Chapter 11 #2
A while later, the vehicles jounced over the dirt road that led to the tent camp, where large canvas structures huddled amid trees. When they pulled to a stop, Apollo hopped out first and Leighton all but threw herself out his door. She stumbled and he steadied her.
“I got you.”
Crazy thing of it was… “I know.”
His blue eyes found hers, and a smile snuck into his handsome face.
“What do you think”—a vise clamped around her wrist—“you’re doing?”
Leighton drew up sharp at Prince Rayan’s tight grip and pull. “What—”
“Come.” Rayan cocked his head toward an enormous brown tent. “A light lunch first.”
“I—”
“Hey, careful,” Apollo objected. “You’re hurting her.”
The prince’s gaze darkened. “I do not—”
“Rayan!” Maaz barked, darkness filling the scowl he aimed at his cousin. “Come here.”
Though Rayan hesitated, clearly did not want to yield. “I will return,” he finally said and released her, giving Owen a stiff glower.
“Hey,” Apollo said quietly, slipping closer. “Let’s get to our tent.”
He guided her past four tents before stepping up onto the porch-like area of a fifth and flinging aside a flap to a much smaller one.
Small being relative. This was more of what she’d expected for a safari—rustic, roughing it.
Well, after a fashion. These were not the two-person pup tents from her high school camping days.
Leighton hurried in, escaping the prying eyes of the royals. It was a silly, flimsy belief that being in here made her safe. But she’d take it. She let out a sigh. “I could not believe he yanked my wrist,” she said quietly.
“I wanted to punch his skull through his gray matter when I saw that.”
Leighton started, looking at him. “Then for the moment, I am grateful for Maaz’s dislike of me.”
“Come again?”
“If his anger had not been aroused at seeing Rayan take me in hand, you would have punched him and they would have killed you.”
“And you wouldn’t want that…?”
She heard the hope in his words and eyed him again. Felt the vibration of that certain something between them. “Well, then who would protect me?” She deliberately turned her attention to the room for a distraction.
The mosquito-netting walls did not offer much to hide behind or afford much privacy.
They did, however, have privacy flaps along the side “walls” that had been rolled up and secured above the nets.
To her surprise, despite the tented walls and ceiling, the floors were wood.
Solid. That’s where the rustic-rather-than-rough started.
First with a leather chair and ottoman that hugged the corner.
Electricity had been strung to the small patio and a fixture hung in the center of the tent.
She ventured beyond an inner tent wall where curtains were open and secured to the sides. Through there waited a bed—again, a single king with more mosquito netting covering it. It almost seemed pretty, romantic.
Not how she should be thinking. “They keep putting us in one-bed rooms, yet they haven’t challenged us…”
“It’ll come,” Apollo promised. “Maaz is meticulous and patient. Not a good combo in a guy like that.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Leighton stepped through and found a small en suite…a bathroom with a toilet, two sinks, and a shower with a curtain. So, not as much privacy as before but more than she’d expected for being out in the middle of a safari.
In the main room, Apollo stood at the entrance to their tent, feet shoulder-width apart, arms at his side as he stared out at the royals, who were finding their accommodations.
“They’re serving lunch,” he said, nodding to the large open tent.
“Not unlike a mess tent in the field. Except here, they’re even offering mixed cocktails. ”
“I’d kill for water.” Sweat slid down her spine as she stood next to him, both noticing the moment Rayan emerged from a tent and looked in the direction of theirs. Her gaze bounced to Apollo. “You okay?”
His jaw muscle jounced. “Not in the least.”
At the venom lacing his words, she started. “Why?”
His blue eyes swung in her direction. “You have to ask?”
No, no she supposed she did not. “Look, I get that it’s your job to protect me, but you can’t antagonize Rayan. He’s the one ally I have in that family.”
“He is not your ally.”
She had to concede the point. “Perhaps, but if anyone in that family will make my life a bit less terrifying, it will be him.” A breath shuddered through her, recalling the earlier thoughts she had—how she didn’t like Rayan’s touch.
How Apollo had challenged him in the SUV.
“I thought you were going to pounce on each other.”
“I hate the way he handles you, talks to you, orders you—”
“Hey.” She touched his arm and peered up into those blue eyes. “We can’t do anything about my situation, so let’s just make the most of this.” Wondering if that sounded as Pollyanna to him as it did to her, she shrugged. “Come on. Let’s eat before it gets too hot.”
