The Jaguar Prince (4 page)

“I’ll get it,” Gail said.

Callie began to bring the animals to the enclosure. They had quite a few. A miniature horse, a lamb, a potbelly pig they called Morris, a duck, the goat, a very fat cat that wasn’t really a baby, to name a few. They were sweet, but they weren’t the big cats that she longed to take care of.

She looked up when Gail returned. “Everything okay?”

“You’re being pulled.”

Callie groaned. When someone didn’t show up for work, she was the one who got pulled to do their job, and why not, she had done everything at the zoo, from driving one of the tour buses, to mucking stalls—oh, God, she hoped it wasn’t that. She loathed cleaning the stalls, especially the elephants’.

She knew the only reason they had stuck supervisor on her name tag was so she would stay. The quarter an hour raise had helped, she admitted to herself, but it wasn’t like she would get rich from it or anything.

“You’re supposed to go to the main office.”

Callie’s smile was weak at best.

“The secretary said it had to do something with a private tour. Hey, don’t feel too bad, we have three classes of first and second graders scheduled to go through this morning.”

Callie was thoughtful for a moment, then she nodded. “You’re right. Nothing could be as bad as that.” She grinned, then made her way to the main office.

Still, she wasn’t particularly fond of private tours. If someone could afford the cost of a guide, and an open minibus or Jeep, that usually meant their kids were spoiled rotten. The last time she had chauffeured one, she’d ended up with a giant sucker stuck on the back of her uniform, and cotton candy in her hair. The generous tip had only mildly soothed her ruffled feathers.

She went inside the air-conditioned private office.

“Go on in, Mr. Campbell is expecting you.” His secretary waved her inside.

She took a deep breath. She always hated going inside his office. It wasn’t that she disliked him. Okay, maybe she did. He was superficial and pretentious, nothing like his father. If it made him look good, then he was happy, no matter whose toes he stepped on along the way.

She opened the door and walked in. Mr. Campbell was seated at his desk. The office was done in dark, rich wood—only the best, of course, but it was rather like walking into a cave. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she saw the man who sat across from Mr. Campbell. From the back, he looked familiar. Dark hair brushed his shoulders, he wore a deep green shirt and dark slacks.

“Callie, come in, come in. I want you to meet Rogar Valkyir, you’ll be giving him a private tour of the grounds. Mr. Valkyir, this is Callie Jordon.”

Rogar stood, then slowly turned.

She tried to swallow, but couldn’t. She choked instead. Rogar quickly poured her a glass of water from the pitcher on Mr. Campbell’s desk, then handed it to her. She gulped half of it down as she pulled her thoughts together.

“Are you okay, Ms. Jordon?” Rogar’s words were soft and silky, like a caress.

“Fine, thank you very much. I swallowed wrong.”

“Miss Jordon.” Rogar bowed slightly.

“Mr. Valkyir.” She said between gritted teeth. She didn’t know what the hell his game was, but she was damned well tired of playing!

“Callie is probably the one person who knows everything about the animals we have at the zoo,” Mr. Campbell continued as though the temperature in the room hadn’t suddenly dropped ten degrees. “He especially wants to see the big cats. I’d like for you to give him anything he wants.” He didn’t smile, he beamed.

“I’m anxious to see the park,” Rogar said. “Are you ready?”

No, she wasn’t, damn it! How the hell had he maneuvered his way in here and gotten Mr. Campbell to bend over backward and arrange for a private showing? And where did he get the new clothes? His clothes cost way more than the twenty dollars she’d given him. She had an awful feeling that she’d had the wool pulled over her eyes. Fury did not begin to describe the emotion she felt right now.

Don’t make a scene,
she told herself. “Yes, of course, Mr. Valkyir.”

“Rogar, please.”

Her blood pressure shot up a couple more notches. “Rogar.” She smiled sweetly, trying not to bare her teeth.

Before she reached the door, he was there, opening it for her. The guy moved fast. Yeah, right, he definitely had some fast moves. Like convincing her he could change into a jaguar. Correction, almost convincing her. She hadn’t realized getting laid had taken on this degree of finesse. The guy was a master at it. And to think she had almost fallen into his trap. God, she was such a moron.

“What are you thinking?” he asked as they walked toward the covered carport where they kept the zoo vehicles.

She wondered if his sexy accent was even real. And that name, Rogar Valkyir. It had to be phony, too.

She glanced his way, her eyes narrowing. “You don’t want to know.”

He put a hand out to stop her. She could feel his strength, his heat, through the cotton of her shirt. Against her will, tingles of awareness rippled over her.

