“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.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m going to bed.”

“Good. Because I’m going back to the bar. And don’t worry; I’ll pay for my own drinks.”

She phoned for the escort and slammed the door after her.

In the morning when she woke, he was gone; she turned over, went back to sleep, and was sitting in the Jacuzzi when he returned.

“Good safari?”

“Very good.”

“What did you see?”

“Animals. Wild animals,” he said stiffly. “I’m going to have breakfast. I’ll see you later.”

Linda stuck out her tongue at his back. It spoke of huge hostility, that back. In fact, it was the most expressive back she knew.

Later they made up, lunched by the pool, and went out on the evening safari together. It was very wonderful. Nothing could have prepared Linda for the moment when a pride of lions walked by in a long, sinuous line, so close to the Land Rover they could have touched them. Or when two giraffes stalked languidly past them supermodel-style, heads held high, eyes on some far horizon, totally ignoring them. She’d somehow expected the animals to be about two hundred yards away, not within blinking distance. It was astonishing enough to get her up at five thirty the following day for more.

The highlight of that morning’s safari was an elephant and her baby; just a few days old, the baby was being caressed and urged along by its mother’s swishing trunk.

“So sweet,” Linda said to the ranger, “and so gentle. But elephants always are, aren’t they?”

“Until they’re threatened. Let her think you might hurt that little chap and you’d have three tons of aggression heaped onto you.”

Probably because Linda was tired, they quarrelled dramatically that afternoon, so dramatically indeed that when they emerged from their bungalow for dinner-having missed the safari-they realised from their slightly embarrassed expressions that their fellow guests must have heard them. The initial cause was Linda’s getting sunburnt; Alex told her she was a fool to lie out at midday; she told him he was a stuffy old fart; he said he had seen enough skin cancer cases to make him cautious; she accused him of being overdramatic and depressing. Somehow after that they got onto the children, with him informing her it was as well she’d never become a mother, given her total irresponsibility of attitude: which was, she informed him, so far below the belt as to be totally obscene.

He did apologise at that; they had a making up of sorts, and braved dinner; but afterwards, alone in the bungalow, she said, “Just as a matter of interest, Alex, why have you never allowed me to meet your children?”

“What do you mean, never?” he said. “We’ve known each other only a few weeks.”

“Months. Actually.”

“All right. But we don’t meet very frequently. It just hasn’t been practical.”

“I hope that is the reason. I’d have thought if you were in the least serious about me, you’d have realised I’d like to meet them. And them me.”

“Linda, you know I’m serious about you. Neither of us would be here if I wasn’t.”

“OK, then. Maybe it’s even worse than that; maybe you think they won’t like me.”

“They probably won’t.”

“Oh, what? Alex, how can you talk to me like that? You are-”

“I mean, of course, they won’t like you because you’re not their mother. They’re bound to be hostile to any new girlfriend.”

“What about her boyfriend?”

“Yes, well, they certainly don’t like him.”

“I thought they lived with him.”

“No, they don’t. His house is in Marlow; Sam has her own near Cirencester.”

“But they do see him?”

“They have to.”

“Well, why don’t they have to see me?”

“Linda, this is absurd. Of course they don’t have to see you… I’m not in a permanent relationship with you.”

“Well, thanks for that. I’m glad to have it spelt out.”

Whereupon she pulled on a jacket, opened the door, and walked out into the darkness.

Alex waited for a few minutes; he was sure she’d be back. The bar was closed; there was nowhere for her to go. And she’d never dare walk far without an escort. An escort with a gun.

Five minutes later, he was growing anxious; only a few months ago a tourist had been savaged by a lion when he had got out of the Land Rover (totally against instruction) and crept up on a lioness and her cub to take photographs. Both lioness and lion had been shot.

They had all sat soberly in the Land Rover while the scout told them this story, shocked. And now here was Linda, doing something even more insane, out in the darkness, endangering not only her own life but those of the people who must find her. Stupid, bloody-minded, stubborn woman. Arrogant beyond belief. Self-centred, over-dramatic; she deserved all she got.

Alex rang for help.

There was a track leading away from the lodge; one way it broadened into a wide dirt road, the other into the track the Land Rovers drove along on safari. Linda could see that might be a little dangerous; she simply could not imagine the road could be in any way so. They would exaggerate the dangers to make everything more exciting, and so that people didn’t take silly risks. There certainly hadn’t been anything more aggressive than an impala as they drove along it on their way.