‘I was happily married too, for twenty-seven years.’

‘Was?’

‘Bill died a few years ago. If he hadn’t, we’d still have been together.’

His voice was gentle. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m used to it now, but he just dropped dead one day, so it was a dreadful shock. Heart attack.’ She wasn’t sure her daughter was over it, even now. Andi had been such a daddy’s girl. ‘Anyway, how about some lunch? It’s only leftover chicken and mushroom risotto.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I am.’

‘I’d love to, but I’d better make a phone call first.’

‘To your minders?’ When he nodded, she said quietly, ‘Do it later. Enjoy the meal first.’

The wary look had returned to his face, so she spoke bluntly. ‘I’m not trying to get anything from you. If I can do a good deed – for anyone, anyone at all, doesn’t matter whether they’re rich or poor – I do it willingly. After I lost Bill, my friends were so kind to me, so tolerant of my grief, and they helped me with – other problems. I vowed to pass on that kindness.’ She saw him relax. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth briefly and he put up one hand to brush back his jaw-length hair, a familiar gesture to his fans, something of a trademark. The brown hair was streaked with grey now, but he was still a very attractive man.

‘So I’m your good deed for the day?’

She chuckled. ‘I suppose so. If I pull the blinds down, you could come and sit in the kitchen while I heat the risotto.’

She worked quickly, getting out cheese, rice crackers and a bottle of sparkling water to finish the meal.

He didn’t talk much, but he ate everything she set before him and looked much more relaxed afterwards.

‘I’d forgotten how good simple meals can be,’ he said as he pushed his cheese plate away. ‘That was wonderful. They give me fancy towers of food at the hotel, which look beautiful, but there’s not much substance to them and they’re awkward to eat.’

She chuckled. ‘I know what you mean. They fall all over the plate. Drives me crazy. Shall we take our coffee out into the courtyard? It’s sheltered and sunny, and the wall’s too high for people to see over.’

‘I’d like that. You have a very restful home.’

‘Thank you. It’s what I was trying for.’

‘Did you and your husband live here?’

‘No. I felt it better to have a change once I’d sorted out a few problems and was thinking straight again. My books had taken off by then so I could afford to buy a place on Chestnut Lane.’

When he’d finished the coffee, Jez fell asleep between one sentence and the next, the faint frown that had seemed a permanent fixture smoothing from his forehead as his eyes closed.

She tiptoed away and went back into her office. It had been a strange sort of day.