Moonflower Read online

  But it was the eyes that started a pounding in her chest: they were the closest to navy blue she had ever seen. There was an unusual intensity to them as they slid towards her chest, narrowed and lingered there. Her chest!

  Sophie pressed the shirt to her sternum, trying to control the breathlessness that made her full breasts even more noticeable as they moved up and down, up and down.

  Neither spoke. His eyes met hers and Sophie quickly looked away from the energy that flashed from them. Not a man to be trifled with. The thought flitted through her mind as she watched the breeze ruffle his hair. She glanced at the sensuous mouth, now drawn into a hard line, the strong jaw. Everything about this man exuded power and success. She hoped he wasn’t cruel.

  You’re a professional, Sophie told herself. You’ve worked hard for this, so show him who you really are.

  ‘Hello, Mr Manning. My name’s Sophie Kyle. I’m your new conservationist.’

  Reuben Manning stared at the woman in front of him. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected his new conservationist to be like; but a beauty, all long golden limbs and bronze hair, stomping through the bush with rifle in hand, wearing sturdy hiking boots, shorts and a lacy white bra, definitely wasn’t it.

  He took the hand held out to him. Her grip was strong, confident, and a little sticky. The heat of her skin tingled in his fingers. He withdrew quickly, wiped his palm against his trouser leg and inclined his head towards her chest. ‘Do you usually walk around like that out here? That standard conservation practice?’

  He’d expected her to drop her eyes, look mortified. Instead she searched his face. For what, Reuben wondered? Surely she didn’t think he was joking. This was the person to whom he would entrust the safety of his friends and business associates.

  ‘No, of course not,’ Sophie said. ‘I got a puncture.’

  She hesitated, moved the shirt against her chest. Reuben realised he’d been staring at the tops of her breasts. Two perfect golden orbs.

  ‘So you took your shirt off to fix a puncture.’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Sophie shook her head; a thick copper ponytail had escaped the sedate bun, and swished side-to-side.

  ‘Well then, let’s hear it, Ms Kyle. Because what I’m seeing is a far cry from the sort of professionalism I’d expect from an experienced conservationist.’

  Reuben somehow wasn’t surprised at the fire that burned in her green eyes, a luminosity like bright sunlight on a green garden.

  ‘Let me assure you, Mr Manning, I am a professional. But the bush is unpredictable. Unlike a corporation, it does not run on well-oiled wheels. It is a world apart, with its own unique sense of time and place. And so are its creatures.

  ‘The reason I’m shirtless is because while fixing a puncture, my tyre iron was stolen by a baboon. I followed the creature but he threw a guava at me, and since I was alone in the bush I saw no reason to be overly prudish about keeping a shirt on that was dripping with guava pulp.

  ‘But since I am a professional, I always carry a fresh change of clothing with me, so if you’ll step away from the door, I’ll put that clean shirt on.’

  ‘A baboon…’ Reuben tried to picture the scene. Felt laughter bubble in his chest. Decided against giving in to it. Instead, he stared at her for long moments. She had a point, of course. In light of a baboon stealing her tyre iron—again the laughter threatened—her actions had been perfectly reasonable.

  What a creature! He couldn’t take his eyes off her. And speaking of fruit; her lips were naturally deep pink, moist, bursting with youth. Reuben’s mouth watered. His gaze slipped past her lips, over her dainty chin and along a long, slender neck.

  Damn it! He stepped aside, irritated with himself. Just moments ago he’d accused her of being unprofessional, and here he was behaving like a sixteen-year-old. With a muttered curse, he strode away from the vehicle and stood with his back to her.

  Sophie scrambled into a clean shirt. As she did up the buttons she noticed her hands trembling. Why was she going to pieces like this? Why did she feel utterly devastated by his words, by the sight of him? She’d never been a volatile type. And it took a lot to really annoy her. She was usually the peacemaker. The one to defuse arguments and confrontations. But just a couple of sentences and he’d made her so angry.

