‘No. I decided to take a few days off. I had leave owing and I wanted to be around, and wide awake, to do our river trip.’

‘You still want to do that?’

‘Of course. You?’

‘Sure. I’ll be glad of the company.’

‘Bodyguard, you mean?’

‘Yeah, okay, tease me, why don’t you? But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to stay safe. A country girl like me, not used to the dangers of city life …’

‘To be honest, I think I’d be more worried about the dangers of country life. All those winding roads with bloody great tractors trundling towards you, and bees and stinging nettles, not to mention the rampaging bulls.’

‘Ha! It’s not all like that, I promise you. Not in Shelling anyway.’

‘So? How about Saturday then? For the photography lesson. We could head out in the afternoon, before it gets dark, and go down to the embankment. South Bank maybe, watch the entertainers, and the people going by, and the boats, take in a couple of bridges? Go up on the London Eye too, if you fancy it, and take some aerial shots.’

‘Not too sure about that. I’m not good with heights. Can’t even manage the rollercoaster at the fair.’

‘Well, that’s heights and speed, to be fair, and the Eye’s hardly superfast!’

‘Well, maybe,’ she said, without committing herself either way.

‘Oh, go on. Be bold for once. I dare you!’

Prue laughed. ‘We’ll see.’

‘And I know I said it’s not a date, but we will need to eat something at some point, if you can bear my company for that long.’

‘I’d like that.’

‘Right. I’m going now. Out to meet some mates for a drink while I don’t have a night shift to worry about, and I’m sure you want to get back to your book. What is it, by the way?’ He leaned down and picked the book up from the path. ‘Hmm. Thriller, eh? And I had you down as a Mills & Boon kind of a girl.’ He stood up and dropped the book into her lap. ‘See you Saturday. I’ll come up and knock for you. Five-ish okay?’

Prue nodded and watched him walk away. Mills & Boon? All hearts and flowers, and hunky heroes. Was that really the image she gave off? She felt a bit insulted until she remembered she had actually been reading a romance not too dissimilar to that just the other day. Nothing wrong with romance though, as long as she saw it for what it was. An escape, a fantasy. She was only too aware that real life wasn’t much like the way things were depicted in mushy novels. It didn’t always come with happy endings, for a start.

Chapter 17

MADI

‘And how is our Flo this afternoon?’

Since word had got around Madi had had a constant stream of callers, asking after everyone’s favourite little cat and offering what help they could, including twice-daily visits from the young vet Ralph to administer Flo’s meds and check on her progress. This time it was Tom Bishop from next door, standing on her front step, carrying a box of Jaffa Cakes and a tin of tuna.