passage back to England.”
“And you don’t want to go?”
“Of course I don’t want to go!” I said it as though it were the most obvious truth, the truest thing that anybody ever said, as I said the words aloud for the first time. “I don’t want to go,” I repeated. “I tried to buy Fairlight today.”
“Did you?”
“Oh, go on and laugh! I know it’s funny. Everything I do is a goddamned joke. But I wanted this place. I wanted it so much I cabled Edgar and asked him to sell it to me.”
“And did he?”
“No. He said it wasn’t for sale. And even if he would sell, the price he named was so high, there’s no way I could have managed it.”
“I thought you had some expensive Russian jewellery tucked away for a rainy day.”
His hand was still flat over mine and mine was still pressed against his heart.
“They’re paste. The Volkonsky jewels are nothing but pretty glass. That’s why I wouldn’t turn them over to the relative who is making a claim on my husband’s estate. I didn’t want anyone to know that Misha had been broke when he died. It would have embarrassed him so much to have people know that everything was gone. I promised him on his deathbed not to tell.”
“So you’re broke.”
“Near enough. I sold my car to Quentin, but that only got me nine thousand pounds.”
“Nine thousand?” He dropped my arm and rubbed at his chin. He hadn’t shaved, and the sun glinted gold in the shadow on his jaw. “That will do.”
“For what?”
“Fairlight. I thought you wanted to buy it.”
I stared at him, wondering if the heat had given me some sort of sickness. “I don’t understand.”
He spoke slowly. “Nine thousand pounds. It’s a fair price. For that I’ll let you have the house and gardens and a few acres for a shamba, but no more. I have plans for the rest of the land.”
I balled up my fist and hit him hard on the shoulder. “Stop talking nonsense and tell me what you mean right now.”
He caught my fist and held it. “Edgar couldn’t sell you Fairlight because he already sold it to me. I want the land, and I’ll keep it. But you can have the house and the property around it.”
“Why do you want it?” I asked, seizing on the least important question of the dozen that had sprung to mind.
“Because I’m establishing a nature preserve. If I mean to do something meaningful out here, I’d damned well better start. I’m not getting any younger, you know,” he said.
“I don’t believe this,” I said. “I need to sit down.” He slid an arm around my waist.
“Better?” he said into my hair.
I pushed him away. “No, worse, actually. But we’re both forgetting that I can’t actually buy property here. I’m an undesirable immigrant, according to Mr. Fraser. I was a fool to think they’d let me stay.”
He shrugged. “They will if we tell them you’re my fiancée.” I reeled a little, but he kept talking. “It’s a small lie, and by the time they figure out that it’s not true, Kendall will be back at his desk. Believe me, Fraser is using his absence as a chance to get rid of you, but if you stand your ground, you should be able to pull it off.”
“You want a fake engagement?”
“Is there a better kind?” His expression was cool and unreadable.
“I don’t know,” I started, but he put up a hand.
“Don’t decide now. I have to go up to Narok and look at a plane that a friend of mine is willing to sell. There’s been a lot of talk about how useful planes could be in running safaris, and if that’s true, they’ll be doubly useful in conservancy efforts. If you decide to buy the place, just cable me there and let me know. If not, then I’ll see you around, princess.”
He put out his hand and I shook it slowly.
“Safe travels, then,” I told him.
He started towards me then stepped back sharply, as if he’d just won a war with himself. He lifted a hand in farewell and for just an instant he stood at the end of the garden, silhouetted against the trees. Then he was gone, and I was alone at Fairlight.
* * *
I was alone for all of that week at Fairlight until Tusker came. She brought tinned peaches and we ate them with new bread by the side of the lake. A lazy hippo was bathing