So we’re talking love, then?

Good God, yes.

The train trundles in to Gard du Nord and, with her stomach aflutter, her adrenal gland in overdrive and her heart evidently beating twenty to the dozen at the base of her throat, Cat disembarks and weaves her way up the platform. And there he is. She’s never seen him in a thick jumper and she’s struck by how very lovely he looks. All he can see is the girl he loves beaming at him. She’s had a haircut, he notices, and she looks gorgeous. She looks robustly feminine with her healthy glow and assertive stride. He can’t wait to kiss her, to whisk her away to the bohemian but rather luxurious hotel he has found for her on the rue de Buci in the heart of the Latin Quarter. He’s about to say hullo, to take her bag, to tell her that they’ll take a taxi but he can’t squeeze out even a word because she has plugged his mouth with kisses. Never let you go. Missed you very, very much. Want you so badly.

In the Parisian rush hour, they gaze out of the cab windows at the city, whilst entwining their fingers together. Polite conversation is a necessity to curb their overwhelming desire to strip each other naked and ravish each other immediately.

‘How’s Luca?’ Cat enquires. ‘Did he send me his love?’

‘Shit,’ Ben gasps, ‘I almost forgot, these are for you.’ He cups her head in his hand and kisses each cheek in turn, twice over. ‘They’re from Luca for Gatto McCabe. Did I tell you he now sports a goatee beard and a pony-tail?’

‘Does it suit him?’

‘Judging by the amount of fan mail he receives, yes it does. How’s Rachel?’ Ben asks. ‘What’s her news?’

‘She and André kipped at mine for a night last week,’ Cat tells him. ‘I phoned Jeremy Whittle last week, pitching an idea for a feature on Rachel – it’s an excuse really, to have an expenses-paid weekend with her!’

‘And?’

‘Jez likes the idea.’

‘She’s still with André, then?’

‘Oh, very much so. They went to their directeurs and told them that unless they accepted their relationship and allowed them to keep their respective jobs at Zucca MV and Système Vipère, they’d both leave and work for the Deutsche Telekom team instead.’

‘That’s some ultimatum,’ Ben laughs, ‘good for them. I’m glad they’re going strong, I like them both individually and they make a great couple.’ Automatically, he squeezes Cat’s hand and she knots her fingers frenetically to his. ‘How about Fen,’ Ben asks, ‘has she made a decision? Is she now a one-man woman, so to speak?’

‘She’s fine,’ Cat smiles, ‘and yes, she made the decision – kept everyone guessing right till the very end.’

‘And Pip?’ Ben enquires.

‘Pip’s life is suddenly rather glamorous,’ Cat tells him. ‘In fact, she’s been flown out to some tiny, luxury Caribbean island. But it’s a long story and see – we’ve just crossed the river.’