The blood flowed hotly up into his head, and he moved quickly to the door. Her accusations of gullibility galled him, and yet part of him wondered secretly if she was right. Had he been fooling himself, thinking there was a firm commitment when Andrew might only have been half-serious, an offer made out of drunkenness and pity?

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Abi said now, keeping him in the room, ‘I’m happy to see you reviving your interest in work. And with this promotion, well, the difference it will make to our finances is substantial. Don’t you see? You’ll be able to pick and choose which projects you take on now. Ones that are closer to home, perhaps – that fit around our lifestyle.’

‘That fit around your lifestyle, you mean.’ The words came out sounding acidic, but he couldn’t help it. ‘Why must everything always revolve around you?’

‘That’s unfair.’

‘Is it? You call the shots. And I think you like that.’

‘This is ridiculous.’

‘We had an agreement—’

‘Oh yes. Our agreement. You know, most people would look at our situation and think you got a pretty sweet deal, Mark. I work long and hard to pay for our house, our holidays, our cars, school fees, the tennis club—’

‘And we all have to bend over backwards in gratitude—’

‘Gratitude?’ She spat the word at him. ‘I don’t get gratitude! I get sullenness and resentment from the girls, and from you, I get bloody martyrdom!’

‘What?’

‘St Mark the martyred husband. Minding the kids, doing the shopping, cleaning the house – and never letting me forget the fact of it. Jesus Christ, expecting me to get down on bended knee and give thanks—’

‘Oh, that’s bullshit!’

They were both shouting now, and he could feel the vein pulsing in his temple.

‘Admit it, Abi – our arrangement suited you.’

‘Yes, it did. And I have no problem admitting that. I mean, let’s be pragmatic here.’

‘How?’

‘Well, the fact is that your work is unreliable. It comes in spurts. It’s just the nature of the business that you’re in. Like it or not, my career is steady and well paid.’

‘Better paid, you mean,’ he said acidly.

Her jaw tensed; her eyes grew cold.

‘Yes, I earn more than you do. And I don’t see why I should have to apologize for that.’