Valley of Stars (The Merriams Book 3)

by Ava Miles

  “I’m just going to remind you, Mickey, that we’re in the hands of the tribe’s best warriors.” Something slithered in the water, and he caught a glimpse of gray-green knotted flesh. A croc!

  “I really hate this, Boyd,” Mickey said, rocking softly in place. “Tell me again why I love my job so much.”

  Marvin croaked as the boat shuddered, the wood creaking. “You like helping people—”

  The boat lurched in the water as something rammed into it. Hard. Marvin croaked wildly, and Boyd fisted his hand around the carrier’s handle out of instinct. The boat jolted again, and he was slammed forward into Michaela. The next time it happened, they were both pitched sideways into the water. The murky water surrounded him, but he kept ahold of Michaela, his jaw clenched hard so he wouldn’t accidentally swallow any water. His other hand was still clutched around the handle of Marvin’s carrier.

  He couldn’t see the threat, but he knew something was in the murky water with them.

  Then he saw a large, dark shadow moving swiftly beneath the water. Eyes burning, he had to decide who to protect.

  He dropped Marvin’s carrier, knowing he couldn’t hold on to them both, and dragged Michaela to the surface. She was sputtering and coughing as he tugged her closer, protecting her with his body from the behemoth in the water. Wild shouts and cries reached his ears. He squinted through burning eyes. God, he couldn’t see squat.

  He kicked with all his might and propelled her toward the closest boat. Joseph had his hands out, along with Hargreaves and the other two warriors on their boat. Someone shouted behind him, “Boyd, look out,” and he shoved Michaela out of the water to them and swiveled, intending to put himself in the way of whatever was coming toward them.

  He saw a hippo surface, its large nostrils spewing water, its eyes a deep brown. Something brushed his leg, and he fought the urge to flail in the water and strike at it. A croc? Another hippo? Jesus, he needed to get out of the water.

  “Boyd!” Michaela screamed.

  Heart racing, he turned and dove for the boat. Joseph and Hargreaves grabbed ahold of his wet shirt and then his shoulders, hauling him in.

  “We’ve got him!” Hargreaves shouted.

  Boyd fell to the bottom of the boat, knocking into the old butler, who promptly handed him a dry handkerchief. The warrior in the helm sliced the air with his spear, and the hippo disappeared. He saw now that the boat they’d been in had completely capsized, and both of the warriors had gone under too. One of them was hoisted aboard by Joseph, and when he scanned the water for the other, he saw him swimming hard for Arthur and Clara’s boat. He hauled himself over the side, muscles rippling in the hot sun.

  More shouts sounded, and he watched as Sironka returned to his station at the helm of the front boat and began rowing hard. The warrior in the back held his spear over the water. Boyd saw stars for a moment, his heart pounding in his chest, as their boat began to move again too.

  “Mickey! Are you okay?” She was still coughing up river water.

  “God, Boyd!” She was shaking, he realized, and although he was too, his concern was for her.

  “Hand her something to drink,” he shouted.

  Hargreaves extended a bottle of water. “Here, sir.”

  “Manners at a time like this, Hargreaves?” Boyd asked, reaching past Joseph to deliver the bottle. “Here, Mickey. Drink it. Slowly.”

  “Too much water is my problem, Boyd,” she said, her voice cracking as she coughed again. “I swallowed a whole bunch of it when something brushed me in the river.”

  They both knew there could be dozens of waterborne diseases and microbes in the water. He was not going to freak out. Their medical kit had gone down with the boat, and it was the only one. Clara had brought another one, but he’d sent it back with her overflow luggage, assuming they wouldn’t need two.

  “You’ll be fine, babe.” She’d mentioned something brushing against her. Had it really been that close? God, he needed to touch her. Right now. “Joseph, change places with me. I need to be next to Mickey.”

  With three additional people in the boat, they were right on top of one another. The maneuver wasn’t easy, and someone shouted something at them as Joseph awkwardly shifted positions with Boyd, but Boyd didn’t care. His anxiety didn’t ease up until his arms were around Michaela, her back hugged against his chest.

