“What about you? What are you up to tonight?” she asked him.

“Sleep. I'm back on call tomorrow. But I've got nothing else to do this weekend anyway. I'm off next weekend at least. I traded it so I could be with you.”

“Why don't we go away somewhere?” She sounded happy at the prospect.

“We'll see.”

They hung up a few minutes later, and she went back to her bath, which was cold by then. She ran some more hot water into it, and sat smiling in the bathtub, thinking of him. It seemed cute to her that he was still jealous after all these years. He had no reason to be, and he knew it. She had never even remotely for a single instant thought of being unfaithful to him. She was still very much in love with Steve, just as he was with her.

When Callan picked her up shortly before eight, she was wearing a short black cocktail dress, high-heeled evening sandals, and a string of pearls. She was wearing makeup and her hair shone like gold. She looked very striking and very pretty, and Cal took a step backward to look at her and seemed impressed. She was always fairly conservatively dressed when she worked, and was given to wearing navy or black suits. She usually looked very much the part of a banker, but tonight she looked young and sexy, and the back of the little black cocktail dress was fairly bare.

“Wow! If I may say so, Mrs. Whitman, you're a knockout. Maybe you should have been wearing that when you made your speech on the tour. If you had, we'd be oversold a hundred to one.”

“Thank you, Callan,” she said, blushing slightly. It was fun getting dressed up for a change, and going out with him.

And when they got to Harry's, all the trendy in-crowd, well-known names and faces, and aristocrats were there. It was still one of the most exclusive restaurants in London, and because it was a club, it looked more like a dinner party in someone's house, than a public place.

They had drinks at the bar, and when they were taken to their table, Meredith recognized the people at the tables on either side. One was a group of important international bankers, some English, some French, one Saudi, and two from Bahrain. And at the table on their right were two movie stars and a director and a well-known Italian prince. It was a star-studded crowd, and it was fun being there with him.

And for once, they didn't talk about business. They were just two people out for dinner on a Friday night. Except for the fact that she was married and he was a client, it was almost like a date, but better in some ways. Neither of them had to worry about the outcome, or the impression they were making, the intentions or agendas of the other, they were just friends enjoying a fun evening.

“Steve must be pretty open-minded,” Callan commented as the waiter poured them each a glass of Chateau d'Yquem with their dessert. It was a sweet sauterne that Meredith had always loved, and it tasted like liquid gold as she sipped it.

‘‘ What makes you say that?’’

“I'm not sure I'd have wanted my wife going out to dinner and dancing, when I was married. I'm not sure I ever trusted Charlotte that much,” and they both knew he hadn't been wrong to distrust her.

“Steve knows he has nothing to worry about. I'm a sure thing,” she said with a smile, as she noticed a very stylish-looking dark-haired woman walk into the restaurant in a red dress. Several people seemed to know who she was, and she was with a very attractive older man. Meredith thought she looked familiar, but she couldn't figure out who she was, and finally, watching her chat and laugh from table to table, Meredith asked Cal if he recognized her. And he looked at her for a long time. “Is she an actress?” She was too old to be a model, but not by very much. And she could have been, when she was younger.

“No, she's an attorney,” he said with a last glance, and then turned around to face Meredith again with a somewhat pinched expression.

“Do you know her? I've seen her somewhere, but I can't place the face.”

“You've seen her in W, and assorted magazines. She's very social, and fairly well known by association, most of her clients are very important. She moves in a very jet-set crowd,” he said simply.

“Who is she?” Meredith looked puzzled, and Cal looked unconcerned, but there was suddenly something hard about his eyes as he answered.

“That's my ex-wife,” he said, looking right across the table into Meredith's eyes. He did not look pleased about it.

“I'm sorry,” she said. She could see that it was a reminder he didn't need. And it was unfortunate that she'd been there.

“Don't be. We're on good terms now. I see her whenever she comes to visit the kids.” But Meredith could sense easily that no matter how he covered it, the encounter was painful for him. She wondered if they were going to say hello to each other, but as the thought crossed her mind, the woman in red was suddenly standing at their table, and holding a hand out to Cal with a dazzling smile, which glittered almost as brilliantly as the diamonds on her ears and fingers. “Hello, Charlotte,” he said simply, “how are you?”

“Fine. What are you doing in this part of the world?” She glanced at Meredith in her simple black dress and string of pearls, and the elegant young investment banker was instantly dismissed as unimportant.

“I'm here on business. And this is Meredith Whitman,” he introduced her politely, and a minute later Charlotte moved on and joined her friends at a table in the rear, for a private party. It struck Meredith after she left that she had never bothered to inquire about their children. She said something about it to Callan, and he shrugged and looked at Meredith with a wry smile. “I told you, Meredith, children aren't her thing. She likes glamour and the jet set, and business, and glitz. All that interests her are the big stars she represents. She's very happy here.” Meredith wondered how much it upset him to see her, but didn't press him about it.

“She's very striking,” Meredith commented, and very beautiful. It said something about the kind of women he was attracted to. It was hard not to be somewhat dazzled by her looks, and from everything Cal had said, she was obviously smart too. It was the important things, like values, and compassion and integrity, which she seemed to lack, from what Cal had told her.

