They stared at each other and then Claire said: ‘Well? Are you going to ask me in?’

Josh stood back from the door. Claire walked in and he closed it and stood there leaning against it.

‘I’m glad to see you,’ he said after a long pause. She was here. She still looked mad enough to spit, but she was at least here.

Claire turned and looked him dead in the eye. ‘All right, let’s get this out in the open,’ she said. ‘I am jealous. It cuts me to the bone every time you go back there. It hurts me so much I can barely stand it. Because it’s to her. And she destroyed my life. Do you understand that? She ruined everything for me, and it’s a miracle I ever got back on track again, a fucking miracle. But now what do I find? That the one person who caused me so much pain still has power over me. Because she has you.’

Josh was staring at her, open-mouthed. ‘Christ, Claire—’

Claire held up a hand. ‘Don’t give me all that old bollocks about you staying for the kids. The kids are adults now. So what’s really going on here? Are you enjoying the thrill of it, having two women on the go? Is that it?’

‘Claire . . .’

‘If it is, just tell me. She robbed me of a normal life, Josh. I hate her guts. And how you can stand to be in the same house as her is beyond—’

‘I’m getting a divorce,’ said Josh.

Claire stopped talking. Looked at him.

‘You heard right,’ said Josh. ‘I’ve had it with her. I’ve seen Aysha married, that was all I wanted to do. Now I can draw a line under it, and get out.’

‘Am I supposed to believe that?’ said Claire. She was walking around the suite now, agitated. She went into the bedroom, saw the bolster on the floor. ‘And this bastard thing,’ she said, and kicked it.

Josh started to smile.

‘Don’t fucking laugh at me,’ she warned.

Josh looked at her; small, dainty, gorgeous. He loved her so much, even when she was in a rage. ‘Or what? You’re going to sort me out, are you?’

‘Yes! As a matter of fact, I bloody am,’ she said, and threw off her coat. Then she unbuttoned her blouse, pushed down her skirt, stepped out of it. Kicked off her shoes. She looked at him fiercely. ‘I am going to do this. I am not going to let that cowing bitch win even though she’s not even here. I won’t have it.’

Josh stared in amazement as Claire undid her bra and threw it on the floor. She stepped out of her panties, and chucked them aside too. Then, stark naked, she lay down on the bed.

‘So come on then,’ she said. ‘Get over here, Josh Flynn, before I lose my nerve.’