Fierce Dancer (Sierra Pride Book 5) (8 page)
Read Fierce Dancer (Sierra Pride Book 5) Online
Authors: Liza Street
“You know, we don’t have to go for a run,” Rafe said. “We could…stay in.”
Oh, barf. “I need my exercise,” Justine said. “My mountain lion gets angsty when I keep her inside too long.”
He reached up toward Justine’s face, but stopped shy of touching her.
“You could let her out in the bedroom,” he whispered.
“Maybe hanging out tonight isn’t such a good idea, after all,” Justine said, just as the air pressure changed. Someone was here.
Preview of
Pride of Africa
by Tori Knightwood
Pride of Africa
A Novella
Book One of Hotel Safari
reprinted with the permission of Tori Knightwood
Chapter 1
Serena breathed in the diesel pollution of Nairobi and smiled. It sure didn’t smell like home.
Fumes or not, the idea of getting to work with Pippa Blackwell-Kemboi was a dream come true. She was only the foremost expert in lion behavior. A British woman who came to Africa to study lions and fell in love with a safari guide and made a life for herself in the Kenyan bush.
Now it was Serena’s turn to study lions and other savanna wildlife in the Kenyan bush. In exchange for her room and board, she’d help out at Pippa’s safari lodge near Tsavo. And best of all, her new mentor was meeting her at the Nairobi airport and accompanying her to the lodge.
She collected her bags and pushed through Customs. On the other side, a blonde woman of medium height with sun-freckled skin held a sign with Serena’s name.
Serena dragged her bags to the woman. “Are you Ms. Blackwell-Kemboi?”
The woman beamed. “Serena? Call me Pippa.”
Serena nodded, struck silent by the presence of a giant in her field of study. Pippa looked so normal, not nearly as big as she seemed in Serena’s mind.
“You must be quite tired,” Pippa said. “I’m sorry, but we have a long drive ahead of us. My son will fly out later in his plane, so that leaves us the Land Rover, I’m afraid. But it will give you the chance to see this stunning country.”
Serena mutely followed Pippa into the equatorial sun and to a white Land Rover sitting like a hippo in the parking lot.
“Hop into my chariot,” Pippa said, getting behind the wheel on the right side of the car.
Serena had never been in a Land Rover before. She’d never been in a car with the steering wheel in the wrong place. She’d never been to Africa. This would be a semester of many firsts.
The five-hour drive went by in a flash. Anytime her eyes got heavy and she thought she might fall asleep, Pippa would point out a detail in the landscape or tell her a story about observing wildlife.
“And here we are,” Pippa said brightly, as they drove through a gate on a dirt road and pulled up in front of a sprawling one story building of concrete with a thatched roof and grand columns in front.
Serena’s mouth dropped open. It was like Tara from
Gone with the Wind
meets an African village. The pictures she’d seen online hadn’t prepared her for the picturesque grandeur.
“Welcome to the original Hotel Safari.”
Serena and Pippa got out of the Land Rover and walked between the columns into an entry hall of polished stone. Serena turned around and around, looking at the natural wood paneling which warmed up the stone, and the masks and baskets on the walls and shelves.
“This is amazing,” she said.
“I’m so glad you like it. Your room isn’t as grand, I’m afraid. Come, I’ll show you to the staff lodge.” Pippa went out a door in a side wall and Serena followed.
They crossed a covered walkway to a low building with almost as much charm as the hotel.
Pippa showed Serena into a room about a third of the way down a long hallway. The furniture was sparse—only a low bed with a foam mattress, a bedside table, a desk, and pegs on the walls for clothes—but the view out the open window more than made up.
Serena dropped her bags and stumbled to the window. Elephants drank at a watering hole down an embankment. All kinds of wildlife dotted the savanna from where she stood out to the horizon. She’d never seen so many animals in one place before.
“Sometimes, when the clouds cooperate, we can see Mount Kilimanjaro,” Pippa said.
Serena couldn’t keep a smile from her face. Animals, the savanna, and Kilimanjaro. She couldn’t believe she was here.
Pride of Africa
is
available on Amazon!
The Sierra Pride Series
Fierce Dancer
Fierce Informer (due out October 2016)
Fierce Survivor (due out November 2016)
Fierce Lover (due out December 2016)
About Liza
Liza got her start in romance by sneak-reading her grandma’s paperbacks. Years later, she tried her own hand as a ghostwriter of romance. It wasn’t long before she heard the call of the wild—the call of shapeshifters, to be exact—and she couldn’t resist developing her own series. Now she divides her time between freelance editing, ghostwriting, and the mountain lion shifters in the Sierra Pride.
A Note from Liza
Thank you soooo much for reading
Fierce Dancer
! One thing I’ve learned in this business is that reviews help authors a whole lot. If you loved
Fierce Dancer
(and even if you didn’t!), an honest review would be an immense favor.
If reviews aren’t your thing, I thank you anyway for doing me the honor of reading my book.
Love,
Liza
Acknowledgments
Fierce Dancer
and the Sierra Pride series would not have been possible without the loving guidance and spot-on feedback given by my critique partners: Pat, Kary, Shyla, Alythia, and Rochelle. Thank you! You awesome women have helped my dream come true! Special thanks to my fellow authors: Tori Knightwood, Alexandria Warwick, Liberty Gilmore, and Sibyl Eisley. And finally, many thanks to my friends and family for listening to me obsess about these characters for months. And to J—thank you for your understanding and your encouragement. I couldn’t do this without you.
Copyright page
Fierce Dancer, Book 5 of the Sierra Pride
by Liza Street
Copyright 2016 Liza Street. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
Sneak Preview of Fierce Informer