‘W-what are you doing?’ she stammered.

Ralph’s forehead wrinkled. ‘What am I doing?’ he said, his tone incredulous. ‘You’re the one who started stripping off, telling me how much you liked me! Good God, woman, you practically threw yourself at me!’

Beth gaped at him. ‘I was hot! You could see I was.’

Ralph gripped the crank arm, got out of the car and spun the engine into life. Climbing back into his seat, he cast Beth a withering glance. ‘I know you were hot all right, you made that perfectly obvious. Don’t worry, Beth, I’m not angry at you,’ he shook his head, ‘I’m angry at myself, for falling for your act!’

‘Act?’ she cried. ‘What act?’

Taking his cap from his head, he pretended to throw it on to the back seat before pulling at his tie and fluttering his eyelashes. ‘Oh Ralph, I’m so hot! I do wish you could do something to cool me down, just pull over whilst I take my clothes off!’

Beth shook her head fiercely. ‘That’s not what I said, nothing like it! Why are you twisting things?’

Ralph snorted in disbelief. ‘I’m not twisting anything, or are my eyes playing up? Did you not remove your cap, jacket and tie, and undo the buttons on your blouse?’

‘I was hot!’ Beth insisted indignantly.

Ralph’s jaw stiffened. ‘I doubt that’s the way Olivia will see it.’ He turned on to the main road, causing the man coming from behind to swerve wildly, honking his horn. As Ralph speeded along the road they caught up with a group of squaddies sitting in the back of a lorry with the canvas flaps rolled back. Seeing Beth’s flushed cheeks and unkempt appearance, they began making cat calls and wolf whistles as they nudged each other and pointed at Beth.

Looking down, Beth realised that she still hadn’t done her buttons up. God only knows what they must have thought she and Ralph had been up to. She hastily buttoned her blouse and pulled her tie back into place

‘You don’t have to be a genius to know what they’re all thinking,’ said Ralph as he pulled past the lorry of jeering squaddies.

Beth shook her head. ‘I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression, honest to God I didn’t, Ralph,’ she spluttered. ‘Please don’t say anything to Olivia. She’s been lovely to me, I’d never do anything to hurt her.’

Ralph pulled a cynical face. ‘Could’ve fooled me.’

Tears brimmed in Beth’s eyes. ‘Please, Ralph, I can’t lose Liv and the girls.’

Ralph shot her a reproving glance. ‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t!’

‘Because I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression, and …’ she faltered, ‘… and because whether I gave you the wrong impression or not, you shouldn’t have acted on it, so you’re as guilty as me!’

Ralph slammed his foot on the brake, causing Beth to lunge forward in her seat, before hitting the accelerator, making her fly backwards. ‘You poisonous little bitch!’