He glanced over at Havyn. “Which one is yours? I’ll grab it for you.”
She pointed to the carry-on by her side. “This is all I brought.”
Rayne smirked derisively and let her glittery-eye-shadow-enhanced gaze travel from the top of Havyn’s head to the toes of her shoes and up again. Offering a pity-filled sneer and a toss of her golden curls, she turned her back without another word.
Havyn felt heat crawl up her neck and into her totally makeupless cheeks. A quick glance confirmed Levi had noticed. Drat.
Pastor Chad stepped into the middle of the group. “Alright. Everyone have their luggage? Our van and driver are waiting in the parking lot.”
They all murmured agreement, and Havyn grabbed the handle of her rolling case as the team set out, burdened down with their bags, to follow Pastor Chad to the van. Rayne sashayed after the group with only her Coach bag over one shoulder. Havyn couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for Levi as he eyed the mound of suitcases Rayne left behind. A rolling luggage cart no one had returned to the locks lay just to her left. She dropped her bag on it and rolled it toward his pile with a peace-offering smile.
He chuckled as he started hefting bags onto the cart. “If there’s one thing that can be said about Rayne, it’s that she doesn’t travel light.”
By the time they reached the van and got all the bags strapped to the top, Havyn was already thoroughly enamored with the country.
Just in front of the airport a gorgeous garden bloomed with exotic plants of all kinds. Crimson bougainvillea cascaded in colorful rivulets, intermixed with huge elephant ears and bird of paradise. The sun was setting, and the garden lights had already come on. A line of flagpoles bordered the garden sporting flags from several different countries around the world, the United States among them.
A man with a huge smile met them on the sidewalk out front and in broken English let them know he was their driver. He literally ran from the pile of luggage to the van and back, handing suitcases up to a friend, who tied down the bags with a not-so-gentle fervor. The men laughed and chattered with each other as they tossed, crammed, and strapped the suitcases like they were of no more importance than pillows. Something in one of Rayne’s soft-sided bags went crunch as the man on top of the van attempted to shove it into a space half its size. Levi pulled a face and met Havyn’s gaze over the top of the bag he was holding, amusement dancing in his expression.
Havyn looked away to avoid the laughter that wanted to bubble forth. She hoped whatever had just crunched wasn’t too important to Rayne, who stood well removed from the group with her arms wrapped around herself and didn’t seem to notice what had just happened. Havyn’s conscience pricked her. Rayne looked lost and forlorn.
Havyn strode to the woman’s side and gestured toward the lamplit garden. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Their driver opened the sliding door to the van at that moment, and Rayne made a beeline for the vehicle as if her life depended on it. “Yes, beautiful,” she tossed over her shoulder with a wave of her wrist that indicated she didn’t really care.
By the time Havyn recovered from being so summarily snubbed by the actress, everyone else except Levi had piled in. The van was a nine-passenger, but with the driver, there were ten people who needed seats. John and Sally Portman, Chelsea, and Rayne already looked crowded on the back bench made for four. Pastor Chad sat up front next to the driver, and that left the meager space on the closest bench, where Jeremy Gates and Grady Williams already sat, for her and Levi.
With a sigh of resignation she hoisted herself in and scooted as close to Jeremy as she had to in order to make room for Levi, which was much too close for her liking.
She’d been doing her best to avoid Jeremy since the trip began. He was a nice enough guy, but she wasn’t interested in him in the way he constantly made it clear he wanted her to be.
Jeremy grinned at her as she slid up next to him. “Boy, we’re all packed in here like matchbox cars in a case, huh?”
Havyn tipped him a nod but had to suppress a smirk. Once, when she’d agreed to the one date they’d been on, she’d made the mistake of pretending she was interested in his vintage matchbox car collection. And ever since, he talked to her like she was a fellow enthusiast. She offered what she hoped was a kind but unflirtatious smile. “Yeah, something like that.”
