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bottom lip. ‘I always wanted to kiss the crumpled bit.’
    If he was going to kiss her crumpled bit he’d better hurry up. Todd was tugging at the leg of her jeans and she knew exactly what he was after.
    ‘May I have a biscuit please, Ellie?’
    The glimmer of passion in Patrick’s eyes faded to regret, then an awareness of what had been about to happen. Casually he straightened. ‘Bring the biscuit tin along. It will keep him busy whilst we get your expensive toy back on the road.’
    * * * *
    Ellie’s car wasn’t as badly damaged as she’d first feared. The bent wing and broken windscreen were repairable. She drove it into the garage when they got back to the house, then transferred herself to the waiting Rover.
    The rain had been replaced by a stiff breeze that whipped the branches of the eucalyptus into a frenzy. It brought a peculiar smell of rotting vegetation to her nostrils.
    Patrick stared up at the ragged streamers of clouds when they reached the creek. ‘If the rain holds off the creek should be passable in a couple of days. It’s already dropped a bit.’
    ‘How are you going to get the caravan out?’
    Still upright, its windows lapped by water, the van had been carried across the creek and wedged against a tree.
    ‘I’m going to swim across and attached this chain, then use a block and tackle tied to a tree and winch it across.’
    He was mad! ‘You’ll sink if you try and swim with that chain.’
    The look her gave her was withering. ‘I’m using a rope. When I’m across I’ll pull the chain over. Keep your eye on Todd. He hasn’t learned to swim yet.’ Patrick stripped down to a pair of snug fitting black underpants. He shivered slightly. ‘Here goes, let’s hope I don’t encounter any snags.’  
    Ellie held her breath as he waded into the fast flowing creek. She needn’t have worried. After one breath-taking moment when the van drifted sideways and Ellie thought it might turn over, the whole operation ran like clockwork. It emerged from the creek like a sinking ship in reverse, with water pouring out from under the door and windows.
    ‘Wow!’  Overwhelmed by the whole event Todd turned to her with an excited smile on his face. ‘That was great. Now I can have my leggo and bike to play with.’
    ‘I’m afraid your bike was on the truck, mate.’
    Ellie’s eyes followed Patrick’s when he glanced downstream. ‘Perhaps we’ll be able to find it when the creek’s dropped.’
    There was a disturbance in the middle of the creek about fifty yards from where they stood. Ellie’s eyes strained to compete with the light and shadow. There were actually four disturbances. She pointed them out. ‘I think that might be the truck.’
    Together they set off down the bank. The disturbances turned out to be water diverting around the barely exposed tires.
    ‘It’s upside-down.’ Patrick shrugged as he hoisted Todd to his shoulders and tuned back towards the car. ‘Let’s go. There’s nothing we can do about it now.’
    Noting the despondency in his voice, Ellie realized the value of the assets to Patrick. By his own admission he’d lost everything, first his house and savings, and now his caravan and truck.
    But he couldn’t be more than thirty, she thought, watching his long limbs stride through the undergrowth. He’d built up his business once. He could do it again.
    Not like her father. She’d been a late and unexpected child for him. The complications surrounding her birth had caused her mother to die shortly afterwards. Her father had outlived her mother by twenty-four years. Although he’d never admitted it, Ellie knew he’d gradually lost his grip on the company in that time. He’d left the investment side to up-and-coming young men like David Lessingham. She was glad her father hadn’t lived to witness David’s betrayal.
    For herself there had been a certain freedom in the winding up of her father’s company. Fortified by her own independence she’d absorbed