'I thought you were getting two cars?' Neil liked comfort, she knew, but this morning she was not in any sort of pliant mood. She had spent a miserable night thinking about Kip and she wanted the team away before he decided to investigate their affairs.
'Things aren't all that easy to come by here,' she muttered, helping Ray to set up the telescopic boom for the sound. 'This will do. We're not going to be in it long.'
'Only for the whole damned day!' Neil snapped, wincing at the pain that shot through his head at this display of temper.
'Shall I do the sound?' Paula enquired in a miserable voice.
'Yes. Natalie can sit by me and help.'
'Help with what?' Natalie asked shortly. 'I'll do the sound. In any case, Ray's going to need me in all probability.'
'Who's supposed to be in charge of this expedition?'
Neil took his sunglasses off to glare at her and Natalie spun round on him, handing out glare for glare.
'It looks as if I am. It's going to take you all your time to keep upright by the look of you!'
None of them had noticed Kip's car coming up the long drive of the hotel. He was leaning against it, watching this interesting scene, but then so were half the staff of the hotel and Natalie was beyond caring, her temper flaring.
Evidently her annoyance had managed to penetrate Neil's arrogance and his befuddled brain. He grimaced and tried a sickly smile.
'God knows why I drank so much last night,' he offered in a placating tone.
'Sheer stupidity?'
Natalie swung herself up into the back of the Land Rover, scorning help. Temper had given her a certain amount of athletic agility and her slender body, in jeans and vividly red T-shirt, was vibrantly alive, quivering with annoyance. This morning she had tied her long hair back, ready for action and looking it.
'Hand it up.' She was even snapping at Ray, but she got an impudent grin as he passed the assembled boom to her and she strapped it securely to the hoops, testing its ability to swing and reaching for the huge microphone that would pick up the sound of water, the thunder of the dam and hopefully the terrifying sound of the Tamberi Falls.
She was kneeling in the back, checking the sound equipment, when Kip strolled over and looked down at her.
'Hello, beautiful. You're on the rampage this morning?'
She looked up quickly at the sound of his voice and then looked away again with even greater speed. The way the sunlight caught his fair hair made her heart turn over and she wanted to scream at him for everything, for making her love him, for Annette, for being here at all.
'I'm surrounded by idiots!' she snapped.
'I'll have your apology in writing,' Ray murmured, springing up beside her.
'Oh, I don't mean you or Paula,' she muttered, afraid to look up and meet Kip's dark eyes.
'Then it must be Bradshaw and me,' Kip surmised.
'You said it!'
He showed his superb strength by reaching in and lifting her bodily out to stand in front of him, his hands still tightened round her tiny waist.
'Where are you going today?' he asked with such quiet authority that she did not think of telling him to mind his own business.
'Everywhere. Tomorrow there's the opening ceremony so everything else has to be done today. We'll just have time to do the aerial shots in the morning.'
'Aerial shots? How are you going to manage that?'
'The minister offered a plane when I went down to see him.'
'And of course you never considered telling me?' His hands tightened, making her feel breathless.
'I—I forgot.' Why didn't she tell him to keep out of her affairs? The truth was she dared not. He looked grim
and angry suddenly. A few seconds before there had been a lazy indulgence in his voice; now there was cold steel.
'She's not going up,' Ray said hastily, mistaking the sudden heightening of tension. 'It's something I do alone.'
'Make sure she doesn't sneak on board.' Kip let her go and turned away and Neil, coming back, just had time to grab his attention before he stalked off.