Steph sidestepped the last comment. She wanted to know more about this man. ‘Have you come to terms with what happened to Elizabeth?’

‘Yes. I have. Look, it’s hard to explain but I did love Elizabeth very much in the beginning and I think her affair was a wake-up call. Yes, my pride was hurt, and I reacted in a way I’m not particularly proud of, but it was a wake-up call in the sense I realised my feelings for Elizabeth had changed. I didn’t love her. I knew she didn’t love me any more. It was after that we started to talk about divorce. It was complicated, though. We had a pre-nup but she wanted to contest it.’

‘You would have had a lot to lose.’

‘It doesn’t mean I wanted any harm to come to her.’ Harry’s voice was prickly.

‘I wasn’t implying anything,’ said Steph, realising she’d hit a nerve. She was fascinated by Elizabeth and fascinated by her marriage to Harry. She wanted to know more for her own personal reasons than she did for anything else.

‘If Elizabeth hadn’t died then I would have faced a lengthy and expensive divorce, no doubt about it. But if you think for one minute her death was convenient, then you’re barking up the wrong tree,’ snapped Harry. ‘Christ, I’m not sure how the conversation got to this place.’

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. I only asked in the first place because … because I don’t want to assume anything or rush anything if you’re not ready.’

He kissed her hand. ‘It’s me who should apologise. I’m a bit defensive about it all, but just to reassure you, the fact that I’ve opened up so much to you already says a lot.’

He kissed her tenderly and Steph allowed herself to sink into his arms. It felt so reassuring and comforting. She missed having someone to hold and someone to hold her. It was probably the only thing she missed about Zac and about being married.

‘Have you ever thought of moving back to the area?’ asked Harry.

‘I don’t think so. Yes, my mum lives here, but I think we work better with distance between us.’

‘What does your mum do again?’

‘She’s retired. She’s busy doing her own thing; I don’t think she’s any more worried about our living several hundred miles apart than I am.’

‘What did she used to do?’

The question sounded casual, but Steph felt something in Harry’s body tighten. ‘She was in the civil service.’

‘Doing what?’

Why the in-depth questions? If she avoided them, it would seem odd. If she answered them Harry was bound to make the connection. ‘Honestly, my mum is the last person I want to talk about right now,’ she said. ‘It rather spoils the moment.’

‘I’m just interested.’