Leighton lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, hair a dark halo around her head. Awake.
“You okay?”
She let out a small sigh. “You snore.”
He froze. “Serious?”
“Loud and long,” she said dramatically, rubbing her forehead. “I thought it was Mufasa calling the pride.”
Covering his mouth, he tried to hide his laugh and failed. “I’m…I’m sorry. Why didn’t you wake me?”
Leighton stabbed a hand down the line of pillows. “We had an agreement not to cross the line.” She shrugged. “I felt bad that you slept on the floor last night and got beat up by Nasir. And the time Hassan jabbed his hand into your throat.”
Shamed that he’d been so easily taken off guard by Hassan, Owen stood and tugged the blanket back into place. “Look, I’m wide awake. I’ll sit on the couch, and you can grab an hour of uninterrupted sleep before we head out. First, let me get myself cleaned up.”
He ducked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth, changed clothes, and put on deodorant. Light off, he opened the door and stepped out. He stopped short at finding the bed empty. A quick scan located her shadowy form in the corner, where she was tugging her dark hair out from under a black T-shirt. Realizing she’d changed, he frowned. “Thought you were going to rest.”
“Too awake.” She plodded over to the bathroom and slipped inside, closing the door behind her.
Feeling responsible that they were both up before the sun, he sat on the couch. From the packet Rayan gave them, he reviewed the itinerary in detail. If he managed to get word to Omen, they could be extracted while out here in free-rein country.
Leighton emerged and wandered over, sitting beside him. “So, what’s today again? I slept since you told me…”
“We’re first spending three days here on the bank of the Mbagathi River that borders Nairobi National Park.”
“So, lions, tigers, and bears?”
He felt the barest hint of a smile again over her attempt at humor. “No bears, but definitely lions.”
“Oh my.”
That smile pushed past his carefully constructed barriers as he considered her for a long second. Her caramel gaze held his, ensnaring him.
Slowly, a knot formed between her brows.
“What?”
She wet her lips, then eyed the itinerary. “On one hand, I know I shouldn’t enjoy this—they’re holding me captive. I’m not here of my own volition. And we both agreed they might be trying to…get rid of me.”
“That’s not guaranteed.”
“Granted,” she conceded softly, “but it’s a possibility. Right?”
He couldn’t lie. “Yeah.”
“So, here I am on a dream-of-a-lifetime trip… This should be enjoyed—I love wildlife, but I sit here wondering how they’ll try to kill me.”
A profound protective instinct shot through him. “I’m not going to let that happen. That’s why I’m here.”
“You’re here because King Faruq hired you.”
“I’m here because my team manipulated circumstances in Paris to put me on the king’s radar.”
Leighton started. “What? Are you—wait.” She brushed the hair from her face, as if it got in the way of her thinking clearly. “So the robbery…”
“A setup.”
“So you’re not a hero…”
