Dan pushed himself to his feet and flopped back on the bed. He lay there with his hand supporting the side of his face and watched as Jackie placed the alarm clock on the dressing table before slipping all her makeup necessities for the day into her handbag.

“Hey,” he said, creasing up the corner of his mouth into what he hoped might be taken as an evocative and sexy smile.

“What?” Jackie asked in a clipped voice, without looking in his direction. She walked over to the wardrobe and took a raincoat off one of the hangers.

Dan decided to persevere. “Any chance of you lying back on this bed while I ravish you?”

Flipping the raincoat over her arm, Jackie now turned to look at him. She gave him concentrated appraisal, taking in his regular nighttime attire of grey baggy sports shorts and faded blue T-shirt with the moth hole just above the left nipple.

“I wonder if I’m in the least bit tempted,” she said, slowly shaking her head.

Dan’s hand fell away from his face and he slumped over in feigned dejection. “Well, at least someone makes the suggestion every now and again,” he mumbled into the duvet.

“What was that?”

Dan pushed himself to his feet. “Nothing.”

“I heard you.”

“Yes, well, it was just meant to be a joke.”

“And I don’t think it was very funny.”

Dan let out a deep sigh. “All right, then. Sorry.” He pushed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Do you want me to make you a cup of coffee?”

Jackie shook her head. “No, I’ve got to be in the office by eight. There’s a finance meeting at nine, but before that I’ve got to give our set designer a kick up his backside. He was asked at least three months ago to do some modifications on our set for the show in Paris, and so far he hasn’t come up with the goods.” She scanned the room briefly to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, then turned and walked towards the door, reaching up and brushing a meaningless kiss onto Dan’s cheek as she passed him. He followed on close behind her as she made her way along the narrow landing and down the staircase.

“What are you doing today?” she asked, throwing the question over her shoulder.

“I don’t know. I might entertain myself once again with a spot of light housework.”

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Jackie turned to look at him, and once more he realized that his witticism had fallen on a stony face.

“Did you call Ben Appleton?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“Right now he’s firing, not hiring.”

Jackie’s eyes narrowed, as if trying to detect some evidence of an untruth being told. “Did you really call him?”