‘You know, if you want to do a research project after your degree, maybe you could find a way to do it at Langani. We’ll have this lodge going soon, and you could make some cash on the side, helping us out. I know Hannah would love to have you. It’s often hard for her here on her own. She’d love your company. Another female to back her up now and again. Kipchoge and I could help you track game, or interview local tribespeople. I can speak Maasai and Kikuyu, and Kipchoge is a Nandi. Anthony would give you a few pointers too. What about it?’

Sarah pressed her lips together in an attempt to prevent the shriek of delight that might otherwise have emerged into the soft calm of the evening. A joyous vision flashed across her mind of evenings at the farm, with Hannah sitting opposite her and Piet bending over her research notes and photographs. She threw her arms around his neck, and he laughed and swung her in the air, his arms around her waist. Then he bent, unexpectedly, and kissed her. It began sweetly, a light, brotherly embrace. But within seconds he was kissing her in earnest, running his hands through her hair and along her neck and behind her ears. She could taste his desire, and she pressed against him, a glorious sense of triumph rising in her as his lips moved to the hollow of her throat, his tongue flicking over her skin. He kissed her again, softly on her mouth. In some distant place she heard the sound of a heavy-duty vehicle, changing gear as it came up the track, and then Lars was calling out to them.

‘Where are you, Piet? Kipchoge, jambo. Where is Bwana Piet?’