  “You’re okay.” But Marvin wasn’t, and now that he and Michaela were both safely on the boat, the horror of what had happened to his friend spread through him. He hadn’t wanted to drop him, but he hadn’t seen another way to protect Michaela. Dammit, he should have left him at home.

  When Michaela put her hands over his, he burrowed his face into her shoulder, tears filling his eyes.

  She seemed to fold into him. “Marvin?”

  “I couldn’t hold you both,” he whispered.

  “Oh, Boyd, no!” She started crying. “Not Marvin!”

  “Michaela! Boyd!” Her uncle was shouting and waving at them from his position in the lead boat. “Are you two okay?”

  “Getting there, Arthur,” he called back, lifting his head. Clara was leaning around the big shoulders of a warrior who had his arm around her, her entire face tense with worry. “Sironka, if there’s a shortcut, this would be a good time to take it.”

  The warrior didn’t answer, only dug his paddle into the water faster. The other warrior’s paddling matched his pace. Another croc emerged from the vegetation ahead, and this one was a fourteen-footer. Boyd thought he was going to get sick. But Mickey’s soft crying tugged his attention to her. She needed him. He handed her the handkerchief.

  “I don’t normally cry,” she said. “Sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about. I have tears in my eyes too.”

  She shook herself. “Oh, God! We lost everything in that boat, including the sat phone. I won’t be able to call Connor.”

  Her brother would think something was wrong when she didn’t check in. “Do you want to go back?” he made himself ask.

  If she said yes, he’d find a way to go numb. Right now, he couldn’t imagine turning around and traveling in the other direction. It would feel like the loss of Marvin had been for nothing.

  She turned her head to gaze up into his eyes. Her hair was plastered to her forehead. He pushed it back as best he could.

  “Do you?” she asked softly. “You’re the one who lost Marvin. I’m so sorry, Boyd.”

  He couldn’t think about that now. “It’s your call. We both know how our spill could have ended. Maybe your aunt and uncle should go back. They’d have a harder time swimming to safety.”

  “I have to ask them,” she said softly. “Aunt! Uncle! Do you want to go back?” The river seemed deathly quiet after the attack, and her voice carried.

  “And face that crazy hippo and his friends for round two?” her uncle shouted back. “No way! Clara, honey, what about you?”

  “We go forward,” she said, steel in her voice. “Did you lose Marvin, Boyd?”

  His throat closed right up and he couldn’t speak.

  Michaela squeezed his hand. “Yes, Aunt,” she shouted back.

  “I’m sorry, Boyd,” he heard her call out. “He was a good friend.”

  Boyd lowered his head to Michaela’s shoulder, looking out across the brown, murky water. Yes, he had been.

  But he suspected Marvin would have gladly given his life to protect Michaela.

  Somehow, there was comfort in that thought.

  Chapter 13

  Michaela had never been so happy to put her feet on land.

  She’d had a few scares in her various treks around the world, but her underwater excursion in a river full of hippos and crocs now topped the list. She knew she was still in shock from the slight shaking in her limbs, and Boyd didn’t look much better. His normally golden skin color was gray and his eyes were glassy. He didn’t normally cry, but she’d felt the heat of his tears against her shoulder. Poor Marvin.

  Poor Boyd.
r />   Her aunt and uncle rushed over and grabbed her into a hug, making her start.

  “We were so scared,” Aunt Clara said, banding her arms around her.

  “We almost lost you,” Uncle Arthur said, tears in his voice. “Don’t do that to an old man.”

  Boyd was right. It was for the best that they’d gone into the water, not her aunt and uncle. It horrified her to think what would have happened to them.

  “I shouldn’t have brought you here,” she whispered into Aunt Clara’s shoulder. “This was a terrible idea.”

  “Hush,” her aunt said, tightening her hold. “You’re still wet and in shock. We’ll take care of you now. Sironka says we don’t have far to walk to his village. Are you up for it?”

