She hadn't heard the Land Rover come in. The shouting had held her in a sort of startled suspense because Josh had joined in too, running from the house, and now Kip came towards her, grabbing her, knocking the dead twigs from her arms and shouting orders to Mina.
'Fill the bathroom basin!'
He almost hurled her towards the house and it dawned on her why. She was being bitten unmercifully, the ants resisting Josh's attempts to brush them off. It was like white-hot needles and as they reached the bathroom Kip plunged her arms into the basin of cold water that Mina had already prepared.
He was swearing very fluently under his breath as he dealt with them but she was not at all better. They were up her sleeves, biting her shoulders, in her long hair, and Kip took in the situation swiftly.
'Under the shower!' He turned it on and pushed her under the sharp jets, clothes and all.' 'Let that water get all over. They don't like water. I'll get your wrap.'
He strode out and Natalie began to peel off her clothes, shuddering with distaste. She stood with the water streaming down her, her clothes on the floor of the shower, the water flooding through her long hair. The horrid little things! Their speed had scared her more than anything else. How could she have been so stupid, treating an African garden like a cool, suburban patch in England? The bites were burning like small fires.
She stepped out, reaching for a towel, freezing as Kip's voice came close.
'Natalie, you've packed your robe. I've got you one of mine. You can get those clothes off now...' He was in the doorway before he realised she had already pulled off her clothes, his eyes sweeping over her with dark disbelief. 'I'm sorry. I thought...'
Natalie just stared at him, too stunned to move, waiting for a blast of annoyance to hit her, holding the towel like a very inadequate shield. She hadn't had the shield there as he had walked in and she could still feel the dark gaze that had roamed over her, lingering on her darkened nipples, down her slender legs. All she could think of was that she had annoyed and embarrassed Kip as well as herself.
He wasn't annoyed. He wasn't even embarrassed. He just turned off the shower and handed her the robe, his eyes never moving from hers.
'Don't panic,' he said huskily. 'I'm not going to touch you. Get into the robe.' His dark eyes swept from the rise of her breasts to the long, wet hair that flowed down her back. 'Put a towel round your hair and come straight out. I'll put some lotion on the bites and you can have some hot tea. You've had a shock—two shocks,' he added under his breath as he left.
He didn't know how much of a shock! Nobody had ever seen her like that before. She was filled with shame, trying to remember exactly how she had looked as he had walked in so innocently, his only thought to see to her comfort. Another day here and she would probably die of shame.
Kip didn't allow her to. He gave her tea, a brandy and a short, sharp lecture on the difference between England and Africa while he smoothed cooling lotion on to her arms. He even allowed Josh to hang around and listen, his face stern with agreement although he had never been to England in his life.
By the time Kip had finished she felt all of eight years old and therefore perfectly safe standing about wet and naked in a shower with the door open. She also felt furious, doubly so because she had to take everything he flung at her and nod obediently since it was all true. When he told her he would now drive her to the hotel she couldn't get out of the house fast enough.
She informed him somewhat pithily that by evening she would have a car of her own. He was not unduly impressed when she told him how she had ordered it. No doubt he thought she should have gone to town and inspected every hire car, spanner in hand? She was beginning to wonder about the women he knew. They must be simpering fools. No wonder he felt the need to dominate.
* * *
As Kip drove her to the Kabala Hotel after lunch, Natalie started to realise just how isolated she had been for the past few days. With very little effort, her world had become the house, the garden and Kip.
Now, as they drove along the road to the hotel she saw all the signs of the beginning of prosperity that her father had surmised would follow the building of the giant Kabala Dam. There were more cars than she had anticipated, more houses, neat bungalows, still in the colonial style but not so grand as Kip's house, which was old. Shops stretched well out of the main town and she could see laughing groups of black schoolchildren returning to school for the afternoon, their bright blue uniforms colourful. Prosperity had already begun, and all because engineers had built a dam.
That was another thing she would have to do. Mallory-Carter, the great Canadian firm who had built the Kabala Dam, had a representative out here. The Minister, Gabriel Basoni, had told her father he would put her in touch with this man, but so far she had heard nothing of him. It would be good to get him on film; besides, she needed his expertise.
She was silent. Not only were the sights new and I interesting but she was still feeling uneasy about Kip. The thought of the incident in the bathroom refused to leave her mind. As far as he was concerned it had never happened but she was not in any doubt that it had. For one thing, her skin still had a tendency to tingle when she thought of it. Although he had been very civilised, his dark eyes had burned a trail over her, devouring her as she had stood there so shockingly vulnerable. Suddenly the handsome, taunting face had been filled with masculine sensuality, light flaring behind the darkness ; of his eyes.
Worse still was the lingering feeling that had flashed through her when he had calmed her and assured her he was not about to touch her. It had been an almost painful disappointment. Physically she was attracted to Kip Forsythe and she knew it quite well. It was a dangerous attraction that had nothing to do with anything but chemistry. She had never felt it before in her life and it left her extremely wary. It was an uncomfortable feeling, not at all how she felt about Neil.