Wild At Heart

By K. Barnett

Sophie is crushed by her divorce and the accusations from her former husband that she is 'Mrs Stay-Put.'

 

Determined to prove that she can be spontaneous, she sells her veterinary practice and sets off on placement in Kenya in a bid to improve her image and her self-esteem.

 

Focusing on her work in a conservation reserve she doesn't count on meeting Joe, the wild card son of her sponsor.

 

After a very frosty start, the pair warm to each other under the African sun, until Joe's ex-fiancé shows up and turns Sophie's dreams on their head.

 

Will Sophie stay-put again, or will she pack her bags and move on to the next gig, just to prove a point?

 

Wild At Heart is the perfect easy-read, happily ever after romance, ideal for the beach, plane or train.

• Language: English
• Publisher: K. Barnett
• Release date: Oct 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201198947

Book preview

Wild At Heart

K. Barnett

Copyright © 2022 by K. Barnett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, email the author at; [e-mail]

Published by K. Barnett

Chapter 1

The dark was mesmerizing , and after an hour on the road, it was threatening to lull Sophie off to sleep. She was already so very tired from four, long international flights.

It had been a relief to get back on the ground, and even more of a relief to find Max, her host, waiting in arrivals to welcome her.

He had a mop of dark blonde hair and a broad grin and was genuinely enthusiastic to greet her, despite the late hour and the long distance he had travelled to collect her.

Sophie had accepted his help as he wrestled her large haversack onto his back and then chivvied her along towards the dusty Jeep parked in the car park of Mombasa International Airport.

Sophie settled into her seat, mentally preparing for the two-hour journey ahead which she’d Googled again the night before just as a final reminder about the place she was to call home for the next six months.

Gosh, how tired she was.

The bleak, dark landscape that now consumed them was doing its best to lull her towards sleep, but she didn’t dare drop off when poor Max had come all this way to get her, working around her schedule instead of his.

It was a relief to see tail lights ahead of them. The anomaly in the darkness broke up the monotony of the dusty highway. At one point Sophie had been convinced they had stopped such was the repetitive shrub landscape around them.

Although they were in the savanna the roadside looked mainly like a desert and it was a reminder that she was entering a hot African country.

Max zipped around the slow-moving car in front of them laden with people and bulging bags. Suitcases seemingly balanced, albeit precariously, on its roof.

Max laughed as Sophie did a double-take at the safety-challenged entourage.

‘It’s very different to England,’ he joked.

His accent was a mixture of Oxford British but with a touch of a Swahili on certain words.

When she was less tired, she would ask him about it. She was sure he wouldn’t mind. He was kind, and the sort of person she imagined would welcome enquiry.

‘It’s quite a change for you after the lush greenery of the Bolivian jungle, right?  Probably the complete opposite,’ he laughed good-heartedly.

‘I’m sure I’ll love it regardless,’ assured Sophie.

It was the best she could do. She was just so damned tired and her brain was struggling to help her be sociable. God, she might be so wrong. What if she hated it? She’d never been to Africa in her life! But then, she hadn’t been at all sure about Bolivia either and she’d loved that, even if she had only stayed within the confines of the orangutan reserve she’d volunteered at.

Sophie glanced at her watch after she realised the tatty old Jeep’s dashboard clock was broken. It was almost two in the morning and she’d barely slept for the past thirty-six hours. She’d taken a flight from La Paz in Bolivia to New York, then London, followed by a long transfer in Amsterdam before landing in Mombasa.

She felt terrible for thinking it, but she wished Max would be quiet so she could close her eyes and sleep. There was nothing for her to see in the darkness so she wouldn’t miss much. Besides, she felt as if she already knew her new home from the countless times she’d studied the map of Katilili Estate, a sprawling nature reserve of over ten thousand acres.

The Jeep rumbled on and she wondered if the placement vets before her had been more attentive towards Max’s jovial narrative than she was being? It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested but she felt as if a couple of matchsticks wouldn’t come amiss to keep her eyes open and it felt as if the headache she’d been nursing since the last plane ride had grown in magnitude.

If she was truthful, she was also in a reflective mood; a little bit sad that she’d left behind some great friends in Bolivia; all volunteer or trainee vets like herself, most of whom were a bit younger than her since she’d been a qualified vet for several years now, albeit on the domestic animal front.

Large wild animals were out of her field of expertise and she’d wanted to try something radically different after years of domestic pets, and years of domestic matrimony too.