  Was there an alternative? “Oh, Aunt, Boyd let go of Marvin to help me.”

  “Of course he did,” her uncle said in his matter-of-fact tone. “I know it’s a loss, but losing you would be unthinkable, Michaela.”

  “Arthur is right,” Aunt Clara said. “Boyd’s in shock too. The faster we get to the village, the better. Honey, Hargreaves will get you and Boyd some dry clothes. He packed a fresh pair in his suitcase for each of us in case something happened to the luggage. A backup, he said.”

  Leave it to Hargreaves to be prepared for any contingency. Her clothes were damp and smelled like musky river water. “Some dry clothes would be great. Showing up at the village like this…”

  “Who the hell cares,” Uncle Arthur spat out. “They’re lucky to see you walking after today.”

  “We won’t speak of it anymore,” her aunt finished, releasing her. “Hargreaves! Can you bring Michaela and Boyd something dry to change into?”

  “Too bad we didn’t pack a second sat phone,” she said, knowing local phones wouldn’t get a signal here. “Connor will be so worried.”

  “Your uncle already thought of that,” Aunt Clara said. “Sironka is going to send back a couple warriors to Simon and Jaali. They both have cell phones, and they can drive around to look for coverage. We just need you to give them Connor’s number and your message. I’d send Hargreaves back, but I can’t do without him.”

  Hargreaves approached with a stack of clothes. She recognized some things for her and for Boyd. “Again, I’m terribly relieved you and Boyd survived your ordeal,” he said kindly.

  “Me too.”

  “Dr. McClellan seems remarkably upset over the loss of his reptile. He refused to change.”

  She took both sets of clothes from him. “Thank you, Hargreaves. I’ll talk to him.”

  Boyd was talking to Joseph, but his gaze shifted to her as she approached them.

  “I don’t need to change, Mickey. We should get going. Joseph says we have about forty minutes of walking, but with your family, we might need a slower pace. God, what a trip! I never should have let Connor talk me into bringing them. Marvin should have stayed home too.”

  His voice wasn’t the normal, steady one she knew. It quavered with tension and guilt.

  “Joseph,” she said quietly. “Would you excuse us for a moment?”

  “Of course. I am so glad you and Dr. Boyd are safe. I am also sorry you learned the truth of one of our proverbs: a hippopotamus can be made invisible in dark water.”

  Leave it to Joseph to offer them a proverb at a time like this.

  “And they kill three thousand people per year,” Boyd said, his eyes glassy. “Glad we didn’t join those ranks. Right, Joseph?”

  She took Boyd’s arm and led him toward the edge of the forest. The lush green trees, juniper and other varieties, were a stark contrast to the dry grasses of the savannah. The added dense brush would provide some privacy. “I’m going to change. Will you watch over me?” She needed to talk to him, and she figured her best bet was to appeal to his sense of protectiveness. Besides, she genuinely didn’t want to be alone after their ordeal.

  “I’m not changing,” he said again, positioning himself in front of her as they walked into the glade, his head moving back and forth, scanning the terrain. “Joseph said Sironka was sending two warriors back—”

  “I heard. It’s better that Connor hears from someone.”

  “I thought about sending Joseph, but we need him.” He glanced around. “This seems to be a good spot. I don’t see anything lurking around.”

  She didn’t see or feel anything either, although monkeys were notorious for being mischievous in forests such as these. So long as it wasn’t something predatory like a lion. She couldn’t take that right now. “Agreed,” she said, lifting her shirt and peering down. “God, I hope I don’t have anything ‘lurking’ under my clothes. I had a moment in the boat when I thought— What is it?”

  He was standing in front of a tree, his face leached of color. Staring at her. “I could have lost you.”

  She charged over to him. “I could have lost you!” The reality of it struck her like a physical blow. Losing him would have been agony.

  “So you care about me?” He framed her face in his hands, hope now warring with the grief and guilt in his eyes.

  “You know I do,” she said, putting her free hand on his chest. The other still clutched the stack of clean clothes. “Boyd, this is where I tell you I decided.”

