But going out to dinner with a man who carried a beeper had its drawbacks. Maxine, who had worked long and hard on Guy in order to wangle another night off, and who had promised to babysit for the next three evenings to make up for it, was dismayed when she realized what was happening: one minute they were in Bruno’s restaurant, about to dive into great bowls of mussels swimming in garlic butter sauce, and the next minute Tom was responding to his beeper as if he’d been stuck with an electric cattle prod.

‘You’re leaving now?’ Maxine stared at him as he leapt up from the table. He could at least stay to finish his first course, surely.

Everyone in the restaurant had by this time turned to stare at the source of the beeping. Tom loved it when that happened. He felt just like Superman.

‘Vessel in distress,’ he said, just loudly enough for them all to hear. Snatching up his car keys he added, ‘Every second counts. Sorry, love. I’ll be in touch.’

That’s what you think, Maxine thought moodily. Whilst she appreciated the urgency of the situation, she still wasn’t happy about it. She’d never been stood up in the middle of dinner before. Even more disturbing, it looked as if she was going to be stuck with the bill.

‘Bugger,’ she said aloud, pouring herself another glass of wine and now wishing she hadn’t chosen such an expensive bottle.

‘Oh dear.’ Bruno materialized at the table as the door swung shut behind Tom. ‘Lovers’

tiff?’

Maxine, poking at the mussels with her fork, gave him a wry smile. ‘Saving lives, apparently, means more to him than my scintillating company and your stupendous food.’

‘Some people have no sense of priority.’

‘If he only knew what a struggle I had, getting the night off,’ she went on with a trace of irritation. ‘I wouldn’t have bothered if I’d thought this might happen. What a waste!’

‘Some people are so selfish,’ Bruno mocked. Interestingly, he observed, she was no longer bothering to flirt with him as she had done on her previous visit. Since discovering him in Janey’s flat, presumably, she had decided he was off-limits.

‘You’d better go and tell the chef to stop cooking the steaks,’ said Maxine. ‘I can’t afford to pay for them as well.’ Gloomily she added, ‘I don’t even have enough cash on me for a taxi home.’

But Bruno was hungry and the Scotch fillets this week were superb. ‘Please,’ he said, in the same wry tone. ‘You’ll have me in tears next. I’ll eat with you, if you like. If you’re good,’ he added with a brief smile, ‘I’ll even give you a lift home.’

If the mussels had been great the steaks au poivre were even better. Maxine, demolishing hers with enthusiasm, soon cheered up. ‘Tell me all about it then,’ she demanded, when the party at the table closest to theirs had left. ‘How long have you been sleeping with Janey? And why on earth was she so desperate to keep this ravishing little item of gossip from me?’

‘I think you’ve just answered that one yourself.’ Bruno raised an eyebrow as he picked up his glass. Janey’s hardly the type to enjoy being an item of gossip.’

‘Oh you know what I mean,’ said Maxine crossly. ‘But she could at least have told me. I’m her sister! It isn’t as if I’d go rushing out, broadcasting the news to all and sundry. I can be discreet, you know. When I have to be.’

Having heard all the lurid tales of Maxine’s past conquests, Bruno didn’t doubt it. But he was more interested right now in discovering whether she really knew why Janey had been so determined to keep their relationship a secret.

‘In that case,’ he said mildly, ‘there must have been other reasons.’

Maxine, however, just looked puzzled. ‘What other reasons?’ she demanded. ‘Your girlfriend? Her absent husband? She could still have told me.’

‘Don’t be dense,’ sighed Bruno. ‘You’re the reason she didn’t want to tell you.’

‘What?’

‘You make her insecure. She thinks you’re more attractive than she is,’ he said bluntly. ‘On her own, she’s fine. When she’s with you, she loses all faith in herself.’

Maxine looked appalled. ‘You mean she doesn’t trust me?’