“Yes, I do want to know. You look angry. Have I done something wrong?”

She snorted. “Angry? Angry doesn’t even come close to what I’m feeling.” She jerked out of his grasp, which wasn’t difficult since his hold had been light.

“Then I will try to make it better. Just tell me what I need to do, anything at all, and I will do it for you.” He smiled and for a moment she was lost.

She quickly cleared her mind. “You’re going to be my hero, huh?” She drew in a shaky breath. He had the looks of a hero.

“Is that what you want? A hero?” His voice caressed her.

She aimed her thoughts down another road. “If you want to do something, tell Mr. Campbell you’ve changed your mind about the private tour, then go back where you came from. I don’t need a hero, nor do I believe you’re an alien either. Good line, though. It almost worked.”

“Line?”

“Yeah, so you could have…sex…with me.” She looked away as heat rose up her face.

“You think that was what I was trying to do?”

Her spine stiffened. “Weren’t you?”

“Everything I told you was the truth.”

“Sorry, I’m not buying it this time.” She opened the Jeep’s door and climbed in on the driver’s side. “If you’re going, get in.” She turned the key, not waiting to see what he would do. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him climb inside.

This was going to be a very long day.

She smiled to herself.

And she was going to make it just as boring and painful for him as he would be making it for her. She was going to hit every speed bump, take him past the area where the refuse was dumped…

He was going to be so sorry he showed up today.

“T
hat’s where the monkeys are kept. Did you want to get out and look at them, too?” Everywhere Callie had taken Rogar, he’d insisted they stop and get out. He was only wasting his time because she’d made sure her answers were curt, and she refused to talk about anything except the animals.

There was no way she would lose her job if Rogar complained. What could he tell Mr. Campbell? Only that she’d pointed out the different animals, and given him details about them, which is exactly what she was supposed to do.

“Are you going to be mad at me for the rest of your life?” he asked, rather than telling her whether or not he wanted to get out.

“Yes.” Okay, her smile might look a little snarly, but showing teeth counted as being friendly. Right?

She thought of something that had been bothering her. “And I want my twenty dollars back, too.” She eyed his expensive clothes, trying not to look at the cut or how well they fit his muscled body, but rather the quality of the material, which wasn’t easy. “Twenty dollars might not seem like a lot to you. For me, it means gas and lunch all week.”

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. Her mouth dropped open. There had to be at least a couple of thousand there. When he handed her a twenty, she pursed her lips to keep from saying something she probably
wouldn’t
regret, and grabbed it out of his hand.

“Did you want to get out and look at the monkeys?” She kept her gaze forward.

“No, I want to see the big cats.”

She shifted into Drive, and took off, only slowing when she left a little rubber in her wake. By the time she had gotten to the area where the cats were kept, she was a little calmer.

Why should she let Rogar get to her? It wasn’t as though she would ever have to see him again. And she would refuse another private tour if he was the one paying for it.

“We’ll have to walk from here,” she said as she parked close to the bridge. “We only have one jaguar right now, Sheba. The lion and her cub are a little farther away.”

He didn’t say anything, only climbed out. They walked across the bridge, and once more, she inhaled the scent of jasmine and ginger, and once again, she began to relax.

She also remembered the last time she had been here. The black jaguar had to be a pet of Rogar’s, and he’d done a switch of some kind. Okay, maybe she did envy him for that. What would it feel like to be able to get that close to a wild animal? Everything she’d been taught in college, everything that had been drummed into her head, had leaned toward caution when working around the bigger cats. No one seemed to have told Rogar, though.

She still hadn’t quite figured out how he’d gotten the cat in and out of her house, but he’d probably rigged it while she slept, and then moved the jaguar after she’d fainted. There was no other explanation, except that he was an alien who could change form, and she wasn’t buying into that again.

“At night the cats are double caged over there.” She pointed toward the cages. “If we go around to the front, you can see something that closely resembles a jaguar’s natural habitat. We call it the pit.”

Without waiting for her, he started in that direction. She didn’t really have a choice, except to follow. The space was large, with trees that weren’t close enough to the double fence that a cat could escape, but it provided an environment that was more like the animals’ natural one. Sheba seemed satisfied. Callie hoped she was. Although Callie often wondered if she might be lonely. That was one reason why she made a point of visiting the jag. She knew all about loneliness.

As they rounded the corner, the blood drained from her face. There were four teenagers pushing each other and cutting up. That was pretty normal. What wasn’t normal was the kid, who couldn’t be more than fifteen, walking on the top ledge of the second wall. The one that protected the patrons. If he lost his balance, he could fall into the pit. If Sheba attacked, Mr. Campbell would have the jaguar put down.

