The Midwife and the Millionaire. Fiona McArthur

the isolation of the two cattle stations, Smiley asked Levi to circle again, so he could point out how they corralled their cattle using the land formations to form a natural bottleneck and arena. These were the stations Smiley had his eye on.

      Sophie tried to concentrate on the implications of a station with no contact with the world for at least four months during the wet season, but all she could feel were the g-forces pulling her towards the open doorway. Her whole body seemed to be straining against the seat belt as they circled, and she had this horrible feeling that maybe Levi hadn’t fastened her buckle properly and she’d just pop out of it into spiralling space.

      Now that was a dilemma. She hadn’t checked the belt herself but if she touched it now she might press the eject button.

      Come on. Their aircraft was circling thousands of feet above the hard earth and Smiley was going on about the logistical difficulties of cattle to market.

      It was no good. ‘Can we land soon?’ Sophie’s voice cut across Smiley’s, squeaky with distress, and she felt Levi glance at her.

      The helicopter levelled out. ‘Bungles in fifteen minutes, you right with that?’ Levi’s voice was still tinny, but the strange thing was the lack of humour, just genuine understanding and concern in his voice and the reassurance she gained from that. His hand came across and rested on her upper arm as if to transfer calmness. From a man she didn’t trust it shouldn’t have helped that much. But it did. Like a lifeline.

      Funny how she’d never felt that mixture of empathy and support from Brad’s touch and she’d been engaged to him.

      Inexplicably steadied, she nodded, and allowed herself to sag more into the seat and close her eyes. Think calm thoughts. Take deep breaths. Everything will be fine.

      That was when the engine spluttered, coughed and died. Her eyes flew open. Slow motion from that moment on.

      Suddenly there was no background noise except the wind and the rotors turning without an engine. She watched in horror as Levi kept his hands glued to the controls, correcting the cabin’s inclination to yaw. Levi’s voice travelled down the tunnel of her frozen mind. ‘Have to land fast.’ His voice was much louder without the sound of the engine, then she couldn’t hear him at all because he’d switched the radio from the cabin to transmit the distress call. But she could watch his lips move, grimly, as he enunciated their position.

      Unwilling to stare frozenly out of the Perspex beneath her feet she kept her eyes on Levi.

      Glide. Helicopters can glide like planes but not as far. She remembered him saying that. She believed him. But he did lie. Had he lied then too? Surely not about this?

      They weren’t falling like a stone at the moment, still going forward, but the altimeter was unwinding like a top, much, much faster than it had wound up. Then she remembered that Odette and Smiley were in the back but she couldn’t turn her neck to look. They’d all die. Odette’s baby too? No. They had to survive. That thought steadied her. She was the midwife. The only medical person. They’d need her. Odette’s baby needed her. She’d better survive in one piece.

      She stared at Levi, who looked as if his face was hewn from the same stone as the escarpment they hurtled towards as he wrestled with the controls. No panic, just fierce, implacable determination to win. Thank God he’d decided to be the pilot. Even now he inspired confidence.