Harlequin Heartwarming May 2016 Box Set (15 page)

“Bribery, huh?”

“It worked. But what about you? I thought Ben said to lie low. Our connection isn't a secret, so shouldn't you be staying away from Hodari, too?”

Our connection.
He knew she meant their family connection, but for some reason the words sounded even more personal.

“I'll be fine. I'll check on things with Ben and see if anything has come up with the drives and investigation while I'm there. Do you need anything I can bring back from the lodge? If you left stuff in your room, I can pick it up.”

“The room. I'd forgotten. I didn't leave anything, but I think Nick did. I'm paying per night for nothing. We have no idea how long this will drag on. Will it look bad if I have you check me out?”

She was referring to the hotel room, Mac reminded himself. Man, he needed more sleep.

“It might. I think we should keep you registered until we see what Ben says. If Brice comes or sends anyone looking for you, they'll stick around the lodge longer if they think you'll be returning to your room. He knows you brought Nick to see me. He'll expect you to be there. If you disappear, he'll start searching every camp in the Serengeti and all the way back to Nairobi.”

“Assuming he really is guilty.”

“No matter what, the man has something to lose. Even if he ends up being clean, no smart man would let you walk away without coming after you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth and her cheeks turned pink, he realized what he'd said.

“I mean, if he sees you've had a room at the lodge like you said, he won't wonder about us.” This wasn't coming out right at all. “By us, I mean, if he sees the Air Walker office closed and you've also checked out of your room, he'll wonder where we all took off to. Guys get jealous. And if he's innocent, that might make fixing your marriage more difficult. The whole trust thing and...”

“He'd know Nick was with us.”

“Right.” Mac didn't fumble words around women. Ever. His face heated. “I just mean, bottom line, you should stay registered. Just in case. I'll give Ben a call from the office and see what he says.”

“That's a lot of money per night. If Brice is guilty and gets angry when he realizes what I've done, he'll cut me off from our bank accounts. I opened one on the side about a month ago, when I was planning, but only put a little in it. He scours his books. I didn't want to raise suspicion. I need to be careful with spending.”

“We'll deal with that when the time comes. It may only be an extra night or two. We'll figure it out. Safety first.”

“Okay. Just be careful. Promise.”

“I promise.” He slapped his cap onto his head, gave her a wink just to annoy her and trudged toward his chopper. “Stay back,” he yelled as a safety reminder. As if she'd come running after him like a damsel in a movie. That would only ever happen in his dreams.

* * *

S
IX
HOURS
HAD
never felt so long to Mac. He'd always lived in the moment, taking lodge patrons on tour at a second's notice, flying out to Nairobi for a private charter back to the lodge or heading off to help local friends with whatever they needed. Time had never passed so...so slowly. All he could think of today was wanting to be back around Nick and Tessa. He couldn't get either of them off his mind.

He waved goodbye to the second round of tourists he'd just returned to Hodari Lodge. The first had been a couple from London on their honeymoon and this second one was a small group of friends who appeared to be in their early twenties. Two definitely acted like a couple and the third, a sultry brunette, had gotten uncomfortably touchy-feely with him.

Thank goodness this group hadn't booked an all-day trip or an overnighter at one of the tourist campsites. The young woman had thanked him profusely after they'd paid, and had even tried stealing a hug—which he'd skillfully managed to slip away from—and then invited him to join the three of them for drinks...and whatever else he had in mind. Her words. Mac was used to dealing with customers like that and was pretty smooth at escape. Customers were customers. He had no interest in crossing that line. But for some reason, today, that client's come-on had made him want to run. As if he was a happily married man approached at a bar. He'd even blurted something about already seeing someone. What a lie. But it had worked. Sort of. He waved again at the young woman, who was lagging behind her friends and looking at him over her shoulder. It was driving him crazy that Tessa's face had come to mind when he was dealing with the customer. Tessa was another line he couldn't cross.

Since Sue was still at Busara, he passed by the concierge desk for mail. Abed, who'd been working there since Mac had started Air Walker Safaris, glanced up from behind the curved solid wood counter backed by floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lodge's courtyard garden.

