'I expect you're in love with Paula?' Natalie mused as he handed her into her own car and proceeded to take the wheel without so much as a by-your-leave, a fact that greatly reassured her. Asked to drive, she would probably have ended up with everyone in the dam.
'With Paula? Yes. That's just about it.' He sounded very grim and Natalie touched his arm consolingly.
'I'm really sorry, Ray.'
'Not to worry, love. Just so long as she's happy.'
'Who's happy?' Natalie murmured quietly, and he gave a short bark of laughter.
'Not a damned one of us on this expedition as far as I can see.'
Neil and Paula came to join them, both sliding into the back of the car as Ray waited for Kip to lead the way in his own vehicle.
'What was Forsythe saying to you?' Neil asked before they had even got started and Natalie felt like turning and beating him up.
'For God's sake!' Ray muttered under his breath but Paula nearly took their breath away, the bit between her teeth.
'I don't think anyone should ask her that,' she said firmly, quite outside her normal childlike character. 'Kip Forsythe is wildly in love with Natalie; it's as plain as the nose on your face.'
'Whose face?' Neil scoffed with just a touch of sharpness in his voice. 'Honestly, my pretty, you say such ridiculous things.'
'You'll see,' Paula snapped, suddenly annoyed at the patronising tone. 'His eyes eat her up and no wonder; she's beautiful.'
'That hasn't escaped my notice—ever,' Neil answered with an almost deliberate cruelty that infuriated Natalie.
With any girl less gentle than Paula he would have been tipped out of the car then and left to walk. 'Does he eat you up, Natalie, love?' He sounded so damned sure of his own charms that Natalie couldn't let it pass; besides, she was behind Paula one hundred per cent.
'Well, he hasn't yet, but we've considered it,' she murmured coyly. 'It's all very private, if you don't mind.'
Ray shot her a look of astonishment and then grinned in the darkness as he saw the angry glitter of her eyes, her lovely mouth set tightly. Paula sat back, vindicated, a small smile of satisfaction on her face. This trip to Africa was making her see Neil in an entirely new light. He needed a strong hand and her own little hands were not so fluttery as he imagined. There was a great deal of strength in a determined woman, however young.
Neil said nothing. In the darkness of the car his scowl was as black as the night. Natalie was his, whenever he wanted her! He must have been mad to let her go. Had all that glitter, all that passionate, nervy excitement tonight been for Forsythe? It seemed to him that Annette Shelton was more than a dear friend, more likely a frequent visitor to Forsythe's bed. Natalie didn't stand a chance. He grunted in satisfaction, his mind cleared of doubt, and then said nothing at all.
The club was a low, modern building arranged around three sides of a large swimming-pool. It had taken a drive across town to get there and there was sufficient light coming from the windows and balconies for Natalie to see that a golf course spread around it, reaching across to the river.
That there was a dance in progress was obvious; music came drifting across to the car park and the festive feeling hit them as soon as they stepped inside.
'Oh, I say! It's lovely!' Paula's enthusiasm brought a grin to Kip's face and he glanced down at her approvingly.
'No shortage of tropical blooms to adorn the place,' he pointed out, nodding to the great displays of flowers that decorated the rooms.
'Oh, I thought you meant the ladies!' Paula surprised herself and everyone else and Kip looked as if he was about to pat her on the head like a good girl. She had plenty of spirit now, not at alias she had been when she went to the powder-room with Natalie.
His eyes flashed to Natalie's face, seeing her look of satisfaction at this turn of events, and his expression softened, the smile back in his eyes as their glances clashed. So she was a good girl and the boss approved. She turned away fretfully and was grateful to Ray when he scooped her away to the floor, dancing her out of reach of trouble.
'Dearest friend to the rescue,' he muttered. 'Watch your step, Natalia mia. Annette Thin gummy is gunning for you.'