Her break up with Richard had had a bigger impact on her than anything that had gone before in her life. She’d started to reassess the decisions she’d made in the past and the direction she had taken.

Long before she’d met Richard, she’d been adamant that she was going to rescue wild animals after becoming inspired from a trip to New Zealand with her parents as a teen. The dream had never left her, but after she’d qualified Richard had pulled her in the direction of domesticity and a quiet home life, and she consequently ended up safe and sound as a partner in a veterinary surgery in Hertfordshire.

She hadn’t been unhappy, quite the opposite. Richard was the proactive sort and a progressive and genius architect. Sophie considered herself to be proactive too and progressive in her cartilage surgery specialism, developing new techniques and writing papers about surgeries she’d performed.

In Sophie’s mind, they were the dynamic duo, at the cutting edge, so to speak, of their respective industries, and she’d been happy, she really had.

However, four years into married life Richard had come home late from work one night with a sober look on his face, an Indian takeaway in one hand and a large bunch of red roses in the other.

He had sat at the dining table and poured them both several glasses of red wine before telling Sophie that it would be his last night in their house and that he was leaving her.

Reeling with shock Sophie had cried and sobbed with confusion begging for answers but Richard had recited the same reason over and over into the small hours; that she was just too routine and happy standing still. He wanted adventure and progress and at one point during the conversation, he had called her, ‘Mrs Stay-Put.’

Bitterly, Sophie had made several coffees to straighten her thoughts out and then she had become angry which had sobered her up quickly after that.

How dare he! He was the one who wanted to stay put! The number of times she’d suggested a holiday on safari, maybe a cruise down the Nile, or a skiing trip, and he’d vetoed her suggestions. Stay put! It was his idea to buy a big house, and they’d ticked that box and numerous others because he’d wanted to. A big wedding, flash cars, gym memberships, and impressive dinner parties. They’d even bought a country cottage to use as a little love nest to try and fix their lacklustre love life, which Sophie had put down to their busy work schedules at the time. She was not the one wanting to stay put!

The divorce had been quick, and Sophie couldn’t help but be hurt by the reports from friends that he’d moved on so quickly with another woman.

But through it all, her real friends, not the dinner party colleagues from his firm, told her she was too good for him, but that didn’t quell her anxiety that she may well have become Mrs Stay-Put as Richard had so rudely implied.

Sophie had retreated from life, only going to work, or the shops to pick up a meal for one on her way home.

Whilst driving to work one day she almost ran over a large red dog and her brain for a split second had misfired making her believe that the enormous fur ball was a lion before auto-correcting and making her feel somewhat silly. Lions in Hertfordshire?

The dog was fine and bounded away and no one had gone into the back of her, thankfully. A broad smile crossed her face and she sat in her car at a complete stop while other cars impatiently went around her, her mind nowhere near where it should be, off floating around an imaginary savanna.

She considered her rich and surreal imaginings to be some sort of divine intervention which prompted her to swing the car around and drive home before calling in sick to work.

Ten hours later she’d contacted various conservation organisations around the world that needed a free, or lowly-paid domestic animal vet to help them out.

When they heard her plans the partners at the veterinary surgery were furious at her lack of commitment so she sold her share of the practice and was as shocked as they were by her decisive and somewhat flippant attitude towards her future.

Three weeks later she let out her house to pay her expenses and then stepped on a plane to Bolivia.

So, she’d spent several weeks in the Bolivian jungle working hard but also devouring papers on wild animal research in order to secure her next placement at Katilili Estate in Kenya, a reserve run by Dr Francis Beris who Sophie had never heard of until six months ago but who was the world’s clinical lead in elephant and rhino anaesthetics, and sadly in their euthanasia too.

She’d been very lucky to get a placement for six months, and she knew it. She realised she should have tried to break into the wild animal arena in her twenties rather than her early thirties, ideally after she’d qualified, so she was grateful for the opportunity and was going to give it all she had to make this succeed. She didn’t know what the future held, whether she would become a zoo vet or whether there was actually a place for her permanently out in Africa somewhere? Maybe with a conservation project? One thing she did know was she wasn’t going to go back to England with her tail tucked between her legs to resume castrating cockapoos. She was no longer Mrs Stay-Put, dammit!

Chapter 2

‘H ere we are,’ said Max, softly, as the Jeep engine went from a whining hum to a deep purr slowing down on passing through the stone archway leading up to Katilili Estate.

Sophie jolted, suddenly aware that she had indeed fallen asleep after all.

