Aoife visibly winced and mumbled, "Eee-fah,” before continuing with, “The cheetahs you can pet are very unusual. Mostly those ones have been raised with humans for a variety of reasons, and while you're right, they're unusually domesticable for big cats—" Her gaze darted to Elliott, as if she was suddenly wondering ifhewas domesticated. He had a tremendous urge to show her just how domesticated he could be.
But probably not right now. Aoife went on without an audible hesitation. "—they're also still very large, dangerous predators. We hardly ever think about the fact that even our house cats are predators! Think about how sharp their teeth and claws are, and then ask yourself if it's really a good idea to keep a 'pet' ten times that size in your home!"
Molly clearly did think about it as they approached the cheetah enclosure. "No, I think it'd be good!"
Aoife laughed. "Well, let's watch them hunt and think about it some more."
There was a hundred yard zip line that went from one end of the enclosure to the other on a low slant. As Aoife spoke, a huge hunk of meat was released from the higher end of the zip line. A sudden blur of cheetahs went bolting down the run, leaping for the meat, snagging chunks, and chasing their food with enthusiasm. Molly shrieked. "Is thatBambi?"
Aoife smiled briefly. "No, it's not Bambi. But it does drive home the idea that these are predators, doesn't it? Now, let me tell you a little more about the enrichment program here, and its importance in creating as natural an environment as is possible for not just our cheetahs, but all of the animals we're fighting to conserve here at the wildlife park."
CHAPTER 5
There was not supposed to be a kid in this group.
Aoife wanted to grind her teeth and yell. It was nearly impossible to pitch a conservation project to adults with a kid along. No matter how cute the kid was, and Mollywasa cutie. But reassuring her about Bambi was not the aura of confidence, competence and professionalism that Aoife needed to project when she was trying to convince investors to lay down hundreds of thousands of euros to increase the park's bottom line.
Worse, the kid's mother, Cindy Collins, was the lead investor they were pitching to. Aoife couldn't even ask somebody to distract the little girl without putting the mother off. Not that Collins, who had a tablet, an earbud, and a frown, seemed to be listening at all. She was just writing on her tablet.
Maybe Aoife could find out who all the shifters on the island were and have them line up and put on a show that would charm and impress the kid, who would then convince her mother to give the park all the money. Because by the time Aoife had walked them around to where a herd of bison were trying to itch their winter fur off on bristling rollers, it was clear thather audience was, in order of enthusiasm, Molly, Elliott, Mr. Mustache, and…then nobody, it seemed.
Ms. Collins had barely lifted her eyes from her tablet. The hippie girl had started out by watching Elliott like he was a snack, which, like, Aoife couldn't blame her for that. He was the snackiest man she'd ever seen.
He had, however, clearly indicated that he wasn’t interested in the hippie girl. Aoife almost felt sorry for her. It was a strange feeling, really. Aoife didn't think of herself as terribly confident around men, especially tall, fit,incrediblyhandsome ones with hair she wanted to sink her hands into and legs that went on for days. But there was something about Elliott Harkness that she was justsureof. He was, she felt, the peanut butter to her chocolate.
Which was a phrase she absolutely wouldn't have come up with if he wasn't also American. It wasn't that she didn't like peanut butter. It just wasn't really a thing in Ireland, whereas Aoife had the vague idea that everyone in America ate it for at least two meals a day.
Thepointwas, there was something about how Elliott looked at her that made her feel absolutely certain he would never look at any other woman in any way that meant anything at all.
That was obviously ridiculous. On the other hand, Hippie Girl was cute, and Elliott hadn't even looked twice at her, so maybe Aoife was on to something.
She just wished she could be on to it without a bouncy eleven-year-old and her uninterested, purse-string-holding mother. Molly was in the lead as they approached the bison enclosure, a huge, multi-acreage space that the bison were currently lined up on the far side of, waiting their turns at the enormous bristly rollers that made great scratching posts for the big animals.
"Ilovethem," Molly whispered in heart-stricken awe. "They're sobigandfluffy."
Aoife couldn't deny that. The bison were in fact big and fluffy. She launched into her speech about their territory, dietary needs, original range, current numbers—everything she was supposed to say to convince the money people that they should cough up the money. She wasgoodat this. Young, charming, pretty, Irish. The entire group was American today, which usually meant the Irish thing went a long way toward delighting them.
And yet Ms. Collins literally didn't look up from her tablet. Aoife's ears slowly heated up, as if getting frustrated would do any good at all. She cast a look toward Elliott, who was hanging on her every word and at least seemed genuinely interested. Maybe she could get him to repeat everything to Ms. Collins. If the investor could resist her youthful Irish charms, maybe she'd crumple before Elliott's brawny American ones.
No. It would be fine. Aoife was not going to rope the hot American lad she'd just met into helping her seduce money out of rich people.
Seducewas definitely the wrong word there, but she couldn't think of the right one at the moment. Finagle. She'd go withfinagle, because that was safer than thinking about handsome Elliott Harkness and seduction, for heaven's sake.
It was becoming increasingly clear that she should have told himnotto join her tour. She'd never had such a hard time keeping on track with her cheerful chat about the Shamrock Safari park animals. Fortunately, Mr. Mustache asked whether the bison were the same as American ones, and Aoife said, "No!" brightly, getting back on track as she explained the differences.
Hippie Girl interrupted with, "Oh my God," in a tight, horrified voice. Aoife, who had her back to the bison, looked overher shoulder where the other young woman was watching, and felt her stomach drop.
Molly had climbed the fence while her oblivious mother tapped away on her tablet. The bison were still on the far side of the field, waiting their turn at the scratching posts, and the tween was cheerfully, but idiotically, skipping her way toward them. Mr. Mustache said, "Jesus Christ," with enough alarm that Ms. Collins finally looked up from her tablet.
All the color drained from the woman's face. "Oh my God. Molly!Molly!"
"She'sfine," Aoife said sharply. "She's in no danger at all as long as she comes back now." It was absolutely true: the bison really had no particular interest in interacting with humans, and were a long way away. Molly just needed to turn around and comeback.
Which she showed no sign at all of doing.
Aoife, swearing under her breath, scrambled over the fence, and realized that beside her, Elliott also vaulted it effortlessly, saying, "Get her, I'll make sure they don't come toward you," to Aoife.
He was twice Molly's size, and moving at speed; it only took him a few seconds to put himself between the tweenager and the bison. He kept going, well out toward the middle of the field, and only slowed when he was probably halfway between the bison and where Aoife had now caught up with Molly. "Young woman, if you don't turn around and get your arse back across that fence you'll be banned from this and every other zoo and wildlife park in Europe. Nowmove it!"
