Safari Moon (21 page)

If he’d had a sleepless night, she couldn’t
tell for the spring in his step and the alert look in his eyes. But
that didn’t tell her what he planned or why he stood in front of
her instead of driving away like he was supposed to.

“What do you want?” she said with a look she
hoped would make him think she didn’t care what he did as long as
it wasn’t with her.

His hands flew into the air in an act of
surrender, but he grinned at her and the concern in his eyes a few
minutes earlier vanished. Her chin tilted upward in a further show
of childish defiance or pigheadedness.

“To make sure you’re all right before I
leave.”

“How sweet.” She gathered the quilt tighter
and picked up the fallen lamp before she lumbered awkwardly to the
door in order to hold it open for him.

He lifted a silky little piece of lingerie
from a chair and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, his
thoughts readable.

She opened the door wider, the invitation
clear and meaningful. At least she hoped so.

“Nyssa, I want you to understand.”

“I already do.”

“No--you don’t.”

She left the room, the door wavering between
opened and closed. She had the crazy impulse to walk straight to
the jeep. It had enough gas to get her to the trading post, and
from there she could manage on her own.

“You’re not dressed to go anywhere,” Solo
said quietly.

The words had enough impact to stop her
before she left the cabin and acted on her thoughts. “I don’t
care,” she said but she didn’t walk any farther, nor did she return
to her room. She sat down on the sofa, no longer back-stiff or
chin-high but rigid in her own kind-of-way.

“You don’t mean that.” He gave her a
mischievous, devilish smile. “It’s not your style to go out in
nothing but a quilt and a few pieces of sexy underwear
beneath.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” But she
knew the answer to the question, and she didn’t want Solo to tell
her what he thought. “Never mind.”

“It means,” he said, “that I know
exactly--in minute detail--what you have on under the quilt.”

She ignored the danger signals. “I never
asked--”

“Never asked? Now that’s cute. I remember a
few choice phrase, like ‘kiss me’ and ‘wouldn’t you like to come to
bed?’ and there were more. Would you like me to repeat what you
whispered in my ear?”

She wanted to blend into the woodwork. “It
wasn’t all one sided, mister know-it-all.”

“I’m not a saint!”

Those words caused a quick and rapid death
to the heated conversation they had established. Silence prevailed
for an eternity before Solo started in again.

“Old Robert’s your saint, mister perfect,
not yours truly. Old Robert would have never been tempted. Was that
it, Nyssa? Was your come-hither attitude a test of some sort? Did I
pass or fail? I thought I was noble, a gentleman, and believe me or
not I had your best interest at heart.” He mumbled something under
his breath, something she couldn’t quite hear all of, about never
feeling so much heat from an ice maiden.

“That’s not fair.” She blew an escaped piece
of hair off her face, with the force of her voice and the little
snort she emitted. When in the next breath, “I know what I did to
Robert was low, low down and dirty but you don’t have to rub my
misdeeds in my face, thank you. I’ve punished myself enough, and
you don’t have to add your two cents worth and make me feel more
guilty than I already do. I know I’m not worthy of Robert--damn
you.”

“Look Nyssa,” he said and pushed the same
wayward lock of hair from her face the same curl she’d blown away
only a few seconds earlier. “Robert is not good enough for you and
don’t you ever forget it. I got carried away last night and I want
to apologize. I know this wedding is convenience only, my
convenience. I knew you wanted a hands-off policy from the start. I
should have had more control.”

“You don’t have to live with the guilt.”

“Put last night in the past, pumpkin.”

Pumpkin.
She flitted him a sideways glance and a frown.
“With you sharing cabin space with me, that’s not easy.”

“Well, I can solve the problem. I’ll be gone
for a week. I want to see if the wolves come back or if the Colonel
scared them away for good.”

“You don’t want me there?”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is? You want me to sit here and wait
for you to come in out of the wild, a club over one shoulder and
dragging a caribou behind you? I thought you needed me with you to
help shoot the pictures, to catalog and sort negatives. What’s
wrong? Haven’t I proven myself willing, able, and eager?”

“Nyssa!”

That snapped her to red-alert mode.

“There’s no need for sarcasm. When I go
away, it’s for your own good, your best interest--and mine.”

“Well, get a move on. Don’t let me stop
you.” She got up from the couch and made little shooing gestures
with one hand while clinging tightly to the quilt with the
other.

“You know I don’t like the situation any
better than you but I have a job to finish. I also know first hand
you’d rather stay in the cabin than in the tent I’ve staked out
fifty miles from nowhere with only a pack of wolves for
company--this one included.” He held out his hands in a gesture of
supplication. “I’ve infringed on your time too often and here I am
asking you again.”

Nyssa wiggled her cold, bare toes and
squinched them into the rug. “You don’t have to apologize. I
wouldn’t have gone along with you if I hadn’t wanted to. I thought
of Sarah and I watched her smile. Everything the Colonel said--we
were railroaded by the best, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Will you be here when I
get back?” With a grim look on his face, Solo stepped out the door
but he waited for an answer.

From the beginning she’d had her own best
interest in mind, consequences be damned, one more adventure, one
last fling before marriage with staid, respectable Robert. She had
never realized how much she wanted Solo to love her, and how
painful life would be when the divorce papers arrived.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Probably not.”

She wanted to ignore him, let him go off
without a goodbye from her but she decided against it. So, throwing
common sense away she started after him.

Solo stood by the jeep, staring down the
long drive at nothing, but when Nyssa paused and listened she heard
the steady thrum of an engine. Her fingers tightened around the
quilt and she suddenly felt very naked.

Nyssa watched, horrified, as a car
approached and she could see the passengers inside.

