‘I’m not brave enough.’

There were footsteps on the outside stairs. The door was flung open, and Ben was there. Her lovely Ben. Big and strong and tanned, and laughing for the sheer joy of living.

The father of her child.

‘Lily, they’ve accepted me into SAS training,’ he said before she could say a word, and he was across the room, lifting her, swinging her round and round in his excitement. ‘It’s the crack army assault team-the best in the world. You’ll be off saving your little island but I’ll be seeing the world.’ He spun her round and round until she felt dizzy, and when he finally set her on her feet she had no choice but to lean against him, to feel the strength of him one last time.

‘Sweetheart, we’ve each achieved our dream,’ he said, and she could tell that his thoughts were already off in the exciting future where she played no part. ‘I’ll miss you like hell, my love.’

‘I’ll miss you,’ she managed, but only just.

‘Will you?’ He cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him, but his eyes were alive with excitement, and he didn’t see the change in hers.

‘I can’t understand how you can want to go back to such a place as Kapua,’ he said. ‘When the whole world is yours.’

‘The island is my world.’

He nodded. ‘I guess,’ he said, hugging her against him. ‘I guess we’re both driven, but in different directions. But I wish we could share.’

‘No, you don’t,’ she whispered, but so softly he didn’t hear. She whispered it from her heart to his. ‘You don’t wish we could share, my love. You’re my darling Ben Blayden-who walks alone.’

CHAPTER ONE

‘ISN’T Kapua where Lily Cyprano lives?’

Ben was running to a tight schedule, and he sighed as Sam Hopper joined him. Sam was a skilled surgeon but he talked too much. The first Chinook was leaving in an hour. Normally the adrenalin was kicking in by now, making him move with lightning speed, but lately… Hell, what did it mean when preparation for disaster seemed routine?