She felt like anything but a matchbox car as Levi slid onto the seat, the length of his leg and side plastered up against hers. Her heart was beating hard enough that she pulled in a calming breath and forced herself to blow it out between pursed lips. There was nowhere for her hands to go. If she relaxed, her arms were brushing up against both men. She hunched forward a little and tucked her hands between her legs to minimize as much contact as possible.
Levi pushed the door shut and then angled his body so his arm stretched along the back of the seat, making a tiny bit more room for each of them, but making her feel even more tense. These quarters were far too intimate. Especially with the scent of Levi’s wonderful cologne tugging at her. And Jeremy’s eau de two-day flight repelling her.
“How far to the house where we are staying?” she asked their driver, then cringed inwardly at the desperation in her tone.
“Not far. Not far,” he assured in heavily accented English. But didn’t offer a specific time frame.
When twenty minutes had gone by, and they’d driven all the way through the town of Lilongwe and out the other side, even Pastor Chad kept glancing from the deep darkness outside the windows to the driver and back. “How much farther?” he finally pressed the man.
“Dedza…” The man rattled off something in Chichewa, the local language. The only words Havyn understood were “one hundred twenty kilometers” and “mission.” She glanced over at Levi.
His eyebrows went up. “Guess we better get comfortable.”
Rayne cursed, raising a gasp from Sally Portman. “Sorry,” Rayne murmured.
Even though Rayne didn’t sound all that sorry, Havyn tossed her a forgiving smile and gave her a thumbs-up. Mrs. Portman could come across as pretty condescending sometimes. And there was no need to ostracize Rayne. She already seemed a little sad or scared, or…maybe just snobby. With a guilty squinch of her nose, Havyn gave herself a mental smack. No, not snobby. After all, Rayne wouldn’t be on a building trip to the middle of Africa if there wasn’t some compassion in her, right? Or was she only here to promote her upcoming movie as well?
Rayne leaned forward and whispered a comment obviously only meant for Levi to hear. But since the ear she was whispering into was only inches from Havyn’s own, she clearly heard Rayne’s concern.
“You don’t think he’s taking us out into the wilderness to kidnap us, do you? After all, these heathens could get a mint from Whetstone Media for either one of us. And the driver did look at me funny when I climbed in the van.”
Havyn cringed inwardly. So much for compassion. The man probably knew he’d broken something in her suitcase and was trying to assess how much trouble he might be in.
Havyn felt more than heard the chuckle that rippled through Levi. He spoke over his shoulder in a conspiratorial rasp. “I don’t know, Rayne, but let’s keep our guard up just to be on the safe side. If they try and take us, we’ll beat them off with one of your suitcases.”
Havyn’s elbow moved of its own accord to jab him in the ribs, and his free hand shot out and grasped her arm as the white expanse of his teeth flashed in the darkness.
Rayne blew a huff of frustration. “You never take anything I say seriously!” She flopped back against her seat.
“Ow,” Chelsea grunted. “Watch the elbows there, Rayne, my friend.”
“Sorry,” Rayne muttered once more.
When Levi maintained his grip on Havyn’s arm and even let his thumb stroke across the tender skin at the hollow of her elbow, she realized her mistake. She clenched her jaw and subtly extracted her arm from his grasp, returning her palms to between her knees. She’d forgotten what a flirt he
was. And even with his girlfriend sitting on the bench directly behind them!
She did her best to ignore him and pretend she was studying the scenery flashing by outside the windows of the van. But in reality it was so dark she couldn’t see anything. And the fact that she hadn’t slept for most of the two-and-a-half-day transatlantic flight wasn’t helping her concentration. Her eyes kept dropping shut as sleep overtook her, only to be jolted awake each time her head nodded off to one side.
Jeremy finally patted his shoulder. “Rest. We’ll wake you up when we get there. It’s not like you are going to miss any sights.”
Despite not wanting to give the man the wrong impression, his invitation was all the prodding she needed. But even as she closed her eyes and gave in to the sheer exhaustion tugging at her, it wasn’t Jeremy’s shoulder beneath her cheek prickling her skin with awareness, but the sinewy length of arm stretched along the seat that grazed the top of her head.
