “In light of this illegal action, I’m not certain you told me the truth. I didn’t cancel the safari and wasn’t given a chance to earn more points, so how could I lose?”
“Simple: ‘prove unable to complete it … presence in my home for one full year … pay your debt immediately and in full.’ Nothing was listed as a disqualifying reason for being unable to finish.”
“Are you deaf? I never agreed to that! I can’t stay here a week or a year. Release me and I won’t press charges against you.”
“I won, Leigh. You’re mine, until I decide otherwise.”
“You promised you wouldn’t make me lose, or help me lose!”
“I didn’t. With all those curious accidents happening to you, there was no way you could complete the safari alive. I had to protect my interest and winnings.”
“By abducting me? By faking my death? By terrifying me?”
Jace watched her blue eyes dance with fiery lights. Her wet hair looked darker and flowed down her bare back. The drying cloth clung to her enticing frame and beads of water stood on her silky skin. “You left me no choice. We both know,” he mocked her earlier words, “you were lying and cheating. I kept my word. You will, too.”
Leigh could not vow she had never misled him, so she didn’t. He was so cocky, so handsome, so maddening. “I had no intention of breaking our agreement,” she informed him in a haughty tone and manner, “so you should have won it honestly. You didn’t. You planned this little abduction from the start. That night you rescued me on the waterfront, I told you I was meeting Chad. Your craving for revenge saw a way to get at him through me. That’s why you trailed me to Lord Salisbury’s a
nd tried to dupe me with your charms. You wanted to get close to him, and I was your path; When I mentioned the safari and that Chad was my guardian, you saw an even better way to obtain vengeance, on him and Grandfather. You came here, lay in wait for our arrival, then pounced on me like a leopard. You were the one using me as bait in your trap for Chad, not the other way around like you accused at Mr. Johnston’s party. The wager was just another beguiling trick by a clever seducer.”
“At Alfred’s party, I thought I was being set up, woman, and you know why I believed it. I was right all along. Chad did have a sly motive: marry you and get rid of me. I’ll confess our wager began as a ruse, one to capture your interest. I was testing you and probing for information about Chad’s motives and your possible involvement. You were doing the same thing with me, so don’t deny it.”
She didn’t. “There was no plot, Jace Elliott. You’re mean, bitter, and devious. How did you pull off this stunt?”
Jace explained the snakebite ruse to her. “Reid only wounded the animal,” he added, “because I tampered with the sight on his gun. Johi kept them out of camp long enough for me to fool the others and steal you. I had men hiding and ready to track whatever Reid wounded to spare me that task and time. Very clever, eh?”
“Very illegal and cruel,” Leigh refuted. “Not only does Chad think I’m dead, but he’ll tell my family and friends. You have to let me contact aunt Jenna before he does. That news will crush her.”
Jace shrugged and nodded. “Fine. I’ll handle it. I’m sorry I didn’t think to send her a cable before I left Mombasa. Consider it done tomorrow. But we will have to swear her to secrecy about your survival. I don’t want anyone to know you’re alive yet.”
Leigh stared at him. “You’ll let me cable her?”
“I’m not a heartless bastard, Leigh,” Jace said. “Though, at times, you tried your damndest to rip it out of my chest.”
That accusation astonished her. He actually looked and sounded honest. “I tried to hurt you? Are you crazy? You’re the one who had me terrified at the fort, unloaded my gun during a dangerous rhino hunt, put drugs in my canteen, lured me into quicksand, fixed Louisa’s gun to almost kill me, then faked my death. You did all those wicked and dangerous things just to win a stupid bet, and you claim I-”
Jace straightened and stiffened. His hands moved to her shoulders and shook her gently. “Shut up and listen, woman. The men who attacked you at the fort have been arrested. A woman with red hair hired them to sell you into white slavery. The men who attacked you on the waterfront in London are dead, killed resisting arrest. They worked in Cynthia’s stables. I asked a man there to check out everyone around you. I knew they weren’t sailors, and you told me they smelled of horseflesh. You also caught their names and gave their descriptions. I don’t have to tell you who Cynthia’s best friend is.”
During the past few weeks alone, Leigh had come to realize how much Louisa hated her, and how suspicious she was of the redhead. Mention of the vixen who had flirted with Jace in Mombasa and in camp and who had said such horrible things that last day provoked her to scoff, “The same woman who shared old times with you! The same woman you were playing with in the river in an attempt to anger me.”
Jace frowned and said, “I’m not going to deny that first charge again, because we both know it isn’t true. But the second one is true.”
Leigh moved from him, causing the hot hands on her bare shoulders to fall to his sides. His clothes were damp from contact with her. She lifted her robe and donned it, also leaving on the drying cloth. “Then why did you tell her about our wager? It was a secret.”
Jace lifted one brow quizzically. “I didn’t.”
“How did Louisa know about it? I certainly didn’t tell her. She confronted me about us and the bet that morning you pulled this stunt.”
Jace mused for a moment, then surmised, “Perhaps she found your contract. It was hidden in your tent, and she did remain in camp one day.” He didn’t want to suggest Chad had told Louisa about the wager, after Leigh had confided in her guardian. He would solve that mystery later.
