He turned off the taps and drew her towards the bed, cradling her in his arms and making love to her with exquisite tenderness. At least it felt like tenderness.

Or was it just skill?

Afterwards, she lay with her head against his chest and sighed.

‘What’s upsetting you, Megan?’

You are, she wanted to say. You’ve done it again, made love without using any words of affection. ‘I’m getting a bit tired of hotels.’

It was part of the truth, at least. She knew she was a poor liar. ‘I guess I’m the sort of person who needs a home and – and something to do with her days.’ She didn’t say anything about his meeting with Cynthia, because she couldn’t bear to spoil the rapport between them.

‘I’m tired of hotels, too, have been for a while.’

He said nothing for a few minutes and she couldn’t think of anything to fill the silence with, so didn’t try. He seemed quite relaxed and she could only hope that her own tension didn’t show as she lay against the slow rise and fall of his chest.

‘I have a confession to make,’ he said at last.

It felt as if her heart had stopped beating for a moment or two and only a whisper of sound scraped out. ‘What?’

‘It’s about my – our house.’

Relief flooded through her. She could not have borne the confession to be about Cynthia. ‘They say it’s good for the soul,’ she managed at last.

‘What is?’

‘Confession.’

‘Hmm. Well, here goes. I haven’t built a proper house yet, so there’s nowhere you’ll really be able to call home. I’ve bought about two hundred acres of land fronting onto the Harvey Estuary. It’s undeveloped bush, most of it. There’s a house of sorts there, but it’s only a tumble-down beach shack. I was going to live in it until I’d designed and built a much bigger house, then knock the shack down.’

‘Sounds fun.’

He fell silent for a while. ‘Perhaps we’d better rent a house somewhere. Here in Perth, or in Mandurah, if you like the town. I’d prefer Mandurah, I think. It’s a seaside resort, not at all like the English ones, very Australian.’

‘Couldn’t we go and look at this shack, then decide afterwards? Surely you don’t have business meetings every single day? Besides, I’d love to see what Western Australia is like, the real Western Australia, not this city.’

‘Don’t you like Perth?’

‘I’ve only seen the city block and the river. And yes, I do like it. What’s more, I met some people today who are trying to do something about endangered species.’ She told him about the guy she had been talking to, about her intention of joining the group.