Authors: Judith Stephan
She looked more closely at the gilt-framed photographs. They were enlarged snap shots of Stratt at various stages of his life: A school boy draped over the shoulder of another school boy, dressed in grey flannels and a striped blazer, a basher casually resting at a rakish angle on his head - A St John’s crest in gold embossed in one corner. Stratt, the graduate, complete with robe and hood. Stratt in a tuxedo and bow tie at some formal function alongside other glittering people. Stratt, the ranger, with bush khakis and gun set against the tawny grass of the game farm. She saw an elegantly dressed, attractive woman in some of the portraits… his mother maybe? A few trophies, tarnished memories of an athletic youth, were on a shelf alongside coffee table books containing photographs of African scenes and animals.
She scrutinised the certificates: “Stratford Ogilvy – Victors Ludorum”, she whispered, “Stratford Ogilvy – Most Outstanding Rugby Player, Stratford Ogilvy – Dux Scholar”.
His Bachelor of Science, his Honours and his Masters degrees were on the wall above the dresser. His doctorate was in a standing frame. Shilo sighed. She knew so little about this man.
Shilo suddenly became aware of the sound of water running, and realised that Stratt had to be in the shower. She sat down on the bed and waited.
Not very much later, Stratt walked into the room wrapping a white towel around his waist; his hair all tousled and wet. His jaw dropped in amazement when he saw Shilo sitting there on his bed.
“How did you get in here?” he asked, walking towards her.
He pulled her up from the bed, with the intention of sending her away.
“I asked a waiter where you had gone and I sneaked up – Everyone else is still at the dance,” Shilo answered, secretly admiring his physique still glistening with water droplets, “so no one knows I’m here.”
Her hand was still in his, and she moved closer, until she was standing right in front of him.
“Why did you come?” he asked, looking down, so as to avoid eye contact.
“For an explanation,” she whispered, “I’m so confused.”
He looked up to meet her eyes and her beautiful face in the soft light emanating from the bedside lamp.
“Call it one of the great, unsolved mysteries of the world. I don’t know why.”
“I wanted to be with you. I thought we had made a connection last night …. But you ignored me the entire evening… you didn’t even give me a second look and just chatted up that … that young girl… then you forced me to dance with you. I could not refuse. I wasn’t given the option … and then we danced…” her voice drifted off, “and then…”
“And then I kissed you,” he said putting the words into her mouth, but his face had not softened. He still wore a serious expression and his voice wavered. He lifted his hand to touch her cheek, and she lifted hers to hold it there. He had the urge to embrace her again, but he controlled himself. “And I shouldn’t have done any of it. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself,” he continued. “I just couldn’t help myself. I was caught up in the moment. Of course I saw you come in and I watched you all evening, watched Ronald’s hands all over you … and yes, then I kissed you.”
“You did, and it was wonderful…” she said and moved right up to within a few inches from him and put her hands around his waist. “You don’t have to apologise for that.”
Stratt tried to brush her hands away, but she was persistent.
“Shilo, this is not right. I’m really sorry that it happened. It was just a wave of uncontrollable…”
“Passion?” she interrupted.
“Maybe,” he mused, “I was a little jealous of Regan when you danced with him, and then when that American jerk took over with his hands groping and touching you everywhere … I just …. I just couldn’t control myself, that’s all.”
“Jealous? I’m very flattered. But if you didn’t want me to be with anyone else, why did you stay away from me all night? This just doesn’t make any sense, Stratt. Why did you just ignore me if you like me in that way? Why didn’t you…”
“Oh, Shilo,” he sighed and pulled her into his arms. “This is not going to work. It’s really not. You are going to leave soon … go back to England …and then what? Then there will just be that emptiness again… and hurt.”
He held her close for a few moments and she reveled in the clean, fresh smell of soap and deodorant and cologne … of Stratt. She squeezed him affectionately.
“But Stratt…”
“Sssh,” he said, “Don’t say anything.”
She pulled away from his embrace and he smiled.
“Really,” he said, “as much as we might be attracted to one another, it’s not going to work. Rather let’s save ourselves unnecessary and inevitable hurt.”
She glanced around the apartment.
“It’s a lovely place you’ve got here,” she said, trying to change the subject. “Do all the staff have quarters like this?”
“Quarters?” he said abruptly. “I’m not just ordinary staff, you know, I’m Stratt Ogilvy.”
“I don’t understand…” she replied, surprised by his bitter tone.
“I’m Stratt Ogilvy, son of Philip Ogilvy. We own this Lodge and several others like it. This is my suite because I chose it. I wanted it so my father gave it to me.”
She stared at him blankly, unaware of his intentions.
“Ogilvy,” he continued tapping his head, “I’m Stratt Ogilvy. My father and I are millionaires. He made his money in the sixties and seventies on the gold mines.”
