Wildfire Read online

  Chapter 2

  BY THE TIME Ben, the security guard, returned to take Rhiannon over to dinner she had showered and changed into a simple, round-necked, sleeveless black dress, low-heeled black pumps and the gold necklace and bracelet that Oliver had given her on their one-month anniversary. As she followed Ben towards the flickering gaslights on the tables around the campfire, nodding politely to the other guests as she passed, she was sorely wishing that Oliver were there now. The whole place exuded such a heady feeling of romance that it just didn’t feel right to be here without him. Still, only eight more days and they’d be together again, she comforted herself as she sat down at the table allocated to the crew, her mouth watering at the delicious aroma wafting over from the barbecue.

  Being the first to arrive at table, she helped herself to a bite-sized quiche from the hors d’oeuvre tray, then taking out her notebook, slid the candle a little closer and began to jot down a couple of questions she wanted to ask Andy tonight before she lost him to Lizzy. They were only planning to be on the Reserve for a couple of days and if everyone was going to prove as distracted as she feared, it was up to her to make sure they went away with enough material to make a programme. She arched a humorous eyebrow as she attempted to second-guess what Lizzy might put into her commentary, as the normal documentary conventions had been abandoned by Check It Out from day one. Meaning that if the African bush made you want to tear off your clothes and roll around in wild, sexual abandon with the nearest ranger, then that would be exactly what Lizzy would say.

  Looking up as Melanie pulled out a chair to sit down Rhiannon met the girl’s persistent antagonism with an amiable smile. ‘Hi,’ she said, noticing a radiant Elmore hovering beside Melanie and fleetingly wondering what the Simpsons would say were they ever to find out that their precious daughter had seduced the strapping young son of a Zulu chief. At least, if Elmore’s grin was anything to go by, Melanie had. To look at Melanie you’d think she’d just got her face stuck in the plughole.

  ‘Hi,’ Melanie responded, slumping moodily into the chair and bunching her hands between her knees. From the way she was dressed she was obviously undergoing some kind of fashion transition between grunge and Fifties, for beneath her mandarin-collared short-sleeved shirt her bra cups were like ice-cream cones and the femininity of her flouncy net-petticoated skirt was thuggishly challenged by Dr Marten boots and a pair of steel-studded wristbands.

  ‘Ah, you’re already here,’ Lizzy exclaimed, coming up behind Rhiannon and planting a kiss on her cheek. ‘Mmm, you smell good.’

  ‘And you look good,’ Rhiannon replied, watching her sit down.

  ‘Thank you.’ Lizzy’s smile was lovely as the gloss on her lips shimmered in the candlelight and her blue eyes shone with laughter. ‘Did you call the office?’ she asked.

  ‘Oh my God, I forgot!’ Rhiannon gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth. Then frowning she said, ‘Was I supposed to?’

  Laughing, Lizzy pulled in her chair. ‘Not unless you particularly wanted to,’ she answered. ‘Didn’t the others take off for Paris today?’

  ‘To look into this French Gestapo thing,’ Rhiannon nodded. ‘Yes, of course they did.’

  ‘Which means that only Jolene will be in the office and he’ll have gone home hours ago,’ Lizzy told her, ‘so you can relax.’

  Thank you,’ Rhiannon said graciously. ‘Now, what’s happened to the boys? Ah, here they are. Hugh, did you bring your guitar? I thought you might give us a few songs after dinner.’

  ‘Depends how many screaming orgasms they’ve got lined up for me,’ he responded. ‘Either of you tried one yet?’

  ‘I was just about to take orders,’ Andy replied, joining them. ‘But before I do let me introduce my brother, Doug, the other half of Perlatonga.’

  As they looked up, both Rhiannon and Lizzy started to laugh with surprise.

  ‘You didn’t mention you were twins,’ Lizzy said, throwing a quick look at Andy as she shook hands with Doug, who was every bit as tall and good-looking as his brother. ‘Hi, I’m Lizzy,’ she told him. ‘And this is Rhiannon, our producer. Hugh, our cameraman. Jack our sound recordist. And over there is Melanie our . . .’

