‘OK.’ Slowly Juliet exhaled. ‘Oliver didn’t want Estelle to find out, but he really wanted to be able to see Tiff growing up. I was desperate for somewhere to live. It seemed like the perfect answer. I loved Ashcombe from the word go. As long as Oliver’s family didn’t know about Tiff, where was the harm in it? We were all happy.’

And put that way, it sounded perfectly reasonable. But Juliet sensed that something else was bothering Jake.

‘And in seven years there’s never been anybody else,’ he said evenly. ‘Seven years is a long time.

So, all part of the agreement, was it?’

There was no point in trying to deny it. Facing him, Juliet said bluntly, ‘Yes, it was. Oliver didn’t want to see some other bloke moving into the flat he’d bought for me. Maybe it wasn’t fair of him, but at the time I was more than happy to go along with it. The last thing I needed, or wanted, was to get involved with anyone else. My number one priority was Tiff.’

Jake was incredulous. ‘And in all that time you’ve never met another man you’d be interested in getting together with? You’ve never even been tempted?’

‘ Never seriously.’ Shaking her head, Juliet said, ‘Of course there have been times when I’ve been ... um, tempted. But not getting involved has always worked out for the best.’

‘I get it. Now it all makes sense.’ Jake paused as the waiter arrived to clear their plates away, and this time Juliet knew exactly what he was remembering. ‘That first Christmas after you arrived in Ashcombe. I walked you home on Boxing Night from one of Marcella’s parties.’

Juliet nodded; how could she ever forget?

‘I tried to kiss you goodnight,’ Jake went on. ‘You were wearing a blue scarf with silver glittery bits woven into it. And it was really icy outside. Your nose was pink with cold. You wouldn’t let me give you a kiss.’

‘Wouldn’t I?’ said Juliet and Jake shot her a don’t-try-and bullshit-me look.

‘Then I asked you out and you turned me down flat.’ Oh heck. Did I?’

‘Now I know why. Because it was in the tenancy agreement. All part of the bargain you’d struck with Oliver. I really liked you,’ said Jake.

Juliet realised that it was her own rapid breathing causing the candles to flicker madly on the table between them.

‘I really liked you too,’ she told Jake, busily pleating the crimson tablecloth between her fingers.

‘Which is why I’m extra glad I turned you down.’

Jake’s eyes glittered. ‘Speak English.’

‘Oh, come on, you know what you’re like! Goldfish have a longer attention span than you.

I’ve spent the last five years watching you go out with girls and dump them before they’ve had time to tell you their surnames— What?’

Juliet demanded heatedly. ‘Why are you looking at me like that? You know there’s no point in denying it, because it’s true.’

Jake waved away the waiter, approaching with the sweet menus.

‘Of course it’s true. I’m not denying it. But has it occurred to you for one second to wonder why it’s true?’

‘That’s like wondering why snow is cold. It just is. And you’re the way you are because you’re you.’ Juliet prayed she was making sense; the intensity of Jake’s gaze was making it hard to think straight.

‘OK. Estelle’s found out about you and Oliver.’ Jake swiftly changed tack. ‘She’s left him. So, what now?’

‘What d’you mean?’

‘I mean, is it happy families time? You, Oliver and Tiff?’ Juliet shook her head. ‘Absolutely not.

I’m completely over Oliver.’

‘But you let him rule your whole life!’ Jake exploded, causing the group of women at the next table to jump and nudge each other.

‘You aren’t listening to me,’ Juliet shot back. ‘I haven’t met anyone else I want to be with.’

‘ Haven’t you? Haven’t you?’ There was a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Defiantly Juliet said, ‘Nobody who’d make me happy.’

‘But how do you know that?’ Jake was becoming more and more exasperated. ‘How can you possibly know that when you’ve never even given anyone a chance?’

‘Because I’m not stupid,’ Juliet cried, ‘because I’ve got eyes in my head, because I know a heartbreaker when I see one and I don’t want my heart broken again, plus there’s Tiff to consider— Oof, what are you doing?’

‘ Getting you out of here.’ Having flung a handful of notes down on the table and grabbed Juliet by the arm, Jake hauled her to her feet.

‘Oh, don’t go,’ protested one of the plump women at the next table. ‘It’s just getting good.’

‘So sorry.’ Jake spoke through gritted teeth as he propelled Juliet towards the door.

‘She might have wanted a pudding.’ The woman, who was squiffy, clutched the back of Jake’s shirt and tried to pull him back. ‘You can’t drag your girlfriend out of a restaurant before she’s had her pudding!’