“But I thought…”
“I know what you thought,” he snapped. “You judged me before you got to know me. You judged me on my career of choice, you judged me on my appearance and on my clothes. You presumed things because you never had the courtesy to ask me any questions. You thought I was some ordinary guy, some Joe Soap, without wealth, without assets and without a promising future … and of a completely different class to you. Just because I don’t go around flashing my money and my status in front of people like you do, Lady Shilo Delucci, does not give you the right to have prejudices. Right from the minute I picked you up from the airport I could tell from your tone and attitude. You never even gave me a chance.”
Shilo stared at him with tears in her eyes: suitably chastened and hurt by the deluge of vicious, sardonic words.
“And that wouldn’t be so bad, because everyone makes mistakes. But what really gets to me,” he continued raising his voice slightly, “is that it made a difference.”
“Stratt?” Shilo sobbed, astounded at his outburst.
“I have never met such a snob in my entire life. You measure people by what they have materially, by whom they know, by where they stand in society. You don’t ever accept anyone simply because they are who they are.”
“How dare you scream at me!” she shouted, her voice on the same pitch as his, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “No one has ever spoken to me like that before, and I certainly don’t have to take it from the likes of you!” She met his angry glare. “I just don’t understand where you are coming from. One minute you’re holding me and kissing me and the next… you’re shouting at me.”
She was locked in his stare, and she couldn’t escape. Something was happening – and yet they were both fighting it tooth and nail. And to Stratt she looked so lost, so hurt, and so alone. The tears were streaming down her cheeks and her hair was tumbling out of the formal style she had so painstakingly done for the dance.
Then he had her in his arms again, crushing her to his naked chest.
“I’m so sorry, Shilo. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”
She let the tears flow – embarrassed by how easily they had come. She felt him caressing her hair, kissing her neck and his hands moved slowly and gently over her open back and onto her buttocks. He pushed her harder into him. She looked up at him.
“What’s happening, Stratt?” she whispered.
He gently kissed away her tears and then his mouth descended on hers, and he kissed her hungrily. She accepted his probing tongue, his caressing hands. She felt his towel begin to slip down and her hands moved down too to touch the hardness, to hold it and massage it until he groaned with pleasure.
“I want you so much,” he sighed.
“I want you too,” she said, “so much that it hurts.”
She pushed him gently backwards until he sat down on the edge of the bed. She pushed him further until he lay down, still glistening with moisture from the shower. She sat astride him, and she could feel how much he wanted her. He searched her eyes for any sign of reluctance as he undid the zip on the back of her dress, and he caressed her breasts with his hands and then his tongue.
“Are you sure about this?” he breathed.
“Oh, yes,” she said. And she knew she was.
And then he rolled her over onto her back, and was carefully undressing her, removing her shoes, her silk stockings her dress and her underwear. He marveled at the beauty of her naked body. His fingers and his tongue moved expertly to all the right places, and then with a deep groan he was inside the welcoming wetness, and thrusting deep inside her until they were one.
They lay in each other’s arms silently afterwards for some time. Her hair covered his chest, and they simply enjoyed the mutual feeling of closeness.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” he whispered, his warm breath on her hair. “This can’t happen, Shilo.”
“Oh, Stratt. What are we going to do?”
“Shilo, it’s not going to work… and I somehow regret having made love to you, as it makes it even harder now. You are not going to be here forever, and we are going to have to say goodbye sooner or later. I can’t go through that hurt again.”
“But Stratt… this feels so right and so good. How can we stop what we’ve started?” she sighed.
“Shilo, we’re from two different worlds. Let’s stop it now before we get so involved that we can’t turn back … that we both suffer when you have to leave.”
He pulled himself up onto one elbow and looked down at her. God, she was exquisite. What had he done? He had been overcome with passion and lust and now… now he was in too deep, almost too deep to pull back. He traced a finger around her lips and down her neck to her chest.
“Shilo you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I ache when I think of you. Making love to you was like the top point of my entire life and meant a lot to me, but I shouldn’t have done it. It has only complicated things. If we fall in love, how can we possibly say goodbye. Can I suggest that we try and avoid each other for a few days and see how it goes? You go your way and I’ll go mine. Maybe in a few days when the heat of this moment has worn off, maybe then we can talk.”
“God, that’s going to be hard.”
He nodded.
“It’s going to be terrible.”
“Hold me, Stratt,” she said, and he took her in his arms again.
“Shilo,” he whispered, “Oh, Shilo.”
“I’m going to go now,” she said, and pulled herself reluctantly from his grasp.
She bent down and gave him a last lingering kiss, tracing his mouth with her tongue and then gently sucking his lips, and then disappeared into the bathroom to get dressed. When she returned, Stratt was sitting up in the bed, the sheets covering him to his waist. His head was lowered and he was shaking it slowly.
“Bye, Stratt,” she said softly, “and thanks for one of the most amazing nights of my life.”
He raised his head, but his face was a mask of sadness. He raised a hand in a gesture of farewell, but he could not utter a word.
*