“She was a model as a kid. I think it kind of went to her head. She liked all the attention, and the money, but she knew it couldn't last. So she built something for herself that would. She's actually a very fine attorney, and she loves that whole entertainment world. She adores all her little movie stars, I think she lives vicariously through them. And they're all crazy about her. Maybe that's why she's not as interested in her own kids. Her clients are her children, and she gets all her strokes from them.”

“Kind of like me,” Meredith grinned. “My clients are my kids. Like you. I get everything all set up, and then I send you out into the world to make lots of money and be a big success.” He laughed at the comparison and shook his head.

“I think it's a little more than that. But what do you get out of it, Meredith, other than the obvious?” They both knew she would make a lot of money on his deal, but he also knew she did it for more than that. She loved what she did. And she was brilliant at it. In the months he had worked with her, and particularly lately, he had been enormously impressed by her.

“I love what I do,” she said in answer to his question. “And it's true in a way, my clients are my kids. I don't need children. I get everything I need from them and Steve.”

“It's not the same thing, I promise. You're missing out on something important,” he glanced across the room then at the table where Charlotte sat, “so is she. She never understood what she was missing. And in her case, it's a real crime. At least you haven't had children, you're not hurting anyone by your decision, except maybe yourself, or Steve. In her case, she's not only missing out, but she's cheating our children out of having a real mother.”

“Maybe it's time for you to remarry,” she said bravely, “not only for your sake, but for the kids’ sake.”

“Great. And then what? Let them live through a divorce again? At least last time most of them were too young to understand what was happening. Mary Ellen was six, and it was heartbreaking for her, but Julie and Andy were four and not quite two. It was a lot easier for them. Next time it wouldn't be. They're older now. Old enough to be hurt by it.”

“What makes you think you'd get divorced next time, Cal? Don't you think you learned something last time?”

“Yeah, not to get married,” he laughed, but it wasn't a sound of humor, but of bitterness and remembered pain, “and not to trust, and not to be as stupid next time. Charlotte started her business in London on the settlement she got from me.”

“Lucky for her.”

“I thought so,” he said, as he signaled for the check. “Besides,” he said with a look of amusement, “my kids wouldn't let me marry again. I think they're pretty clear that they want me to themselves now.”

“That's not fair, and it's not good for them, or you.”

“It's very good for me. They're like three little guardian angels, who keep me from making a fool of myself, or doing something stupid.”

“You're too smart to be that cynical, Cal, or that cowardly.” She was speaking to him as a friend, and he knew it.

“Why are you trying to sell me marriage?” He was intrigued by her persistence.

“Because I think it's a great thing. Best thing I ever did.”

“Then you're very lucky,” he smiled warmly at her, and seemed to relax again, “and so is Steve. Come on, kiddo, let's go dance.” He took her hand, and led her out of the restaurant, without a glance back in his ex-wife's direction. For him, it was a closed book, and Meredith was relieved when they were back on the street. She had sensed his tension, and his pain over running into Charlotte. He clearly had no warm feelings about her, no matter how many children they'd had together.

They chatted easily on the way to Annabel's, in the chauffeured Daimler he'd hired at the hotel. And Meredith loved it when they got to Annabel's. He ordered champagne for both of them, and led her out to the dance floor, and it was an hour later when they came back to their table. She was having a great time with him. He was a wonderful dancer, and fun to be with. And she was sorry for him that in some ways he was still so bitter. He had been badly wounded, but in every other way, he was an immensely appealing man, and she thought he deserved more than he was willing to allow himself to have. Somehow, his work and children did not seem enough for a man like him, although she didn't know what else he had in his life. In all the time they'd been traveling together, he had never mentioned a girlfriend or a companion, or a woman in his life, and she couldn't help wondering what he did for fun, other than work, and go dancing with his investment banker.

They stayed at Annabel's until two o'clock in the morning, and then went back to Claridge's. They were laughing and happy and tired and relaxed. And without a thought of anything more than friendship, she could have easily danced with him all night. He held her comfortably in his arms, dancing slow or fast, moving perfectly with her, but still never out of line, and never too close. She wasn't uncomfortable with him for an instant. In fact, she felt even closer to him than before. And seeing Charlotte at Harry's Bar, and his reaction to her, had been an intriguing glimpse into his past for her.

“What's on the agenda for tomorrow?” he asked as he left her at the door to her hotel room.

“I thought I'd do some shopping. I love the antique shops here.”

“So do I,” he said easily. “Mind if I come with you?”

“Of course not.” But she remembered the treasures she'd seen in his house. “You may want to go to some fancier places than I do. I was just going to browse a little.”

“I can't think of anything I'd like better,” he said comfortably, and then added, “I had a great time tonight. You're wonderful company, Meredith.” Maybe, but she certainly wasn't as sophisticated or as striking as his ex-wife. Charlotte was a whole other breed, and she wondered if in comparison, Callan found her a little dull. She was far more conservative than his ex-wife. But also a great deal more real.

“I had a good time too. Thank you, Cal. Dinner was terrific, and I loved dancing. I never get to go dancing with Steve. He's always either too tired, or at work, and I've come to the conclusion over the years, that most surgeons just can't dance. This was fun. Thank you,” she said warmly, and meant it.