‘Pity,’ murmured Bruno. ‘That’s one noble gesture you might live to regret.’

‘Yes, well.’ Maxine couldn’t help agreeing with him there, but a girl had to have some scruples. Brown eyes flashing, she said proudly, ‘At least it proves I’m not a fortune hunter.’

Unable to resist making the dig, he countered, ‘What about Guy Cassidy? Would you have lusted after him if he’d been penniless and unknown?’

‘Guy doesn’t count,’ Maxine declared flatly. ‘I wanted to work for him because he could have boosted my career. Not that it did the slightest bit of good,’ she grumbled. ‘Do you know, in all the time I’ve been there he hasn’t taken so much as a single photograph of me? I’m sure that’s out of spite.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Bruno gave her a hug. ‘I’ve got a Kodak Instamatic. I’ll take thousands of photos of you.’

‘You aren’t influential and famous.’

‘I’m not rich either.’

She smiled. ‘I don’t care. Really.’

‘So what’s the verdict?’ Bruno realized that he was holding his breath. There are only a few moments in a lifetime when real decisions have to be made. This was one of those moments. ‘Do we give it a whirl?’

Maxine, both exhilarated and afraid, said in a low voice, ‘It isn’t going to be easy, you know. Being poor is the least of our worries. We’re going to upset quite a few people. You have Nina to deal with. I have Janey.’

‘What are you,’ Bruno demanded, ‘a bloody politician? Answer the question, Max. Does that mean yes or no?’

‘You idiot.’ Fondly she caressed his tanned arm. ‘How can you even ask? You saw through me right from the start. You knew I loved you almost before I knew it myself.’

‘You’re going to have to say it,’ he persisted evenly. ‘Yes, Maxine? Or—’

‘Darling!’ she exclaimed, loving him even more for his insecurity and hurling herself into his arms. ‘Don’t panic! I am the original girl who can’t say no.’

Chapter 40

‘This is terrible,’ said Janey, looking at her watch and seeing that it was almost ten o’clock.

‘There are so many things we should be doing. We really ought to get up.’

‘What could be more important than this?’ Alan, who didn’t want to move, kissed the top of her head. ‘Making love, catching up on lost time, getting to know one another all over again ...’

‘Phoning the police,’ she continued dryly.

‘What?’

Janey smiled. ‘You’re on the missing persons’ register. One of us is going to have to let them know you’re no longer missing.’

‘Oh God.’ Alan shuddered. ‘You can do that. What do you suppose they’ll do ... come round and rap my knuckles for running away without leaving a note?’

‘I haven’t the faintest idea, but we still have to phone them.’ Janey, wriggling out of reach, slid out of bed and grabbed her dressing gown. ‘And Paula’s downstairs, running the shop on her own. She doesn’t even know I’m up here. If she starts hearing footsteps, she’ll think we’re burglars.’

‘Why?’ Alan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Where does she think you spend your nights? Come to that,’ he added with growing suspicion, ‘who were you with last night? That was a pretty smart car you leapt out of. Are you sure there isn’t something you aren’t telling me?’

Janey hadn’t given Guy Cassidy so much as a thought until now. Belatedly she realized that she must have caused him considerable inconvenience. He had been due to fly up to Manchester at seven for a photo session with the much sought-after, deeply temperamental supermodel, Valentina di Angelo. She prayed that in letting him down at such short notice he wouldn’t have had to cancel the entire shoot.

‘There’s nothing to tell,’ she said in reassuring tones, still mindful of the unfounded suspicions which had prompted Alan’s disappearance in the first place. ‘Maxine moved back down here a few months ago and took a nannying job up at Trezale House, but for the past week she’s been in London making a TV advert. I offered to look after the children whilst she was away, so I’ve been staying at the house and Paula’s taken over in the shop. Everyone’s been doing everyone else’s job,’ she added cheerfully. ‘It’s been fun.’

‘You always liked children.’ Alan’s expression grew bleak. ‘That was something else that scared me. I knew you wanted a family of your own, but I was afraid you’d love them more than you loved me.’

Janey stared at him, appalled. ‘It doesn’t work like that.’

‘Sometimes it does.’ A note of urgency crept into his voice. ‘Look, sweetheart. I’ve come back and we’re going to make it work this time, but I still wouldn’t be happy if you suddenly announced you were pregnant. So, no little accidents. No "Surprise, surprise, darling, I can’t think how it happened, but ..." announcements. Because that’s something I just couldn’t handle.

OK?’