“Mac, my man. Where have you been?”

“Oh, the usual. A few of the research groups lost track of their herds and needed some flyovers. All in a day's work.” Mac leaned against the counter and casually scanned the lodge. “Any mail or messages?”

“Has Madam Sue returned to America?” he asked as he bent down to search the cubbies and drawers behind the counter.

“Just visiting her grandchildren.” Everyone here knew Anna and Jack. Jack, especially, because his genetics lectures at the lodge attracted business in the form of science conference groups.

“I haven't seen your friend around, either. Are you taking messages to the pretty lady, too?”

Mac shrugged and scoffed at the notion. “Oh, her? Not the kind of friend I keep, if you know what I mean. She's my nephew's aunt. Brought him around to visit. But you can go ahead and give me the message in case it concerns him.”

Mac and Abed always shot the breeze, but given everything, all the questions sent flares up in Mac's mind. He had about a ninety per cent trust rate going with Abed. He reached into his pocket and folded a few bills into his palm. He could only hope enough shillings would cover the remaining ten per cent.

Abed handed over a small stack of mail and Mac reached out to take the envelopes while smoothly transferring the money to Abed's hand from underneath the stack. He glanced around the room casually.

“It's not necessary, Mac. How long have I known you?” Abed said.

“You're a good man, Abed. Keep it for your family.” Mac hadn't meant to offend him. This whole worrying about someone else situation had his caution sensors on high alert. Abed tipped his head in thanks.

“A man called.” He pulled out the yet-to-be-delivered message and handed it to Mac.

Darling, I'm back home. Thought you'd be here by now. Miss you. Give me a call. Love, Brice.

Mac stuffed the paper in his pocket. Here he'd mentioned something to Tessa about guys getting jealous. Why did
he
feel so uneasy?

“If he calls again, tell him the boy is giving her a hard time and insisting on one safari tour after another, so they've been getting in late. If he calls tomorrow, you can say Mrs. Henning took a flight out to Nairobi to do some shopping and sightseeing. It's more her style than the Masai Mara,” he said with the universal male expression for
high maintenance woman
. Abed shook his head sympathetically, then leaned forward.

“One other thing. The boss greeted two men here yesterday. Supplied them with drinks and lunch. He took them on a tour of the landing strip. Stopped briefly in front of your office, but I couldn't hear what was said. The younger of the two seemed a bit overzealous. Left this on his way out.” Abed gave Mac a business card. Amboseli Luxury Tours, Inc. Mac's jaw twitched. He tapped the card on the counter, then added it to his stack.

“Thanks, man. Grab yourself a
Keroro
after work and put it on my tab.”

“Join me if you're around.”

Mac waved as he headed to Air Walker Safaris. He unlocked the door—thankful it was indeed locked—and closed it behind him. He retreated into his quarters and tossed the stack of mail on his desk, then locked up the day's earnings.

Darling... I miss you.

Brice's message grated on him. The message sounded so normal. Too normal, if he listened to his gut. Too forced, given how distant Brice had been acting, according to Tessa. First the extravagant fountain pen and now a note too nice for comfort, especially if the man had been home long enough to find his office tampered with and flash drives missing. Something told Mac that a man like Brice paid attention to details. A man didn't become as successful as he was without noticing everything and staying in control.

Worse yet, Mac caught himself wondering if the guy really did miss her. If he really did love her. Because how could he not?

He needed to pass the message on to Ben. He pressed the button to boot up his system, then brushed past the cloth strips and went to his bed. He sat on the edge and considered the space. It had always been enough. He'd never needed more. Never noticed how dark and cramped it was...and lonely. Only days ago, he'd relished that feeling. It was enough. It had to be. It always had been.

Then why was he wishing he was at Camp Jamba with Tessa and Nick? Why did he feel like he was missing out on hanging around with both of them...and Mugi and Kesi. Missing out on family time. Missing home.

