‘Of course they could afford it, but it was very decent of them. An—I mean, the girl, insisted that if I hadn’t warned them the picture would have been all round the European press, if not our own. She thought if I felt I had to give up photography, the least they could do was to give me some way of starting again.’ Thea looked at her glass for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t have taken it, but A—she said that they spent millions on people they didn’t even like, and that I’d helped her and that she really wanted to give me something. Basically, because my life and career had been ruined because of that creep.’

His expression seemed to demand a little more explanation. ‘I’d realised by then that generosity sometimes involved taking as well as giving.’

Rory was silent for a few seconds. ‘Men are bastards, that’s the top and bottom of it.’

Thea sighed. ‘Well, yes, I won’t disagree with you there. But to be fair, I didn’t have to give up photography. I’d just had enough of traipsing around the country with half a hundredweight of equipment hung round my neck.’

‘Oh? So he didn’t ruin your career after all?’

‘What he tried to do was much worse. But the only thing I regret is that I didn’t get a chance to take a Stanley knife to his suits, or anything satisfying like that.’

‘Clothing ripped in anger? Now there’s an idea. Imagine them, a heap in the middle of the gallery, under a pile of torn-up love letters and photographs, stained with wine and aftershave and less mentionable fluids. It might make my fortune.’

‘Feel free to use it. I won’t demand a cut.’

He laughed. ‘Not my thing at all, I’m afraid. So now you’re a landlady?’

‘Yup. With a house full of lodgers in a sedate Cotswold town, which has a university. Which reminds me, I should give them a ring.’

‘Doesn’t sound very fulfilling.’

‘Oh, it’s all right, I suppose. Mostly I like the kids. And it keeps me, just about.’ She finished her brandy with a sigh.

‘You don’t sound like you’ve reached the happy ending to your story.’

‘Happy endings don’t exist in real life. It’s all just compromise, isn’t it?’ She wanted him to agree with her, to tell her to ignore the yearning she felt when she wasn’t fully occupied, the feeling that something was missing in her life. Then suddenly she chuckled. If he knew what she was thinking he would assume that what was missing was a man.

‘What’s funny?’

‘Nothing, really, something just tickled my imagination.’

‘And you’re not going to tell me what?’

‘No. Let me get you another brandy.’