Leigh had suspected Chad of revealing that news, but Jace’s guess sounded more logical and probable. “You could be right.”
Jace responded with confidence. “I’m sure I am. As for those drugs in your canteen, Chad was responsible. Johi overheard him mention it to Reid after your ‘death.’” Leigh’s eyes narrowed in impending debate. “But he wasn’t trying to poison you,” Jace quickly added, “just make you ill so he could end the safari and get you out of my reach. He was worried that all his lies and deceits wouldn’t keep us apart. You were bait, Leigh, but not mine. The safari was his idea. He plotted it to get revenge on me. You were his tool to pry his way into my life again. Since that frame in London failed, he sought another road to victory. Chad told you about our past in Mombasa just to win your favor and to prevent anything from happening between us. He was playing on your tender heart and suspicions; he figured, by confiding in you, you would be fooled about him. I promised to reveal everything and I will, in time. I didn’t want you to know about our quarrel because it would make me look bad before you could get to know me and judge the truth for yourself.”
Leigh knew he hadn’t talked about the wager, but she didn’t broach that topic yet. “Even if that’s true, none of it changes what you planned and did to me, Jace Elliott. You had my clothes and things sent here as soon as we left Mombasa. You prepared a tent you could sneak into and out of at your pleasure. Then, all those curious incidents happened. After we got close, you should have trusted me and confided in me. You had plenty of time to expose the truth, and you owed it to me, but you held silent. That last night, I tried to coax the truth from you, so we could be totally honest with each other. You responded by kidnapping me! What am I supposed to think and feel, except you were duping me from the start?”
Jace grasped what she must be thinking. “I had your clothes sent here because I was planning to find a way to keep you here and safe until November. I suspected Chad would either slay you or ensnare you in marriage to get his hands on Webster’s estate. I couldn’t allow either to happen to you. I wanted you to have your things to use during your stay. I knew there was no way to get them up here after the safari. As for that secret exit, that tent is mine. Sometimes I need to slip out of camp at night, so it allows me to do so without being seen. After we … got close, I let you have it to conceal our relationship. Chad must have located it and gotten suspicious. That’s why Louisa and Cynthia kept sleeping there with you. That’s why he wanted to do us harm.”
“After this imprisonment, I’m supposed to believe you and trust you?” she reasoned. “I’m supposed to accept your charges against nearly everyone on the safari? What did Chad do after my death?”
Jace walked to the door. He turned and said, “It’s been a long journey to and from Mombasa. We’re both on edge. Why don’t you dress while I get something to wet my throat? We have more matters to discuss, don’t we?”
Leigh’s gaze met his troubled one. “Yes, we do.” He left.
Leigh wrapped the colorful sarong around her and secured it. Abena had given her several. It was hot most days, and the garment was cool and comfortable. She brushed her hair. The honey tresses were almost dry, again due to the African heat. She was nervous, wary, and a little frightened. She was baffled by Jace’s words. She wondered if this ruse was for her protection and if it had been necessary. She quivered, thinking of the long night ahead.
Leigh joined Jace in the kitchen. He turned and smiled, looking her over with pleasure. His pulse quickened and his heart raced at the provocative sight. His loins burned and ached, aflame with desire and hungry with need. “Would you like juice? Abena makes it fresh every day from tropical fruits. Or would you prefer something stronger?”
Leigh noticed his reaction to her, and she felt the same. “Juice is fine. I’d like to keep my head clear.”
Jace chuckled as he poured the tasty liquid. “M
e, too,” he said, handing her a filled glass. He lightly clicked his glass to hers and said, “To our time together and all the surprises it will bring.”
Her somber gaze met his probing one. “Why are you hurting me to get back at Chad? Which one of us will suffer the deepest and longest? Me, not Chad. For a time, I really believed you and I had something special. Suddenly you changed. You became mean, snide, and mysterious. Everything was good between us, then you backed off and spoiled it. Why, Jace? Are you going to force me to …”
Chapter Nineteen
Jace stared at the woman he loved and wanted to trust more than anything in the world. She looked vulnerable and afraid. She looked beautiful and innocent. “No, Leigh; I won’t force you to honor any of the terms of our wager, but I won’t allow you to leave my plantation until I learn the truth and know you’re safe. If you want to make it hard on us, I can’t stop you. But I’m hoping you’ll relent and tell the truth so we can clear the air. You don’t have to worry about me assaulting you. I’ve never forced myself on any woman, and I certainly wouldn’t do so with you because you’re much too important to me.”
“Why?” she asked, confused by his words. Her mind longed for an understanding. Her heart ached for a reunion of spirits. Her body yearned for closeness with him again.
Emotions had built so high between and within them during their separation that both needed to seek the truth and peace together. Both decided it was past time to be completely honest in order to solve the mysteries surrounding them, to tear down the barrier between them.
“Because I want you and need you. Because I don’t want you to hate me and reject me. Because I want you to trust me enough to tell me the truth.” Jace walked through the dining room into the living area. He took a seat on the sofa.
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