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Eventually, Talia was alone. She cleaned the dishes, dried them and put them away. She knew she was procrastinating, avoiding going to bed. Many nights she’d stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, finally falling asleep in one of the lounge chairs in the common area rather than going up to the room she’d shared with Michael.
A few months after Michael’s death, she’d moved her things out of their room and into a smaller room to open up the master suite to guests. She’d told herself it was because she could charge a premium for the larger room. The reality was she didn’t want to sleep in the room she had shared with Michael. Too many memories kept her awake at night.
But tonight, she wasn’t awake because of her memories of Michael. She didn’t want to walk past the room Harm was sleeping in to get to hers. The thought of only a wall standing between them as they lay in their beds seemed too personal. None of her other guests had that effect on her. Why would Harm?
She wrapped her arms around her middle and walked into the common area. Maybe she’d sleep in one of the lounge chairs. She always woke before her guests. In that case, she could be up and dressed for the day well before they came down for breakfast.
Talia sat on one of the long sofas and tucked her legs beneath her.
Wide-awake and wired, sleep wasn’t going to come to her at once. The cobra, the poachers and other happenings were getting too close for comfort. Something had to give. Her chef had suggested she hire the local witch doctor to lift the evil spell from the walls, floors and grounds. She hadn’t been keen on doing that.
First of all, Talia didn’t believe in magic, but the people who worked for her did. Second, the witch doctor could be the one behind all of the shenanigans. He could be setting her up for extortion.
However, if things didn’t improve soon, her staff would stop coming to work. She’d have to run the place by herself. She could do it during the slow season, but not when the lodge and all the cabins were full. Someone had to lead the safaris while another person cooked enough to feed the guests, tended to the cabins and maintained the grounds.
No, she couldn’t do all those tasks alone. If her staff quit coming to work, she’d have to take fewer and fewer guests. If she couldn’t bring in guests, she couldn’t pay the bills. She’d be forced to close.
Then what? After Michael was killed by a rhino, she’d automatically assumed she’d continue on with the operation of the resort. Yes, it had been primarily Michael’s dream, but while he was alive, she’d shared that dream. After his death, she’d been in such a funk, she couldn’t bring herself to consider other options. Michael was buried in Africa. She hadn’t wanted to leave.
This place, the lodge, the resort, the savanna, had memories seared into every corner, every tree, everywhere she looked.
Yet her thoughts continued to drift up the stairs to the man in the room beside hers. Guilt rushed over her like a heat wave. Only a year had passed since Michael’s death. She shouldn’t be feeling anything for anyone other than her husband. Should she?
Talia reached for one of the throw pillows on the cushion beside her and hugged it to her chest. She missed being able to hug someone. Not just a friendly hug, but one that involved body-to-body contact. A real, warm, lasting hug she never wanted to end.
Not like holding a pillow. A pillow couldn’t return the sentiment. Someone with thick, strong arms was needed to make that connection. Someone who could return the pressure and make her feel safe and loved. And not so very...alone.
“Why are you sitting down here all alone?” a deep resonant voice asked.
Talia started and glanced up into the warm, deep brown eyes of the man she’d been thinking about.
He wore jeans and a well-worn T-shirt stretched tautly over the broad expanse of his chest. And he was barefoot.
Talia fought the urge to drool like Pavlov’s dog. “I...uh...” She gulped hard to keep from squeaking. “...wasn’t sleepy.”
“Too much excitement?” He nodded toward the cushion beside her. “Mind if I sit?”
Excitement? Oh, yeah. She pretended a nonchalance she didn’t feel. “Please. Sit where you like.” Inside she fought a losing battle between self-preservation and desire. If he accepted her offer to take the seat beside her on the sofa, self-preservation didn’t stand a chance.
Harm dropped onto the cushion inches away from Talia.
Her breath caught and her pulse kicked into high gear.
Sitting half facing her, Harm leaned his elbows on his knees. “The snake in Big Jake’s cabin worrying you?”
“For a start,” she admitted. No use telling him she was also worried by her feelings for him. He didn’t need to know that little bit of information. If she thought witchcraft and bad juju were making her vulnerable, letting a man know he made her weak in the knees would expose her in a way she was nowhere near ready to handle.
Talia prayed he didn’t try anything silly, like kissing her. She wasn’t sure she had the power to resist.
Harm had been in his room, listening for the sounds of Talia’s footsteps on the landing outside his door. When he hadn’t heard them and the lodge had quieted, he’d left his room and descended the stairs, going in search of the pretty hostess.
He’d been surprised to find her sitting alone on a sofa, a pillow clutched to her chest, her blue eyes staring into the distance.
Talia hadn’t noticed his barefoot approach.
If he’d been smart, he’d have crept back up the stairs and gone to bed. But he couldn’t leave her there. The tug at his heart refused to let him leave. So he’d taken the seat beside her, with no idea what to say or how to comfort a widow.
“Thank you for adjusting the room assignments for us,” he said.
She shrugged. “I didn’t have to do much. It’s not like I have an entire lodge full of guests.” She hugged the pillow tighter. “I can’t continue to run this place without a staff or paying guests. If things don’t turn around soon, I’ll be forced to shut the doors, sell the resort and find employment somewhere else.”
“Is it that bad?”
She nodded. “The staff thinks I’m the one causing the problems. Because I’m a woman trying to run the place, I’m creating bad juju.”
Harm’s jaw tightened. “That’s a bunch of bull.”
“You know that and I know that, but my staff is very superstitious. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else quits tomorrow when he or she finds out there was a cobra in one of the cabins.” Talia drew in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “It just makes more work for me. But if I don’t have guests, I won’t need the staff and I won’t have a reason to stay at the resort.”
“Have you considered selling?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Even when Michael was alive, I was in charge of the day-to-day running of the lodge and cabins. Michael took care of expeditions, entertainment and nature hikes.”
She stared around the room at the photos on the walls of the animals in their natural habitat. “He always came back with the most incredible photographs.” Her gaze stopped on Harm. “I took care of everything else. But the lodge and the cabins weren’t why the guests came. They came to see what Michael saw. He sold his photographs worldwide. He was well-known for how beautifully he captured the animals and the savanna. The guests came from all over the world to see what had inspired him.”
Harm snorted softly. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Her cheeks blossomed with color, and she