In the Brazilian's Debt(19)

                ‘Can you move away from the door, please? You’re holding up some hungry men.’

                She looked up with a start, straight into Chico’s cool, assessing stare.

                ‘I’m sorry—’ She lurched out of his way, only to have him steady her and steer her back inside the cookhouse.

                She made her way distractedly back to the table.

                ‘Where’s the coffee? Never mind,’ Danny said, seeing Lizzie’s face. ‘I’ll get us some.’

                Lizzie sank into the chair, feeling extremely vulnerable and a long way from home. Her grandmother had always been the lynchpin of her life, and she loved her without qualification. The letter was preparing her for a truth that Lizzie would never be ready to face. How could she stay on here now, as her grandmother had asked her to? How could she concentrate knowing her grandmother was so ill? Why had she ever imagined she could stick it out here while all this was going on at home?

                ‘What’s the matter?’ Danny said as soon as she came back to the table. ‘Did Chico say something to upset you?’

                Lizzie shook her head.

                ‘So it’s the letter from home that’s upsetting you,’ Danny guessed.

                ‘Yes—I’m sorry, Danny—’

                ‘But your breakfast—’

                ‘I just need a minute—’

                Chico stood back as she barged out of the cookhouse. Running blindly across the yard, she didn’t stop until she reached Flame’s stall where she hunkered down in a corner to bury her head in her knees to think. She should go home. That was where she was needed most. But she had to stay to earn that diploma to hang in the office of the business she was going to rebuild. Without that accreditation, she was no use to anyone. What to do? What to do—?

                ‘Lizzie?’

                ‘Chico!’ She sprang up, pressing herself against the wall between the stalls as he slipped the latch and walked in.

                ‘If this course is too much for you—’

                ‘It isn’t,’ she said, recovering fast.

                ‘Then, what is the matter with you?’ He glanced at the letter in her hand. ‘Not bad news from home, I hope? Your grandmother?’ he prompted with concern.

                Not for the first time, he had disarmed her with his human side. It was easier to deal with the hard, unforgiving man than this. The fact that Chico still cared about her grandmother brought tears to her eyes, and she hated herself for the weakness, but, like it or not, Chico was a link between here and home. He knew her grandmother. He remembered what a special lady she was.

                She mustn’t show weakness. She had to be strong. She owed it to her grandmother to leave Chico Fernandez in no doubt that, whatever happened, she wasn’t going anywhere until she finished his course.

                ‘If you need to go home—’

                ‘I don’t,’ she said firmly. Decision made, she stuffed the letter into her pocket. ‘You may not think I’ve made the best of starts, but I can and will improve—’

                ‘Lizzie.’ The faintest of smiles tugged at one corner of his mouth. ‘You’re doing really well, but we have a waiting list if you do want to drop out?’