The next morning when she woke up, it took her a moment to realize where she was. She scrubbed a hand over her eyes and searched her memory.
The evening before, when the van had left the relative smoothness of pavement for a rutted dirt track the driver generously called a road, she’d jolted awake.
They’d spent twenty minutes driving along washboard ruts at a speed that would have made Dale Earnhardt jealous, and more than once Havyn had had to give up her stoic hands-clasped-between-her-knees position and clutch at whatever was available to keep herself from ending up in a heap on the van’s floorboards.
Now, as she stared through the mosquito netting at the water-stained ceiling in the room she and Chelsea were sharing, she felt her face heat at a memory. When the washboard road had awoken her last night, she’d been snuggled into the crook of Levi’s arm like she had every right to be there. And he’d only grinned at her when she gasped and shoved herself upright.
The house they were all staying in used to be the main house of a mission station on a Bible school property. But when the Bible school had moved to Lilongwe, the capital city, this property had been reserved as housing for people doing outreach to the villages in the area.
The orphanage where they would build the school was apparently just a few miles from here across a valley they hadn’t been able to see the night before.
The house had four bedrooms and a large multipurpose room. The Portmans had taken the bedroom just off the living room of the house. The other three bedrooms were located off a hallway that stretched the length of the stucco rambler. Pastor Chad had taken the smallest room, and Rayne had claimed the biggest one with the dressing area for herself. That left Chelsea and Havyn to share the last bedroom toward the back of the house, and the three remaining guys to make do with the multipurpose room.
Personally, Havyn couldn’t have been happier. She seriously hadn’t been looking forward to sharing a room with Rayne for two weeks, even though she was determined to make a friend of the woman.
The scent of fresh-brewed coffee tantalized, and Havyn untucked the mosquito netting and crawled out of bed. Dressing quickly in clean jeans and one of her favorite Ts, she tugged her brush through her hair and decided to leave the ball cap off in favor of a quick braid today.
She found her way to the kitchen and located a mug in the third cupboard she opened. Fresh bread dough mushroomed above the edges of a couple loaf pans on the counter. Thank the Lord someone else must be cooking for them. Her stomach grumbled impatiently. She was starving already, but she forced herself not to snoop for food. Pouring herself a cup of the heavenly-scented brew, she took her cup back to the living room. A large picture window took up nearly the width of the front wall. One glimpse of the view had her pushing out the door onto the cement patio at the front of the house. She leaned against a pole at the corner of the verandah and took in the scenery and sounds as she nursed the coffee.
The crimson bougainvillea planted to one side had grown up over the roof and now cascaded in rivulets off the perimeter, creating a dark pink canopy fringe around the patio. Birds twittered happily, and every now and then one darted near to sip from a succulent bloom. They had long curved beaks and iridescent dark green heads. Some of them also had a bright crimson splash across their tiny chests. She wondered what they were? They were the size of a hummingbird but looked a little different.
A large lawn, lush and green, stretched from the patio down a slope to a hibiscus hedge ripe with red blossoms the size of her hand.
The valley the driver had mentioned the night before stretched out beyond the hedge, with purple mountains shrouded in mist signifying its end against the far edge of the skyline.
Off to her right, past an acacia tree, spirals of smoke were the first thing to draw her attention to the village nestled in the emerald heart of the valley.
Levi stumbled out the doorway, his hair protruding in tufts from his head. He scrubbed his hands over his face and eyed her coffee mug with a tinge of envy before glancing up to meet her amused gaze.
He grimaced and shoved his fingers through his hair. “I must be a sight, huh?”
She smiled and protruded her lower lip. “You look like you slept well.”
His gaze dropped to her cup once more.
This time she chuckled and tucked the cup closer with a deliberate quirk of her brow. “And like you want my coffee.”
He grinned. “The kitchen is”—he pointed in the correct direction—“that way?”
