Page 68 of In the Heat of the Jungle

“We are. Johi is up ahead, guarding our privacy.”

Despite that remark, Leigh didn’t ask why it wasn’t safe to make love. After her near-death experience and days of denial, she yearned to be with Jace again. But clearly he did not feel the same, and she wondered why. She stripped and bathed, then dried and dressed. Jace kept his back to her, an action she found curious. She was also surprised that the keen-witted man hadn’t teased that she owed him an extra wager day for getting into danger, giving him five points. He was angry with her, she reasoned, but over an accident. There was no one to blame but herself. The gun was where it should be, and so was the marked trail. Jace had told her the others were in camp, so it must have been an animal in the bush. Everyone was accounted for, except Jace, who had been off in the jungle with Johi.

When she joined him, Jace looked at her and asked, “Who is Tyler Clark?”

Leigh looked stunned. “Who told you about him?”

As she wrapped a drying cloth around her head turban style, he replied, “Louisa.”

“I might have known.” Leigh was annoyed.

“Are you engaged to him?”

“Heavens, no! Is that what she told you?”

“Yes. Why?” he probed, not taking his green eyes from her.

“I led her to believe we we’re sweethearts to stop her from worrying about me and Chad. I detest Tyler.”

“Does she have reason to worry?”

Leigh didn’t know if he was serious, but he appeared to be. “Don’t be ridiculous! How could I want Chadwick Hamilton when I have Jace Elliott?”

“You two have been very cozy lately.”

“Jealous?” she teased, unaware of his real turmoil.

“Should I be?” His tone was demanding and cool.

To settle him down, she explained, “No, he’s my guardian, step-uncle, business associate, and friend.”

“I don’t like him being any of those things to you.”

“None of them can be changed, Jace.”

“Why did you fake those spells on the trail?”

Leigh squinted her eyes and gaped at him. “What?”

“I found tainted water in your canteen and drugging powder in your tent. What happened to it?”

Leigh came to full alert. Something was afoot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are we back to riddles, Sir Lancelot?”

Jace explained, and Leigh’s eyes grew wide and large. “You’ve been searching my tent? Spying on me?”

“If you didn’t pull those acts to help me win our wager, then who did? You do seem to be having a mighty lot of ‘accidents.’”

“Where is this notorious powder?”

“As I said, it’s gone. It was in your spare boots.”

“I see, the evidence is now missing?”

“You have my word it was there,” Jace vowed, “and your canteen was tampered with three times. Your gun, too, on the rhino hunt. Johi told me it wasn’t loaded when he checked all weapons that night. Did you forget to reload after practice or remove the cartridges?”

Leigh didn’t like this conversation. “Certainly not. That would be stupid and dangerous. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“I didn’t want to scold you, in case it was a one-time oversight. When you were having those curious spells, I didn’t want to scare you until I had proof. I should have kept that bottle when I found it, but I thought it might be medicine, until Johi checked it out by drugging an animal that last day in camp. I ordered him to check your gun and canteen every morning. Nothing’s happened to them since that last day you were ill. What did you and Chad discuss on your walk? Either it scared him, pleased him, or warned him to watch out.”

---