"Gores, Joe - Kirinyaga" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gores Joe)

you?"
"Should I?"
"Beyond the machismo bit, I mean. After all, isn't he the sort
you've always professed to admire? A real man who can come out
here to your world and excel"
It slipped out drily beftre he realized it. "You mean like he did
in that climbing footage?"
"Exactly." She pushed aside the ruins of her steak. God, she
was beautiful, face alight, eyes sparkling, perfect lips curved.
Small wonder he'd not been man enough to hold her. She said,
"Catch-up time."
Not much to tell. White hunting, what was left of it, had be-
come a black man's game by government fiat, so he'd drifted into
the Kenya Game Department as a park warden. And spent his
spare time climbing, of courseKili, Kenya, the Aberdares, the
Ruwenzoris.
"The Mountains of the Moon!" he exclaimed. "Took us three
weeks to get in and up to the top of Rarasibi, and it rained every
bloody day. Except near the top, where it snowed."
"I'll take Carnaby Street."
She had literally, in fact, returning to the mannequin's job from
which Kendrick's whirlwind courtship during a long leave in En-
gland had snatched her. It was in Carnaby Street that Burke
Hamlin also had found her, modeling a wardrobe for his latest
dolly who'd quickly become ex-dolly.
"It's permanent with you and Burke?"
"I leave decisions to him, he's superb at them." The hotel
elevator bore them upward. "I enjoy the sex-object role."
Sex-object for Hamlin, thought Kendrick a bit bitterly over the
brandies in her room. If he'd been a stronger man, more self-
confident like bloody Hamlin, she'd still be his. Then she sur-
prised him with that special look he'd never been able to forget,
was kicking off her shoes and unzipping her dress with one flow
of sensuous movement. Her eyes were enormous and dark and un-
focused in the dim room.
"Just between us, darling," she said. "Old times."
It was better than old times. It was better than anything else
would ever be, Kendrick thought as he dressed by the soft glow
from the open bathroom door. She was lying on the bed, watching
him with solemn, sated eyes.
"I'd forgot," she said, "just how" She stopped. "Burke will be
busy again on Thursday night."
To his own surprise Kendrick said, "I'll be back upon Kenya
by then." It came out rougher than he wanted. But if he remained
in Nairobi he wouldn't be able to stay away from her, and he
didn't want that. She was another man's woman now.
"You just came down off that bloody mountain," she said curtly.
There wasn't any answer to that. He kissed her and let himself
out. He was glad he hadn't told her the truth about that climbing
footage of Hamlin. Hamlin was right for Morna, the strong, ag-