  “Thank God.” He pushed the damp hair back from her face. “Then tell me.”

  She let out a harsh breath, knowing there was no going back. “I love you, and I want us to be together. I’m willing to work things out.”

  The hope in his eyes grew brighter, eclipsing those darker emotions, and he pressed his mouth to hers.

  The shock, the scare had her opening her mouth to him. She wanted to devour him, and he clearly wanted the same since he thrust his tongue into her mouth and led her in a frenetic dance. He changed the angle of their mouths, clearly needing more. She did as well. The clothes dropped from her hands. She searched for the hem of his shirt and slid her hands under it, needing to touch his bare skin. That was all it took for his control to snap. He pushed her back against the tree, finding her breasts under her shirt and cupping them. Without a bra, his tugs on her nipples had her core burning with need.

  Wrenching her mouth free, she gazed into his dark eyes. “Now.”

  “Are you—”

  “Yes!” She kissed him again, hard, as she unfastened his pants and tugged them down. His cock was hot and hard, and the feel of it in her hand made her belly clench. Rucking her panties and pants down to her knees, she leaned back against the tree with her hips tipped forward, a position they’d mastered in situations when a bed wasn’t close by and stripping wasn’t a wise option. He cupped her bottom in his hands, supporting her.

  “I love you,” he said as he penetrated her. “It would have killed me if anything had happened to you.”

  She moaned as she took his entire length, trying to muffle her cries. “Me too. Oh, Boyd, I missed you.”

  He slid out and then thrust in again. “There’s no one but you, Mickey.”

  Then he started pumping, knowing she needed him. She raised her arms against the tree, biting her lip to control her moans as the heat built. His thrusts turned faster, deeper, harder, and another moan ripped out of her.

  She closed her eyes as everything in her tightened, and then she came hard in his arms. He was shaking as he followed her over. He pulled her against his chest, holding her quietly as they came back to themselves. His fingers tangled in her hair as she listened to the beat of his heart. Today had been too close, and somehow that had made everything clear. Yes, they had their problems, but she loved him and he loved her. Surely they could figure the rest of it out.

  “You want to know one of the reasons I love you?” she said softly, lifting her face to him like a flower to the sun.

  He caressed her cheek. “Why? It’s nice to be reminded after all these months in hell.”

  It had been hell for her too. “Because even after what happened today, you only suggested sending my aunt and uncle and Hargreaves back. Not me.”

  His mout
h tipped up. “I might have aged twenty years today, but the possibility of sending you back didn’t dawn on me. Despite how much I want to protect you, being here—doing what we do—it’s who you are.”

  Yes, he had always understood that about her. She thought he was maybe the only person who did. “Let’s talk about Marvin. It wasn’t your fault.”

  He bowed his head. “I know that. Might take a while to sink in all the way. I thought about it on the boat afterward. I had a moment where I thought about taking him out of his carrier on the boat, but you know he’s like a vampire in the daylight; plus, I knew his croaking upset the warriors. I worried it might escalate things.”

  “They were nervous when they heard him,” she said. “And who knows how a hippo or croc might have reacted to his calls. Boyd, you did the best you could in a horrible situation. I feel guilty too.”

  He kissed her swiftly. “Don’t. I realized Marvin would have gladly taken a dive to protect you, and that helped. I just hate the thought of him drowning like that. He didn’t have a chance, and after everything he’d endured to make it this far…”

  The tears in his eyes moved her. They’d both always been so tough, but losing Marvin was different. It struck deep. “You gave him more years than he would have had otherwise.”

  He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Thanks for saying that. I don’t know that I can do another pet after him.” He took a deep breath, as if steeling himself, then said, “We should probably get you changed. And yes, I’ll change too. Before, I didn’t want to settle. I thought if I kept moving—”

  “It’s shock, Boyd, and it’s okay. I’m still shaky too.”

  He caressed her back. “I’m grateful Sironka and the others haven’t sent a search party for us, although being Maasai, I’m not sure we’d hear them if they were a foot away.”