She genuinely hadn’t known. Bruno smiled slightly. ‘I don’t know, maybe I’m the one she doesn’t trust. I don’t have the greatest reputation in the world ...’

‘And that’s why she didn’t want us to meet in the first place,’ said Maxine, her tone thoughtful. ‘She thought you might prefer me.’

‘Of course she did.’ With a trace of exasperation, Bruno said, ‘I can’t believe it’s never occurred to you. How can you not notice something like that?’

‘Easy.’ She drained her glass and inspected the bottle. ‘I’m selfish and thoughtless, aren’t I?’

‘So what are you going to do now?’

‘That’s easy, too.’ She smiled. ‘See if I can’t persuade you to open another bottle of wine.’

As he drove her back to Trezale House, Maxine said, ‘You still haven’t told me how long it’s been going on.’

‘You mean how long I’ve been sleeping with your sister?’ There was a note of irony in his voice. ‘Why don’t you ask Janey?’

Maxine shrugged. ‘She isn’t speaking to me at the moment.’

‘And I’m not telling you,’ said Bruno. With a sideways glance in her direction, he added,

‘There, doesn’t that prove how discreet I can be?’

‘It certainly proves how bloody infuriating you can be.’ Peering into the darkness ahead, she said, ‘Next turning on the left, just past that big tree. I know you didn’t believe me earlier, but I can keep the odd secret ... no, I said next left.’

Bruno, who knew the country lanes well, ignored her. A couple of hundred yards further along the road he turned the car into a gateway.

‘This isn’t next left,’ said Maxine, as he switched off the ignition.

‘We haven’t finished talking yet. There’s something I’m curious about.’

‘What’s that?’

The sky was inky black and sprinkled with stars, but the moon was almost full. The darkness wasn’t total; she could see Bruno’s white shirt and green eyes. She could also see that he was smiling.

‘I’ve told you what Janey was afraid of,’ he said in conversational tones. ‘But you haven’t asked me whether or not she was right.’

‘Oh.’ Maxine thought for a moment, aware of what he might be leading up to. ‘OK then.

Was she?’

Janey’s an attractive girl.’ Bruno shrugged. ‘Who needs her self-confidence building up.’

‘I think you already know how attractive you are.’ Maxine half-smiled. ‘But when you first saw me, did you like me more than you like Janey?’

‘I like you both, very much,’ he said slowly. ‘But you and I are more alike. We understand each other. And as I said before, I’m very discreet.’

Maxine didn’t bother to look surprised. Bruno Parry-Brent was every bit as unscrupulous as she had suspected. They might be alike in many ways, she thought, but even she wasn’t that two-faced. ‘I see,’ she murmured, pushing back her hair with her fingers. ‘You mean, what Janey doesn’t know about won’t hurt her?’

‘Exactly. You said you could keep a secret when you had to.’ His smile broadened, his teeth gleaming white in the darkness. It had evidently not even crossed his mind that she might turn him down. ‘It could be fun. A lot of fun. You and I.’

Charisma was a powerful aphrodisiac, and Bruno had more than his fair share of it. He really was amazingly attractive, thought Maxine. But then he had to be. Only men at the very top of the league in the attractiveness stakes could expect to get away with this kind of thing. And most of the time, presumably, they did.

Wishing, now, that she hadn’t worn four-inch heels -although at least she was only a quarter of a mile from home - she ran her hand lightly over the soft leather upholstery.

‘Do these seats go right back?’

Bruno grinned. ‘All the way.’

‘Hmm,’ said Maxine. ‘Somehow I thought they would.’

‘Where are you going?’ he protested as she opened the passenger door and climbed out of the car.

Yuk, thought Maxine as her heels sank into three inches of mud. So this was her reward for making a noble stand. No wonder she’d never bothered in the past.

‘Home,’ she said, her tone brisk. ‘I realize this may come as a bit of a shock to you, but you aren’t totally irresistible. And if you really want to know, I think you’re a complete shit.’

