‘Of course not,’ Grace replied, through a smile, and as Ellis put his arm around her and gently cupped her shoulder, she secretly allowed herself a moment to believe she was here with him as more than a colleague, or indeed a friend, because her whole body was tingling from the close proximity of his touch. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, yet it made no sense, as her head knew that he was with Jennifer, but her body clearly hadn’t cottoned on. And she most definitely wasn’t mistaken in sensing that he felt it too, as he was drawing her in even closer now as she instinctively lifted her arm and let it move around his firm back. She could feel his taut abdominal muscles under her fingertips as they curled around his body.

Chapter 19

After a scrumptious seafood-topped pizza and a restorative glass of red wine in one of the harbour cafés, they had found the jeweller’s and pressed the buzzer to be allowed in.

‘They must have some very expensive diamonds in here,’ Grace said, as an extremely glamorous Italian woman with long, glossy black hair and wearing a beautifully cut cream trouser suit came sashaying towards the door.

‘Ciao, per favore entra,’ she smiled, standing aside to let them in. They stepped inside and she closed and locked the door behind them.

And then it hit Grace.

The perfume.

The woman was wearing Van Cleef and Arpels, one of the perfumes from that day when Grace had been shopping in Selfridges with Matthew, the day he’d proposed to her over lunch. She stopped walking.

‘Are you OK?’ Ellis asked softly, placing his hand on her arm. ‘You look dazed.’

Grace took a moment, as if to check her feelings, and then on realising that she felt absolutely OK, she nodded and grinned.

‘Yes, I am, thanks. Just a few seconds of déjà vu,’ she told him, swiftly adding, ‘but I’m over it now.’ And she really was. As if by magic in the moment, she felt nothing. Maybe a fondness for the memory of that day, but not the aching, crippling yearning that she had felt for months on end whenever she had taunted herself in the early hours of the morning by deliberately letting her mind go back there. She smiled and pushed her hair back over her shoulders and followed the woman towards the glass counter that was crammed full of beautifully dazzling diamonds.

After explaining in Italian the reason for their visit today, Ellis pulled out his wallet, removed one of his business cards and placed it on the counter.

‘Un momento,’ she said, picking up the card and disappearing behind a red velvet curtain.