Safari Moon (5 page)

“Okay, I didn’t mean to imply you were
supposed to be there for me every time I nodded my head. But damn
it Nyssa, don’t quit on me today. I’m a desperate man--not a
monster. Can you forget everything we’ve shared in the past? I hope
not because I need you to sort out this problem for me.”

Something had gone awry in his life and he
made her feel like a snake in the grass. She’d always been loyal to
her friends. But this was the last straw.

“Perhaps I have a business to run--clients
to keep happy. Maybe you’ve asked for one favor too many. Have you
ever thought past your own adventures?”

For a few catastrophic seconds, he watched
her as if she’d just slapped him in the face. She tried not to
apologize. An explanation would put her back at ground zero and she
couldn’t do that to herself. Solo would have to learn she would no
longer be around to pick him up off the sidewalk and tend his
wounds. He would have to grow up and learn how to fend for
himself.

His dreamy blue eyes, and that hopeless
puppy dog expression he donned whenever he wanted her, would not
sway her. If she wavered for a moment, she’d be doomed. She was
strong.

Solo St. John would never accept no for an
answer.

Chapter Three

Everyone in the shop had gone home, Robert
too. The closed sign on the front door faced out for the whole
world to see. No one would come in. No one would rescue her. Left
to her own devices she couldn’t think of one ploy.

“I’m waiting.” Solo’s voice dropped several
decibels which rendered it very endearing and oh so sexy.

“Well--” She tried to act confident. The
illusion didn’t last long.

“Well--” He coaxed her.

It was the most stilted, frustrating
conversation she’d ever tried not to have.

“What are you waiting for?”

“For you to explain yourself.” His tone so
desolate and so pain-filled it broke her heart.

Even though she knew he was sincere, the
situation irritated her to the brink of her patience. Solo wasn’t
acting but he was manipulating. He knew, from irrefutable
experience, she would succumb to his tactics.

“I’m not going to fall for your hound dog
expression.”

“I’m not asking you to, Vanytha.”

“I hate that name. It’s prim and proper
and...”

“It suits you. You’ve always been proper and
innocent. Sometimes gullible.” One of his lips quirked in a smile.
“Prim used to be your middle name until you turned thirty.”

“I’m not thirty.”

“You’ll be just as beautiful when you turn
the mark.”

“Solo--”

What kind of weak-willed woman was she? He
wasn’t going to wear her down, but then he flashed those fabulous
dreamy blue eyes at her, and she was in deep trouble.

“So, Vanytha?” He made her name sound a
little fanciful and too romantic. “What did I do to make you ignore
me so blatantly?”

“I’m not ignoring you. “It’s like I said.
I’m preparing for a tour and I don’t have time to rush head-long
into one of your little adventures.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m serious.”

“Me too.” He shot her a sad forlorn
look.

“I mean it.” Holding her hand in a position
that would catch his eye without looking brazen, she waited for a
response to the diamond ring. “My fiancé won’t like it if you
occupy my time.”

That did the trick. “Fiancé? Not that stuffy
banker? He lets you run all over the world on bike tours? That will
tarnish his image. He always looked like the type that wants the
little wife barefoot and pregnant.”

"Senator. He's a United States senator." She
refused to admit what he said had some real truth embedded in it.
This wasn’t like Solo to be sarcastic or point out other people’s
bad points.

"Really?"

“Robert wants the best for me.” She waited a
moment, expecting another petulant remark. “He wants to save the
world from corporate CEO's who rob the people blind. He wants me by
his side.”

“He wants a decoration not a wife.”

“That’s not true. He loves me.”

“Umm--”

He had that Solo St. John stubborn look on
his face. The one that said he didn’t believe anything she told
him. It was blatantly obvious he didn’t like Robert. “And so your
fiancé--Robert--he told you not to call me back.”

“Well, no--”

“He was the one that answered my phone call?
You were here all the time. You had him lie for you.”

“But.”

“I never thought you’d refuse to see me or
talk to me. That’s not like you Nyssa.” There was a long pause and
she fidgeted beneath his scrutiny. “You look different.”

“I’m almost a married woman.”

“I’m not sure--” His eyes roved over her.
“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. “It’s a shame to waste you on
old Robert.”

This was bizarre. Solo had never looked at
her as a woman. He never noticed what she wore or how she did her
hair. He never called her beautiful. Nyssa turned her back on Solo
for a moment, hiding vulnerable emotions. She’d always wanted him
to look at her that way.

It must be the heat.

If he’d planned this scenario, he couldn’t
have done it better. “I don’t know what you mean by ‘waste me on
Robert’.”

“You’re too good for the guy.”

“You’re wrong. He loves me--and he never
asks me to bail him out of some misguided adventure. He’s
stable--”

“You gave up stable when you left New
York.”

“New York was a nightmare. I had to wake up
and get out.”

“What?” His eyebrows were up again. He
questioned, probed.

The only person she had ever confided in was
Solo's grandmother. She was about to tell Solo how the greed and
the dishonesty corrupted everyone and everything it touched.

“Never mind. New York has nothing to do with
you and your excursions. What about the time you were photographing
whales? I had to get in the water with --him --the whale.”

“You were never in danger. Ah, Nyssa, I know
you were scared but I made sure the whale wasn’t close. With my
zoom lens and all, the animal was a couple hundred yards away. You
didn’t have anything to be frightened of.”

“I wasn’t scared. I was cold.”

“Come on, Nyssa--”

“No, Solo. I’ve paid my dues where you’re
concerned. I don’t owe you any more favors.”