Apollo pushed open the door, then hesitated and side-eyed her. “Maybe just stay close to me.”
“Believe it or not, I try. They just…” She sighed.
He nodded, understanding the heaviness she felt. They crossed the small compound with its dirt paths, stone markers, and down to the food tent where delicious smells wafted out to them.
“Come, come eat!” A guide patted his chest. “Here, Chacha help you.” And with that he heaped two paper trays with skewers of meat and veggies. “You take moonlight drive later?” he asked with a big smile.
A moonlight ride? “That sounds amazing,” Leighton said, her soul weary and mouth watering from the kebabs she held.
“How do we do that?” Apollo asked, picking up napkins and two bottled waters.
“Meet at trucks at nine,” Chacha said, adding a grilled pineapple kebab to her plate with a generous scoop of rice. “Extra for pretty princess.”
Though she faltered at the title, Leighton chose to smile and keep moving.
But when she turned to pick a table near the front, she saw Maaz, Nasir, and Ghalib headed toward them.
Oh no. She had no energy for the men who treated her like a kebab and skewered her with their attitudes and demands.
Pivoting, she hurried out the other side and headed up the path back to the shelter of their tent.
She ducked inside and felt the squeeze of panic release with the shade and privacy.
Apollo let the door shut behind him. “Want me to close the curtains?”
Leighton settled in one of the leather chairs and considered his offer. From her position, she couldn’t see into the other tents and figured she was safe from prying eyes and heated looks. “It’s too hot. Let it breathe.”
He nodded and took the remaining chair. They ate without conversation this time, which was markedly different from the night with burgers when they’d laughed and enjoyed each other’s company.
Though she ate, she wondered why he was so unusually quiet. Very quiet. “Something wrong?”
He polished off the kebabs, then sipped water, squinting out at the Kenyan plains. “He’s crossing a line,” he finally managed.
She peered through the netting to see who he meant, but saw nobody out there. Her mind scrambled for purchase on his words. “Rayan.”
“And if I see him do it again, I can’t be responsible for my actions.”
Despite the heat sapping her strength and mood, she felt a ping of exhilaration at her core that he was going all alpha on her. Yet, at the same time, she feared that very persona. “Promise me you will not do anything.”
“Can’t do that,” he said, shaking his head and staring out at the others. “The king is paying me to protect you. That includes from his own family, if necessary.”
“He—it isn’t…” She swallowed a deep sigh. Certainty dug roots in her chest, telling her the prince’s attention wasn’t what it appeared. “I don’t think his attention has anything to do with romance.”
He slid a severe look in her direction. “Considering his treatment of you, pretty sure you’re right. But so help me if he touches you again.”
“There are lines we cannot cross. Do not hurt him. Swear it.”
Apollo gave her a fierce look. “How can you defend him?”
“Defend?” she balked. “I defend myself—if you go after him, the king’s nephew, you will be removed if not killed. Then who will protect me?”
That flexing jaw muscle told her he was ticked but could not argue her words.
“I…I had thought Rayan was kind.” She sighed heavily. “But I see now that does not exist in the Central Kingdom.”
The way he’d grabbed her, worked to keep her from Apollo, felt…
ominous. A warning clanged at the back of her mind.
When they’d first brought her to Jeddah, she had expected torture and rape.
Anything to punish her for Ummi’s betrayal.
Yet, by something she could only ascribe as a miracle of God, they had not.
Beatings, yes. But those had stopped quick enough once she understood how they expected her to behave.
Once she’d figured out their rules, she knew how to play the game.
But it was exhausting.
Not until Apollo arrived did any semblance of light bleed into the darkness that had taken her captive. Maybe…maybe she should let him get her out of this before something nefarious happened.
The throttle of engines startled her out of the morbid thoughts and drew her gaze to vehicles pulling away from the compound. “Where are they going?”
“Spotlight night drive,” he said in a hollow voice. “When you marched out of the tent, I heard Maaz telling the others to meet there immediately after they ate.”
“Without us?”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Furrowing his brows, he eyed her. “Didn’t think you wanted to be with them.”
“I…don’t.” And yet, she felt sad at not going out to see the wildlife. She stared out past the covered porch. “A moonlight drive amid wildlife sounds kind of dreamy though.”
“There’s one Cruiser left,” he said with a smirk. “Just you and me and the guide.”
Excitement pushed Leighton out of the tent.
“I guess this is you wanting to go.”