Snowy glanced quickly at Tess, then away again. ‘Tomorrow,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘I suppose . . . Tess, would you be a real sport and let me put off our date until after Easter? It seems an awful cheek to ask, but you and I can meet any time, whereas Marilyn here . . .’

Tess felt outraged, but did not intend to show it. She said easily: ‘Yes, that’s fine by me. I’m awfully busy at the moment.’

Marilyn tossed her head. ‘Oh, don’t worry! If you’re taking this – this person out then I suppose I can look up one of the guys.’ She smirked, glancing quickly at Tess, then away again. ‘They’re all dead keen on me, it’s just that I didn’t know I was going to be home this weekend so I couldn’t get in touch to tell them . . .’

‘. . . of the treat in store,’ Snowy said. He half turned to Tess, and she thought she saw his left eyelid flutter. And was there a touch of sarcasm in his tone? But if so Marilyn did not notice it and he turned back to her, smiling. ‘Right, then it’s all arranged,’ he said briskly. ‘I’ll pick you up at half-seven; be sure you are looking your best.’

Marilyn gave him what she no doubt considered to be a brilliant smile, Tess thought cattily. ‘I always look my best,’ she said. ‘TTFN.’

Snowy and Tess watched her clicking away, then Tess turned rather coldly to her companion. ‘TTFN,’ she said scornfully. ‘Have a nice evening, Snowy. See you around.’

She was turning away when Snowy caught her arm. ‘Hang on a minute, where are you off to? What time shall we meet tomorrow? And we’ve not decided yet which ballroom to grace with our presence.’

‘If you think I’m making up a threesome . . .’ Tess said angrily. Snowy was shaking with silent laughter, but he sobered up when he read the annoyance in her face.

‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, what a little twerp you are, Miss Theresa Williams,’ he said, pulling her into the circle of his arm. ‘I wouldn’t do an ungentlemanly thing like cancelling our date just to pander to Marilyn’s perfectly enormous ego. I’m going to stand her up!’

Tess’s eyes rounded. ‘Stand her up?’ she echoed. ‘But why on earth would you do a thing like that?’

‘Why not? It was what she did to me once, if you remember,’ Snowy said easily. ‘It’ll just be getting a bit of my own back. What’s wrong with that?’

‘But Snowy, that was years ago,’ Tess protested. ‘It’s a pretty mean thing to do, don’t you think?’

Snowy grinned maliciously. ‘Marilyn is a conceited, selfish little bitch,’ he said. ‘She never thought of how you must feel, having your date snatched away from you. In fact she was pleased . . . No, don’t shake your head, you must have been able to read her expression as well as I could. For once in her life, Marilyn Thomas will be the one hanging around, all dressed up with nowhere to go.’ He grinned down at Tess and gave her a squeeze. ‘Honest to God, queen, she bloody well deserves a bit of a set-down, if only for what she put you through all those years ago.’