Read Online Zambezi Seduction by Tamara Cape - Free Book Online Page B

darkness fell the eye of the storm had passed. Rain continued to fall, but of a much reduced intensity. The sky to the east – the direction the storm had taken – lit up every few seconds with flickering lightning. Heavy rolls of thunder drowned out all other noises.
    “The flashes and noise remind me of old newsreel film of the guns opening up on Rommel’s men at El Alemain,” Chad said. “A great-uncle of mine was there and later in Italy as a war artist attached to the South African army. Some of his stuff hangs in the Military Museum in Jo’burg.”
    “So he supplied the spark that got you going?” Kerry ventured.
    “Right. Once I realized I could combine art with my real love – wildlife – there was no stopping me.”
    “I’ve heard you’re good.”
    Chad laughed. “I’d planned to show you some of my work. But we got off to a bad start – with Clarence.”
    “Clarence! God, how long ago that seems. Will he be all right?”
    “He’ll be fine. He eats once a month – rest of the time he does his own thing.”
    Kerry brought the talk back to Chad’s work.
    “Surely all the interesting animals have been done already – often?”
    “Yes, but –”
    “Then isn’t there a danger of flooding the market?”
    “No way! Quality canvasses sell. Then you have limited edition signed prints. Shepherd could sell his a hundred times over.”
    “Shepherd?”
    “David Shepherd. English artist – the top man. He’ll probably never be beaten on elephants – gets the size right, the wrinkles and scars in the skin. But he can be matched on other animals.” Chad paused to reflect for a moment. “We met once – here in Zimbabwe. He gave a talk and slide show at Kariba. I was a small boy and my parents took me along. I found it boring: he talked overlong of his other passion – steam trains.”
    Kerry wanted their talk to go on and on. One rarely got the chance to converse with someone like Chad – in control of his own life and happy and good at his work. Some of his positive attitude had rubbed off on her. Simply by listening, she felt stronger and more eager about a career switch.
    “You’ve made me jealous,” she admitted. “My job is all false joviality, fixed smiles, regimentation. I’m not free like you.”
    She could feel his eyes on her in the dark.
    He said, “We’ll talk about it another day.”
    Kerry knew they were entering a testing period. She was determined to keep their spirits up, stop him brooding about his car worries and withdrawing into himself. No easy matter with the prospect of an uncomfortable night together in the car looming.
    “Wildlife story time,” she said. “You’ll laugh at this.”
    Chad turned to her. “Go on then.”
    “I once put an ad in the newspaper. To find a kindred spirit, someone who shared my love of wildlife and wild places. I paid the charge and looked forward to receiving heaps of replies.”
    Chad was all ears. “Good response?”
    “Don’t jump the gun,” she scolded. “The first shock came when I saw my ad. It was barely recognizable. “Wild” had been cut, substituted by a word I didn’t like. I shot round to the newspaper building, demanded to see the classified supervisor. She told me the word had been changed because it had a different connotation these days . . .” Kerry paused to look at the South African who was doubled over laughing. “Well, I gave the silly cow a piece of my mind there in front of her staff. I followed up with a red-hot letter to the editor telling him that his paper and the country had reached a sorry state when ads from women interested in wildlife were assumed to be from prostitutes advertising for clients.”
    “Good for you.” Chad patted her arm. “What was the reply count?”
    The unexpected contact sent shockwaves running through her. It was their first touch since she had rebuffed his advances the first night in the lodge.
    “The grand total came to two,” she said and laughed. “One old guy