Training Days Read Free Page B

leaving the train at Kalgoorlie?” Morgan asked, a little disappointed. The train was due to arrive in Kalgoorlie at around ten that night—only three hours away. That wasn’t going to leave much time for—Morgan stopped that thought from developing. Nothing was ever going to happen, even if Marie was traveling the entire distance to Sydney. They were in Australia, and so Marie was out of bounds. She was also very young, maybe not even yet eighteen.
    “Yes.” Marie nodded. “I will stay in Kalgoorlie for four weeks. I have work there.”
    Morgan learned Marie must indeed be at least eighteen since she had secured work in one of the city’s myriad of pubs. In exchange for her labor five days a week she would receive room and board, a little cash and a big opportunity to have a “real Australian outback experience.”
    “I wouldn’t quite call Kalgoorlie the outback.” Morgan glanced over the Work in an Aussie Pub promotional brochure that Marie dug from her bag. She had picked it up from the information stand at her backpacker accommodation and immediately applied, drawn in by the promise of an outback experience. “I hate to disappoint you, but while it’s out in the middle of nowhere, it’s actually a city. Don’t get me wrong though,” Morgan added quickly when Marie’s face fell. “It’s about as Australian a city as you can get. It’s an old mining town that just happened to survive and thrive after the gold rush. They still mine gold there actually.”
    “You ’ave visited?” Marie asked.
    Morgan used a deliberate offhand tone. “Oh, yes. New York, Paris, London, Kalgoorlie . . . I’ve done them all!”
    Marie’s unsure smile indicated she did not grasp Morgan’s humor. “Did you like Kalgoorlie?” she asked finally.
    Morgan took a moment to choose her words. Kalgoorlie was not a city she would visit by choice. Sure, there were plenty of permanent residents, including families, but with mining still as its primary industry, by nature the place had a substantial itinerant population. Many worked the mines to earn quickly the deposit for a house or gather funds for investment, but just as many raked in the big dollars only to piss them away at one of the pubs that could be found on almost every corner. Morgan passed the Work in an Aussie Pub brochure back to Marie. “It’s a bit too much of a man’s town for me.” She almost added that she preferred the company of women but kept that thought to herself. If she were reading the signs correctly, Marie had already discounted Mark’s appearance in the lounge car and figured that out for herself.
    It appeared that Marie had done her calculations correctly. Her fingers brushed the tips of Morgan’s as she accepted the brochure. “Then it will be a long month, no?” she said as she met Morgan’s gaze.
    Morgan shifted a little in her seat, feeling the unmistakable pull of lust in her groin. As if in sympathy, she felt her phone— which was located at the bottom of the handbag she held on her lap—begin to vibrate through the lightweight material. The caller ID announced it was Kitty. Morgan scowled at it, wishing to God she was on any other train in any other country. Then she could invite Marie to her sleeper. She had absolutely no doubt Marie would say yes. Again she chose her words carefully. “There are plenty of women in Kalgoorlie too. I’m sure you’ll find some friends very quickly.” Morgan emphasized the word friends then smiled apologetically as she snapped her phone open. “Yes?” A few seconds later she snapped it closed again. “I’m afraid I have to go.”
    Marie looked a little suspiciously at Morgan’s phone. “ D’accord . . . er, okay.”
    Morgan hesitated. Maybe Marie thought she was being given the brush-off, that since the phone had made no sound when it supposedly rang, there hadn’t actually been anyone on the other end. “I’m having dinner with some colleagues of mine. You might remember Mark—you met