A Delicious Mistake (12 page)

But
Luke Hutton hadn’t been just a friend or even just another ranger. His family
owned one of the game farms in the Serengeti National Park. That he—a rich
white man—had been killed in such a brutal way, was bound to raise a lot of
dust. It really was no wonder the police were in such a frenzy to find a
scapegoat. There was no telling what waited for him once he finally returned to
civilization. But at the very least this brief exile would help prepare him
mentally for whatever he would have to face.

One
thing was certain, however. He would find a way to make friends again someday
with Sarah. He couldn’t bear the prospect of having her think the worst of him
forever. He wanted to get to that point, he
needed
to.

Night
after night, Benjamin’s mind was invaded by thoughts of Sarah. She had pierced
through his shell so quickly and easily…it was disconcerting. She hadn’t even
done anything to entice him, but he had felt a pull toward her all the same.
Perhaps this was what his people spoke of when they said everyone was linked to
one person from a previous life, so that when you met them in this life you
felt the tug of the old connection that had bonded you together before.
Benjamin was never one to give much credit to such stories, but still he
couldn’t stop thinking about it.

As
he retreated deeper and deeper to the wildest reaches of the Park, he let the
magic of the Serengeti start to heal his heart. As often as he could, he made
his way to one of the many outposts that lay scattered around this hauntingly
beautiful region. He avoided any sign of tourists and the anti-poaching
frontiers manned by a scant handful of wardens, and the odd lone nomad. But he
never felt like he was alone. Not with the gazelle, the lion, the hippo, the
giraffe, the zebra, and all the other creatures of the wilderness around to
share this immensity with him.

On
the third morning, Benjamin awoke with a certainty in his mind—it was time to
go back. The large orange ball of the sun cast its early morning rays on the
land, reaching out with golden fingers to spread light across the mist-shrouded
grasslands. Here and there, the occasional acacia tree cast a long shadow. If
Benjamin listened he could hear the lions greeting the new day with their
morning roars. In the distance, large herds of wildebeest roamed, taking their
time to munch the green blades of tender grass.

The
beauty and changeless revival of nature had cleared his mind. Out here, it was
hard to imagine any ugliness or anger or pain. Benjamin bowed his head and
offered prayers for the spirit of his best friend. He knew that Luke was now
flying with the wind that blew through the never-ending grasslands. Never would
his brother know harm or suffering again. It was Benjamin’s belief that Luke
rested within a kind of peace the ugly part of the world could never take away.

When
Benjamin lifted his head again, he pulled in a deep breath. He knew he had
become a much more confident man. A much calmer man. A man who had come to
terms—or had begun to—with the terrible loss that had forever left its mark on
him. Leaving the safety of his compound at the Hutton Game Farm to spend time
in the open wilderness had helped put things in perspective. This tragedy that
had befallen them all, he could turn it around. There
had
to have been a
reason for what had happened, and that reason surely could not be to bring
enmity between Benjamin and Luke’s family. It could not be about raising a bar
that would remain forever between him and Luke’s sister, Sarah. In his heart,
she would always hold a special place, a place he reserved for those with whom
he shared a kinship. Luke had been in that place, too. But now he was gone.
Benjamin would make sure to do his very best in order to protect Luke’s sister
in any way he could. He would watch out for Sarah as Luke would have done, even
if she hadn’t asked him to.

Whatever
feelings of desire he may have for her, they would have to be tucked away—permanently.
He would honor her wishes if she wanted no part of him, but he would stand a
friend to her. He could offer her that much.

* * *

               
The news of Benjamin’s disappearance didn’t sit well with Sarah. Everyone kept
telling her he wouldn’t run away, but the raw fact was that he had vanished
right after she had confronted him. Her very first conversation, if one could
call it that, with him hadn’t gone the way she had expected, either. She had
planned to be reasonable, to be just and level-headed. Instead, emotions had
bubbled up inside of her and burst out—grief had mixed with the resentment that
Benjamin was still alive. And it hadn’t helped anything that her attraction to
the man had left her so angry at herself that she’d had to lash out at
something—at someone—because she simply could not be attracted to a possible
murderer.

               
If only she hadn’t been so busy ogling the man, maybe she could have made more
sense and gotten the answers she wanted. Instead, she’d seen Benjamin shut down
as soon as she’d started to attack him. She’d watched his face, hoping to
surprise a reaction—instead she’d put u a wall between them. She had meant to
make him realize that, although deep down she didn’t really want to believe it,
it was unfortunately extremely easy to doubt his innocence. She had let the
hurt and pain welling up inside her take control. He’d barely even bothered to
defend himself. What was
that
about? Did he want her to think him
guilty?

               
She didn’t know—and she didn’t get much more information from anyone she spoke
to.

               
The other rangers all seemed to like Benjamin, but they also wouldn’t say much
to her. They spoke of the police coming, of how no one had seen Benjamin and
Luke return to the compound the way that Benjamin said they did. They didn’t
seem to want to look her in the eye and after talking to her they also seemed
to want to avoid her completely. She found it frustrating and painful. This
wasn’t a homecoming. It was becoming an ordeal.

She
hadn’t thrown herself into this without a clue. She knew there were very few
leads. And, understandably, a lot of uproar surrounded the case, given the
brutality of the murder and the fact that the victim had been a British expat.
Sarah didn’t care much for the publicity, but if it helped the furtherance of
justice for her brother, then she was all for it.

