dozen or more.’ He pulled the ring on his new can and took a long drink. ‘Now, having reassured you that I’m not about to get rolling drunk on my second light beer, I figure it’s your turn. Maybe I’m being picky but I would like to know what the hell—’ his eyes fell to Karli and he corrected himself ‘—what on earth you guys are doing in my kitchen, criticising my housekeeping and counting my beers. It’s not that I’m unappreciative. It’s always nice when guests drop in. I’m just not sure where you dropped from.’
She swallowed. He had the right. ‘From the train,’ she started and he nodded.
‘I guess it had to be the train. But I was over there picking up supplies. I didn’t see you.’
‘We got off just as the train left.’
‘You weren’t expecting to be collected, then?’
‘No.’
‘I see.’ He thought about it, his eyes not leaving hers. ‘So you thought you might indulge in a little sightseeing?’
‘There’s no need to be sarcastic,’ Jenna snapped. ‘We didn’t choose to get off.’
‘You’re saying someone threw you off?’ That amazing smile flashed out then. ‘What, for being drunk and disorderly?’ As she didn’t reply, he settled onto a chair with the air of a man about to enjoy a good book. ‘Well, well. Jenna Svenson. And Karli. Sit down and tell me all. Please.’
She owed him that much, she thought. She needed him. She had to tell him.
She sat and hoisted Karli onto the chair beside her. Their chairs were touching and Karli was still in contact with her, but strangely the little girl seemed to be relaxing.
What was it about this man?
Jenna wasn’t relaxing. She sat gingerly on the edge of her chair. The chair gave a distinct wobble, and the wobble made her feel even more precarious. It was as if her world were tilting and she wasn’t at all sure that she wasn’t about to slide right off.
‘We had a disagreement with someone on the train,’ she managed. ‘We…we got angry and we got off.’
‘You had a disagreement.’ His thoughtful eyes glinted again, humour seemingly just below the surface. His eyes searched her face, then dropped to take her all in. His eyes ran over her dust-stained pants and blouse—they’d once been white—over her wind-tumbled curls where the red dust was blending with her burnt-red hair, down to her slim arms resting on the table before her. To her bare fingers.
His eyes went again to Karli. To study her dusty red curls and her big green eyes that were a mirror image of Jenna’s.
‘Who was your disagreement with?’
‘With Karli’s father,’ she told him. ‘Brian.’
His eyes flashed again to her fingers but there was no ring-mark there. That was what he was searching for, she knew. Damn him, she thought with anger. She knew exactly what he was thinking.
‘Oh, dear,’ he said. ‘You’ve left the third part of your happy family on the train.’
‘There’s no third part,’ she snapped. ‘And, believe me, it’s no happy family.’
‘Obviously.’
She flushed. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How to explain within Karli’s earshot?
And how to justify her stupidity? Her stupid, almost criminal idiocy.
‘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.’
‘No?’
‘The nearest place with those sort of facilities is Adelaide,’ he said flatly. ‘That’s several hours’ flight in my small plane. It’d take me a day to get you there and get back here, and I don’t have a day free. I’m sorry to be disobliging, but I’m on a deadline.’
‘A deadline?’ She stared around in incredulity. ‘What sort of deadline can you have in a place like this?’
Riley’s expression became absolutely still. ‘Careful,’ he said softly. ‘Not so much of the disdain, if you please. This is my farm we’re talking of.’
‘But…’ Jenna closed her eyes for a fraction of a moment, to give herself space. She’d never felt so foreign or alone or out of control in her life—and she’d been alone for ever.
‘I’m sorry,’ she managed, and she fought for the courage to open her eyes again and face him. ‘I guess… Look, I don’t understand Australian farms. This is the first one I’ve been on. For all I know—’ she searched desperately for a smile ‘—this could be luxury accommodation.’
‘It isn’t,’ he said flatly. ‘But I have a roof over my head and a refrigerator full of beer. What more could I want?’
Anything, she thought. Anything.
‘The
