She stiffened. ‘Why should I need paying?’

Silence, then his shoulders moved in the tiniest of shrugs. ‘People usually do.’

‘Well, I’d be ashamed to take money from someone in trouble.’

He looked at her properly then, studying her face as if to peel off the layers of skin and find out what she was really thinking. His expression slowly softened, as if he liked what he saw. ‘Then may I please stay here until someone can come and fetch me? I don’t intend to go back to that hospital, but my security staff will have to set up a temporary refuge while I house-hunt. I suppose it’ll have to be a luxury hotel again because the journos know where my old flat is.’ He sighed. ‘And anyway, I hate that place. It’s where I had the intruder. If I hadn’t had the accident shortly afterwards, I’d have found a new home by now.’

She smiled. ‘You’ve had a bad year.’

‘Tell me about it. That’s why I was looking at the house next door. I lost my last home in the divorce settlement, but that place was more to her taste than mine anyway. Well, one big house is much like another, isn’t it?’

She didn’t comment on his public quarrels and the acrimonious break-up with his second wife. That marriage had lasted less than a year. Although his music was beautiful, his private life hadn’t been anything to boast about.

Sophie, on the other hand, had loved her husband dearly and been desolate when he died. Her two grown-up children still missed their father, she knew. She’d made a satisfying new life for herself because you had to move on; you couldn’t bring them back. And ironically, she was quite well off now, hadn’t needed his insurance money, because she was suddenly wildly successful in her own right. ‘Yes, of course you can stay here until your friends come for you. Is the house next door for sale? It’s been empty for so long, I thought they were going to knock it down and build smaller places. Not many people can afford a huge house with staff quarters these days.’

‘It is for sale. They couldn’t get planning permission to knock it down because it’s a listed building. I thought if I viewed it without the usual circus, if I stayed indoors all the time I was there and only looked out at the gardens, then perhaps no one would notice me and I could get a feel for the place. I got details of houses a day or two ago and sent for some of the keys but told them I’d show myself round.’

Another of those bitter twists to his lips. She ached to see anyone so unhappy, especially someone who’d given her so much pleasure. Best to let him talk it out, she decided.

‘They couldn’t send the keys over fast enough, knowing who I was. Anyway, this morning I took a taxi and went out without a minder, something I’ve not done for years. It was no good, though. Those pests must have had people watching the entrance to the hospital delivery area, where I sneaked out, or else someone tipped them off. I didn’t even get inside the house. They turned up just after my taxi left. Luckily I saw them before they saw me, but I must have made too much noise getting away from them or left tracks. That garden’s badly overgrown.’