I adopted my most nervous and wide-eyed expression, before taking a deep, calming breath. ‘I’m pregnant.’ I was pleased with the slight break in my voice as I spoke.

Ben gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. ‘Pregnant?’

Irritation quivered in my chest and I turned away quickly, not wanting him to see it.

Ben gulped slightly. ‘Are you sure?’

I closed my eyes briefly, trying to control the surge of temper I could feel growing within me. He wasn’t a bad person, but he was so irritatingly stupid sometimes. ‘Yes.’ The word came out in a sigh.

There was a long silence before Ben exhaled loudly. ‘How long?’

I was suddenly a bit concerned that he might not be quite as easy to dupe as I had expected. So I bit my lip, which was quivering slightly and gazed up at him with what I hoped was a scared expression. ‘I think about eight weeks. But I won’t know for sure until the scan.’ I needed to keep things vague in case he started to question the dates.

But he just nodded. ‘Wow.’

I reached out to put my hand on his thigh and gave him an uncertain smile. ‘Are you happy about it?’

‘Of course.’ His answer came satisfyingly quickly. He tilted his head so that he could see my face, his expression one of love and concern. ‘What about you?’

I smiled again. ‘I’m happy. Just … It’s a bit of a shock, that’s all.’

Ben nodded his understanding but there was a faint clouding in his eyes and I could see that he was wrestling with his emotions. After a long, long silence, he started the car again and pulled back onto the road.

We didn’t talk much on the journey home to London but every now and again I could feel Ben looking at me sideways. A tiny part of me felt sorry for him. But at the same time, there was no way he would ever have pulled someone in my league if he had just been any old Joe Bloggs, so I was doing him a favour really. And he would love being a dad. I was fairly sure that it wouldn’t make any difference that he wasn’t the biological father. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Later, as we lay in bed together, me with my head resting on his chest, it occurred to me that everything would be a lot more plausible if we were married. I formulated a plan to get him to propose, before deciding that we didn’t have time for that. He’d been with Charlotte for twelve years and still hadn’t got around to it. I would have to take the initiative myself.

‘Ben?’ I said, into the darkness.

‘Hmmm?’

‘I’d like to get married. Before the baby comes.’

I felt his body tense and wondered if I should have been a little more tentative. But I couldn’t be doing with any more hanging around.