“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Leighton stepped through and found a small en suite…a bathroom with a toilet, two sinks, and a shower with a curtain. So, not as much privacy as before but more than she’d expected for being out in the middle of a safari.
In the main room, Apollo stood at the entrance to their tent, feet shoulder-width apart, arms at his side as he stared out at the royals, who were finding their accommodations. “They’re serving lunch,” he said, nodding to the large open tent. “Not unlike a mess tent in the field. Except here, they’re even offering mixed cocktails.”
“I’d kill for water.” Sweat slid down her spine as she stood next to him, both noticing the moment Rayan emerged from a tent and looked in the direction of theirs. Her gaze bounced to Apollo. “You okay?”
His jaw muscle jounced. “Not in the least.”
At the venom lacing his words, she started. “Why?”
His blue eyes swung in her direction. “You have to ask?”
No, no she supposed she did not. “Look, I get that it’s your job to protect me, but you can’t antagonize Rayan. He’s the one ally I have in that family.”
“He is not your ally.”
She had to concede the point. “Perhaps, but if anyone in that family will make my life a bit less terrifying, it will be him.” A breath shuddered through her, recalling the earlier thoughts she had—how she didn’t like Rayan’s touch. How Apollo had challenged him in the SUV. “I thought you were going to pounce on each other.”
“I hate the way he handles you, talks to you, orders you?—”
“Hey.” She touched his arm and peered up into those blue eyes. “We can’t do anything about my situation, so let’s just make the most of this.” Wondering if that sounded as Pollyanna to him as it did to her, she shrugged. “Come on. Let’s eat before it gets too hot.”
Apollo pushed open the door, then hesitated and side-eyed her. “Maybe just stay close to me.”
“Believe it or not, I try. They just…” She sighed.
He nodded, understanding the heaviness she felt. They crossed the small compound with its dirt paths, stone markers, and down to the food tent where delicious smells wafted out to them.
“Come, come eat!” A guide patted his chest. “Here, Chacha help you.” And with that he heaped two paper trays with skewers of meat and veggies. “You take moonlight drive later?” he asked with a big smile.
A moonlight ride? “That sounds amazing,” Leighton said, her soul weary and mouth watering from the kebabs she held.
“How do we do that?” Apollo asked, picking up napkins and two bottled waters.
“Meet at trucks at nine,” Chacha said, adding a grilled pineapple kebab to her plate with a generous scoop of rice. “Extra for pretty princess.”
Though she faltered at the title, Leighton chose to smile and keep moving. But when she turned to pick a table near the front, she saw Maaz, Nasir, and Ghalib headed toward them. Oh no. She had no energy for the men who treated her like a kebab and skewered her with their attitudes and demands. Pivoting, she hurried out the other side and headed up the path back to the shelter of their tent. She ducked inside and felt the squeeze of panic release with the shade and privacy.
Apollo let the door shut behind him. “Want me to close the curtains?”
Leighton settled in one of the leather chairs and considered his offer. From her position, she couldn’t see into the other tents and figured she was safe from prying eyes and heated looks. “It’s too hot. Let it breathe.”
He nodded and took the remaining chair. They ate without conversation this time, which was markedly different from the night with burgers when they’d laughed and enjoyed each other’s company.
Though she ate, she wondered why he was so unusually quiet. Very quiet. “Something wrong?”
He polished off the kebabs, then sipped water, squinting out at the Kenyan plains. “He’s crossing a line,” he finally managed.
She peered through the netting to see who he meant, but saw nobody out there. Her mind scrambled for purchase on his words. “Rayan.”
“And if I see him do it again, I can’t be responsible for my actions.”
Despite the heat sapping her strength and mood, she felt a ping of exhilaration at her core that he was going all alpha on her. Yet, at the same time, she feared that very persona. “Promise me you will not do anything.”
“Can’t do that,” he said, shaking his head and staring out at the others. “The king is paying me to protect you. That includes from his own family, if necessary.”
“He—it isn’t…” She swallowed a deep sigh. Certainty dug roots in her chest, telling her the prince’s attention wasn’t what it appeared. “I don’t think his attention has anything to do with romance.”
He slid a severe look in her direction. “Considering his treatment of you, pretty sure you’re right. But so help me if he touches you again.”
