‘No. It’s perfectly fair. You haven’t added more rooms or anything.’

She walked across to a walnut display cabinet. Anything rather than sit primly facing the temptation of Drew Fitzgerald. The cabinet was bursting with trophies. Maddy read the inscriptions. The rain slashed against the windows. She turned to face him. ‘You won a lot. I didn’t realise …’

‘A long time ago.’ Drew stood up. ‘Ten years and more most of them. When I was riding as an amateur. I gave it up soon after I married Caroline.’

‘Why? Didn’t she like you being a jump jockey?’

‘Not really. It wasn’t very glamorous. It meant being apart a lot because she had her own business. It was only just starting then. And I’d broken so many bones I knew it was time for me to settle for something more sedate. So, I became a small-time trainer.’

‘And now you’re becoming a big-time one?’

‘Well, not in Diana or John Hastings’ league – or even Kimberley or Barty’s. But, yes, I do hope to have some successes when I start in earnest next season. My owners are very loyal and I’ve had enquiries from new ones. I should have the stables full by the autumn.’

‘Good.’ Maddy turned back to the trophies. ‘What’s that one?’

He looked over her shoulder. She could smell him. If she moved less than an inch she would touch him. She heard his intake of breath.

‘Oh, I won that in the same year as Caroline and I were married. It was my swansong.’

‘It’s not an English trophy. I mean, I don’t know all that much about racing, but –’

‘It’s for the Pardubice. The Czechoslovakian Grand National …’

‘Jesus!’ Maddy forgot that she was supposed to be distant. ‘That’s the race that goes on for about three days and you have to jump mountains, isn’t it? Is that why Peter and everyone said you were famous?’

‘I consider it my allotted fifteen minutes of glory, yes.’ Drew had moved away. ‘I was delighted with the win at the time, of course. It all seems such a long time ago now. So many things have changed.’

Maddy looked at him, this strong, athletic man with depths that could be trawled for ever. ‘Caroline must have been so proud of you. God, I’d have been floating on reflected glory for months.’

‘Caroline was glad that I won because she knew I’d hang up my saddle. I’d promised her that.’

‘Then she must have been mad!’ It was no good, she couldn’t carry on with this pretence. ‘She should have encouraged you to capitalise on it. To have gone on to greater things – if that’s what you wanted. Isn’t that what marriage is all about?’

‘And it’s easy to see that you’ve never been married. Being married to someone doesn’t alter them – no matter how much you think in those first heady days that it will. By the time you find out differently it’s too late … My relationship with Caroline has never run on supportive lines.’ His face was bleak, remembering. ‘Oh, hell, Maddy. If we’re just going to be friends, we can’t talk about things like this. It’s disloyal to Caroline and unfair to you.’