“Oh? Who caught the moths in your tent when
you were in hysterics over them? Who changed the oil in your car
when you couldn’t afford a mechanic? And who gave you grammar
lessons when you couldn’t get through second year French?”

Where favors were concerned, at the final
tally, everything came out close to equal. That fact didn’t mean
she had to grant him this one. They both had to grow up sometime
and realize they were destined to live separate lives.

“And,” he finished, with a sweeping gesture,
“who got you through the computer course when you’d all but given
up on the damn thing? You had to have computers 101 to
graduate.”

He always brought computers up. “I’d have
figured the machine out in time.”

“Perhaps the next year. I got you the job in
New York--the start of your career.”

One failed career and a job she hated. “Look
what it got me. Firsthand knowledge of corporate giants who steal
from the poor and give to themselves.”

“But you thought you wanted the position at
the time. I’m sorry New York didn’t work out. If I’d known
beforehand, I never would have helped you.”

She smiled slightly. How ironic. He still
sweet talked her and manipulated her. He always knew what she
wanted or needed to hear. “But one course doesn’t make up for the
rhino that attacked my jeep or--”

“Hold on. I was in the jeep too and we got
away without a scratch.”

“Come on,” she scoffed. “I went with you
because you told me you were desperate. Just like today.”

The slight hesitation was apparent. When she
looked at him, his expression had changed. His boyish smile was
gone and he looked all serious and a little sad. “I never thought.
We were friends, helping each other out. I--”

No
. This wasn’t what she intended. She felt like a real
heel.
Me first.
Rude wasn’t her usual style. She got more out of her
association with Solo than she’d ever admit. Because she’d
befriended him for one reason, she had always wanted to be close to
him. Once close had satisfied her.

“Nyssa,” he continued, in a slow, sexy
voice, “I’ve known for years you’re one of a kind, a true-blue
friend. I owe you. What you’ve done for me goes beyond a common
friendship. If I haven’t thanked you, I’ll show my appreciation
now. Thank you.”

She inhaled deeply. “I don’t mean to be
selfish. It’s just that I don’t want you to disrupt my life.
Everything is perfect. I’m happy for the first time in so
long.”

“Are you really happy? Does Robert make you
happy? Or are you just glad to be out of the rat race?”

“Look at me. I’ve put on weight. I’m not all
a pasty white. And I can look in the mirror in the morning and
smile back at myself. I know I'm not swindling people out of their
hard-earned dollars. I look forward to each new day.”

“And Robert’s made you feel this way?”

“He’s helped me. He understands what I went
through, and he wants to change the way the rich can manipulate the
laws.”

Solo shook his head. “I don’t care if he
gives you the world. Robert’s not right for you.”

He closed the distance between them. With
his hand beneath her chin, he lifted her head. She could feel his
breath against her cheek and smell his aftershave. “Nyssa,” he said
softly. “I’ll make this up to you. It’ll be the last time but you
have to help me. I need you.”

He tugged at her heartstrings again. But he
did sound desperate, needy and he’d never sounded that sincere
before. She couldn’t say no when he was so close to her. Leaning
into the palm of his hand as he cupped his fingers against her
cheek, she closed her eyes and tried one more time to resist him.
“Tell me what happened.”

“You might not believe me.” His voice grew
hard. “My grandfather ran an ad for me. He made it sound as if I
wanted a personal bed warmer, and what’s worse he implied that if
my assistant pleased me, I’d marry her.”

“Marriage?” She choked on the word.

“The Colonel has given up on me. He knows I
won’t come into the business. So he’s decided he has to have time
to train an heir. Since he’d never stand for a complete scandal,
he’s taken it upon himself to single-handedly find a wife for
me.”

“At least he wants you to proceed in the
right order. Have you found a suitable mate?”

“We’re not animals.”

“Well have you?”

“No!” Solo released her and as he whirled
away he raked his hand through his hair. When he turned back, his
appearance was disheveled and he looked vulnerable--needy. He
jammed his hands in his pockets. “You know my grandfather wants me
to join him. Ever since I left college and flew off to Africa,
every letter he wrote said the same thing. I guess he finally
understands but I’d prefer the letters. They were a lot easier to
contend with.”

Nyssa was suddenly able to breathe more
easily, and her heart started to beat again. The words Solo and
marriage in the same sentence rattled her.

She knew him well enough to know he’d never
let his grandfather run his life. Solo St. John controlled his own
destiny.

“I still don’t understand why you make this
sound like it’s a matter of life or death.”

His eyes darkened and if she didn’t know him
better, she would have thought he was furious. “I’m desperate
because everywhere I go I’m attacked by willing, eager, able women.
They hide in my car--camp in my office--invade my cabin.”

“I would have thought the mile long hike
would have scared any femme fatale off.” Nyssa smiled skeptically.
“You’ve never complained before.”

“You understand what’s at stake. My career,
my reputation. I’ve planned a two month expedition to Alaska and
yes, I need an assistant, but I need someone who knows what to do
outside a sleeping bag. You’re the only one I know of who fits all
my requirements.”

“But you wouldn’t say no to another woman
who could do both, now would you? Perhaps your grandfather
understands you better than you do yourself.”

“Do you intend to fling more accusations at
me or will you help me.”

“Short of going with you there’s nothing I
can do,” she said. “If you’re really that desperate, print a
retraction.”

“I’ve tried.”

“How hard? And I know what you think. You’ve
given up haven’t you? If your grandfather’s behind the ad, he’s
made sure no retraction will be printed.”