Devan began to pace, shaking his head in bewilderment. ‘So fucking him in some Italian hotel room wasn’t enough? You had to install him in our village, let me become friends with him? All these weeks … Jesus!’ He swung away from her, shoulders slumped.

Connie jumped out of bed. ‘No, Devan. No, it’s not like that.’ She was desperate to make him understand. ‘I finished it in Scotland. Told him I never wanted to see him again. I thought he’d accepted that.’ She swallowed her own tears. ‘But then he arrived in the village, completely and utterly off his own bat.’ She realized, as she spoke, how improbable it sounded.

‘Right.’ He gave a harsh, cynical snort. ‘Seriously, Connie? And I’m supposed to believe that? More like you thought you’d have your cake and eat it. Slip round the corner for a fuck whenever the fancy took you.’

‘I promise you, we are absolutely not having sex any more,’ she said wearily. ‘The only time I’ve seen him alone was to beg him to leave. But I told you, he’s deluded … a stalker.’

Devan’s face sank into his hands and there was a painful silence in the bedroom. Connie tried to catch her breath.

‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ she heard him mutter. Then his head shot up. ‘Who else knows?’

She hesitated. Why humiliate him further? But there’d been enough deception. ‘Jed told Brooks when he was drunk.’

‘Neil and Brooks. Who else?’ he demanded.

‘Lynne.’

Devan threw back his head and let out a harsh snort. ‘Ooh, I bet she just loved that. Me, getting my comeuppance at last.’

‘Actually, she was shocked. And disapproving.’

Devan raised a disbelieving eyebrow. ‘Who else?’

‘No one.’ Which Connie hoped was the truth.

He gave a shaky sigh, began to pace at the bottom of the bed, arms firmly crossed, head bent. She had no idea what would happen next. She felt oddly helpless, her life suspended. All she seemed to have done was swap one man’s power over her for another’s. She was finally free from Jared’s threat of exposure, but now it was in Devan’s hands as to whether or not their marriage survived. He could just walk away. Was she relieved she’d told him? She’d finally expunged her tormenting secret, certainly. But her husband’s pain was excruciating. As she watched the dying embers of her marriage, she felt nothing but overwhelming regret. She wanted to tell Devan how much she loved him. But she knew he would laugh in her face.

Devan’s expression was blank with devastation, his mouth set in a grim line. She waited for the next barrage, her body rigid. But he said nothing, just began to get dressed.