He was being excluded, Riley thought. Maybe justifiably. What the hell was he doing, putting his needs before Lucy’s?

‘We’ll do this together,’ he growled, and he spoke to Adam rather than Lucy because now that Lucy had Pippa and Amy behind her, it was suddenly Adam who was looking the most worried. ‘The hospital might be best. I can help you…’

‘We can decide that close to the time,’ Pippa said, and her tone was suddenly resolute, almost daring him to defy her. ‘I hope I’m still here to help,’ Amy said. ‘Having a baby is awesome.’

‘It doesn’t hurt at all,’ Pippa teased, and Amy giggled.

‘It does hurt a bit,’ she conceded. ‘But then you get this baby at the end of it and it’s fabulous. I’m not going to have any more until I’m about thirty but I loved it. Can I help Pippa teach you to breathe?’

‘I can breathe already,’ Lucy said, and peeped a glance at her father. Who was glaring at Pippa. ‘I’m sure I can. Why are you looking at Pippa like that?’

‘She’s organising my life.’

‘I’m not,’ Pippa said. ‘If Lucy and Adam are staying here, maybe I should go back to my hotel.’

‘No,’ Amy said, suddenly panicked. ‘You promised.’

‘I need you here,’ Lucy said, sounding even more panicked.

Maybe he should go to the hotel, Riley thought, absorbing the fact that he was in a house that had been transformed suddenly into a home-his home-and it was full of people who were depending on Pippa.

‘It’s like having family,’ Lucy said.

And he thought, Exactly.

It was exactly why he wanted to walk away right now.

Another bombshell was about to land.

Amy retired to have a nap. Pippa went back to curtain sewing and Adam put up more rods. Lucy took her father on a tour of the posters.

‘I’ll pay you for these,’ he said, trying to make up for his less than enthusiastic initial response. ‘They must have cost a fortune. Plus the sewing machine and the fabric…’

‘I didn’t pay for them.’ Lucy said. ‘I don’t have any money. Mum said if I stay with Adam then she’d cut me off with nothing. And Adam’s an art student.’

‘You’ve come to Australia with nothing?’

‘Adam sold his motorbike. That just got us here.’

That made him feel… dreadful. The money itself didn’t worry him. He had twenty years of savings, he earned an excellent wage and the overtime in the work he was doing now was truly astounding. But to have Lucy so helpless… And who’d paid for the posters?

‘So Pippa paid?’

‘It doesn’t matter to her. She says she’s not your girlfriend, but, Dad, if I were you I’d make a move. She’s funny, and she’s kind, and she’s loaded.’

‘Loaded?’

‘You didn’t know?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I didn’t recognise her but Adam did, as soon as he heard her full name. We got the posters delivered. She paid for them over the phone by credit card. She’s Phillippa Penelope Fotheringham.’

‘It that supposed to mean anything to me?’

‘Yeah. It is. I sort of knew about her. She’s an heiress. And we know even more, ’cos Adam read a story about her last month while I was getting tests at the hospital. Adam read the glossies while he waited. There was a piece on Pippa. He says her grandfather made millions with some food company. Her parents are socialites-worse than Mum. Even I’ve heard of them; they’re always in the news. But Pippa’s not social. The story said Pippa went nursing when she was seventeen. Her family hated it but she did anyway. She’s been quiet ever since. The article was about her grandpa saying she’s the best of his relations and he’s left the company to her. Oh, and she was going to marry the company’s chief accountant-that was what the piece was about. You know, heiress finds true love, that sort of thing. I don’t know what happened, but what I do know is that she’s seriously, seriously rich.’

Dinner was steak and salad, cooked on the barbecue. With Riley thinking Pippa had paid for the steak.

Amy and Baby Riley were asleep before the washing-up was complete. Adam and Lucy headed back to their hotel with baby books. They couldn’t get a mattress until Monday but they looked wistful as they left the house.

Riley headed out to the veranda, and Pippa followed.

She stood and watched him for a while. He watched the sea and said nothing.

‘You can take the posters down after everyone’s gone,’ she said at last.

‘Why would I want to do that?’

‘Because you like bare walls?’

‘I don’t actually like walls at all. How rich are you?’

‘Very rich.’ There was no sense in denying it.

‘So what the hell are you doing here?’

‘I’m not accepting free board and lodging,’ she said warily, because there was nothing in his voice to suggest any warmth. ‘I’m staying here because of Amy but I’m paying rent to the hospital. The same as you.’

‘That’s not what I meant. You took the job with Flight-Aid under false pretences.’

‘Under what pretences?’ she demanded, starting to feel angry. ‘Are you saying I had no right to apply? Because there’s money in my background?’

