'Around the next bend you'll see your target,' Kip said quietly when she sat beside him and said nothing at all. 'Your first sight of the dam.'
Nearly immediately they rounded the bend and she gasped with an almost frightened awe. The enormous was always intimidating and she had expected nothing at all like this.
Madembi was a country of high, jungle-clad hills that watched over the plains, the flat bushland that ran to the border and beyond. It had many rivers, wide and swift-flowing, bringing floods and devastation in the rains, and the greatest of these rivers had been harnessed to serve the whole country. The Kabala River had wrought havoc in its history but it had been diverted to allow for the building of this giant dam. Now it had been returned to its own path, shackled, controlled and disciplined by an enormous man-made construction, the giant Kabala Dam.
Natalie was stunned as she saw it, her green eyes wide with awe. It stood white and mighty against the back-cloth of green, its sheer size overwhelming as it spanned the river, curving into each bank like a great bow. The road ran along the top and she could see cars passing across, so many toys at the side of the sheer size of the dam. Even from this distance there was the sound of falling water as the great river was forced to comply with man's decisions. Sunlight caught the cascades that fell to the lower level, rainbows glittering in the light.
She could see this on film at once and she turned to Kip, grasping his arm, never taking her eyes from the dam.
'Please stop! ' It was a stunned whisper and he glanced at her curiously, seeing the fervent look on her face. He pulled to the side of the road and she was out of the car at once, her camera snatched from the bag that contained her equipment. This was a shot to start the whole documentary. The sight, the sound, the magnificent, terrifying splendour of it.
Utterly oblivious to anything else, Natalie took the shots she wanted, climbing a nearby wall to angle the camera better as Kip watched with narrowed, dark eyes, seeing her as he had not seen her before. Even her body language was different. She was a professional, ignoring the fascinated schoolchildren who risked being late to watch her. Her hands pushed her hair back impatiently, her face flushed with excitement when she finally came back to the Land Rover and climbed inside.
'Thank you.' Her voice was breathless with enthusiasm and he smiled slowly, his eyes skimming her vibrant figure, her glowing face.
'So you really know what you're doing,' he murmured, meeting her surprised gaze as she looked across at him.
'Of course I do. I go all over the world. I never know where I'll be next.'
'A bit tricky when you marry.'
Her face closed as if it were a flower hiding from the light. 'I doubt if that problem is going to arise.' There was a stiff sound to her voice that had his eyes narrowing again.
'How old are you, Natalie?'
'Twenty-four.' On the edge of gloom she answered without thought. It would not have been tricky with Neil. They were both in the same business. They had even discussed it.
'You're merely a babe,' he commented wryly. 'There's plenty of time to fall in love again.'
'What do you mean—again? I've never been in love. You're the one with expertise in that direction,!' She was alert at once, defensive, cool and his lips twisted ironically.
'Merely an excuse for sex, or so you told me. You, now, have been hit very badly. What went wrong?'
'With your imagination, you should be writing books,' Natalie assured him drily, being careful not to meet the dark eyes. 'I'm dedicated to my job. It's the only excitement I need.'
'I think we've disproved that already, but, in case you're still in doubt, we'll keep in touch.'
She didn't trust herself to speak and he turned to the dam, saying nothing, allowing her to drink in the sight of it. The great wide road that crossed over the top was part of the dam itself, curving to reach the opposite bank, and halfway over Kip stopped the Land Rover, getting out and coming to open her door.
'Make the most of it. Take some more shots,' he suggested.
Natalie got out but she was very uneasy and looked it. 'I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here. I'm going to need a lot of co-operation.'
'I thought I was co-operating.' He looked down at her with some amusement and she looked quickly away from the dark, smiling eyes.
'I wasn't meaning you. You must know there's a notice at the beginning of this road that says "No stopping over the dam".'
'Oh, that.' He shrugged dismissively, walking to the edge and signalling her to follow. 'That's not for me. I stop when I want and where I want.'
'Because you're a friend of the minister?' Natalie asked, a little more easy in her mind.
He grinned, white teeth gleaming against a tanned face, fair hair caught by the strong sunlight.
'No, ma'am. I do as I like because I'm in charge of this tame monster. I even helped to build the thing.'
'You!' She just stared at him and he leaned back against-the protective rail, the awesome mass of water a backdrop to his amused elegance.
'Now, why do you do that?' Dark eyes laughed at her, amused at her open-mouthed astonishment. 'It's just what you said when I offered to fly you out here. You seem to imagine I'm incompetent.'
Oh, no, she didn't! Whatever he did she had been sure it was both competent and important. It was just that this had never occurred to her. He hadn't told her either, even though he had known she was out here because of the dam—Aw dam!