Safari Moon

by Rogue Phoenix Press

  Nyssa thought she’d faint, knew she wanted to throw the ring at Solo. It will all work out. Oh, yeah. If my friends at the bike shop know then Robert is bound to find out.

  “When will they be here?” Proud of herself, Nyssa got the question out without one stutter. Throwing the ring at Solo began to take on a unique symbolism. If Candace and April did show up expecting a wedding, what then?

  She was getting nauseous again.

  “Excuse me. I need to be alone for awhile.” She ran to the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her. Once there she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to throw herself on the bed and cry herself to sleep or toss her clothes in her bag so she could leave. Under these circumstances, the ten mile hike to the trading post didn’t seem too long.

  Instead, she rummaged through her dresser in search of a sleep shirt and decided that after a few hours with her eyes closed everything would be back to normal. She was struggling with the buttons on the shirt as Solo entered the room. Slipping in quietly, he closed the door then rested his back against it. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know this is all happening too fast, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  “You’ve ruined my life.”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t mean to. Life’s not good for me either right now. Can you honestly think I like this? I should have known the Colonel wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw us married. But we can get an annulment as soon as grandmother’s better. Call Robert. Tell him. If the guy is as perfect as you claim he is, he’ll understand.”

  Nyssa climbed into bed then pounded the pillows a couple of times, thinking of them as the Colonel’s and Solo’s heads respectively. When she was quite done, she turned to him with the most furious scowl she could summon.

  “He’ll understand. Is that all you can say?”

  Solo was beside the bed in one swift stride and before she could move, he knelt so they were eye level. She didn’t want to look at him, or be so close to him. Her will-power was not strong enough to withstand him.

  “Would it really be so bad--pretending to be my wife?”

  His voice dropped to a near whisper, his eyes and mouth assuming the expression that did her in every time. He manipulated her again and hadn’t she vowed only a few days ago she wouldn’t fall prey to his charm? Hadn’t she?

  “We’ll get through the day and no one will know the difference. When grandma feels better, we’ll tell them the story over a few beers and laugh. They’ll think you’re a saint for your part in this adventure, and before you know we’ll go on with our lives just as we’ve planned. You’ll marry old Robert and he’ll keep you barefoot and pregnant.”

  Was he ever wrong? She’d never be the same after they married. But what good would it do her if she was his wife when he didn’t love her?

  Over the years, she’d watched every woman Solo had ever known lust after him. It was all part of the package but she’d gone one step too far. She lusted after him also. And now, after Solo kissed her and held her, she didn’t think she could marry Robert.

  “I’m no saint, Solo St. John.”

  “By this time tomorrow you will be.”

  Nyssa covered her head with quilts, burrowing into the pillows she wanted to toss at him. How could he make jokes when she was worried sick and a basket-case to boot?

  “Come on, Nyssa. Don’t quit on me now.”

  “I won’t.” She knew her words were muffled, but she also knew he understood when she heard his long relieved sigh.

  “I know it won’t be easy but we’ll get through this. Trust me.”

  “We’ve made a mess so far,” she said, her words garbled by the pillows.

  “Tomorrow will be different. After that we’ll be here together. Just the two of us and we can finish the research in peace and quiet.”

  He pulled the covers off her face then kissed her forehead. A brotherly kiss but she felt the jolt all the way to the pit of her stomach. It took all the control she had not to reach behind his neck and pull him closer.

  “Just the two of us,” he said.

  Alone and married.

  ***

  Not even sleep could slow the pound--pound--pound of her heart or the horrible sense of doom that settled around her. She punched at the pillows a couple more times then rolled over and hugged one to her chest.

  How had her resolve withered and died in so short a time? No matter how many times she swore off Solo, he found a way back to her heart. She was a wimp, a certifiable weak-kneed wimp.

  When she looked at Solo, her heart pounded madly. When she heard his voice, her breath caught in her throat and when he touched her she melted. Damn, damn and double damn.

  The phone by her bed rang incessantly. Let it ring. It rang and the noise seemed to grow louder and louder, each blare more persistent than the first. No one answered.

  “Hello?” Her voice was shaky, whisper thin and hovered near the edge. It didn’t sound like her voice yet it was. She only wanted whoever intruded on her sleep and her nightmares to go away.

  “Nyssa?”

  Robert!

