He looked very tired and formal, and more attractive than Thea had thought it possible for any man to look. She wanted to fling herself at him and hold on to him so tightly that he would never escape. Against her will, her mind went back to the last time he had touched her, gripping her shoulder, manhandling her into his house. Instead of anger or indignation, she just wanted to feel his touch again, even an angry touch.

1 came to make a confession.’

Oh, not now, thought Thea. Don’t tell me anything dreadful now. ‘Is it really necessary? I’m sure you’d never do anything really terrible.’

‘Are you? Last time we met you seemed to doubt that.’

It was odd. A little while ago she’d have given much to have the opportunity to tell Ben that she knew he hadn’t betrayed her. Now that it was presented to her she felt reluctant to do so. Was it spite? Did she want him to suffer a little of what she’d suffered? ‘Well, I’m sure you can’t blame me for doubting it. It was a little hard to accept that you really didn’t know Veronica would snap up Rory the moment you found out where he was.’

‘I do see that and I don’t blame you for doubting me.’

‘So what have you got to confess now?’

‘I decided I had to do some damage limitation.’

Thea frowned. ‘Oh?’

‘Veronica was very bitter about Rory changing his mind.’

‘Was she?’

‘So that she didn’t manage to convince everyone that your show wasn’t worth crossing the street for, let alone visiting the wilds of Gloucestershire, I decided to take action.’

‘What action? Oh, excuse me, there’s the phone again.’

It rang again, twice, before she had a chance to carry on her conversation with Ben, by which time Molly had arrived. ‘What is going on?’ she asked. ‘And what are you doing here, Ben?’

‘I came to warn you both. I asked a friend of mine to do a press release and ring up a few of her contacts. She knows absolutely everybody.’

‘Oh.’ Thea felt ambivalent about this piece of information. She should be thrilled to have so much publicity and interest in her gallery. But she also felt she should have been consulted. ‘Shouldn’t I have written the press release?’

‘I’m sorry. I would have consulted you, but writing press releases is a fairly skilled art. You have to capture the attention of a lot of very bored journos who are unlikely to have any interest in art unless there’s a story attached.’ He paused. ‘And I didn’t want you to tell me not to do it, because I knew it was important that I did.’

‘Oh.’

Molly, aware of uncomfortable currents flowing between Thea and Ben said, ‘Well I’m sure I could have managed something.’