“Thank you, bestie.” Stella glared at her.
“What are friends for but to point out the obvious?”
Another round of laughter, which Stella took good-naturedly, told Shabina she was going to have to be okay with being in the hot seat next. It was all part of the friend’s creed.
She huffed a little, sank back in her chair and faced them. “Fine, then, but just know, this conversation is beside the point, Rainier has absolutely no feelings for me whatsoever other than he believes it’s his responsibility to keep me alive. In fact, he looks at me like a thorn in his side, kind of a child that falls apart at the drop of a hat.”
“I doubt that,” Harlow said. “Look at everything you’ve accomplished. You live on your own. You have a very successful business. You’re recognized as one of the leading ornithologistsstudying birds in the wild in North America, especially the Sierra. You graduated with honors from UC Davis, getting your bachelor’s and master’s degrees in well under the time it would have taken most people.”
Shabina found herself smiling at the staunch support of her friend. “Where do you get all this information? Raine? Have you been telling tales about me?” She knew better. Raine didn’t break confidences.
Harlow smiled at her, but there was an apology in her eyes. “I’m a senator’s daughter, Shabina. I make sure anyone I let into my circle of friends is someone we can count on.”
That told Shabina that Harlow was as wary as she was when it came to letting others into her inner circle.
“I do sound a little impressive when you put it that way, but I’m not sure Rainier would pay the slightest attention to my degrees. Just my security. He makes certain I keep up with self-defense, weapons practice and training of my protection dogs. He oversees all of that and occasionally checks out the security cameras to ensure they are working. Other than that, he’s out doing whatever it is Rainier does.”
Being the assassin Deadly Storms when he wasn’t doing the same kind of work for Blom. She didn’t add that. She didn’t want to think about it too much.
She found she was rubbing at her thigh again, something she had been so determined she would stop. It was more of a self-soothing gesture than to alleviate the ache. The scars didn’t hurt as bad anymore. Time, running and stretching had helped. It was one of those telling nervous actions Rainier—or Scorpion—would notice immediately. Scorpion would take advantage. Rainier would coach her until she was rid of it.
“You don’t know,” Zahra said. “If I were any man, I’d be falling all over you. Not only are you a successful businesswoman, but you’re gorgeous.”
Shabina laughed. “I’m not exactly thin.”
“Men like figures, Shabina,” Raine said. “Believe me, I know.” She was extremely thin.
Shabina gave a little snort of derision. “Weren’t we just talking about all the men who are courting you?”
“Courting you?” Harlow echoed.
Attention immediately swung to Raine. Shabina smirked.
“Oh no you don’t,” Raine countered. “Do you see what she’s doing? That’s called manipulation. She’s directing attention toward me so you won’t talk to her about Rainier.”
“Are you trying to outsmart Raine?” Zahra lifted an eyebrow as she passed around chocolate bars.
“For a moment, I may have lost my ability to think clearly.” Shabina went for humor. “Just the thought of Rainier does that to me.”
Harlow rolled her eyes. “The thought of Rainier with you scares me to death. Sam is sweet, but he does have that aura of danger surrounding him. Zale is quieter and gives the impression that he could very quickly go lethal, but Rainier has an altogether different vibe. He doesn’t even try to hide what he is.”
Shabina tried not to bristle or come to Rainier’s defense. Harlow wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t true. Rainier didn’t bother to hide who he was from most people, not unless he was playing an undercover role.
“We don’t know Rainier.” Raine unexpectedly came to Rainier’s defense. “Since none of us do, we can’t fairly judge him, can we?”
Shabina didn’t look at her, but she wanted to throw her arms around Raine and hug her.
Zahra pouted openly. “Well, that takes all the fun out of everything. What are we supposed to do now?”
“Discuss the murder and what could be happening, other than what it appears,” Stella suggested.
“Do we have to talk about the murder?” Zahra protested with one of her most dramatic groans. “We’re going to sleep in tents where anyone can creep in and bash us in the head with a rock.”
Stella glared at her. “That was the assignment, Zahra. We were all going to think of different reasons this killer would have an altar with mixed feathers and flowers, including some from Saudi Arabia. Instead, you were researching bears.”
“That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t understand how the body wasn’t found by a bear when there was blood. Shouldn’t a predator like a bear or mountain lion have scented it? Essentially, even if I don’t want to think about it, a body is meat. Once I looked up what bears eat, I began to worry about all of us here and the scent of food and how to protect Raine. That’s a logical progression.” She was indignant.
“I can see how that would happen,” Shabina soothed. “I get caught up in research all the time. I’m sure Raine does as well. And Harlow must with her photography. We all get sidetracked when we’re interested in a subject.”