  “What?” One second passed before she sat up, wide awake. Her heart raced madly. “What do you want?”

  “Do I have to want something?” he asked.

  “No.” Her hand trembled on the receiver. “Look, Robert. I was asleep. It’s been a long night and.”

  “You can’t spare a minute?”

  His voice had taken on a hard edge in a tone that implied so much more than the question.

  “I’m exhausted.” She rose from the bed. The day was depressing, gray clouds above firmly blanketing the sun and its warmth. A shiver started up her spine and she hugged herself but it did no good. Her robe was thrown across a chair so she reached for it. The phone cord stretched taut, and she muttered an expletive when she couldn’t reach far enough.

  “Nyssa. What’s wrong? Do you have something to tell me?” She could hear him tap--tap--tap, a pencil or a pen. It droned on, hammering in the same rhythm as the headache she suddenly acquired.

  “No.”

  “No?” Now he sounded angry. Perfect Robert didn’t get angry because he was always in control, and she’d never heard Robert’s voice escalate to emotion let alone anger.

  “Umm.” She cleared her throat. He couldn’t know the truth, could he? For one long horrible moment she thought Solo might have told him. But she knew Solo. He would never betray her yet she almost wished he had.

  “Nyssa. I saw the picture.” His voice enunciated each word with staccato precision.

  “What picture?”

  “Come on Nyssa. Don’t play dumb. The one in the tabloid. The one that features on the front page my fiancée kissing the wildlife photographer, the billionaire grandson of the wealthy newspaper magnate.”

  “Oh, that one.”

  “Tell me the truth, Nyssa. Is that really you or did my imagination run away with my mind? The entire city is talking about Solo’s new playmate, and you’ve made me the butt of a lot of jokes. Do you know what the caption reads? Do you?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “It says you’re his wife!”

  “I saw a tabloid run a picture of a giant condor that flew off with a 747 too.” She wasn’t about to admit the truth, and he shouldn’t jump to such outrageous conclusions without learning the facts first.

  “It’s true, isn’t it? You went to Alaska for a honeymoon, not research. My God, Nyssa, couldn’t you tell me? I know you and that wild man have been friends for a long time, but Nyssa this is beyond the imagination. I feel like my world has been turned upside down.”

  “No. We’re not married.”

  “Then why.”

  “I--as to why, the story is too long.”

  “Too long to be told over the phone?”

  Of course, pages too long. But the gossip was going to be true tomorrow. “Yes.”

  She gripped the telephone receiver harder, all ready with denials he’d believe. At least she hoped he
’d believe them because the alternative was far worse.

  “I’ll have a ticket in my hand this afternoon. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “No!”

  “Nyssa whatever is wrong with you, I want to help. Clearly you’re in over your head and something is bothering you. Your voice is shaky and at times you can barely get out a whisper. I’m your fiancé for heaven’s sake.”

  One of two. Nyssa collapsed onto the overstuffed chair in the bedroom with the receiver still glued to her ear. She was panting now as she switched the phone to the other ear.

  “No. You don’t need to come here. I’m overworked as usual and not getting enough sleep--as usual. You’ll only make things worse if you come. Listen, call me back in a week or two and maybe we’ll be done and you can come for a short visit.”

  “You’re sure nothing is wrong.”

  “No. Yes!”

  “Which is it, Nyssa. I will not hang up this phone until I’m sure you’re okay.” The hard edge to his voice vanished.

  She was so afraid she’d hurt Robert but this wedding to Solo, this fake wedding, was so important to Sarah’s health.

  “Like I told you, I’m on edge. You woke me from a sound sleep and accused me of the craziest things.”

  “Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to upset you but I had to hear your version. All the gossip revolved around us, around you and Solo. I don’t care what people say, but I would like to know the truth and if it concerns us I want to hear the news from you. If the article isn’t true, I can look them all in the eye and tell them they’re liars.”

  “No. Don’t do that please. Just ignore them. Don’t say anything. Robert, please. For me, stay out of this. I mean--don’t say anything to anyone.”

  After that speech, she had to give him a clue. This wasn’t at all fair to him and she’d known that picture would surface but she’d forgotten about it.

  As she tried to think fast and come up with a plausible story, she could only say, “I’ll explain everything when I get home.” That was horrible. Yet she could not hang up until she had his word. “You promise you won’t show up on my doorstep.”