  It has nothing to do with his physique and sculptured face, Sophie thought, as she went to his vehicle to borrow the tyre iron. She had always felt a little disdainful of women who went obviously ga-ga over a man. Was Sophie Kyle losing her head? No, she was sure it wasn’t that. It had been his arrogance and the officiousness he’d brought to a situation he’d had no understanding of. That’s what had got to her.

  ‘Leave that.’

  Sophie almost dropped the tyre iron at his command. ‘I can change a tyre, Mr Manning. As long as I’m not bothered by another baboon, that is.’

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Sophie could have bitten off her tongue and fed it to a passing crow. This man was her boss, after all. She turned slowly to see what affect her words had had on him, but he didn’t seem the least bit perturbed. Sophie let out the breath she’d been holding.

  ‘I have no doubt you’re capable, Ms Kyle. But what I’d like you to do is take a drive around the farm with me so we can discuss some of my requirements—my reason for coming out here in the first place. That is, of course, if I’m not interfering with your schedule.’

  Sophie swallowed, shook her head. ‘No, of course not.’

  She replaced the tyre iron, went to her vehicle, removed her holdall and placed it in his vehicle along with her rifle. ‘And please don’t call me Ms Kyle. We’re not that formal out here. My name’s Sophie.’

  ‘Very well, Sophie. I’ll drive,’ he said, as she made to climb into the driver’s seat.

  Sophie went round the vehicle and climbed in beside him.

  As he started the engine, he said, ‘At the risk of further displeasing you, Sophie, I suppose you’d like to call me Reuben.’

  ‘Actually, I don’t have any feelings on the matter,’ Sophie replied, shrugging. ‘It’s up to you.’

  ‘Reuben it is then.’

  She let the silence sizzle between them for a while before she said, ‘I hope you don’t think I’m rude, Reuben, because I’m not. I also have absolutely no problem with authority. It’s just that there are some things I feel very strongly about, and my profession is one of them.’

  ‘I can understand that.’ Reuben steered the vehicle over the dirt road with enough skill to make Sophie think he hadn’t spent all his time in a boardroom.

  She turned to look at him and their gazes locked for a moment before hers slid away to her feet, then out the window. As they bounced along, she began to point out features of the landscape that she thought might interest him.

  ‘Quickly, stop!’ she called, about ten minutes later. She leaned forward, peering through the windscreen.

  Reuben cut the engine. Sophie pointed across a stretch of fynbos as she reached for her binoculars. She’d spotted a small herd of eland. One of the males stood out from the rest of the group.

  ‘Oh, what a beauty,’ Sophie breathed.

  Reuben felt the onset of arousal with a sense of disbelief; a delicious liquid warmth spreading along his thighs.

  She’d done this to him. With nothing more than a few breathless words, she’d got him going again. What was it about her? He looked at her. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes flashed with excitement as she turned to hand him the binoculars. Her fingers brushed his and heat raced along the veins of his arm.

  He dutifully took the binoculars and peered ahead.

  ‘Just look at that,’ Sophie breathed again, putting her hand over his to direct the binoculars in the right direction. Her hand was warm, strong, sinewy, the skin soft. ‘Isn’t that just magnificent?’

  Reuben took a deep breath. Oh, yes, it was magnificent. And so was the response she aroused in him.

  He was relieved when they set off again,
Sophie chatting away about the ideas she had for the farm, while he struggled to keep his mind on what she was saying. This from a man who in the world of high finance had built a reputation for possessing considerable powers of concentration and a laser-sharp focus.

  He was so intent on his internal struggle that he almost missed her directing him onto a small dirt path, just wide enough for the vehicle.

  ‘This is what I wanted to see this morning,’ she said, looking up from the map spread across her knees and gazing towards the mountain directly in front of them. The tremor of excitement in her voice was not lost on him.

  He turned off the engine and followed her out of the vehicle.

  She took no more than ten strides before she came to an abrupt halt and stood, head tilted back, facing a dizzying sweep of mountain and the massive shaft of sunlight that had burst between two peaks, sweeping dramatically into the valley.