“You aren’t supposed to be up there,” Callie said in a quiet, but firm voice. “Please come down.”

“Hey, Gary, you got a hot chick begging you. That’s a first.” He guffawed and pushed one of the other boys. “You going to do what she says? You pussy-whipped like your old man?”

Gary looked as though he might have gotten down if his friend hadn’t razzed him. Now he only looked undecided.

“I think you better do as the lady asked,” Rogar said.

For the first time today, she was glad he stood beside her.

“Whatever.” The kid shrugged and started to jump back to the fence closest to the visitors, but his foot slipped. His arms windmilled, then, as if in slow motion, he fell into the pit.

Callie sucked in a breath.

Sheba began to pace back and forth, getting closer and closer to the boy. The boy groaned and raised his head.

“Don’t move,” Callie called out, reaching for her cell phone. Oh, God, she really didn’t want to see the kid ripped to shreds. “Everyone stay calm, and please be as quiet as possible.” She glared at the other boys just to get her point across, then punched in the number of the main office. As soon as the secretary answered, she began to talk. “We have a situation at the jaguar pit. A boy fell in. Get someone here with a tranquilizer gun, and call an ambulance.”

“I’m on it,” Mr. Campbell’s secretary told her.

Callie snapped her phone closed and glanced at Rogar. He’d taken off his shoes. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure he doesn’t get eaten.”

Her eyes widened. “You can’t go in there!”

He grinned. “Watch me.”

In one graceful movement, he jumped to the first stone wall, then across to the next. If she wasn’t scared out of her wits, she would’ve admired his agility. He dropped into the pit as though it were only a few feet down, rather than fifteen. Oh, God, she was going to throw up.

She looked around. A crowd had gathered, but she had to say they were staying very quiet, other than a few collective gasps when Rogar had dropped to the ground.

“What are you doing?” She intentionally kept her voice low. Sheba was already pacing across her enclosure, eyeing the intruders.

Seemingly quite unconcerned, Rogar looked up and grinned. “I’m being a hero. Isn’t that what you said you wanted?” He quirked an eyebrow.

For a moment, he made her forget where they were, and that he was in danger, but then Sheba’s angry cry echoed through the compound, chilling Callie’s blood.

“No, I don’t want a hero.”

He shrugged. “Too late.”

She wanted to throw something at him, she wanted to…Her thoughts stilled as she watched Rogar turn and face Sheba. As he walked toward her, Rogar began to talk quietly in a tongue Callie had never heard. It not only had a hypnotic effect on Sheba, but also the small crowd of people.

He slowly moved toward the cat, then when he was a few feet away, he stopped, and dropped to his knees. Sheba opened her mouth, teeth bared, and cried out again, pacing back and forth in front of Rogar.

“What the hell is he doing in there?”

Callie jumped, whirling around, and came face to face with a man wearing the same color uniform as hers. She didn’t know the man’s name, but he worked at the zoo, and he carried a tranquilizer gun.

“One of the kids was playing trapeze and fell into the pit. He’s moved and groaned, but that’s about it. We need to lower a basket, and a couple of men, while Rogar has Sheba’s attention,” she said.

“If he’ll give me a shot, I can put her down, then we won’t be taking a chance anyone will get hurt.”

“And maybe we won’t need to. He apparently has worked with big cats before or she would have already attacked.”

He raised the gun. “I won’t do anything unless I have to.”

Four medics came hurrying around the corner with ropes and a basket. They worked quietly and efficiently lowering two men and a basket over the side. They didn’t waste any time as they spinal packed the kid, then eased him into the basket. There were enough men up top to pull the basket back up. Both medics were next. They looked relieved to be out of the pit.

But most of the time, Callie kept her gaze on Rogar. Sheba had stopped pacing. Callie wondered if the cat had decided he’d make a good meal.

“Everyone is clear except Tarzan,” the guy with the gun said. “If he’ll move to the right just a bit, I can get a shot, and we’ll get him out of there all safe and sound.”

But Sheba padded closer to Rogar. Callie caught her breath when the cat suddenly rose on her hind feet, and planted her big paws on Rogar’s shoulders.

The crowd gasped.

But then Sheba surprised everyone when she licked him on the face.

Shocked silence reigned over the crowd. Rogar began to pet the cat and laugh, as though Sheba was no more than an overgrown tabby.

