Right.Goma lowered her shotgun.And that’s all there is to it.
But her sharp eyes stayed on me, making me feel like she could see clear to my soul.
“We . . . we heard a shot,” I said to Jack.
“A pack of hyenas on the prowl. They were after one of the calves. I shot one.” He motioned to the prone figure. “The rest took off.”
“And the calf?” asked Goma.
“A few cuts and scrapes, but she’ll recover.”
Goma nodded. “I’ll go find her a blanket.”
She disappeared into the barn, leaving Jack and me standing by the dead hyena.
“Does this happen often?” I asked.
Jack had shot the hyena dead center, in the middle of its forehead. How he’d managed that in the bleak light of dawn, was beyond me.
“Mostly when the rains fail. That’s when the animals tend to stray from their turf. Luckily, the horses got nervous and alerted me.”
“You have horses too?”
“And cows and hens. We try to be as self-sufficient as we can. Eggs, milk, fruit trees, a vegetable patch. Even our alarm clock is organic.”
I smiled as the rooster crowed again. “You like to keep it au naturel?”
“One hundred percent.”
I knew the nuances in his voice now. And from the way he was looking at me, he wasn’t talking about the farm. My throat went dry as I realized I was completely back-lit from the light, that my every curve was exposed to him. My nipples were puckered from the morning chill, but a rushing warmth flooded through my every pore. My heart fluttered wildly, like a kite in a whirlwind. There was a magnetism and self-confidence about Jack that made me want to hand him all my strings. I wanted to know what it would feel like to have his hands wrapped around my hair—pulling, tugging—
“You two should get a barn.”
We both jumped at the sound of Goma’s voice.
“Seriously, with a carcass at your feet?” She looked from me to Jack. “No. I don’t want to hear it.” She held her palm up as Jack started to say something. “You can deny it all you want. Both of you. But you’re not fooling this old crone. There’s some major ogling going on here. Sparks and all.”
We stared at her in awkward silence. What do you say to something like that?
“Get back in the house, Goma,” said Jack.
“With pleasure,” she replied, giving us a sly, haughty look.
Oh God. Could the ground just part now and swallow me whole?
We stared at our feet when she was gone.
“I’m sorry she—”
“It’s okay.” I cut him off. “I should head to town today and pick up my things from the hostel.”So I’m not wandering around in your grandmother’s muumuu, which is the furthest thing from sexy, so it’s kind of insane that we even had that moment, and maybe if I just keep talking to myself long enough, I’ll be able to heckle this embarrassing incident right out of my head, and then we can just go back to—
“You hear that?” Jack swiveled around, shielding me with his large frame. “Something’s out there,” he said.
“It’s just me.” Bahati emerged from the shadows. “I heard a gunshot.”
“That was half an hour ago. Where have you been?”
“Watching. From my window.” He pointed to the upper floor of the house.
