‘Good. We can talk properly over lunch. Since there’s no hiding anything from the press, don’t try to drive yourself. I’ll send a car for you. Twelve o’clock suit?’

‘Yes.’ She set the phone down carefully. She shouldn’t be doing this. Every time she went near Jez Winter something awful happened to her. Only … she’d been the one to mess things up by not telling him about Peter … and Jez was probably lonely … and it wouldn’t hurt to take a couple of hours off, because she wasn’t doing very well with her writing today, simply couldn’t settle into it.

He hadn’t sounded angry.

Oh, heavens, what was she going to wear? She rushed up to her bedroom and started pulling clothes out of the wardrobe.

The car Jez sent was a limo. Of course. It took her to an elegant London hotel, a boutique place whose name was a byword for having celebrities stay. There was no sign of Jez, but the driver of the limo said quietly, ‘If you’ll go inside, madam, someone will be waiting for you.’

The foyer was small but beautifully appointed, with a mammoth flower arrangement just inside the door. A man smiled at her from behind the reception desk and when she gave her name, he beckoned to a young woman in black, who came towards her.

‘Ms Carr? If you’d follow me, please.’

They went up in a lift, which gave almost no sign of movement, stopping on the top floor according to the list of controls.

‘This way, ma’am.’

Sophie walked along a carpet so thick and soft it muffled all sound and made everything seem unreal. Her guide knocked on a door at the end of the corridor and it was opened by a man who looked vaguely familiar.

‘Welcome, Ms Carr. You may remember me: Kevin, head of Jez’s security?’

‘Yes, I do. Nice to meet you again.’

‘Won’t you come in?’

He ushered her along a short internal corridor and opened another door, not entering with her but closing it behind her. She took a hesitant step forward, staring round a huge sitting room which had a panoramic view of the Thames.

Jez was standing by the window and held out one hand to her. ‘Come and look at the view. It’s costing me an arm and a leg, so we may as well enjoy it.’

She walked slowly across another thick carpet, feeling a little shaky, unsure of what he wanted from her today.

He smiled as he took her hand. ‘Don’t look at me as if I’m going to eat you.’

‘I’d deserve it. I feel so guilty about what my daughter did.’

He put a fingertip on her lips. ‘Don’t. My purchase of the house would have come out sooner or later. As long as we know we don’t have a security leak, that’s what matters most.’ He studied her face. ‘I’m sorry your daughter treated you like that, though. She’s hurt you, hasn’t she?’