The crowd began to chuckle, then clap. The guy with the gun lowered it. “What the hell?” He pushed his cap higher on his forehead. “In all my born days, I ain’t never seen nothing like this. Who the hell is this guy?”

“He’s a hero,” she spoke softly.

Rogar stood. The cat twined around his legs. He patted her neck then leaned down and said something to her. She gave his hand one lick, then in just a few moves, climbed the nearest tree. Sheba stretched out on one of the limbs, purring from deep in her throat, as though she was totally contented at the moment.

Rogar didn’t get in any hurry as he came back to the wall. Someone lowered a rope and he swiftly climbed it. As he joined everyone up on top, people began to shake his hand and slap him on the back.

“What did you think you were doing?” Callie asked when he was finally able to join her. “You could’ve been killed.”

“Sheba would never hurt one of her own,” he said softly.

Callie opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. She raised her chin a few notches. “I still don’t believe that…that you’re an alien who can change into a jaguar.”

“Not even a little?”

She clamped her lips together and turned on her heel. “I think the tour is over.”

“You didn’t answer me,” he said when he caught up to her, after putting his socks and shoes back on.

She didn’t answer him because there was a part of her that did believe him, and if she believed him, then what did that make her? She knew what it made her—crazy.

She stopped and faced him, poking him in the chest with her finger. “You’re a flesh and blood man, not an alien, and certainly not a jaguar.”

“You have a guide who lives in you, too, Callie. Have you not felt her talking to you? She guided you to the zoo, to work where you would be most comfortable.”

“My guide?”

“Yes, you share bodies with your guide.”

“And I can share this animal’s body that lives inside me?”

He nodded.

She laughed. “Bull!”

“I can teach you how to connect with your guide.”

Was this guy for real? Yeah, he was a great magician, and it was obvious he’d worked with animals. She respected him for that, but she refused to be taken in again.

“The tour is over.” She climbed into the Jeep. As soon as he was inside, she started the vehicle and aimed for the carport. Once there, she wasted no time pulling in and putting the Jeep in park.

“Let’s not do this again.” She got out and walked to the petting zoo without looking back.

But damn, she wanted to take one last look, embed him in her memory banks. She didn’t.

“You’re back,” Gail said with obvious relief.

“Sorry it took so long.”

Gail leaned against the fence, absently petting the cat that came out of hiding. “Did you hear about the kid that fell into the jag’s pit?”

“I was there.”

She straightened. “You saw it? I heard this guy jumped into the pit and saved the boy. He hypnotized the jaguar or something. Everyone is talking about it. Is that what really happened?”

“Pretty much,” she hedged, wanting to drop the subject, but when Gail looked as though she wanted more information, Callie relented. “He’s worked with big cats before. He’s good.”

Gail looked disappointed, but Callie really didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Apparently, Gail finally sensed her reluctance, and let the matter drop.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Maybe because Callie kept getting lost in thoughts of how well Rogar had worked with Sheba. The jaguar hadn’t been any more immune to his charms than had Callie.

And maybe Callie had been a whole lot jealous. How many times had she dreamed of petting Sheba?

She clamped her lips together. No, Rogar took dangerous chances that she would never be stupid enough to try. End of story.

When her shift ended, her feet were heavy as she trudged to the employee parking lot. She would probably never see Rogar again. That was a good thing, though. She certainly didn’t want him in her life.

Her car looked forlorn, off to itself, as almost everyone had left for the day. She unlocked the door and sank into the cushioned seat, except it had lost any semblance of comfortable long before she’d bought it off the used car lot. Still, she was off her feet, and that was all that really mattered.

She inserted the key and turned it.

Nothing.

Not even a chugga-chugga.

She let off, counted to five, then turned it again.

Nothing.

This was so not happening.

She turned the key again and heard the soft purr of an engine. No chugga-chugga? Had her car miraculously healed itself? Cool. She frowned. Except the dash lights hadn’t come on.

She looked up. There was a sleek black convertible sitting beside her car—Rogar was behind the wheel. A Jaguar, no less. Her dream car. The one she’d cut out of a magazine and put on her vision board that hung on the wall in her bedroom.

Rogar smiled.

She quite possibly hated him. He’d had the nerve to take the last of her money, then flaunt his fancy clothes and expensive car? Her some-day-in-the-distant-future car! She glared at him, but it didn’t seem to faze him. All she wanted to do was leave, forget about him. She turned the key one more time.

Nothing happened.

Great, just freaking great. She grabbed her purse off the passenger seat and opened her door, slamming it closed after she got out. She didn’t look at his high-dollar car or at him, but instead, marched past with her head held high.