‘I want to make sure I’m first in the queue next Saturday morning.’

‘You can’t afford me,’ I quip, thinking of the hundred quid he gave me. Then, ‘Thanks so much for the contribution to my fighting fund.’

‘I told you,’ he says, and our eyes meet. ‘Worth every penny. And I meant it.’ He leans on my desk and suddenly the temperature shoots up in here. ‘You’ll do this, Annie. You’ll get to Peru. And I’ll be there for you, cheering you on.’

Then he goes. Which is just as well because there’s not a lot I can think of to say to that.

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

It was seven o’clock by the time Lauren got home. Jude followed her minutes later. He tossed his jacket on to the sofa, making himself at home. What would happen, she mused, if they split up, as a considerable part of her mortgage was paid for by Jude?

He came and twined his arms round her, holding her tightly. ‘God, I love you,’ he murmured against her neck.

Why was she even thinking like that? This year was going to be her year. By the time she was forty, she’d be with Jude if it was the last thing she did. Though she was coming to realise that it was going to be a much more tricky achievement than raising two thousand pounds for Annie to do the Inca Trail.

‘I love the curve of your neck, the scent of you. All day long I’ve wanted to make love to you.’

‘I thought I was getting a back rub?’

‘Would you like it before or after?’ He grinned at her and took her hand and led her through to the bedroom.

Moments later she was naked in his arms. As he moved above her she wondered how often he made love to his wife. Never, if she believed Jude’s account of their non-existent love-life. But did she really buy into that? Did they reach the heights of ecstasy that Lauren and Jude did? She’d never had a lover as good as Jude and that was a hard drug to give up.

Her mobile phone rang. ‘Leave it,’ Jude instructed, but she picked it up and looked at the display in case it was her sister.