“No, I mean damn you for being so intuitive. I was wrong. Maybe age and sex have got nothing to do with it. But what you certainly won’t understand is that, in marriage, losing respect for your partner is as bad as infidelity. There is no way that you can ever retrieve that complete, unassailable level of confidence that before existed between you as naturally as . . . the creation of life itself.” She turned to look out the window once more. “My word, you’ve stuck a spear deep into a wound that I was trying my best to ignore.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’ve stopped me from fooling myself.”

Stephen pushed himself away from the windowsill and moved quickly towards the door. “Come on. You’re coming with me.”

Jackie’s expression was one of puzzlement as she spun around in her chair to track his exit. “Where?”

“Out for lunch.”

Jackie shook her head. “No way. I can’t. I’ve got a pile of work to do.” She glanced at her wristwatch and laughed. “Anyway, it’s only half past eleven.”

“I couldn’t give a toss. As financial director of Rebecca Talworth Design Limited, I consider it a necessary expense to take the company’s managing director out for lunch in order to talk about the extremely successful meeting that we had this morning and . . . to lift her spirits so that she can continue to perform as brilliantly as she has done since taking over at the top.” He shot her a wink similar to the one that, half an hour beforehand, had succeeded in turning the young receptionist’s knees to jelly. “We’ll only be an hour. What’s more, you’re not the only one who has work to do.”

Jackie smiled at him. “All right. We’ll have lunch, but let’s leave it until midday. That should give you enough time to book those train tickets.”

4

Back then, the truth of the matter was that young Mr. and Mrs. Porter had struggled for a bit after they were married. But with the arrival of Josh, a beautiful, healthy nine-pound baby who had threatened to do permanent damage to Jackie’s elegantly light frame, they were quite content to live in a state of impecunious bliss in the minute flat that they rented off Baron’s Court Road.