  ‘Trainee,’ Rhiannon supplied, taking Doug’s hand and smiling warmly into his eyes. As he looked back, to her surprise, she felt herself starting to colour, but fortunately the moment was swallowed into noisy introductions to Hugh and Jack, who sounded very much as though they had already made a start on the beers in their chalets.

  ‘OK, Elmore, screaming orgasms all round,’ Andy said, rubbing his hands together as he sat down at the head of the table between Lizzy and Hugh. Doug raised an arm to beckon for a waitress, then took a place at the other end of the table between Jack and Melanie. Rhiannon was in the middle with an empty chair opposite. The general noise level was starting to increase now as someone raised the volume on the CD player and a few couples from other tables began to jive under the trees.

  ‘I was wondering,’ Rhiannon said to Andy, dragging her eyes from Hugh who was leaning back in his chair and whispering to the blonde who’d escorted him to his chalet earlier. Never, in the seven years she’d known Hugh had he ever been unfaithful to his wife, but from the look on the girl’s face and the unmistakable gleam in Hugh’s eye Rhiannon strongly doubted she’d be able to say the same tomorrow. The power of African nights!

  ‘You were wondering,’ Andy prompted.

  ‘Uh, yes. I was wondering about the safari suite,’ she said, collecting her thoughts. ‘If it’s free I think we should get some shots.’

  Andy glanced at Doug and both men grinned. ‘Sure,’ Andy responded. ‘But you’ll have to get in quick. It’s booked out from tomorrow night and I don’t think the guest we’ve got arriving will take too kindly to being interrupted by a TV crew. He kind of values his privacy.’

  ‘Oh?’ Lizzy remarked, intrigued. ‘Who is he? Somebody famous?’

  ‘Like I said, he values his privacy,’ Andy told her, giving her a quick wink. ‘But sure, you can do it when we get back from the game drive in the morning. He shouldn’t be arriving until around midday.’

  ‘What time do we start out in the morning?’ Jack wondered.

  ‘You’ll get a call at five. We’ll hit the dirt at five thirty. Breakfast is whenever we get back, which should be around nine or ten.’

  ‘Will you be coming with us tomorrow, Doug?’ Rhiannon asked, turning to him.

  ‘Not in the morning,’ he answered. ‘Maybe on the afternoon drive.’ He looked past her to where Elmore was approaching with a tray of cocktails.

  ‘You call that a screaming orgasm!’ Lizzy protested when she saw the innocuous-looking cocktail in a white-wine-sized glass and not an umbrella or firework in sight.

  ‘Don’t be fooled by appearances,’ Andy warned.

  ‘What’s in it?’ Rhiannon asked, taking one from the tray.

  ‘Trade secret,’ he answered. ‘But the base is tequila.’

  Feeling Doug’s eyes on her, Rhiannon turned to him and smiled. He smiled back and raised his glass.

  ‘Welcome to Perlatonga,’ he said, addressing them all. ‘I hope it’s going to live up to your expectations.’

  Rhiannon allowed her eyes to linger on his face for a moment, thinking that his looks were marginally less obvious than Andy’s making him, at least in her eyes, rather more attractive.

  ‘I hear you met Sheila and her cubs this afternoon,’ he said, bringing his eyes back to Rhiannon.

  Rhiannon smiled. ‘We certainly did,’ she confirmed. ‘It was quite an experience. You could almost believe she was tame.’

  He nodded in agreement. ‘Where was she?’ he asked, looking at Andy.

  ‘Out by the creek,’ Andy answered, ‘with the rest of the pride.’ He started to grin. ‘Sheila’s the second great love of my brother’s life,’ he told everyone. ‘He was the one who found her snarled up in the trap. He was the one who raised the alarm, and stroked her while we freed her. And, here’s the bi
g one, it was Doug here she allowed to pick up her cubs right after she gave birth. Never heard of anything like it before, but Doug and Sheila, well there’s a special bond between those two.’

  Lizzy looked at Doug, obviously impressed. ‘And his first great love?’ she asked.

  Andy’s eyes danced the challenge as he looked at his brother. Laughing, Doug shook his head and sat back for the waitress to put a plate of freshly barbecued impala in front of him.

  ‘His first great love,’ Andy declared, ‘lives in Jo’burg. And a right merry dance she leads him too. Isn’t that right, mate?’

