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He turned to her, wanting to build a picture of his brother and discover a side to him he had yet to see. Yet he was also distracted by a need to find out more about the woman who was sitting next to him, staring through the window at the darkened landscape.

Here, in this stunning part of Mexico, tall cacti and rocky outcrops interrupted the expanse of undulating desert. Small villages were tucked away here and there but the landscape looked wide, barren and alien.

He’d always liked that about this place. The peace.

‘Why do you say that? I don’t think you ever explained just how you met Carlos. It would seem on the surface that you come from two completely different worlds. How did they manage to collide? My brother is very reticent when it comes to elaborating about his life. Your name is about the only one that’s cropped up in his emails.’

He waited and then, eventually, when nothing was forthcoming, he looked across at her to find her looking right back at him in the darkness of the car.

‘Tell me what you’re hiding about Carlos,’ he murmured softly. ‘It can’t be that bad if it isn’t to do with drugs.’

‘I’m not hiding anything.’

‘You said I didn’t know the first thing about my brother.’

‘I guess that’s understandable because of the age difference and the fact that you maybe had to fill a certain parental role with him. From what you said, you had to look after him when you were barely old enough to really look after yourself. Your relationship was always going to be challenging under those circumstances.’

‘Is that the sound of you playing amateur therapist?’

‘It is,’ Hope said gravely. ‘How am I doing? Should I consider a change of career?’

* * *

Javier burst out laughing at her answer and Hope felt her lips twitch in response.

‘It’s a thought,’ he said as his laughter subsided. ‘Okay, tell me how you got into what you’re doing. Now that you’ve sorted my dysfunctional relationship with my brother out.’

In the quiet of the car, with emptiness all around them and a sky as dark as velvet and studded with stars, Hope was suddenly, inexplicably, relaxed.

Her defences dropped away.

She felt that the hours spent travelling must be finally getting to her, making her drowsy and relaxed.

And maybe something else.

Some urge deep inside her that wanted to connect with this big, watchful, sexy guy who was looking at her right now. Who was waiting for her to say something.

She closed her eyes.

There was something dark and exciting in knowing that he was watching her so intently.

‘By accident,’ she said truthfully. ‘I really wanted to pursue photography but after I left school, an opportunity opened up for me to apprentice alongside my art teacher who was starting a workshop in the East End. He specialised in design and technology and all things digital, and he wanted me to contribute to the photography side because he liked my work. I took the apprenticeship. It paid and I needed the money.’

She sighed.

‘So we’re back to the money… Tell me why you needed it. What about a student loan if you wanted to go to university? Or wherever you could have studied photography?’

‘Honestly, this is none of your business.’

‘That’s a given.’

‘It’s nothing to do with Carlos.’ She yawned and cast a sleepy, sideways glance at him. He was so compelling to look at that, for a few seconds, she lost her train of thought. ‘So it’s off limits when it comes to conversation.’

She smiled slightly with her eyes still half closed. ‘I mean, isn’t this called socialising? That thing you banned me from even thinking about doing?’

‘We’re in the back seat of a car taking us to a situation neither of us can really prepare for. There’s a limit to how much we can talk about something we can’t fully prepare for without running out of steam. So, in the meantime…? We’re not exactly signing a declaration of commitment here. As you said, once this situation has come to an end, there’ll be no reason for us to cross paths ever again. If you’d rather say nothing for the remainder of the trip, then that’s fine with me. But unless it’s a state secret, why did you need the money?’

‘I’ve always needed the money,’ Hope heard herself say, to her own surprise. She sat up and looked at him, their eyes interlocking in the darkness of the car.