‘She isn’t my girlfriend.’ Jake’s tone was brusque as he wrenched his shirt free. ‘You’re drunk.

And if you didn’t have so many puddings, maybe you wouldn’t be so fat.’

‘That was rude,’ Juliet gasped when he’d bundled her outside, leaving the rest of the women at the table squawking with indignation.

‘Do I look as if I care?’ Jake, his green eyes glittering with intent, pushed Juliet up against the Bath-stone wall of the restaurant and kissed her.

Properly. Thrillingly. So completely thrillingly that Juliet quite forgot to put up a fight and push him away. Her body was too busy zinging with desire.

‘I’ve waited five years for that,’ Jake murmured, his breath warm on her temple.

Juliet’s mouth was tingling. In fact all of her was tingling. She wanted to hit him, because it was all so hopeless. ‘I love you,’ said Jake.

Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘And your point is?’

‘You didn’t answer my question earlier. I said why do I go from one girl to the next, never bothering to get to know them properly or settle down?’ Jake raised her chin, forcing Juliet to look at him. ‘Do you still not see? It’s because there’s only been one girl I’ve wanted to settledown with, and she wasn’t interested in me. She turned me down.’ He paused. ‘So I did the next best thing and became her best friend instead. Well, pretended to be her best friend.’

‘You’re just saying that,’ Juliet whispered. She was right, wasn’t she? This was how Jake operated, how he seduced all the other girls in his life, by sweet-talking them into bed, telling them whatever they longed to hear. Of course she wanted to believe him, but what if all he was doing was spinning her a line?

‘I love you,’ Jake said again, ‘and I love Tiff as if he were mine. What would Oliver do if you told him we were a couple? Take the deli away from you and kick you out of the flat?’

Flummoxed, Juliet said, ‘Well ... I, um, maybe ...’

‘Fine.’ Jake shrugged. ‘No problem. Leave it with me.’

Leaning back against the wall, Juliet felt the smooth stone against her shoulders. For five long years she’d suppressed her feelings for this man and now they were refusing to stay suppressed a moment longer. Her mouth curving into an unstoppable smile, she pulled Jake back towards her until their bodies were pressed hard against each other, then cupped his face in her hands and--

‘Whoa, not so fast.’ Deftly sidestepping her, Jake tapped his watch. ‘It’s gone eight.’

‘We don’t have to be back until half past.’ Juliet smiled, feeling deliciously wanton, though what they could get up to in broad daylight in the centre of Bath in twenty minutes flat, she couldn’t imagine.

‘I want to see Tiff.’

Struck afresh by the fear that she was being a neglectful mother, Juliet said, ‘To check he’s all right?’

‘To tell him everything and get him on my side.’ Jake looked pleased with himself. ‘And to tell him that his mother has spent the last five years being a complete durr-brain.’

‘Oh well,’ said Juliet, ‘he’s seven years old. He already knows that.’

Chapter 49

The next morning Oliver phoned the unit to find out how Tiff was. Juliet took the call and reassured him that everything was fine.

‘He’s doing brilliantly.’ She paused. ‘Are you coming in to see him today?’

Oliver cleared his throat. ‘Well, er, no. As long as he’s doing well, that’s the main thing. I’ve got a lot on, as you can imagine ... um, give him my best wishes ...’

Best wishes. Poor Oliver. He did love Tiff, in his own way.

‘I’ll do that.’ Juliet nodded, doing her best to keep the smile out of her voice. ‘I’ll tell him the other thing as well, shall I?’

‘Fine, fine. Far better coming from you. I’ll bring him some presents when he’s had time to get used to the idea.’ Oliver’s hearty tone couldn’t quite disguise his awkwardness. Now that Tiff was no longer hovering at death’s door, he didn’t know how to handle the situation.

‘They’re moving him to the children’s ward this afternoon,’ said Juliet.

‘What would he like? Lego? Scalextric? How about the new Playstation?’

‘Oliver, you don’t have to do that.’ If she left it to him, he’d empty Hamley’s. ‘Tiff’s fine. He’s got everything he needs.’ He would soon, anyway. Tiff was already counting down the minutes until he could be reunited with Sophie.

Jake left Sophie, who was in a frenzy of anticipation, with Marcella. Considering it was a fairly momentous thing he was about to do, he felt surprisingly calm as he made his way up Gypsy Lane.

Approaching Dauncey House, he removed his sunglasses. It was just gone midday and Kate was at the Angel beginning her lunchtime shift. Oliver Taylor-Trent’ s car, a silver topof-the-range BMW, was parked on the gravelled driveway, looking — as it always did — as if it had just been valeted.