“That was a private remark. Passing it on here is rather like telling your hostess you don’t like her cooking. I can’t believe you can be so socially inept. Not to mention rude.”
“Sorry,” she said, slightly alarmed at his anger. “I really am. You know, I’m truly enjoying it all; it’s a bit like being back at school.”
“Well, try not to behave as if you actually were.”
“Oh, do stop scowling at me, Alex; I’ve said I’m sorry. And you should be glad I’m enjoying myself.”
“I’m afraid not. Or rather, not the way you’ve chosen.”
“Oh, God,” she said, putting down her fork, “you really are a miserable bastard, aren’t you? First sign of a bit of a laugh, and you’re down on everyone like a load of shit. I’m glad I don’t work at that hospital of yours.”
“Linda, you know perfectly well what I mean. It’s very discourteous, setting yourself up in some rebel group like this. You wanted to come and-”
“Oh, fuck off!” she said, and turned her attention to the man the other side of her.
“Shall we go to the bar?” she said, finally turning back to Alex.
“I’d rather not. I’m tired. I’m going upstairs. You can join me if you like.”
“I’ve had more promising invitations,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
She had one drink with Martin and his wife, and then said good night to everyone and went up to their room. Alex was in bed, reading.
“Good book?”
“Very.”
She pulled off her clothes, slid into bed beside him.
“Let me distract you from it.”
He turned away slightly; she snatched the book from him.
“Oh, Alex. You’re so sexy when you’re cross.”
Against all the odds he laughed. “I must be sexy a lot of the time, in that case.”
“You are. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Mrs. Neurosurgeon was saying how sexy you were.”
“Oh, Linda,” he said, switching the light off, taking her in his arms. “I’m sorry. You’re a very generous woman.”
“I am?”
“Yes. Sam would never have told me some other woman thought I was attractive. Are we friends again?”
“I never wasn’t,” she said.
She managed to behave after that more as Alex would have wished: went on the obligatory shopping trip-not exactly a hardship in the delicious bounty of Cape Town stores-and went on the other major outing, down the winding coast road to Chapman’s Peak, an incredibly beautiful promontory carved out of the cliffs, and then on to Cape Point.
They were heading north after that, to do a few days’ safari: travelling on the Blue Train for the first leg to Pretoria, where they were picking up a small private plane to Kruger National Park.
The Blue Train was her idea, and her contribution to the trip.
“If you think I’m going on an ordinary old plane for two hours when we can do the same thing in total luxury in twenty-four, then you’ve brought the wrong woman.”
The Blue Train was sheer indulgence, an excessive, elaborate treat that made her feel, she said, like Lauren Bacall in Murder on the Orient Express. She and Alex had their own private suite: a drawing room that converted into a bedroom, complete with immense double bed, and an absurdly elaborate bathroom in which you could take a deep, hot bath and enjoy the landscape at the same time, a peculiarly heady, sexy pleasure. They also had their own butler; all the suites did. Alex didn’t approve, was hating most of it: Linda didn’t care.
They had the first squabble before lunch, as she tidied up the suite for the third time.
“Linda, do, for God’s sake, stop that; I can’t stand it.”
“Well, I can’t stand the mess!”
“Just sit down and watch the scenery!”
She sat there, watching the incredible mountain ranges go past, sipping a glass of very nice Sancerre, and felt better tempered; by the time lunch was served she was feeling very sleek and told Alex so.
“I know what that means,” he said, grinning at her.
“You do?”
“Yes. Some considerable activity a little later.”
“You’re being very presumptuous.”
“Sorry. Am I wrong?”
“No, Alex,” she said, closing her eyes briefly and smiling at the intense sensation that quite literally swept through her, leaving her almost dizzy, “no, you’re not wrong.”
“Thank Christ for that. I was beginning to think I’d never say the right thing again.”
“I’m not terribly interested in what you say,” she said, reaching under the table, gently massaging his thigh, “not just now. More what you do.”
“Oh, OK. Linda, do stop that. I can’t enjoy my food while I’m having an erection.”
“Try,” she said. “It’s my challenge for the afternoon.”
Much, much later she sat in the bath with yet another glass of champagne; he sat on the edge and smiled down at her.
“That was very lovely.”
“Yes, it was. Oh, look, Alex, there’s some wildebeest. See, there? God, how amazing to sit in a bath drinking champagne and watching wildebeest. I told you it would be wonderful.”
“You were right,” he said, reaching out, tracing the outline of one of her nipples with his thumb. “It is very wonderful. All of it.”
“Please, please don’t do that,” she said, reaching down for his hand, kissing it, then replacing it. “You know I can’t bear it.”
“I thought you liked it.”
“I love it. But it makes me feel I’ll have to… Oh, God, Alex, I’ll have to… We’ll have to…”
“Have to what?”
“You know.” She stood up, her red hair slicked back. He stood up too, lifted her out, bent his head, and kissed her; very slowly she eased off his bathrobe, and then reached out to pull down the bathroom blind.
“Who do you think’s going to see us?” he said, laughing. “The wildebeest?”
It was their first night at the lodge that the trouble really began. Set unfenced in the middle of the park, their hotel consisted of a main building and then a series of bungalows. Beautifully furnished, colonial style, with its own Jacuzzi in its own small garden, and a huge deck lit only by candles and oil lamps, it was, as Linda happily said, like something out of one of the really posh travel magazines.
Dinner was outside, under the stars, tables set in a horseshoe round a vast fire; afterwards they were escorted back to their room by a guide, complete with rifle.
“Never do this walk alone at night,” he said. “It’s very dangerous. Remember we’re not fenced. The animals can get in and they’re not pets. They’re wild and they kill. And there are snakes, really nasty pieces of work. Breakfast’s at six,” he added cheerfully. “I’ll knock on the door at five thirty for morning safari.”
“Oh, wow,” said Linda, wandering into the candlelit room, “this is my idea of true heaven. Such a wonderful idea, Alex. Thank you so, so much. I might not get up at five thirty, though. Give that bit a miss.”
“Linda, you have to. It’s the reason we’re here, to go on safari, see the animals.”
“Yeah, OK, but there’s another in the afternoon. I can see them then.”
“You’re expected to go on both each day. They’re all different.”
“Alex, I don’t want to. Not tomorrow. I’m tired.”
“Well, I think that’s a little pathetic,” he said.
“Oh, don’t be so stuffy. This is a holiday, not an army workout.”
“Yes, and a very expensive holiday. I was expecting you’d participate rather more fully. I’m disappointed.”
“Alex, you are joking, aren’t you? No, you’re not. Expensive indeed! Is that supposed to make me change my mind?”
“I’d have thought it was a factor.”
“Well, I’m sorry if I’m a disappointment to you, but I hadn’t expected to have to earn my stay here.”
“That’s a filthy thing to say!”
“It’s pretty filthy talking to me about how much it cost. Remind me to write you a cheque when we get back.”