‘Max, I’m so sorry, I ...’

Max laughed and despite the darkness, Sophie could see the flash of his teeth, his blonde curls slightly exuberant alongside him.

‘Almost there,’ he changed down a gear and reduced his speed and Sophie could tell that he was trying to drive thoughtfully so as not to wake anyone. Sophie had done her research and she knew that Katilili Estate, while privately owned, depended on the income from safari tourists to survive. Most of the income was ploughed back into the rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals and the estate had gained an excellent reputation for conservation.

Sophie had read horror stories of some rescue centres poaching animals themselves to present them to adoring tourists and VO volunteers while accepting a huge fee for placements.

Sophie had done her homework and she just happened to email Katilili Estate at an opportune moment. Dr Beris had called her promptly after she’d submitted a residential application.

He’d been keen to talk to her about the operations she’d performed on cartilage reattribution and Sophie had felt like an absolute fraud as she related the various operations on cats and dogs she’d performed over the years. The truth was, the work she’d done on cartilage was something any vet could do. All she’d done differently was write papers on it, and boring ones at that, but despite that Dr Beris seemed to think she’d be the ideal candidate to support his new research.

‘This is it,’ said Max, as he pulled up to what appeared to be the main house. Sophie noticed that the house was in darkness but that there were many small solar lights dotted about on the ground pointing upwards at an angle and gently illuminating the colonial-style veranda and the wide main steps up to the glass double front doors. To her right, a dusty path trimmed with white painted stones led away from the house towards a mock village centre with individual log cabin guest houses perched on either side.

Sophie peered into the gloom and she could see some of the buildings looked like smaller-scale French chateaus and had colourful illuminated signs advertising what they were: Bar, Restaurant, General Store.

She climbed down from the Jeep and locked her knees straight, stretching her muscles in a controlled release. She stifled what, back home, would have been a loud yawn, but here in southern Kenya in the middle of the night outside Dr Beris’s residence was a polite release of air.

‘This way,’ said Max, leading the way after he had worked efficiently to retrieve her heavily laden haversack from the Jeep’s boot.

Sophie followed him up the stone steps and onto the wide wooden veranda then in through the front doors.

Max turned the hall light on and the spacious homely interior was immediately illuminated in soft golden light.

Sophie could smell as well as see the warm wood panelling and she couldn’t help but appreciate the dated but comfortable décor of the enormous sitting room which led directly off the entrance hall.

A little whine and whistle to her left made her startle slightly as she hadn’t heard that sound for more than six months, but then she relaxed as she realised, she’d already made her first friend.

Four paws clicked across the floorboards towards her as a humble friendly Labrador wagged her way towards her causing Sophie to immediately crouch down to receive a nuzzly welcome.

‘That’s Sassy,’ said Max, smiling, as the pair made their acquaintance.

‘She’s adorable,’ cooed Sophie, as she gently ruffled the canine’s ruff.

‘She is,’ nodded Max fondly. ‘She’s getting old now but she earned her name through her bold reputation. She was the runt of the little that grew to ensure she took no prisoners.’

Sophie smiled at Max appreciative of the little accolade to the adored family dog.

‘No seriously,’ said Max, ‘if you have a good look at her back-left quarters tomorrow you’ll see claw marks that she got moments before she sent a lioness packing one day.’

‘Oh, Sassy,’ sympathised Sophie, ruffling behind her ears in return for a wet lick across her face.

Max chuckled quietly. ‘Come on, Sophie, I’ll show you to your room.’

Sophie stood up and forced a smile which Max interpreted straight away.

‘Don’t worry, it’s just for tonight. We don’t expect you to stay in the family home. We’ve got a separate lodge lined up for you, but it’s set slightly apart from the rest and it’s too dark and disorientating to take you there now. I wouldn’t want to feed you to the lions just yet.’

Sophie smiled at the wry joke and followed Max up the wide stairs to the first floor where he showed her to an annexe with a homely bedroom and ensuite.

Without further ado, Max said goodnight and Sophie laid her haversack on the floor, then ignoring it completely she climbed under the crisp white sheets of her four-poster bed and fell instantly asleep.

‘Madam!’ boomed a voice from the other side of the door. ‘It is one PM! Time to get up!’

Shit! Sophie leapt out of bed and was certain that she’d landed like a baby elephant on the stripped wooden floorboards. She almost tripped over a shabby rug as she ran for the door, about to explode with apologies at her rudeness for sleeping in.

