Novels by Adele Reynders

Chapter 7Sometime in the early hours of the morning, Leah moved Gato, Sergio's tamed African Wildcat aside. She slipped out from under the comforter and sneaked out of the man's apartment. Somewhere out on the distant horizons, the sun poked its head out in a thousand shades of yellow, orange, purple and red.The promise of a beautiful new day in the northwest of Mozambique near the Lemombo Mountains, bordering the Kruger National Park on the other side.It could have been fantastic to see, but after last night Leah was muted.Why is her ex-husband Ralph Jameson back here at Hurters Retreat? The past two years she stopped thinking about him. Thought he was now distant history, after he was the one who decided to divorce her.Leah even took back her maiden name. On all her documents and bank statements, she is now Leah Hurter again. Which caused her to be alarmed by something he said. Words that kept her awake for much of the rest of lastnight.How on earth did Ralph find out that she

Sergio got into his bed last night, after drinking the hot chocolate with Leah. Everyday here in the bush is hard and he was tired. He slept like a log, even with a beautiful lady guest in his room. Why? Because she is off the limits to him. Unavailable. Call it the Sergio Martinez policy. You don’t stick your nose. Or any other part of your anatomy into a couple’s affairs. And lo and behold, most woman he fell for so far in his life, had a little shadow willing to follow her to the end of the world. Even here in Africa.As is the case with beautiful Leah. And luckily he found out about it in time.Not that he haven’t thought about it, and her … and him. Yesterday.With coffee and a rusk he walked out onto the veranda of his bachelor’s flat. In his mind he relived the whole episode, from the moment John told him that Leah his beloved daughter was on her way to the farm.While they were speaking about her, someone triggered the beam of the road to the lions' cam

Chapter 5“Who are you? Guests are not allowed to wander into this area of the farmhouse.” Sergio positioned himself between Ralph and Leah.“No, wrong question, big man. And not the one yóú should ask. Mỳ question then, who are you and what are you doing in my house and in my wife’s bedroom?”“Don’t call me your wife anymore…”“Wait Leah. Not tonight.” Leah’s father was also wakened by the commotion. “Ralph, this is doctor Sergio Martinez who is working on the African lion relocation programme. For the moment he is residing in my late father in law’s quarters. I told you about him when you got in last night. He was the one who took care of Leah’s foot yesterday.”“So, this is the lion man… Well thank you for what you did for Leah. You can go back to your quarters now.”That done it for Leah. About one million stars exploded in front of her eyes. The audacity. Humiliating a legal tenant and friend of her dad in front of them all. She leaped from her bed. “Oh my word, your house Ralph.

Chapter 4If it was America, England, Australia, probably anywhere in the world they would strongly suggest that you see a psychiatrist after trauma like the one Leah experienced that day. But now, this was Africa and someone with that qualification was not even remotely close.Leah had to find some way to work it out for herself.That was probably why she found herself back in the place where the lions were mating since yesterday. You may call it a ground hog day, or you may call it sheer stupidity. But there she was. Something in her subconscious mind was trying to warn her to take a very good look around her, before she got out of the Suzuki.Nothing… she was safe. And while you lost your cell phone, you may also look around to see if you can find it.And there they were again. King Lion and his queen of the moment. She was teasing him with the flick of her tale. Exposed herself shamelessly in front of his yellow eyes. He fell to the ground and covered his face with one of his huge

Chapter 3“Yes a doctor of animals. I do not touch human beings,” the big man with the yellow eyes and wild hair concurred.For a moment Leah was stunned, then she she started to plead with hom: “Well doctor Sergio Martinez, veterinarian. Please treat my foot as if I am one of your cute little rhinos or elephants or a little wild dog puppy. I will not sue you. I will even sign an indemnity agreement if that will make you feel better.”He was about to say no again. He also looked a little confused. Was she perhaps making fun of hom? Certainly not in that state of pain.His eyes softened.“No you do not need to sign anything. Just don’t tell anyone that I operated on you. Rather call it a simple procedure to remove a very stubborn piece of wood or thorn from your foot. Maria, please boil me a kettle of water and bring me a stainless steal bowl to sterilize my instruments. Just one moment, I will have to fetch my bag from my truck.”Perhaps it was from relieve. The idea that her life cou

Chapter 2 Leah new she was about to faint. Not just from the shock of looking into eyes of a human that reminded her of the lion that she just saw from the roof of her SUV. And not because he was now so close to her in this very confined area that she could see little speckles of brown in them as well.No, it was probably from the pain that shot right up into her leg after she touched the clutch pedal with her foot. “I landed into something on my way down from the rooftop of my car. It is now stuck in my foot and it … hurts so badly.”Lionman reached down and moved her foot just enough to take a look at the damage and then a sigh escaped from deep inside of him. Almost like a roar.“Oh no, that does not look good. That is not good at all. Don’t you have any shoes?”“I have sandals. I just thought I don’t need to wear it in Africa.”“Going bear foot or wearing sandals is not a good idea when walking in the veld. Here are snakes, scorpions, thorns and sharp sticks and stones. I strong