The canteen? Cora cast her mind back, thinking as fast as she could. Nothing had really happened for him to see. Cora had been hyperaware of where they were, of the fact that they could be noticed.

Despite the panic crawling up her throat as Alec watched her, studied her for a reaction, something occurred to Cora. What kind of relationship would that have been for Frazer? The hidden type, the type with a woman trying to crawl out of an unhappy marriage? Was that why she’d walked away?

But nothing had happened in the canteen. All Cora had done was grab Frazer’s hands as she’d gone to leave. That was all. It was nothing, nothing compared to what he could have seen other times, in other rooms of that building.

“What do you mean, you saw me in the canteen?” She asked. All she could hope was that her expression showed confusion, not rising stress.

When his eyes narrowed, Cora knew she’d failed. “Don’t play stupid, Cora. You’re not smart enough to fake it.” Cora said nothing to that, so he carried on. “It was all over your face.” Now his expression was twisting, something like disgust painted over his countenance. “I could see it.”

Could Cora deny it? Should she? “It was nothing, Alec.”

Lies wrapped you up in more lies. And it had never been in Cora’s nature. She couldn’t look him in the eye now and completely deny it.

His bark of laughter was harsh, jarring. “What, do you think you’re gay now?”

“It wasn’t like that, Alec. It was over before it began.” Her heart was thumping in her chest, the force of it making her dizzy. She couldn’t tell him the whole truth, she just couldn’t.

He watched her for a moment, his brow furrowed. “So come back to me, then.”

What? How could he ask her that? Unless, he thought that the divorce had been about that. “Alec…”

“You… You were confused, I get it. But you just said it was over before it began. So come back.”

“I’m not leaving because of that, Alec.”

There it was again, that hardening of his features. “It has to be for that.”

“I’ve told you, it’s not because of that. I filed for the divorce because I wasn’t happy. For a long time.”

“We went to therapy.”

“And nothing changed!” In spite of herself, anger burst out into her voice.

“You can’t blame me for this, not when you’re making those kinds of eyes at a woman like a damn lesbian.”

Cora needed to leave. She needed out of this. There was no way this could go anywhere good. A deep breath was no help. “I’m not blaming anyone. But it’s over, Alec.”