It kind of bugged him to be buried back here and not able to see Leighton’s expressions or hear her thoughts as she experienced the safari.
“Oh, look!” Aliyah stretched in front of him to point out the zebras moving along at a slow clip.
Now directly in front of Owen, Prince Rayan leaned on the arm of his chair and said something to Leighton, who offered a small smile.
“So, where are you from?” Aliyah asked Owen with animation.
“America,” he stated flatly.
“How long do you think you will stay in Jeddah?” Aliyah asked as the Land Cruiser jounced over the Nairobi plains.
“As long as it takes,” Owen said, cursing himself since that cryptic answer might just beg more questions.
Leighton twitched in his direction but stopped herself when Rayan eased even further in.
Owen had a good mind to punch the guy in the head. Protecting her was his responsibility, right?
The driver banked off the beaten road and veered toward an outcropping where he parked in line behind the other two Cruisers. He’d never been so relieved when everyone started exiting the vehicles. It took too long for the others to clear out so he could too. When he finally had boots on ground, he saw the royals moving en masse toward the edge of the outcropping.
“This is where the giraffes come,” Aliyah said softly as she came up beside him. As far as Saudi princesses went, she was pretty—except for the craters in her cheeks. Dark hair flittered on the wind, free since Princess Daria had ruled no head coverings—for safety’s sake—while on the trip.
“You’ve been here before?” he asked, eyeballing Rayan, who walked, hands behind his back, next to Leighton. Attentive. Too attentive.
“Mm, once a year for the last decade,” Aliyah said. “I am used to it, but Daria loves it so much.” She jutted her jaw to Leighton. “Nouri seems to like it too.”
Yeah, but was it the wildlife she liked, or the prince’s attention?
How could Owen compete with that?
As if you have a chance with her.
“Do you have a favorite, Apollo?”
Favorite girl? He frowned down at the petite princess. “What?”
With a smile that exposed those pits again, she nodded beyond the group. “Elephants? Giraffes?”
“Oh.” He roughed a hand over his face. “I…lions, I guess.”
“You are not sure?” she teased with a soft laugh.
“I’m sure.” Gaze straying to Leighton in her gray kaftan, walking almost shoulder to shoulder with the prince, Owen clenched his jaw. Scanned the rest of the entourage and found that dude—Ghalib—with his cold, flat eyes boring into Leighton. The realization had Owen negotiating his way to her. Keeping his attention focused on the stocky guy, he paced her, hands at his side in readiness. He heard the soft padding of the princess as she trailed him.
“Here they come!” Daria exclaimed, moving to the edge of the outcropping.
“She had an argument with Hassan before coming,” Aliyah mused. “She wanted to bring food so the animals would come closer.”
“He wisely helped her see it was a bad idea,” Prince Rayan said as his gaze rammed into Owen and locked for a second in which he effectively conveyed his taut disapproval at Owen keeping a tight protective perimeter on Leighton.
Minutes later, the giraffes glided over to the royal troop.
As much as he wanted to act tough, the sight of the two adult giraffes keeping their calf between them stilled Owen. He knew his mom would love this.
“Giraffes are the tallest land mammals,” Kiango, the safari guide, said in a level voice as Hassan hovered protectively by his princess, who stretched her hand toward the giraffe. “Males grow as tall as five-point-five meters and can weigh as much as 1,900 kilograms. Females grow up to four-point-eight meters and weigh up to 1,180 kilograms.”
“They are so elegant,” Aliyah whispered.
“Like our fingerprints or DNA,” Kiango continued, “their spot patterns are unique to each one. No two are alike.”
