‘Why did you get up?’ Tom murmured, his voice full of sleep. His arms slipped around her waist, his chin rested on her shoulder.

‘You were reading Plato,’ she said.

‘Ah, you have caught me out.’ He kissed her neck. ‘Since I couldn’t look at you directly last night, I settled for the next best thing; reading the words that your eyes had read. It made me feel close to you. You must think me a sentimental fool.’

She turned around and looked up into his eyes. ‘No, I think you’re the most perfect man I have ever met.’

‘Hardly.’ He laughed, and when he kissed her, she could feel his smile on her lips. ‘Come back to bed.’

She wanted to cry out, to yell and scream and tell the world that this was all so unfair. But she knew she couldn’t. ‘There’s something I need to tell you first.’

‘Can’t it wait?’ He kissed her shoulder and it took all her self-control to resist him.

‘Tom, please listen. I want you to know that I don’t expect you to wait for me –’

‘What?’ He laughed, clearly thinking she was joking.

‘Where I’m going I’ll have no way of contacting you.’

‘Are you going abroad?’

‘Yes, with my brothers.’ She grabbed his suggestion like a drowning swimmer holding to a life raft.

‘And they don’t have a postal service where you’re going?’ He kissed her neck all the way up to her ear.

Focus, Lou. Focus. ‘I’ll be away ever such a long time and long-distance relationships never work. If you meet someone else … Tom, I’m giving you my blessing to –’

He silenced her with another kiss on the lips. ‘I won’t write, if you’d rather I didn’t. In any case, I’m a terrible pen pal. But next time I’m on leave, wherever you are in the world, I will find you. I’m afraid you won’t get away from me that easily.’

He kissed her again, and this time, she grasped his sleep-mussed hair, pulling him to her. When they made love, the urgency of their first encounter was gone, replaced by a slow, tender longing. Together, they lay, warm and safe beneath the soft sheets with the fire crackling in the grate. Thomas Mandeville connected with something so deep inside her that she hadn’t known it existed. And she clung to him as though clinging on to life itself.

When the clock chimed six, Lou reluctantly slipped from Tom’s bed and began to dress. She refused his offer of walking her down to the car that she said was waiting for her.

‘You’re leaving like that?’ He frowned at her party dress. ‘It’s bitter out there. Here, take my coat.’

‘I’m being met at the gates. There’s no need to worry.’

Tom pulled on his robe and tied it loosely around his waist before collecting her wrap from where it had fallen on the floor. He placed it around her shoulders and holding each end, used it to pull her to him. ‘After last night, it’s my job to worry about you.’