‘No little accidents,’ Janey repeated numbly, stunned by the bombshell and by the suddenness with which it had been dropped. She would never have dreamed of intentionally becoming pregnant without Alan’s knowledge and approval, but neither would she ever have guessed the strength of his own feelings on the subject. He was evidently deadly serious.

Having got that bit of information off his chest, however, he cheered up and changed the subject.

‘So Maxine’s been working as a nanny, you say? Heaven help those poor kids! What mother in her right mind would employ someone like Maxine, anyway?’

Janey picked up her hairbrush and sat in front of the mirror. ‘It isn’t a mother, it’s a father.

A widower.’

‘Oh well.’ Alan stretched and yawned. ‘That explains it. Old or young?’

‘Thirtyish.’ Janey set about restoring some semblance of normality to her hair. ‘Coming up to thirty-five, I think.’

‘Really,’ he drawled, watching her reflection in the mirror. ‘And is he good-looking?’

Janey carried on brushing. ‘I suppose so. If you like that sort of thing,’ she added, her tone deliberately offhand.

‘And do you like that sort of thing?’

‘Stop it.’ As she swivelled round to face him, the dressing gown fell open to reveal her bare legs. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the brush. ‘Don’t try and read something into a perfectly innocent situation. ‘I was doing Maxine a favour, that’s all. I’m not interested in Guy and he certainly isn’t interested in me.’

‘Why not? Is he gay?’

‘Of course he isn’t gay.’ Janey replied wearily. ‘He has women coming out of his ears. And he isn’t interested in anyone unless they’re drop-dead gorgeous, OK? You’d have to have at least half a dozen covers of Vogue under your belt before Guy Cassidy would even notice you. Even Maxine didn’t qualify, which really pissed her off.’

‘Guy Cassidy the photographer? Is that who you’re talking about?’ Alan sat up and took notice. Evidently impressed, he said, ‘And he’s the one whose kids you’ve been looking after?’

Janey nodded. He was also the one she’d been hideously rude to last night. She would have to phone and apologize.

‘Oh well, that’s all right then.’ Alan grinned with relief. ‘And there I was, thinking I had a rival on my hands. ‘I see what you mean now about the gorgeous girls. He can have just about anyone he wants.’

And although it was undoubtedly true, Janey couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed. Having allayed Alan’s suspicions, she now had to bite her tongue in order not to blurt out: ‘Yes, but he held my hand last night, and he kissed me...’

But that would be childish and it had only been a jokey kiss anyway, not a real one. Instead, feeling very second- best, she said lightly, ‘Of course he can have anyone he wants. So he’s hardly likely to be interested in me, is he?’

‘Exactly.’ Nodding in vigorous agreement, Alan then leaned over and gave her bare knee a consoling pat. ‘Sorry, sweetheart, it isn’t very flattering, but you know what I mean. He’s had some of the best in the world, lucky sod. [ even heard he had a bit of a thing going with that dark-haired model, Serena Charlton. Christ,’ he added, rolling his eyes in deep appreciation, ‘if that isn’t drop-dead gorgeous, I don’t know what is.’

Maxine, guiltily in love and desperately confused, wasn’t looking forward to the next twenty-four hours.

‘I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about,’ said Bruno, as their train drew into Trezale station. He had insisted they travel back together, and Maxine had grown more and more jittery by the mile. ‘It isn’t like you. Here, d’you want to finish this?’

She took the lukewarm gin and tonic from him, swallowed and pulled a face. ‘The whole thing isn’t like me. Look, I may have been involved with married men before, but they were just flings. Nobody’s ever done anything as drastic as leaving their wife on my behalf. And even if they’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have let them.’

The breathe-if-you-dare Alaia dress had gone back into Cindy’s walk-in wardrobe. Now, wearing her own jeans and a striped shirt knotted at the waist, she looked younger and infinitely more vulnerable.

‘Relax. Let me take care of Nina.’ Bruno grinned. ‘And how many times do I have to tell you, anyway? She isn’t my wife.’

Maxine gazed gloomily out of the window as the train creaked to a halt. ‘That doesn’t make me feel any less guilty. It’s still going to be horrible.’

‘Ah, but I’m worth it.’

She thought of Janey, whose fragile self-confidence was about to be shattered, and of Guy’s disdainful reaction to the news. Even people she only vaguely knew were going to disapprove, on principle. But she really did love Bruno, and he loved her. Besides, she no longer appeared to have any choice in the matter.

‘You’d better be worth it,’ she murmured, rising to her feet and mentally preparing herself for the fray. ‘For everyone’s sake, you’d better be.’