She nodded. “Cups are in the cupboard to the right of the sink.”
He shuffled into the house. “I’ll be back to enjoy that amazing view with you in a minute.”
After only a moment he returned, accompanied by a steamy cup of fragrant creamed brew.
“There’s a lady in there about this high”—he held up one hand at chest height—“cooking up a storm. Smells wonderful. She said breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes and that she’s going to be our cook for the time we are here. The local missions team we’ll be working with hired her.”
“Wonder where she was when I went through? I must have just missed her.”
He tipped his head. “She was scrubbing eggs in the sink. She might have been out collecting them. I heard a rooster earlier this morning.”
“Well, I’m just glad no one will have to eat anything I cook while we’re here.”
He grinned at her over his mug. “Still a terrible cook after all these years, huh?”
Her face heated at the memory of the disaster she and Levi had cooked up for their final exam during home ec. their junior year of high school. Their simple spaghetti meal with a dessert of chocolate cake had nearly caused them to fail the class. “Well, I don’t cook my spaghetti noodles on high anymore, and I generally remember to put the sugar in my cakes now.”
He laughed, but it was a laugh full of memory and heartache that died away quickly. His face turned serious. He sipped his coffee, studying her from smoky blue eyes over the rim of his mug.
She looked down and took a sip of her own, hoping to drown the butterflies that had suddenly come to life in her stomach.
“Havyn?” He spoke her name so low she barely heard it. But the way he said it sent a tremor coursing through her and snapped her attention back to his face.
His gaze holding her captive, he sauntered closer. And closer. He stopped directly in front of her, looking down into her face.
She held her breath, wishing he didn’t still have such immobilizing power over her and yet betrayed by the fact that she didn’t want to be anywhere else at that precise moment.
He gripped his coffee mug in one hand, and with the other he stroked a caress across her forehead and down one cheek. He offered a very soft smile. “I made a decision last night…”
Willing her knees not to give out, she settled herself more firmly against the pole and waited for him to go on, but when he didn’t, she finally offered a hoarse “You did?”
“Mmmhmm.” He leaned one forearm on the post above her head. “When you fell aslee
p and snuggled into my side all warm and soft…”
Heat blazed through her cheeks. “I didn’t—”
“Havyn.” He silenced her with that one word. “I made the decision that if I was a fool to walk away from you once—and I was—I’d be an even bigger fool to walk away from you a second time.”
A frown puckered her brow as a trace of anger started in the middle of her chest. She’d waited for years. Sure, he’d called at first, but she’d still been so angry. And then he’d quit calling. She swallowed hard to avoid the memories that dredged up. “And what if I won’t have you?”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but a flash of hurt lit his gaze. “Are you saying you won’t?”
She looked away from him, lifting her chin as she studied the valley below. By rights she ought to tell him she wouldn’t have him if he was the last man standing. But drat if with every fiber of her body she didn’t want to throw her arms around the man’s neck and pledge her undying love. What was it with her loving men who couldn’t seem to stay committed to her?
After a long moment he sighed. “That’s a chance I’m willing to take. Besides…” He grinned. “You won’t be able to resist my charm.”
She glowered at him and poked one finger into the middle of his chest. “You think you can just walk back into my life after four years, sprinkle around a few smiles and a few compliments, and we’ll just pick up where we left off as if nothing happened? Like I’ve just been waiting around for you to come to your senses and come back to me? If that’s the charm you think wields such power, you better think again!”
“I didn’t say that.” He paced across the patio, then turned to face her, a miserable expression in the depths of his eyes. “The charm comment was a joke. But not the rest of it. I’ve missed you, Havyn. I have two weeks’ vacation after this trip, and I’d already planned to…look you up.”
Sorrow snagged at her heart. If only she could just turn a switch and trust him with her heart again. But life wasn’t that easy. And then there was Rayne… “What about Rayne?”
My Blue Havyn (Hearts of Hollywood - Christian Romance Novellas) Page 3