  “I don’t like this, Nyssa, but if you insist.”

  “I do.” Why did she say that? Anything but that. She sounded absolutely stupid.

  “All right. I promise. But if I see or hear anything else, I’ll be in Alaska and there is nothing that can stop me.”

  “Even this promise?” she asked.

  “Especially the promise.”

  “I’ll tell you all about the trip after I get back. It’s so confusing.”

  “I love you, Nyssa. And I’ll let you go back to sleep. But before you do I want a promise from you.”

  “Ok.”

  “I want you to call me if you need me or if anything goes wrong.”

  “Promise.”

  “Good girl.”

  “Bye.”

  Strange. Robert had never met Solo but she could tell he didn’t like him. Solo was too flamboyant, too roguish. Solo led life the way he wanted to, and unlike Robert he followed his heart. Until now. Now she saw a different side to Solo. Not that he hadn’t cared about people before it was just that he’d never had to think of anyone else. Now he had his grandmother to worry over and make happy.

  It frightened her. When they split up, the annulment would devastate Sarah more than anything else ever could. Perhaps they were going about this all wrong.

  Perhaps she was.

  She’d followed him on this reckless adventure, looking for a fulfillment she could never have--the passion, the way of life that was Solo St. John. Robert offered her a steady, permanent kind of happiness. Over the last few days she’d learned something important about her relationship with Robert.

  Robert couldn’t make her happy.

  But she wanted a challenge and she wanted passion. Was it so wrong of her to submit this once to everything she’d desired for ten years now?

  Chapter Eight

  “If there aren’t any hovering helicopters here tomorrow, he’s pulled off the coup of the century,” Candace said dryly. “The Colonel bribed everyone we came in contact with to stay silent, tried to bribe us too but we refused.”

  Nyssa gaped openly at her friends who spoke in hushed tones. They sat cross-legged on the bed, the door closed. Sure enough, her two bicycle buddies arrived that afternoon on the same small runway in the middle of nowhere. They traveled all the way to Alaska to offer moral support and bring gifts.

  “I don’t think Robert knows,” April said, over a catalog of Greek restaurants she studied for the next bicycle tour.

  Nyssa flinched. “Robert doesn’t know because this isn’t a real wedding.”

  “What?”

  Her two best friends were wide eyed with astonishment. Juicy gossip, the society coup of the century, and the wedding wasn’t a real wedding. “Solo and I decided we should pretend. Oh, we’ll get married and everything but as soon as Sarah is well, we’ll file for an annulment. Solo thinks his grandmother needs a reason to get better, a reason to live. She’s wanted him to marry and settle down for the longest time.”

  “Everything?” April overlooked the reason for the marriage. “The wedding night and the honeymoon too?”

  Nyssa sent her a furious scowl. “You know what I mean. It’s a marriage of convenience.”

  “Oh, I understand.” April winked at them and turned a page of the brochure she held.

  “If any of the rumors about Solo St. John are true, you won’t have grounds for an annulment,” Candace said. “He’s supposed to be a real charmer, that one.”

  Nyssa scowled again. Yeah, he did charm the socks right off her, but she wouldn’t admit how easily to these two.

  “Sarah doesn’t look sick.” April turned a page. “Hold it. This is the one. Look at this bed and breakfast--perfection, has old world charm and running water too.”

  “You’re right. Sarah doesn’t look sick but she did a few days ago and April, would you please put the catalog away.”

  Nyssa brushed their comments to the back of her mind. What they said was true but Sarah wasn’t one to seek sympathy and Sarah had been sick. Two weeks in the hospital--the Colonel didn’t divulge why but the malady sapped the strength right out of Sarah.

  “Did you know your brother will arrive tomorrow morning?” Candace asked.

  Horror swept through Nyssa--shock, too. “My brother?”

  Both friends nodded solemnly. “Someone has to give the bride away. Your brother was the logical choice.”

  The event was far more real than she wanted to acknowledge. Solo had promised. No one was to know and now her brother would be here.

  No, the wedding was a sham. She couldn’t marry Solo in front of her friends and family. A slow torture wasn’t too much for Solo St. John. Solo promised. He told her he’d take care of everything.

  Sarah knocked first but walked into the room before the girls could reply, a long ivory dress held aloft, a wedding dress.