He scrubbed his calloused hands up and down his face, then took a deep breath. Family? Home? Was he kidding himself? Nick was his only blood relation and he didn't even know how he was going to handle having
him
in his daily life. Only now, he
wanted
to figure it out. He wanted to raise Nick.
Really
raise him. Teach him to be a man of honor. Not a man like Brice.

Mugi and Kesi had told Mac he was family and that if he ever decided that he could handle the logistics of making Jamba his home base instead of Hodari, they would welcome him. It wasn't the first time they'd mentioned it. But Mac didn't want to invade their privacy to that extent. And he liked his own, back here in his small cave. Plus, Jamba didn't have customers tracking through all day long. If he didn't have an office here in Hodari's lobby, Air Walker Safaris would definitely go under. Leaving this place would be like trying to set up a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere and wondering why there were no customers. And the lodge had a better area for him to keep his helicopter, especially during rainy season.

Besides, inviting him to stay at Jamba was different than inviting him
and
Nick. It wasn't Mugi and Kesi's responsibility to help him raise his nephew. Good a kid as he was, he was a handful. He'd proved that yesterday. Still, it'd be like growing up with grandparents around. Mugi and Kesi would be there when Mac had to work. If, after all was said and done, and Tessa decided to leave Nick with him, just as she'd planned, he couldn't think of anyone else who could watch Nick while he was out on flights. Tessa's future was up to Tessa, not him. But every time he tried thinking about how he could make things work, he came up against a rhino's butt.

Mac slapped his thighs and got up. He'd momentarily forgotten about the issue of schooling. See? A real parent wouldn't have forgotten about that. He remembered being Nick's age. How important having peers was. Even if he asked Mugi and Kesi for help, school would be an issue. Mac had told Tessa that there was no way he'd isolate the kid, and he meant it.

Everything came back to the same problems. It simply wasn't doable. Abandoning his business and moving to the city just so his nephew could attend school wasn't an option. He had to make a living and Air Walker was his life. People—wildlife—depended on his volunteer work. And even if whatever scheme Brice was caught up in got busted, there'd still be poachers out there and victims to rescue. He grabbed his bottle of Scotch, took one swig and put it back in the drawer.

He picked up the card he'd tossed on his desk. Amboseli Luxury Tours, Inc. He typed it into the search bar.
Just great.
That was one professional web presence. Clicking on a few of their links and pages made it clear just how big they were. It happened all over the world in every town. Big chain comes in and kills small, local business...or buys them out. Mac had never buddied up to the owner of Hodari Lodge. Sure, Mac was a fellow businessman. But the owner wore a suit. Mac wore khakis. And he wasn't into schmoozing. He did his own thing. Now he was wishing he'd gotten to know the owner a little better. He raked his hair back.

The luxury lodge wanted luxury tours.

Maybe the propellers were already spinning. And here he was, spending less time at work because of the Brice ivory investigation. That couldn't have happened at a worse time.

He shot Ben a quick email update, then grabbed his mail and flipped through. Bills...more bills...a letter from the lodge owner. He cranked his neck, inhaled, then opened it.
You've got to be kidding me.
Reading between the lines, they were strongly encouraging him to sell out and cut his losses. He tore the letter in half. He didn't care how impossible things seemed. If anyone thought Mac Walker was going to crumble under pressure and sell out, they didn't know him.

He lived for the impossible.

* * *

T
ESSA
KICKED
OFF
her sneakers and pulled her feet up, crisscross-style, as she sat on the chair outside her tent. She didn't know what had triggered it, but the words were flowing endlessly. It didn't matter that she'd forgotten her tablet charger back in South Africa and had no access to the documents she'd stored on it. She didn't need her fashion research or list of article ideas for the paper she was never going back to. Katia would figure out soon enough that whoever she got to cover the column this week was going to have to be a permanent hire. She didn't even need her copy of the article she'd written that Katia had refused to print. The one about her ivory trade suspicions. Nothing mattered but the glide of her ballpoint pen against her journal pages and the high she was enjoying as her thoughts bled out with the ink.