‘You know, what you did wasn’t all that bright,’ he told her, his voice gentle and his eyes resting thoughtfully on her flushed face.

‘I know that. But when I looked out there were people on the platform. It looked like a busy little country siding. I thought there’d be somewhere where we could stay until the next train came through. It wasn’t until we got off and everyone had disappeared that I remembered trains only come through twice a week.’

‘You did that with a child?’ he said, and there was suddenly a flash of anger behind the gentleness. She bit her lip. Okay, he was angry and maybe she deserved that. She was angry with herself. But if he’d seen the way Brian had treated Karli-the way she’d cringed…

‘I had my reasons,’ she said, in a tight little voice in which weariness was starting to show. ‘Believe me. I was dumb but I had no choice.’ She hesitated. This wasn’t easy. To ask a complete stranger for such a favour… ‘But you have a plane,’ she said. ‘We saw it when we came round the side of the house. We…’ She hesitated because the blaze of anger was still there, but she had to ask. ‘Could…is it possible that you’d fly us out?’ Then, as the anger deepened she went on fast. ‘I’d pay you, of course.’ Somehow she’d pay. ‘I’m not asking favours.’ When had she ever asked a favour of anyone?

He gazed at her, his eyes expressionless. ‘You want me to drop everything and fly you out of here. To where?’

‘Adelaide?’

‘Adelaide?’ he demanded, incredulous.

‘Please.’ Her hold on Karli tightened. Dear heaven, she’d got them in such a mess. She’d believed Brian. Why on earth had she ever believed Brian?

She’d wanted to believe him. For Karli’s sake.

‘I don’t know what to do,’ she confessed. ‘We can’t stay here.’

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘You can’t.’

‘If not Adelaide…’ she shrugged ‘…just anywhere with a hotel and a telephone and some way of getting back to the outside world.’

‘No.’