was a lump forming in the back of her throat and she fought it back. She’d last cried…when? She couldn’t remember. She never cried and she wasn’t about to now.
‘This Brian,’ he said, seeing her distress, and leading her away from it. ‘Karli’s father. He was on the train?’
‘Yes.’
‘If he looks at a map he’ll see how much danger you’re in.’
‘He won’t look at a map,’ she said dully. ‘He’s achieved his ends. He won’t be thinking of us at all.’
Riley finished his dinner, looked at his empty plate with regret, and pushed back his chair with an air of a man who had all night to listen. ‘Do you want to tell me about it?’
‘Not much.’
‘If I’m to help…’
‘There’s nothing more you can do to help,’ she told him. ‘You’re doing enough.’
He hesitated. ‘Then tell me because I want to know,’ he said softly. ‘You had a reason for getting off that train and I want to know what it was.’
‘We should never have been on it.’
‘So why were you?’
‘Nicole sent us tickets.’ She bit her lip. ‘Or I thought Nicole sent us tickets.’
‘Nicole?’
‘My mother. Karli’s mother.’
His eyes didn’t leave her face. ‘The lady who died yesterday. Are you going to explain?’
She sighed. She hauled his plate towards her and made to get up, but his hand shot across the table and caught her wrist. His hold was strong, yet gentle. Urgent yet patient.
‘Tell me, Jenna.’
There was nothing else to do. She needed this man’s help. She had to tell him.
‘Nicole Razor is…was my mother,’ she said and watched his eyes widen.
‘Nicole Razor. The lead singer for Skyrazor?’
‘That’s the one,’ she said grimly. ‘Ex-singer, ex-model, ex-drug addict, ex-anything else you want to name.’
‘I remember. She used to be married to…’ He hesitated and she saw his eyes widen as he hit memory recall and got the connection. ‘…Charles Svenson.’
‘Racing driver. Yep. That’s my dad.’
‘But he’s not Karli’s dad?’
‘Karli’s father was Nicole’s fourth marriage—Charles was the first. Brian was probably her biggest mistake. She married him while she was high on drugs and he hooked into her for what he could get.’ She hesitated. ‘Though it’s not fair to say he was her only mistake. All her husbands were after Nicole because of the fame thing.’
‘So you’re wealthy,’ he said slowly and she watched as his face changed. ‘You’re the daughter of Charles Svenson and Nicole Razor.’
What was she supposed to say to that? She’d learned early never to say anything. But he was waiting for her to respond.
With what? With sick humour—her only defence.
‘Poor little rich girl,’ she said mockingly, but his face stayed still and watchful.
‘So what happened?’ he asked.
‘Like Karli said—Nicole died yesterday.’
‘I don’t understand any of this.’
‘It’s easy.’ She hesitated. ‘No. It’s hard, but I’ll make it brief. Nicole didn’t want me and she didn’t want Karli. We were mistakes. Brian didn’t want Karli either, but, by the time they split, he and Nicole hated each other. The court gave Nicole custody and Nicole responded by putting Karli straight into an English boarding-school.’
‘Boarding-school.’ Riley’s brows snapped down. ‘What—at five?’
‘There are very few places now that take them that young,’ Jenna said bitterly. ‘You have to pay through the nose. And Nicole did. She was always touring, and the attraction of an English boarding-school was that it was in England. Brian is Australian. He couldn’t get near Karli. Nicole was playing at custody battles to try and hurt him further.’
It was history playing over, she thought bitterly. Her own father was American and Nicole had done exactly the same thing to her.
‘Hell.’
‘It was hell,’ Jenna whispered, but she couldn’t tell him why she knew exactly what a hell it really was. ‘I haven’t been in contact with my mother for years, but when I found out about Karli I realised her school was only an hour’s drive from where I work. I’ve been taking her home with me as much as I could. I just hated leaving her there.’
‘Why didn’t you take her permanently?’
Her eyes flashed up to his then. There was condemnation in his tone. Condemnation!
She wasn’t going to explain why. How dared he even begin to think of judging her?
Their eyes locked for a moment, anger meeting anger, but his eyes softened first. A duel over the dinner plates obviously wasn’t on the agenda. ‘So how did you get here?’ he asked, obviously deciding to let his last question go unanswered.
‘Brian rang me,’ she said, trying to swallow her anger and move on. ‘I’d never met Brian. A lot of the stuff I’ve been telling you about him I’ve only realised in the last few days. I hadn’t seen my mother for years and all I knew of her I read in the tabloids. I knew there’d been a custody battle for Karli and he’d lost, but that was all I knew. Anyway, I’d taken Karli out of school for the half-term holiday. Brian rang the school and they said she was with me. So he rang me. He said Nicole was in Australia. In Perth. I’d read in the paper that she was on tour so it made sense.’
His eyes were non-judgemental again. Watchful. ‘So you decided to come and see her?’
‘No one just pops in to visit Nicole.’ She hesitated, trying to remember the jumble of emotions she’d felt as Brian had rung. ‘But it was strange. Brian sounded really upset. He said Nicole was suffering from depression—which didn’t surprise me. She was always suffering from something, and after the life she’d led and the pills she’d popped a bit of depression would be the least of it. Anyway he said she wanted to see both of us and she was prepared to pay all expenses if we came immediately.’
‘So you came.’
‘I didn’t want to,’ she told him. ‘I mean…why would I want to see Nicole? I haven’t had anything to do with her for years. But Brian wanted Karli over here, and seeing Nicole was ill it was Brian who was making decisions on Karli’s behalf. If I didn’t come then she’d have to fly out on her own. And then Brian added further incentive. The train ride.’
‘Why the train?’
‘The story he gave was that this was too good a chance to miss,’ she told him. ‘Brian’s very plausible. He said he was desperately missing Karli and if we came by plane to Sydney and then had over three days travelling by train to Perth, not only would it be an exciting holiday for both of us, but it’d give him a chance to be with his daughter for a while.’ She hesitated, trying to remember why she’d agreed.
‘It sounded reasonable,’ she told him, thinking it through. ‘I knew Nicole would move heaven and earth to keep Karli and Brian apart. If someone didn’t do what Nicole wanted she could be…spiteful. So if this was a chance for Karli to be in Australia, then it made sense that Brian would be grateful for the opportunity to spend some time with her. Anyway, as I said, I didn’t want to come—but when I told Karli what was about to happen she disintegrated. In the end I couldn’t let her travel by herself.