I was about to decline this kind offer but I caught a whiff of that soup. You can tell how hungry I was when boiled cabbage actually smelled good to me. What harm could there be in sampling the wares before I offered my services? I gave the man a grateful smile and slipped into the line. We inched closer and closer and finally into the station itself. It had an unnaturally deserted air, but I heard the hiss of escaping steam from an engine and a disembodied voice announced the departure of the boat train to Dover, awaking in me a wistful longing. To be on the boat train to Dover and the Continent. Wouldn’t that be ripping?

But my journey terminated a few yards ahead at an oilcloth-covered table to one side of the platforms. I was handed a plate and a spoon. A hunk of bread was dumped onto the plate and then I moved on to one of the great pots full of stew. I could see pieces of meat and carrot floating in a rich brown gravy. I watched the ladle come up and over my plate, then it froze there, in midair.

I looked up in annoyance and found myself staring into Darcy O’Mara’s alarming eyes. His dark, curly hair was even more unruly than usual and he was wearing a large royal blue fisherman’s sweater that went perfectly with the blue of his eyes. In short he looked as gorgeous as ever. I started to smile.

“Georgie!” He could not have sounded more shocked if I’d been standing there with no clothes on. Actually, knowing Darcy, he might have enjoyed seeing me standing in Victoria Station naked.

I felt myself going beet red and tried to be breezy. “What-ho, Darcy. Long time no see.”

“Georgie, what were you thinking of?” He snatched the plate away from me as if it were red-hot.

“It’s not how it looks, Darcy.” I attempted a laugh that didn’t come off well. “I came down here to see if I could help out at the soup kitchen and one of the men in line thought I was coming for food and insisted I take his place. He was being so kind I didn’t like to disillusion him.”

While I was talking I was conscious of mutterings in the line behind me. Good smells were obviously reaching them too. “Get a move on, then,” said an angry voice. Darcy took off the large blue apron he had been wearing. “Take over for me, Wilson, will you?” he called to a fellow helper. “I have to get this young lady out of here before she faints.”

And he almost leaped over the table to grab me, taking my arm and firmly steering me away.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, conscious of all those eyes staring at me.