I locked eyes with him and held his gaze for a couple of seconds. ‘I’m not hurting him. He’s very happy with me. And let’s face it, he would never have got anyone in my league normally, so he wins, too.’

Peter hesitated. ‘But, when he finds out that you’re pregnant with my child, he’ll …’

‘He won’t find out,’ I cut him off. ‘I’m going to let him think the baby is his.’

‘You’re not going to tell him the truth?’ Peter narrowed his eyes slightly.

‘No. I’m not going to tell anyone.’

Peter’s mouth dropped open and he exhaled with relief. ‘But, I don’t understand …’ he began. ‘I thought you said you were going to make me pay?’

‘I am. I’ll be a part of your family from now on and every time you look at your baby you’ll know that you and I will be linked for ever. So rather than casting me aside like you wanted to, you will have to be so nice to me that it will make you choke. You will have to coo over this baby and pretend to be thrilled for me and Ben. Because if you don’t, I’ll tell Jo and Ben the truth.’

I watched each word land like a knockout punch, as the gravity and awfulness of his situation dawned. ‘You’re blackmailing me,’ he said at last, with a weary resignation.

I nodded. ‘Yes, Peter. I am. But I’m not after money. I just want revenge. So you play nicely and I’ll play nicely too. There’s absolutely no reason why there should be any unpleasantness.’

Peter gave a dry laugh. ‘No unpleasantness? The very sight of you is as much unpleasantness as anyone can take in a lifetime.’

The words stung but I just shook my head calmly. ‘No, Peter. That’s not the way to behave. You need to learn to fuss and fawn over me as much as you do that bloody perfect daughter of yours. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it soon enough.’

Pure hate shone from Peter’s eyes but he nodded slowly. ‘Right. Well, I’d better go back outside before they wonder what’s going on.’

I laughed. ‘Yes, God forbid they think there’s something “going on”! You run along now like a good boy.’

He fixed me with one last look before turning on his heel and making his way back out onto the terrace.

All the way home I kept smiling to myself at Peter’s shocked reaction. He was always so sure of himself and cocky that it was a truly delicious sensation to see him so wrong-footed and upset. I could actually feel him shaking as he kissed me goodbye.

So now that I had put my plan into action, I needed to tell Ben the good news.

‘Pull over here!’

‘What?’ Ben turned towards me with a look of surprise. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Pull over!’ I repeated.

Ben frowned but immediately indicated and pulled into a small layby overlooking the rolling patchwork fields of the Suffolk countryside and the sparkling river beyond. He turned off the engine and looked over at me expectantly. ‘What’s up?’