Proud Hearts (Wild Hearts Romance Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

us the once-over. Apparently we passed muster after Dee whuffed her reassurances at them again, because Nana then ambled over to the cub twins and greeted each of them nose to nose before dropping and rolling in the dust between them. Big paws slowly paddling the air, squirming her back into the dirt, she enjoyed her dust bath as Reena filmed, clearly happy with the turn the morning had taken.
    Her bath done, Nana lay contentedly on her side with the cubs sprawled beside her, while Brutus stretched beside his rock.
    Dee gave them a few minutes more, then rose slowly. “We’ll set up here. Just no sudden moves or loud noises. I talk to them, so they’re used to that, but I don’t know how they’ll react to several new voices and new bodies around them.”
    “You only have the one rifle,” Gary asked. “Shouldn’t we all be armed?”
    “Probably,” Dee agreed. “What weapons did you bring?”
    “I assumed you—”
    “Not in my contract. Plenty of safari shops when you came through Lusaka on whatever airline you flew in. And there’s at least one in Zambezi. You can always drive back there.”
    “But we’d lose a day for filming!”
    “I said you not us . Or are you somehow necessary here for the filming? So far it seems a pack mule could handle your contribution.”
    Reena snickered behind her camera. It was true Gary had an inflated sense of ego about his job role, but he was indispensable in the planning stages. Usually. Outfitting us with rifles was an oversight I could understand, however. There had been three others on the bear set with us. And we were in an underwater cage with the sharks. So far, we hadn’t needed to pack our own protection. Well, of the firearm variety anyway. I could always rely on Gary to stay on top of the condom supply no matter where we landed.
    Right now, though, it looked like I wouldn’t be needing either type of protection. Dee spoke to the lions and whuffed at them, and after a few minutes they seemed to ignore us, although I wasn’t so naïve as to believe they forgot about us. They did, however, seem comfortable with us, just as I soon stopped thinking about petty arguments and focused on the wonder of being within yards of these beasts who were anything but the withered, mange-eaten specimens my cynicism had expected.
    Sitting beside Dee, who was idly occupying herself by filming us filming the lions, I took a moment to consider what a remarkable achievement Dee had managed out here alone gaining the trust of this little pride. That took dedication…and guts. Aside from her sharp tongue and obvious dislike of me, was there anything about her that didn’t keep making her more attractive? Hell, even that deep whuffing noise she’d make every now and again to comfort the lions was kind of feral and sexy. Maybe it called to the ancestral cave man in me. Whatever, the whole package of her was a distraction, splitting my attention between her and the lions as the day progressed.
    The adult lions barely moved as they lazed around the rocks, keeping an eye on us. The cubs, though, had energy to spare, sneaking up behind the adults and batting at twitching tails, pouncing on one another, mock fighting, and being typical pre-teen nuisances until they curled up together around noon for a nap.
    “Caesar and Cleopatra,” Dee had introduced them. “They’re fraternal twins.”
    “Their mother is…?”
    “Portia, the one behind the makenge bush.”
    “Which makes the old lioness Nana…”
    “The cubs’ grandmother. She’s mom to both Portia and Sheba, the one up on the ledge.”
    “And Brutus?”
    “Found the pride a couple of years ago, right after game wardens discovered the pride’s old lion had been killed by poachers. Brutus is the father of the cubs; otherwise, he would probably not have let them live.”
    “I didn’t think poaching was a big thing anymore.”
    “It depends on the season, what part of Africa, what regimes are in power, how much political