She misjudged the lightness of the door and when she pulled it back it sailed past her making an almighty crack against the woodwork. Her impertinent guest startled as did she, and then she suddenly remembered she was semi-clothed in just a white vest and her knickers.

Her visitor didn’t seem to notice her attire but he did notice the horrified look on her face and her widening pupils.

‘Oh, my dear. I’m so sorry. I was trying to be humorous.’

A white-haired man with smooth brown skin and sparkling blue eyes stood before her with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

‘I’m Dr Beris,’ he said, extending his other hand towards her.

‘S-Sophie,’ stammered Sophie, as she returned his firm shake. She smiled, now that her brain had relaxed and caught up with her new surroundings. This was her new employer, or at least her new sponsor since she wasn’t actually being paid.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, at last, Sophie,’ smiled Dr Beris. He thrust the coffee into her hands and then backed politely away. ‘Lunch is ready.’

Sophie watched him pad quietly away before closing the door. She was flummoxed and very late evidently. She leapt into action and slurped the coffee before ditching it on the little dressing table then ran for the ensuite bathroom, spinning the taps quickly until the shower came on. After more than forty-five hours in transit, she dreaded to think what she smelt like, probably one of the animals she was about to meet today she imagined.

She was buzzing all of a sudden. This was it. She’d arrived at the start of a new adventure. The air smelled crisp and the intense daylight pouring through the windows as she threw open the curtains seemed to energise her soul. It was going to be a great day!

‘Good afternoon,’ slurred Dr Beris, as he rose slightly from his chair upon Sophie’s arrival at the kitchen table.

‘Good afternoon,’ said Sophie, wondering if the greeting referred to afternoon specifically or to her particular lateness? She took the seat that Dr Beris had gestured towards and then glanced at him as he smiled happily at her.

Sophie decided there’d been no sarcasm in his greeting and that Dr Beris was simply a gentleman, and she imagined that his good graces and politeness came from a different era. She thought he might have come from money originally and was clearly a highly educated man who considered politeness to be a great virtue.

‘Sorry about scaring you earlier.’ He slid a fresh hot mug of coffee gently across the table towards her. ‘I’m afraid my sense of humour is quite literal at times. Anyway, I trust you had a pleasant sleep?’ he smiled.

‘I did. Thank you, Dr Beris,’ grinned Sophie. She did indeed feel like she’d had the sleep of her life. Her last placement was literally in the jungle where she was surrounded by all aspects of jungle life including the chirping of crickets which had kept her awake at night for the first several weeks.

‘Thank you for accommodating me, I hope me and Max didn’t wake anyone last night, I mean, early this morning?’

‘No, just me home last night and I sleep like a rock. My other son was out on patrol last night, so he’ll sleep today when he gets in. As for Max, well he seems to sleep whenever he can wherever he can. Oh, that sounds wrong. What I mean is, that Max is currently running the business side of Katilili single-handedly so he’s up against it at the mo. Poor boy has to sleep as and when he can. That leads me to my main subject today which is about you.’

Dr Beris swigged his coffee, leaned forward and then smiled kindly at Sophie as though preparing to let her down gently about something.

Sophie stopped with her own coffee poised. He was about to tell her they couldn’t put her up and she had to go home, wasn’t he?

‘Don’t worry,’ said Dr Beris, reading her thoughts. ‘You are very, very welcome here and we want you to stay the full six months, but today and for the next few days I need you to find your own way I’m afraid. Barbara, my wife, is back in Blighty planning a funeral and packing up her mother’s home, and coincidentally our other trooper, Lucy, also a Brit, is recovering from an operation on her leg but she should be back very soon. So, we’re down to Max running everything on his own and I’ll have to help him out until the girls come back.’

Sophie let out an audible sigh. She hadn’t come all this way and ruffled so many feathers back home just to be sent away prematurely.

Dr Beris laughed at her obvious relief.

‘You’ll be fine, Sophie, I imagine this will be a darn sight easier than Bolivia. A bit more civilised at least. And, I know your wild animal experience is limited but this will be a crash course in wild veterinary medicine. I’m sure you can handle it.’

Sophie suddenly felt excited. She already had Dr Beris’s trust which was amazing. In Bolivia, she hadn’t been allowed any hands-on for the first month which had been so frustrating.

‘Um, that sounds great, Dr Beris, but I really don’t have enough experience to run free, so to speak.’

‘No, not at all,’ assured Dr Beris appreciating her honest response. ‘You’ll never be on your own. I’m contactable by radio