‘You can apply for what you like.’

‘Because I’m rich?’ Anger was coming to her aid now, pure and simple. ‘I didn’t pay for Coral to employ me at Flight-Aid. I was employed on the basis of my experience and my qualifications.’

‘It’s a plaything.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You’ll do it and leave.’

‘I might,’ she said, astounded. ‘So might you. I did, however, work in the same hospital in Britain for over ten years. Match that, Dr Riley.’

‘What are you doing here?’ It was like an explosion. He turned to face her and his eyes were dark with anger. ‘What are you playing at?’

‘I’m not playing.’

‘Filling my house with… what’s the quote? A monstrous regiment of women.’

‘Like three,’ she said, gobsmacked. ‘Three!’

‘Four. Even Baby Riley howled when-’

‘When you gave her her blood test. I’d howl too if someone pricked my heel. Whatever. You’re putting her in your conspiracy theory, too? Riley Chase, his life hijacked by women. What about Adam?’

‘He’ll figure it out,’ Riley said harshly. ‘Lucy’s grandparents… her mother… they’re angry with her now but they’ll want her back. They’ll haul her back into their lives and Adam will be left on the outside.’

‘Are we talking of Adam, or are we talking about you?’

‘It’s none of your business.’

‘And neither is my money any of your business. What earthly difference does it make?’

‘Why are you working?’

‘Because I want to.’ She was almost yelling. Almost but not quite. ‘I left my job to marry Roger. The deal was that we’d have a long honeymoon, then we’d go back to London and, guess what, I’d find another job. Nursing. I love what I do. Believe it or not, I love it a lot more than I ever loved Roger. And guess what? I’ve fallen in love again, only this time I’ve fallen in love with Flight-Aid. With the whole package. With Whale Cove Hospital, with Jancey, with Coral, with nurses who care so much they don’t even see the end of their shifts coming. Who see the place as an extension of their lives; their community.’

‘That’s not-’

‘Shut up and let me finish,’ she said. ‘Because I need to say it. Because I love what you do, too, and I’m not intending to walk away from it. I love the search and rescue component of the job-all the worthwhile things. I sneaked into the hospital when I went for a walk this morning and I talked to Jancey. I know what you did for that family last night. You got his body back so they could grieve, but more. You stayed with them. You talked them through their grief. You made George’s body presentable so by the time they saw him he didn’t look like he’d died in terror. And then you cared for Maria, you reassured her, you were just there. Jancey says sometimes you doubt that a doctor should be on these search and rescue missions, but everyone here thinks exactly that.’

‘This is nothing to do with-’

‘Me? Yes, it is, because I’m a Flight-Aid nurse. I’ve signed Coral’s contract. And there’s more. Joyce’s clinic. Her house-cum-hospital. It took my breath away. I want to be a part of that so much it’s like a part of me I didn’t know was missing. And I will be a part of it. Jancey says there’s two complete crews, two medical teams who cover inland settlements. She says if you and I can’t get along then we’ll swap teams. Mardi can come to you and I’ll go on Jake’s team.’

‘You talked to Jancey? About me?’

‘Everyone talks about you,’ she said wearily. ‘Everyone worries abut you. They love you, Riley Chase, only you don’t get it. You do this loner thing and no one can get near. Jancey says you had the pits of a childhood. Alcoholic mother. No parenting to speak of. One of the older nurses knew your mother and she said-’

‘I don’t have to listen to this.’

‘No, you don’t,’ she said. ‘Like I don’t have to listen to you saying my medicine is a plaything. I’ve come from money and neglect; you’ve come from poverty and neglect. Either way, we’ve ended up here. The only difference is that I intend to make here my home. I’ll buy an apartment here and you know what? I won’t need Adam and Lucy and Amy to make it a home for me because I’ll do it myself. Oh, and by the way, while you’re busy getting your knickers in a twist, here’s something else to get on your high horse about. I’m about to throw more money about. I’m about to set up a trust for Joyce’s House. I’ll use whatever I need to set it up as an accredited hospital. I’ll do it anonymously but I’d imagine you’ll find out, so you might as well despise me now. Not for the act. For having the capacity to do it. For what I was born into rather than what I am.’

He didn’t speak. He stood staring at her in the moonlight like she was someone he didn’t know-and didn’t want to know.

‘I know how Lucy’s mother and grandparents treated you,’ she said, her anger finally fading at little as she remembered the bald outline Lucy had told her. She had every right to be angry, but money had messed with so much of her life that in a way she understood his confusion. His emotion. If she could come to this man on his terms…