The car stopped abruptly in front of them,
mud splattering in all directions. The driver’s door swung
open.

“What is the meaning of this?” Robert’s
agitated voice demanded an answer but his furious scowl was
directed at Solo, not Nyssa. Suddenly Robert’s hands balled into
tight fists.

“I told you before, they’re married.” Sarah
stepped lightly from the passenger side of the car. “Aren’t they
the sweetest couple?”

Robert spun around and an instant later he
slammed his fist on the roof of the car.

“If you’d calm down, we’ll tell you
everything.”

Solo gave the appearance of cool
sophistication, and Nyssa marveled at his poise because she was
quaking.

“Grandmother,” Solo said, “you need to rest.
I’ll take your suitcase and you can go lie down awhile.”

“Nonsense. I feel fine and besides, I don’t
like leaving Nyssa out here with two wild animals.”

“Nyssa and I need to speak with
Robert--alone.”

Sarah glanced at Robert but she must have
decided Solo meant what he said because she smiled and did exactly
what her grandson asked. She went into the cabin.

Robert had composed himself and although he
stood stiff-legged, he’d managed to fake a stoic mask over his
previously scowling features. From the absence of sound, it
appeared Robert planned to at least listen to the farfetched story
Solo was about to tell.

“We are married.” Solo paused. “In name
only.”

Robert’s mask of indifference slipped a
fraction, his forehead wrinkling slightly when he turned his
attention to her.

Solo continued in a moderate voice, his
hands in his pockets. “Sarah’s dying and--”

“Impossible.”

There was another long silence while she
thought over Robert’s one word. Her brother had told her the same
thing.

The worst scenario had happened. Both Robert
and her brother knew about the wedding, both believed a wedding,
staged or real, was forever. Solo moved closer to her, offering her
his strength, but she refused to lean on him. She was as much a
part of the lie as he was. She’d agreed to everything Solo had
suggested, eagerly at times, and now the moment to deal with the
consequences had arrived.

“I’d like to hear what Nyssa has to
say.”

Robert had never lost his patience, never
resorted to anger, but at the moment his voice escalated to fury.
The composed expression slipped farther and the frown lines
deepened.

“Sarah is much better now,” Nyssa said.

“Haven’t you realized the truth yet? Are you
so naive you can’t see that this spoiled mama’s boy wants one thing
from you, and he’ll try anything to get you into his bed?”

Solo hands pressed down on her shoulders,
his fingers tightening. She pulled the quilt snug while she wished
she had something else besides her white lingerie on beneath the
meager covering.

“That’s not fair,” Nyssa said. “Solo is not
spoiled and he doesn’t want me--not that way.”

“You’re wrong Nyssa. He wants you anyway he
can get you. Even if he has to lie. Solo St. John has taken
advantage of you from the first day he met you and that’s a fact.
You’re too gullible by far and this wildlife shoot is a
travesty.”

“I’ve never done anything with her she
hasn’t agreed to,” Solo said, in a soft, dangerous voice.

Nyssa touched his hand, and wished he’d keep
his mouth closed because that last statement could be construed a
million different ways, none of the connotations ones she wanted to
acknowledge.

“Stop this,” she said to both men. “I did
think she was dying. When I saw her the first day, Sarah looked so
frail and she clung to the Colonel’s arm. Solo’s grandmother would
never resort to something so underhanded.”

Robert murmured something under his breath
that sounded like hogwash but Nyssa wasn’t sure.

“So you married Solo because his grandmother
wanted you to?”

“The Colonel did--arrange everything.”

“Why would the Colonel do that? You told me
he doesn’t like you. If you’ve slept with St. John, our marriage is
off.”

“I haven’t, I--”

“What Nyssa and I do together is none of
your business--and Grandmother is ill despite what you may think.
So for the moment it’s important we make her believe we’re married
and in love, otherwise she’ll never believe we’re trying to get
pregnant.”

“Pregnant!” Robert lost all composure. “Do
you expect me to claim the child, too?”

“We’re going to pretend,” Nyssa said.

“Fake pillows under the dress--that’s real
good. How long do you think it will take her to guess the truth? A
day? Maybe a week? And then what?”

“Robert...”

“I don’t know you at all, Nyssa. How could
you be so selfish?”

Nyssa didn’t hear the door of the cabin
close nor the tap, tap, tap of Sarah’s shoes against the porch.
None of them did.

“Did you settle everything?” Sarah
asked.

“What?”

“I said, are all your differences resolved?
I warmed up some muffins and made a pot of coffee if anyone is
interested. A discussion always sounds better on a full stomach.
And Nyssa--perhaps you should put some clothes on.”

Nyssa wiggled beneath Sarah’s scrutiny but
then blessed her for stepping in and taking control. She wanted
nothing more at the moment than to get dressed.

“Thank you,” Robert said in a tight cautious
voice.

Sarah linked her arm through Roberts,
drawing him and the others back to the cabin.

“Well,” Nyssa said after emerging from the
bedroom in jeans and a warm sweater. “I’m sorry you made the trip
for nothing. As you can see Solo and I are happily married.”

They all sat around the kitchen table and
Sarah poured the coffee, a plate of muffins in front of them.
Robert leaned back in his chair and caught Nyssa’s gaze with
his.

“I like it here, the air is fresh and clean.
Think I’ll stay awhile.”

Chapter Eleven

“You can’t.” Nyssa stood abruptly and coffee
splashed in one big sloppy mess from her mug. “There’s no room.”
She patted the stain with a paper napkin while she shot Solo
nervous looks, and wished he’d say something--anything that would
make Robert leave.