He hadn’t questioned her destiny either.

‘Lily, we need to talk,’ he said as they walked through the fringe of coconut palms to the beach beyond.

‘What good is talking?’ she whispered dully, and he heard how close to breaking point she really was.

‘He’ll be fine, Lily,’ he said softly. ‘The men and women doing the negotiating are the best. We flew them in as soon as we realised how serious the hostage situation was. They’re never going to blast their way in. I’ve watched these people before and seen the way they work. They have all the patience in the world. It might take days but they’ll get them out alive. They know their stuff.’

But Lily had only heard the one word. ‘Days,’ she choked. ‘With those murderers? He’s six years old. What he must be thinking… I should have taken him to Kira’s myself. But the woman I was treating…she’d have bled to death. I couldn’t. Dear God, I couldn’t.’

‘You had medical imperatives,’ he said gently. He’d talked to the finance councillor by now-the woman was recovering in hospital-and he’d seen the wound Lily had somehow pulled together. Lily was right. If she’d taken the time to take care of her son before she’d treated her, the woman would be dead. ‘You saved her life, Lily.’

‘But I should have kept Benjy with me,’ she whispered. ‘He’s my son. I’m all he has.’

‘Doesn’t he have Jacques?’ he asked, and she looked blindly up at him, uncomprehending. ‘Your fiancé’s in there as well, isn’t he?’

She steadied a little at that. ‘Jacques,’ she said, and then more strongly, ‘Jacques. Maybe that’s why he’s there. Maybe he went to Jacques.’ But then she shook her head. ‘But he’d have had to come past the hospital to reach Jacques.’