  Doug’s eyebrows arched as he treated his brother to a meaningful look. ‘Who’s for impala?’ he said, turning to Lizzy.

  ‘Me, I’m starving,’ Melanie piped up, thrusting her plate at Doug in a sudden burst of animation at the prospect of food. ‘Oh great, jacket potatoes!’ she cried, as a generous bowlful was placed on the table. ‘Can I have a beer? You can keep those orgasm things. You like beer, don’t you Jack? Let’s have some beer.’

  Andy’s eyes met Rhiannon’s, whose expression was half-apologetic, half-resigned, then signalling to a waitress he said, ‘Bring us a couple of beers and a couple of bottles of Nederberg. One white, one red.’ Then turning to Lizzy he added, ‘Another orgasm for the lady?’

  ‘I think I’ll save myself for later,’ she responded, her skirt falling open as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. Andy’s eyes dropped to the silky smoothness of her thighs, lingering there for a while before he raised them back to her face.

  ‘Do you want to tell me what your programme’s about?’ Doug invited, as he took Rhiannon’s plate to serve her. ‘Andy mentioned something about a half-hour on South Africa, is that right?’

  Rhiannon nodded. ‘Stop, that’s enough for me,’ she said, as he piled meat on to her plate. ‘Yes, we’re here to check out the New South Africa, as everyone’s calling it these days. So we’ll be off to Durban and Cape Town after this.’

  ‘You ever been to Cape Town?’ Andy asked.

  ‘I have,’ Hugh answered, raising a hand as he downed the remains of his first cocktail. ‘It’s the first time for the rest of them.’

  ‘Then they’re in for a treat, wouldn’t you say?’ Andy replied. ‘Cape Town’s a real jewel. Not a patch on Perlatonga, of course, but . . .’

  ‘Is that where Table Mountain is?’ Melanie interrupted, her mouth bulging with food as she spooned a third jacket potato on to her plate.

  Andy looked at her, clearly wondering if she was serious. Realizing she was he said, ‘Yep, that’s where Table Mountain is. Where’re you folks going to be staying?’

  ‘At the Bay Hotel,’ Rhiannon answered. ‘Do you know it?’

  ‘Sure, we know it, it’s where we usually stay when we’re in Cape Town,’ Andy answered. ‘It’s pretty pricey, but one of the best. How long are you planning to be there?’

  ‘Five days.’

  He nodded. ‘We got a few people we can put you in touch with down there,’ he said. ‘Are you staying in Jo’burg at all?’

  Rhiannon was about to answer when she noticed Doug nod for Andy to look over his shoulder. Following the direction of their eyes she saw they were looking at a rather elegant though extremely sombre-looking older woman, who was getting up from a nearby table where she had evidently dined alone.

  ‘Who is she?’ Rhiannon asked, as the woman was escorted back to her chalet.

  ‘Her name’s Randy Theakston,’ Andy answered. ‘She arrived yesterday from New York. A last minute booking. Hasn’t spoken to anyone since she got here, not even on the game drives, so I’m told.’

  ‘Really?’ Rhiannon commented. ‘Maybe she’s just shy.’

  Andy shrugged. ‘Who knows. She definitely likes to keep herself to herself though, wouldn’t even accept an invitation from the party over there to join them for dinner tonight.’

  Rhiannon pulled down the corners of her mouth. ‘I guess she values her privacy,’ she said.

  ‘Or yours,’ Doug chipped in. ‘She was asking one of the girls about you earlier.’

  ‘About me in particular, or about the programme?’ Rhiannon said, sounding surprised.

  ‘Both, I think. But then a lot of the guests have been asking what the camera’s all about, so I don’t suppose that makes her any different.’

  ‘Why don’t we invite her to join our jeep tomorrow, if she’s on her own?’ Lizzy suggested.

  Rhiannon shrugged. ‘We could,’ she said, ‘as long as she doesn’t see it as an invasion of her space.’

  ‘She can always say no,’ Lizzy reminded her, smiling as Andy’s hand found hers under the table.

  Rhiannon nodded thoughtfully, then dismissing the woman from her mind she turned her attention to Doug to ask his advice about which animals they should focus in on for the best entertainment value. As they talked, Lizzy and Andy got up to join the other dancers beside the campfire, while Hugh and Jack fell into conversation with a couple of Canadians at the next table.

