‘Do you accept my apology?’ he pressed. ‘Honestly, Hannah, I know you and Kendrick have a history, but . . .’ Then he trailed off. ‘I know I don’t have any right to ask and your relationship is none of my business, but I just need to know, after everything, are you OK? With him I mean?’ She’d still been glancing at the door, but his heartfelt tone brought her back to the present. ‘You’re important to me,’ he continued earnestly. ‘Your happiness is important to me. And now I’m worried that I put you in a difficult position.’

‘Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?’ she remarked, the words out before she could stop them, but catching sight of his expression she relented. ‘I was just teasing. I get that your intentions were pure. You were just trying to be the good guy – no, you are the good guy.’

Ward leaned forward in his seat, waiting for her to say more.

Taking a deep breath, she added, ‘Yes, I forgive you.’

Of course I do. How the hell could I not when you’re looking at me like that?

‘Thank God,’ he said softly, emotion thick in his voice. He put his hands on the table and Hannah had the sudden urge to cover them with her own but knew that would be wildly inappropriate. Yet somehow the mood between them had shifted, something had intensified, and she glanced at the door again, now wishing that Ed wouldn’t show up after all.

‘Anyway,’ she said, her voice becoming light as she realized she needed to wrap this up, ‘all’s well that ends well. Rob got what was coming to him. Your career is going to be fine, better than fine, since the whole world now adores you.’ She smiled and then added, ‘I just hope you and Shelley are—’

‘I am not with Shelley,’ Ward interjected quickly. ‘Let’s clarify that once and for all.’ Hannah furrowed her brow, suddenly confused. She opened her mouth, additional questions on her tongue, but he stopped her. ‘I have never been with Shelley,’ he said, his tone measured, searching her face for a reaction. ‘She’s my personal trainer, a friend who agreed to come to the ceremony as my plus one after you pretty much strong-armed her into it that day here. You assumed we were together for some reason . . . You created that narrative.’

Did she? Hannah searched through her memory trying to put the string of events in order, and realized that he was right.

‘I was happy to go along with it, though,’ Ward admitted. ‘I was embarrassed after that night in the park and ashamed too. Especially when you’d told me you were with someone, with Kendrick.’

‘But I wasn’t, I mean we’d split up by then but it was all a bit messy and confusing still and then he turned up at my place unexpectedly and …’