‘And I think I over-reacted. Let’s forget it.’

They were laughing together as they came out of the lift, then Ben stopped dead in his tracks and she felt his whole body become tense.

What now?

She followed his glance, to see a woman staring across at them. After a moment’s hesitation, the stranger waved and began to cross the lobby. She was tall and extremely elegant, but her expression could only be described as sexually aware. The admiring glances she received from one or two men showed clearly that she had made an impact on them and the half smile on her face betrayed her enjoyment of this.

As soon as the stranger spoke Megan recognised Cynthia from their one short telephone conversation. Impossible to mistake that affected drawl.

‘Ben, dahhh-ling!’

He took the hand that was reaching greedily towards him and shook it briefly, keeping her at arm’s length.

Cynthia tossed back her shoulder-length blonde hair and made a moue at him, completely ignoring Megan. ‘So formal, Ben?’

‘Cynthia, I’d like you to meet my wife. Megan, this is an old acquaintance of mine, Cynthia Berevic.’

‘Friend, not acquaintance, surely, Ben. We’ve known each other for absolutely years.’ Cynthia waved a hand vaguely in Megan’s direction, but continued to address her remarks to him. ‘I heard you’d got married. Everyone was so-o-o surprised.’

She paused to stare at Megan for a few seconds, as if she were something that had crawled out from under a stone and should have stayed there, then turned back to Ben. ‘No one knew you had a thing going.’

‘Why should they? It was no one else’s business.’

Sneaking a quick glance at her husband, Megan decided he was not happy to see Cynthia. Good. At least – she hoped that was what was making him frown. Louisa had said the Berevics lived in Sydney. Why couldn’t they have stayed there?

An older man with a drawn face came across to join them and his arrival caused Ben to smile with genuine warmth. ‘Nick!’

While the two men thumped each other on the back a few times, Cynthia totally ignored Megan, who studied a nearby mural, hoping she looked interested in it.

Nick’s voice had a slight accent to it. ‘Didn’t know you were back in Australia, Ben.’

‘Just flew in today. How are you keeping? Really, Nick? Recovering all right?’

‘Oh, yes. Can’t keep me down for long. It was only a minor heart attack. But I still have to take things easy for a while.’ He looked at Megan questioningly.

‘Nick, this is my wife. We were married last week in London. Megan, this is Nick Berevic, a business colleague of mine and a good friend. Nick helped me a lot when I first came to Australia.’