Lisa Harris - Deadly Safari

BODYGUARD UNDER COVER

Texas Ranger Alex Markham lands an unusual assignment—protecting an ambassador’s daughter on the African savanna. No one—not even wildlife filmmaker Meghan Jordan herself—can know his true identity. The stubborn but beautiful Meghan is nothing like the bookish woman he expected…and neither is his unguarded reaction to her. For the cowboy-turned-cop, the routine babysitting assignment turns into a lifesaving mission when poachers target the unsuspecting beauty. But when Meghan learns the truth of Alex’s identity, can she forgive him before their chances for a future are destroyed forever?

“I don’t understand.”

Meghan pushed Replay to watch the video again, but seeing it the second time didn’t alleviate the horror she felt. Two people ripped through her cabana, digging through her desk, her closet….

“They took this video of themselves trashing your room,” Alex said. “They were here. This video doesn’t show enough to be able to identify them, but they were here last night.”

Which meant she had to question all the other things that had happened over the past couple of weeks. Had they really been nothing more than coincidences? She shook her head. None of this made any sense.

“Why would someone do this?” she asked.

“They sent the video to your father, to prove to him that they could get to him.”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry as cotton. “How do you know my father?”

Meghan looked at her Texas cowboy and rubbed her temples as a thousand questions swam through her head. One begged to be asked. “Who are you?”

LISA HARRIS

is a Christy Award finalist and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 from RT Book Reviews. She has more than twenty novels and novella collections in print. She and her family have spent over ten years living as missionaries in Africa, where she has homeschooled, led a women’s group and runs a nonprofit organization that works alongside their church-planting ministry. The ECHO Project works in southern Africa promoting Education, Compassion, Health and Opportunity, and is a way for her to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” (Proverbs 31: 8–9).

When she’s not working she loves hanging out with her family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography and heading into the African bush on safari. For more information about her books and life in Africa visit her website, at www.lisaharriswrites.com, or her blog, at www.myblogintheheartofafrica.blogspot.com. For more information about The ECHO Project, please visit www.theechoproject.org.

Deadly Safari

Lisa Harris

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

—Psalms 19:1–4

Dedicated to all the sweet children I’ve met, like Nathi, who’ve changed my life forever.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

DEAR READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

EXCERPT

ONE

Meghan Jordan lay on her stomach against the thick African grass, steadying the video camera between both hands. This morning, Kibibi, with her sandy-brown coat, had ventured briefly from her den only to disappear again. With her four lion cubs already over a month old, it wouldn’t be much longer until she introduced them to the pride. All they had to do now was wait.

Her second camera operator and editor, Kate, handed her a bottle of water from the Jeep’s cooler before crouching back down beside her. “What do you think?”

Meghan mulled over the question. “I think that creating a documentary is far less glamorous than I once thought.”

“Yeah, well, I figured that one out after the first week.”

Meghan smiled as she unscrewed the top of the water bottle, her eyes still on the entrance of the den where Kibibi had moved her cubs six days ago. Unglamorous, maybe, but completely worth it. Eight months as a part of the reserve’s conservation program had given them full access to the pride, including the recent birth of Kibibi’s four cubs. Statistics showed that 80 percent of all lion cubs died within the first two years, but so far, all of Kibibi’s cubs were thriving. They’d already been waiting five weeks to get footage of the lioness finally introducing her cubs to their father. She’d wait another five weeks if she had to.

“Samuel’s in the Jeep, keeping his eye on a female black rhino that just wandered into the area.”

Meghan frowned. “If she scares away Kibibi, that rhino and I are going to have words.”

“I’m more worried about the rhino’s bad temper and what it might think about us edging in on its territory.”

“Don’t worry. Their eyesight is worse than their temper.”

“So what does that mean exactly?” Kate asked. “That I hope it won’t be able to see me when I have to start running for the nearest tree?”

“As long as you’re actually able to scale one of these trees, you’ll be fine.”

“Right.” Kate eyed the nearest Jackalberry tree shooting fifty feet into the air, then shook her head. “I’m not sure which would be worse. Tangling with a rhino or being forced to scale that.”

Movement from the tall yellow grass drew Meghan’s attention back to the den. Kibibi emerged cautiously with one of the cubs in her mouth.

Bingo. “We’ve got them.”

Meghan lifted up her camera. Samuel was going to have to worry about the rhino for them. She had to focus on getting the last of the footage she needed.

Kibibi took a guarded step forward.

They were either moving on to another den or, as Meghan hoped, finally joining up with the rest of the pride. She held the camera steady, her adrenaline rushing again, while Kate snapped still footage. She could try to script the document down to the smallest detail, but in the end, the wildlife—especially the predators she was documenting—always had the final say. What happened next was up to Kibibi.

The lioness stopped a few feet from the den, her body alert to the scene around her. Something familiar stirred within Meghan. There was nothing like being out in the bush. The never-ending velds bordered by thick forests had become her second home. Here was the one place she’d found that made the stress of the real world disappear—like her other role as the daughter of a diplomat who had recently been appointed ambassador.

The subtle scent of cigarette smoke jerked her attention away from her work.

She nudged Kate with her elbow, her gaze still on Kibibi, who stood still at the top of the ridge outside the den. “Do you smell that?”