‘Oh my God! Why didn’t you call me?’ Immediately, Ben’s tone switched from angry to distraught and he dashed over to my side of the bed. He knelt in front of me and put his arms around my shoulders, stroking my hair.

I looked up at him with an apologetic expression. ‘I’m sorry, there wasn’t time … I just wanted to get there.’ I paused to let Ben take in the enormity of the situation before delivering the killer blow. ‘Marcus took me.’

Immediately, I felt Ben bristle. He knew that I had had an affair with Marcus in the past and he had always been a little bit wary of him because of it. He had even once tentatively suggested that it wasn’t really appropriate for me to continue working with him, until I set him straight in no uncertain terms. ‘Right,’ he said, looking annoyed.

‘He was so lovely.’ I was enjoying twisting the knife. ‘He waited while they checked me over and then insisted on bringing me home.’

‘That was very nice of him,’ Ben said through gritted teeth. ‘But of course, if you’d rung me, or not had your phone switched off, I would have come straight away.’

I nodded and wiped my eyes, further smudging my mascara, this time with genuine tears. ‘I know – but I didn’t want to spoil your evening with Matt and Freya …’ I let my words hang in the air, making sure there was no doubt about tonight being his fault entirely. Without me actually saying so, I wanted him to feel guilty as hell that he had put a night of drinking with his mates above looking after his pregnant wife, with potentially tragic results. I was so outraged, I almost believed my own story.

Ben looked duly ashamed. ‘So what happened? What made you think you were losing the baby … and is it OK?’

I shook my head and made a swatting motion with my hand. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I said, trying to sound stoic. The last thing I needed was him asking too many questions, as I actually didn’t have a clue what happened if you really did have a miscarriage. ‘But the main thing is that everything is OK and the baby’s fine.’

‘Oh, thank God!’ Tears flashed into Ben’s eyes and I felt a tiny bit guilty for lying about something so serious. I briefly hoped I wasn’t tempting fate. ‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you, darling.’ He kissed the top of my head and pulled me towards him.

I gave him a brave smile. ‘It’s OK. Luckily Marcus was there, so he took care of me. Don’t feel bad.’

My words landed and Ben swallowed hard. ‘Well, let me look after you now,’ he said, bending down to take off my shoes. ‘From now on, I’m not leaving your side.’

I allowed him to help me lay down gently on the bed and smiled up at him. ‘Thank you,’ I whispered, confident that he wouldn’t be inviting Matt and Freya round again in a hurry.