‘She’s very good-looking,’ he said, managing to convey a wealth of meaning in these words. Thea thought she had caught most of it. He meant there would be no imbalance in the eyes of the world, no sense that Jennifer 178had somehow used underhand methods to capture him. They would be Posh and Becks or whoever the more recent golden superstar couple might be.

‘That’ll help,’ she said.

He flinched. ‘We’re both very ordinary, you know. The main worry is probably going to be that she’s got far more money than me. If we have children, I’m going to be the one staying at home to mind them while she forges ahead with her career.’

‘Which is?’

‘Oh – she’s a consultant to the big charities. All very worthy and politically correct. She advises them on how to get the best value for money, and which projects are likely to have the most effect. She favours the conservation side of things.’

‘Sounds great,’ said Thea, wondering how ethical it was for someone in such a line of work to earn big money. ‘Which charities in particular?’

‘Most of the big names. World Wildlife Fund. RSPCA. RSPB. A few of the smaller ones. She’s independent, you see. Goes wherever the need is. They put her on short-term contracts, and she spends a few months going through their procedures and setting them straight. She’s very clever.’

‘But she doesn’t go into their basic ideologies? I mean – she doesn’t tell them whether to save rhinos over elephants, or African children over South American ones?’

He frowned. ‘Indirectly, she probably does. It’s not just her, obviously. There are legions of people doing similar work. It’s a whole industry.’179

‘Does she have to travel much?’

‘Not really. Mostly she can do it in London, or wherever their head offices are. I travel quite a lot myself, remember.’

Thea never had fully grasped the nature of Clovis’s work. Something about music, and going to Prague. ‘Remind me,’ she said.

‘I scour the world for original music. New young composers in need of a publisher. All very high risk and low reward, except when I hit the jackpot. That happens about once every three or four years. There’s some good stuff coming out of Eastern Europe, funnily enough.’

‘Why is that funny? What about Chopin? Wasn’t he Polish?’

Clovis looked down his shapely nose at her, and gave no reply.

‘Sorry. Tell me more.’

He relented and treated her to a short lecture on the many vibrant new forms of jazz and rock and metal emerging from the region. Then, for good measure, he added a few remarks about Bulgaria and Croatia. Their food arrived while he was in full spate, and he began to eat at the same time as talking. He had selected a curry, with popadums, which he crunched cheerfully.

Thea listened while tackling her own good-sized pie. When he finally stopped, she gave him an approving smile. ‘Sounds thrilling,’ she said. ‘The woman whose house I’m looking after is a musician, as well. She plays the piano.’