  ‘Beautiful,’ she said. ‘Just beautiful.’

  Reuben gazed at the sensuous curling of the corners of her mouth. She drew air deep into her lungs and he watched her chest expand, breasts straining against the fabric of her shirt. In the coolness beneath the mountain, he saw the impression of each erect nipple. His fingers tingled at the thought of her breasts nestled, warm and soft, against the palms of his hands; their rosy tips slipping beneath the pads of his thumbs, the feel of her against his tongue.

  Oh, for the love of all that’s sane! Reuben thought, tearing his gaze from her. Pull yourself together, Manning. He curled his fingers into tight fists and tried to concentrate on the scenery in front of him.

  ‘You’re looking at a jewel of the continent, Reuben,’ she said. Again in that unconsciously seductive way of hers. This time, he didn’t turn to look at her. Even so, the way she’d said his name made his body tingle. Who would have thought African flora could be so damned arousing?

  They stood together like that for a long time before reluctantly turning back to the vehicle.

  Soon after heading north along a path that hugged the edge of a wooded area, they came to an old stone cottage used many years ago by overnight hikers. Reuben planned to restore it. He was surprised to find himself telling Sophie about his plans.

  He had a reputation for being a man who played his cards close to his chest. It had become a habit in the corporate world and he supposed that over the years he’d become something of a closed book. That went for his personal life, too.

  ‘And when you don’t have guests, we could use it as a lecture room,’ Sophie was saying.

  ‘A lecture room?’

  ‘Yes, or you could build a hut just for that purpose. It’s a wonderful opportunity for local schoolchildren to visit the farm and learn about conservation.’

  ‘I hadn’t exactly thought about schoolchildren—’

  ‘It would be a terrible waste to have all this biodiversity around and share it only with a group of wealthy business people who could afford to stay at any game reserve of their choosing. Children are so receptive, so eager to learn. They’d soak it all up,’ Sophie said, gesturing about her.

  Reuben found himself smiling at her enthusiasm. Again, something he didn’t do that often. It wasn’t the sort of thing that went down well in a boardroom. In the business world of high stakes, one had to intimidate. Grinning just didn’t do it.

  ‘Let’s go and have a look inside,’ she said, excitedly.

  Her smile when she turned to him was radiant, and it felt to Reuben as if his heart had suddenly expanded to beat hard against his breastbone; like an unwelcome visitor at the door. Well, he had every intention of pretending he wasn’t at home, he decided, as he followed her into the dim interior of the cottage.

  Sophie had seen many hikers’ cottages, but this one was more rundown than most. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to an enormous, heavy-weave wall hanging that covered almost the entire back wall. At least an inch thick, it must have been beautiful once. Perhaps it had been a large rug that someone had so admired they’d thought it a shame to set it on the floor and walk all over it. It was definitely more beautiful on a wall. But now it hung skew and was covered in thick dust. She was sure it could be salvaged.

  She reached out a hand to straighten it and saw Reuben, out of the corner of her eye, come rushing towards her, gaze fixed on a spot above her head. Following his line of vision, she saw that the wall hanging had begun to curl away from the wall at the top, like a wave about to crash down on her.

  He reached her—it could only have been a second later—and threw an arm around her waist, trying to drag her out of the way, but it was too late.

  The enormous weight of it landed on top of them, sending them sprawling to the floor. Sophie heard the crash of the large brass rod as it hit the floorboards close to her head.

  Reuben, still with arms around her, landed half on top of her; the two of them pressed together under the large, surprisingly heavy wall hanging, in a world of dimness and dust.

  Sophie looked up at the handsome face inches above her, but her brain still had her standing at the wall hanging, hand raised to straighten it. It would take a while for her grey matter to catch up with her body. Reuben seemed to be having the same problem, because he did not move a muscle.

  Things only got worse when her brain finally did catch up with her body. That was when she became aware of his breath against her cheek. She moved beneath him, tried to raise her knee. His leg slipped between her thighs and arousal hit her, quicker and more devastating than anything she’d experienced in her life. She felt the contour of hard muscle flex against the inside of her thigh as he moved, the heat of it burning her skin.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked, voice taut with dust and tension.

