He knew how it appeared to her – how guilty they both seemed.

‘I’ll see if Beth is ready now,’ Corinne said softly. Closing the door behind her, she left the two of them alone.

Abi had gone into work that day. Most of her co-workers had left for the long weekend with only the dedicated few remaining, and in the quiet calm of the almost empty office she was able to get some real work done. She had been writing up a report for the management meeting on Wednesday, when her boss approached.

‘There’s something I want to run past you,’ Richard had said, glancing around to make sure they were alone. ‘Head Office have been making noises about us taking over the Asia-Pacific branches. Bringing them in under our remit. This is all on the q.t., you understand, not something we want to spread throughout the company until we’re ready to announce.’

‘Of course. You know you can rely on my discretion, Richard.’

‘If this goes ahead then things are going to get a lot more hectic round here. I’ve been swamped since the merger and I’ll need someone I can trust to handle things on the APAC side. To cut to the chase, we’ll need someone to manage the new links and your name came up.’

‘Me?’ A flush of pleasurable nerves went through her.

‘Yours among others. Obviously, there’ll be an interview process, but you’d be in with a good chance. I’m not going to lie to you – it’ll be a ton of work. A fair bit of long-distance travel too. But you’d be well rewarded. A decent bump in salary plus share options. You’d be a non-equity partner, Abi. Are you interested?’

Her pulse quickened with excitement.

‘Definitely.’

‘Good.’ He dropped the file he was holding on her desk. It landed with a small thud. ‘Cast your eyes over this before next week. We’ll talk again then.’

All the way home in the car, she had felt the glow from Richard’s recognition. With her ringed finger she had tapped out a rhythm on the steering wheel, excitement making her impatient, eager to get home and tell Mark. Now the file was sitting on the hall table beneath her handbag, but within two seconds of finding him there in the studio with Corinne, guilty looks on both of their faces, she knew she would not tell him.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked once Corinne had left the room.

Her voice was low and controlled, but she felt tightness in her facial muscles.

‘It’s not what you think,’ he said, his eyes red-rimmed, his face pinched with tiredness. ‘I was just a bit thrown, that’s all. She caught me at a bad moment.’

‘What happened?’

It was only now that she noticed the page in his hand.

‘Here,’ he offered it to her. ‘Read it.’