‘Well, I don’t have time to deal in petty domestic disagreements, Mr Walsh. I’m a busy man.’ He is amused, rather than irritated. ‘And we still have arrangements to make. One or two details to look over. I suggest we use the back office, once you’ve finished here.’

‘I’ll come now.’

The man stands aside as Billy grabs Ruby’s arm – roughly – and leans his face into hers, dropping his voice to little more than a whisper.

‘I won’t tell you again, Ruby. You’re out of your depth here. Go home.’ He plants a kiss on her lips, but shakes her arm, just to make sure she’s understood.

Just a girl from the Borough. The fury flashes through her. His words are more of an insult than the shake. Or the kiss. She swings a fist up at his face, but he knows her too well and catches her wrist and squeezes it hard, squashing bone against bone, making her cry out – in frustration more than pain. She wrenches herself free.

‘I’ll kill you, Billy Walsh, one of these days, you see if I don’t.’

She turns her back on Billy and walks to the stairs with as much dignity as she can muster, becoming angrier with every step as she hears him laughing. She could have forgiven him for the other woman – she knows that women flock around Billy – but that he has cast her aside now a business opportunity has arisen is, to her, inexcusable.

She needs to clear her head. Not that she’s drunk. Barely tipsy. A glass or two of champagne.

The same gentle-eyed attendant greets her at the cloakroom.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asks. ‘Didn’t you like the music?’

‘Music’s good,’ Ruby replies tersely. ‘It’s the company that’s full of shit.’

‘Sorry to hear that, sweetheart. Come again on another evening? Or later tonight? When there’s more of the dancing and less of the shit.’

‘You’re leaving us so soon?’

Ruby turns to see Peter Lazenby in the foyer, glass in hand. She wonders whether he followed her up the stairs, whether he saw her rowing with Billy.

‘Other places to see, Peter. People to meet.’

‘And the company is shit here.’

‘Not you,’ she laughs. ‘You were a perfect gentleman.’

‘Not a view shared by everyone, eh, Daniel?’ he laughs back.

The young man shrinks a little and chooses not to answer, instead turning to find Ruby her hat and coat.

‘So where are you visiting now, Miss Ruby Mills?’ Peter asks. ‘Which other clubs are going to enjoy your charms, if not mine? Or are you going home for an early night, tucked up in your bed all alone?’

‘I might do that. Have a quiet evening. Just me and my cocoa.’