‘Maxine—’

‘Poor Janey,’ she continued, slamming the door shut and addressing him through the open window. ‘What chance does she have, falling for a two-faced bastard like you?’

‘OK,’ said Bruno, making calm-down gestures with his hands. ‘I get the message.’

‘And here’s another message,’ Maxine snapped. ‘I may not be perfect, but did you seriously think I’d play a dirty trick like that on my own sister?’

Bruno sighed good-naturedly, ‘Spare me the moral lecture. It was just a suggestion, after all. Some girls would take it as a compliment.’

‘My God, you’re amoral!’

‘And you’re some kind of saint?’ Bruno was grinning once more. ‘Come on now, there’s no need to make this much of a fuss. All you had to do was say no.’

‘I don’t care about me,’ Maxine said icily. ‘I care about Janey. You’re going to hurt her.’

‘I’m rehabilitating her,’ he protested. ‘Where’s the harm in that? I haven’t made any false promises.’

‘You’re just incredible.’ She shot him a look of disdain. ‘When I tell Janey what you’ve said to me tonight ...’

‘Now that really would hurt her,’ said Bruno reasonably.

Maxine, who had already worked that out for herself, glared at him. She knew she couldn’t tell Janey but she still didn’t see why Bruno should escape scot-free.

‘Come on, sweetheart,’ he said again, patting the seat beside him. ‘No hard feelings. Now you’ve got that little outburst out of your system, I’ll drive you home.’

Maxine, however, hoisted the strap of her evening bag over her shoulder and shook her head. ‘I’d rather walk.’

‘Why?’

Because I’ve just dropped an opened bottle of traffic-light-red nail polish on to the passenger seat, thought Maxine, still gazing at him through the wound-down window. And I don’t want to get it all over my nice white skirt. Explain that one away to your girlfriend tomorrow morning, sweetheart.

‘I’d just rather walk,’ she said, straightening up and stepping away from the car. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be safe.’

‘I’m sure you will,’ murmured Bruno, realizing that he had well and truly blown it and switching on the ignition once more. Well and truly, he mused as he reversed out of the muddy gateway. And what on earth was that peculiar smell ... ?

Chapter 20

Oliver enjoyed watching Thea at work in her studio. Never having considered himself a suitable candidate for retirement, taking it easy for the first time in forty years had come as a pleasant surprise. Now, with the sun streaming through the windows and nothing to do but relax, he found it extraordinarily soothing simply to sit and admire her skill.

And Thea was such good company, too. She didn’t indulge in idle gossip. If she had something worth saying, she said it. If she didn’t, she kept quiet. As far as Oliver was concerned, the companionable silences, together with her down-to-earth attitudes and innate sensuality, made her about as perfect as any woman could be. Now that he had found her, he had absolutely no intention of letting her go.

‘I wish you’d marry me,’ he said, but all Thea did was smile and reach into the bucket beside her to rinse her hands.

‘I thought you might have learned your lesson by now’ Each of his three ex-wives had squealed with delight when he had proposed, the pound signs glowing practically neon in their eyes as they accepted. Thea, however, calmly continued to fashion a jawline from clay, studying it intently as a cloud passed over the sun, altering the shadows on the semi-constructed face.

Moving over to where she sat, Oliver stood behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. ‘They were the wrong women. You’re the right one. Thea, you know how I feel about you.’

She knew, she knew. And if she had been young and foolish she would have married him in a flash, as recklessly as she’d once married Patrick. But independence was sweet, and learning both to achieve and enjoy it had taken half a lifetime. Thea was superstitious enough to believe that if she married Oliver their relationship would be spoiled. Furthermore, like snakes and ladders, she would then be forced to start all over again .. .

‘I do know how you feel about me,’ she said, tilting her head and smiling up at him. ‘And I love you, darling. But we’re allowed to feel this way. We don’t need a vicar to give us permission.’