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘You sure?’

  She could only nod.

  He touched her cheek. She closed her eyes, aware of the way her lips tingled. She wanted him to touch her there, with his fingertips, then his mouth. She would catch his tongue between her lips, sipping the moistness of his mouth. Her hand slipped, of its own accord, across his shoulders, down his back, towards his waist. Moving again beneath him, she felt his thigh press more insistently between her legs. It was as if they were in a twilight zone. A magical world beneath the hanging where all the usual rules didn’t apply. Like those that cautioned a new employee to never grope her boss less than an hour after meeting him.

  Never grope your boss… The thought was like a bucket of ice cold water in her face. Sophie was flooded with sudden panic. What am I doing? Oh my…

  She gasped, sucked in a mouthful of dust and started coughing.

  Reuben pressed his bulk against the heavy carpet that should probably never have been hung on a wall. With its entire weight concentrated on top of them, the wall on one side and the brass rod weighting down the other side, it was impossible to stand.

  ‘Hold on a second,’ he said, coughing as he started to tug her shirt out of her waistband.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Sophie croaked, in genuine alarm. It set off another coughing fit.

  He tugged at his own shirt and held it up over his nose and mouth. Sophie followed suit.

  Reuben disentangled himself from her and managed to pull himself towards the edge of the hanging. A moment later the heavy weight was lifted off her. Sophie stayed where she was, lying on her back, breathing in mouthfuls of delicious air.

  Reuben stood above her, glaring at her with absolute fury. ‘Damn it, Sophie! You’re one dangerous woman. Get up!’

  Sophie was utterly mortified, lying there, staring up at her boss. She remembered his leg pressed between her thighs and how she’d responded to him, curling her hips towards him. Her cheeks flamed. That this man was the most infuriating person on the planet helped her get over her embarrassment pretty quickly.

  ‘Look, Reuben,’ she said, getting to her feet and trying not to burst into tears. ‘Things sometimes just happen in life, and they aren’t always somebody’s fault.’

  ‘They just always seem to ha
ppen around you, is that it?’

  He was brushing furiously at his filthy shirt and chinos.

  Sophie was about to answer but was seized by a fit of violent sneezing.

  ‘This isn’t exactly how I’d envisaged my morning,’ Reuben was saying as Sophie tried to swipe some of the dust off her own clothes.

  ‘Well, I really am sorry,’ she said, pulling a cobweb from her hair. ‘But I didn’t exactly do it on—’

  ‘Let’s just get out of here,’ Reuben said, rubbing at his dishevelled hair.

  He drove back to the house in a right royal funk. There was absolute silence in the vehicle, except for the occasional sneeze.

  Sipho and Isaac were loading up equipment when they arrived at the garages. Both men’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw the two filthy, dust-covered figures climb out of the vehicle.

  ‘Sophie will tell you where you can find the other vehicle,’ Reuben said as he passed the men and stormed towards the house.

  He wasn’t angry with Sophie for her clumsiness, even though the woman had about as much sophistication as a cantaloupe. But he hadn’t hired her for her social skills. Truth was, he was furious with himself. At age thirty-four, he’d had his fair share of erotic hook-ups; sensuous dances with skilfully provocative women, even though he’d never come close to being the playboy the tabloids suggested.

  So how was it possible that this woman, somewhere in her early twenties with the gangly enthusiasm of a schoolgirl, could have this effect on him? Effect on him… who was he kidding? She’d blown his mind! Caught under that carpet, he’d been seconds away from kissing her. If she hadn’t coughed…

  He’d never almost kissed a woman within an hour of meeting her, and he hated the feeling of being out of control. Which is exactly the way she made him feel. Completely out of control. He’d risen through the corporate ranks because of his analytical mind. His habit of thinking every eventuality through to its likely conclusion. He had an exceptional ability to control his emotions; play a strategic game. Now he clearly had a problem that needed fixing, and fix it he would.