  It was almost midnight by the time Rhiannon wandered on to the dance floor to say good-night to Lizzy, while Hugh slipped discreetly away with the blonde he’d been romancing for the past half-hour.

  ‘Bed? Sounds like a good idea to me,’ Lizzy quipped, then laughed as Andy whispered something in her ear before going off to talk to the other rangers. ‘You’d just die if you could hear some of the things he says,’ she smiled, linking arms with Rhiannon.

  ‘Pure Aussie?’ Rhiannon grinned.

  Lizzy’s eyes twinkled. ‘Pure Aussie,’ she confirmed. ‘And I love it.’

  ‘Do you think you’re going to make the early start in the morning?’ Rhiannon laughed.

  ‘Do I have a choice?’

  ‘No,’ Rhiannon smiled sweetly.

  ‘Then I guess I’ll make it,’ Lizzy grinned. ‘But tell me this, if Oliver were here would you be so keen to make the early start?’

  ‘Probably not,’ Rhiannon said, ‘but he’s not and I’m the boss so you’re just going to have to suffer it.’

  ‘You’re all heart,’ Lizzy said silkily as Andy came back and slipped an arm about her waist.

  ‘Are you ready to go?’ he whispered, kissing her neck.

  ‘Yes, I’m ready,’ she said, winking at Rhiannon.

  A few minutes later Andy was opening the door to Lizzy’s chalet and standing aside for her to walk in ahead of him. As she stepped into the room she could see, in the soft glow of a bedside lamp, that someone had been in to turn back the bed and lower the fine white gauze of the mosquito net. Dropping her bag on an armchair, she looked up and caught her tousled reflection in the mirror. Then hearing the door close, she smiled as Andy’s reflection appeared beside her own.

  Neither of them spoke as they moved into an embrace, their mouths joining, their hips pressing against each other’s, their hunger audible in the groans that murmured from their lips. His tongue was hard and demanding as he pushed it into her mouth and tightening his grip on her buttocks he brought her roughly against his erection, letting her know how ready he was for her.

  Lizzy’s head fell back and gazing into his incredible blue eyes she began to unbutton his shirt. He leaned forward to kiss her again, catching the hem of her skirt in his hands and lifting it to her waist.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he breathed as he realized she was wearing nothing underneath. He moved his hand between her legs, pushing his fingers into the moistness. As they entered her she gasped and fell against him.

  ‘You are one sexy lady, do you know that?’ he said gruffly, brushing his lips against hers. ‘Take it off,’ he whispered, tugging at the skirt. ‘Take it all off.’

  Obediently she stepped away and removed the two items of clothing she was wearing.

  ‘Beautiful,’ he said, gazing at her. ‘Just beautiful.’

  Her breasts were small, but the nipples were prominent and hard and as he stooped to take one in his mouth her fingers twisted his hair savagely. She so badly wanted him inside he
r, but she could wait, for this feeling of being naked while he was dressed was blowing her mind.

  Dropping to his knees, he slid his thumbs into her pubic hair and opened her wide. ‘Wow,’ he breathed, ‘that’s some joy stick you got there.’

  Trying not to think of Rhiannon, Lizzy looked down at him as he flicked his tongue against her clitoris.

  ‘Feel good?’ he asked as the laughter died in her eyes and without waiting for an answer he drew it deep into his mouth, massaging it harshly with his tongue.

  Minutes later as the first throbbings of orgasm began to pulse through her he rose to his feet, unbuckling his belt and kicking off his shoes. She pushed his shirt down over his arms, kissing him and stooping with him as he lowered his trousers. Then gripping his penis hard in her hand she felt his moan of ecstasy vibrate in her throat.

  ‘You know, you got the sexiest mouth I ever saw,’ he told her, kissing it and sucking it. ‘I’ve wanted to put my cock in it from the minute I saw it.’

  ‘Then why don’t you?’ she offered.

  His eyes instantly darkened with lust and scooping her up in his arms he carried her to the bed. She pulled back the mosquito net and he laid her down on the cool cotton sheets, her head near the foot of the bed, her feet on the pillows as he knelt between her legs.