Her
searching for evidence of some kind helped to ensure that her days were full
and busy, but the nights were an entirely different matter. The vast grass
plains of the Serengeti were breathtaking beneath the yellow-white orb of the
full moon, but once darkness really fell, you could feel like you were the only
person in the world. She missed her family, and thoughts of her beloved Luke
were never far. She went from regretting her encounter with Benjamin—she must
have driven him off—to wishing he would come back so she could yell at him
again.

What
was happening to her? Why did she feel so torn, like one side of her was
blatting the other? Her heart kept telling her to give Benjamin the benefit of
the doubt—to find him and apologize. Maybe they should work together to find
Luke’s killer? But her head begged her to realize that he could so easily be a
fraud. He might say he lived within his means, but words such as that could be
easy. She lacked hard facts and Benjamin hadn’t been as open as he could have
been. She needed proof, not feelings. Still, it wasn’t going to get her
anywhere to go charging at him like an enraged bull. Once he came back, she wouldn’t
blunder as she had done before. His absence gave her the chance to shepherd her
thoughts toward one single element of purpose. She would confront him again,
and this time she would be calm and logical and would make a better case for
why he needed to give her a full accounting of that day.

Now,
if only she could get to sleep without thinking of him.

She
thought of his broad shoulders, of his lean body, and his strong hands on her.

Memories
of her meeting him wove into illicit images of their entwined bodies being lost
in fevered passion. She tried to rein in her wayward urges, but when she
started to drift into sleep her body slipped from her control and began to
tingle again as it had when he’d touched her. This was not helping her stick to
her plan. Here was one more thing that Sarah just couldn’t wrap her mind
around—why did his absence leave a feeling of loss? Where did this
insurmountable ache come from?

But
the dreams were the worst.

That
part of her Sarah had no
control over. There was nothing she could do about how she woke with her throat
tight and her breath quick, and the treacherous moistening dampening her
thighs. She tried pleasuring herself, but she thought of Benjamin’s hands on
her. She couldn’t ease the aching tightness that came to her nipples whenever
she imagined Benjamin’s lips on them.

She
blamed her lack of sexual experience for this reckless fantasy that seemed
intent on coloring each one of her nights. She had once prided herself on her
steadfast principles. She wasn’t one to give in to base desires. In England,
she had found it easy to keep so-called admirers at bay. She had never felt
anything strong for any one man and empty promises of affections from one man
or another had never enticed her into anything more than a casual flirtation.

But
she had never met a man like Benjamin Ndlovo. This wasn’t the easy friendship
she thought they might have since she had known him years ago. No. With just a
look, he seemed to be able to strum the most hidden chords of female needs deep
within her core. Sarah wondered how it was possible for any woman to resist a
man like him if he decided to pursue her. Any woman would long to be tempted by
the fire banked in his eyes. Any woman would want to see if she could break his
outward control. The sheer excitement brought on by that possibility made her
arch her back helplessly, moaning loudly as she imagined Benjamin clutching her
to him and entering her as he kept her bound in his strong arms.

Lying
in her bed, Sarah turned her head, burying her burning cheek against the
pillow. She couldn’t stop thinking about his dark, smooth skin. About his
muscles rippling as he entered over and over and over again. About his
passionate lips offering satisfaction to her. In her dreams, in her fantasies,
Sarah gave in to him again and again and again. She was no longer pure. She
felt like not even an ounce of her innocence remained. She wanted no part of
the comfortable, safe, and complacent males she had come across in England. A
man like Benjamin was what she wanted—a man born to be a fearless hunter, a
great warrior, and an alpha male.

She
was aware of the change within her—and she blamed Africa. Plain, old, vanilla
Sarah Hutton slipped away every night. She was vanishing. Sarah knew she wasn’t
the same daughter, sister, and friend that she had been with her simple,
predictable, comfortable life in Europe. In her wicked, decadent dreams, Sarah
found herself free to explore another part of herself—a sexual part that was
sensual beyond measure, filled with immense amounts of erotic charge. The
thought of giving her body, her will, and perhaps even her heart to Benjamin
both electrified and enthralled—not to mention terrified her as well. Sarah
ached desperately for his intimate touch between her throbbing thighs. The
thought of such a forbidden lust was intoxicating. It was so easy to get
hopelessly addicted to those erotic secrets that never see the light of day.

Before
dawn, Sarah always found a way to dampen every breathless dream by getting up
and climbing into a frigid shower.  She washed away the flames before they
could consume her with such inappropriate, impermissible fantasies. As she
dried herself, she was left with the unpleasant sensation of being unfulfilled,
and yet there was nothing she could do about that. It wasn’t anything to get
worked up about, she would tell herself. It was a phase. Something that would
soon be over. It was the full moon and Africa weaving its illusion of wild
romance. It was grief coming out in unexpected ways since she would not allow
herself to cry and mourn. It was a mere aberration soon to depart and never to
return. It
had
to be one of those things. She couldn’t cope with the
possibility of it being anything else.

As
stimulating, tantalizing, and tempting as the thought was, she forbid herself
from imagining that maybe, just maybe, wherever he was, Benjamin might feel an
ache that resonated with hers.

And
then Benjamin was back.

He
came back with the moon still high and bright, and Sarah couldn’t stand to
ignore those urges for one second more.

Chapter Eight: What the Wind Blows In

               
Benjamin felt almost sure that his burning desire for Sarah had somehow
conjured her into his hut. She came to him coated in her beauty. She came to
him with her hunger. She came to him with her prize. Unexpected, unbidden, and
oh so welcome. Her flawless alabaster skin, her soft lips, her sweet tongue.
She came to him and at first he thought they would fight again. But that was
not why she had come to him. He had been thinking of her, and although she was
within the refuge of the house, and him within the modest walls of his hut, he
had felt the pull back to her.