All this frantic activity consumed much of Napoleon’s time. He rose before dawn and was dressed and had breakfasted by six in the morning. Then he went to his private office, read the pile of documents prepared for him by Bourrienne and scribbled notes in the margins, and dictated his responses to the team of secretaries standing by, pens poised. At noon he had a brief lunch and moved on to attend some of the committees he had instituted to rebuild the nation along more modern, efficient lines.Then there would be a late dinner, after which, if there was no pressing business that still needed attending to, Napoleon joined Josephine and a small inner circle of his family and friends for entertainment. Sometimes it was cards, Napoleon favouring pontoon or whist, at which he invariably cheated.

‘Why do you do that?’ Josephine asked him irritably, one evening in early autumn, as they said good night to their guests and retired to their sleeping quarters.

‘Do what, my love?’

‘Cheat at cards.You do it every time we play.’

‘Do I?’

She dug her elbow into his side. ‘You know you do. Why?’

He shrugged. ‘It means that I win every time.’

Josephine paused to look at him as they entered her bedchamber. She placed her palm against his cheek and gently caressed it. ‘Is it so important to you to win at everything? To be the best all the time?’

‘What else is there? Why should a man aim any lower than the best in his ambitions?’ He eased her gently inside and closed the door behind them.Then he slipped his arms round her waist and pulled her towards him. The scent of her perfume filled his head as he kissed the curve of her neck, marvelling at its silken texture. He whispered, ‘I want to be the best lover that you have ever had . . .’

‘You are,’ she purred, tilting her head aside as she enjoyed the sensation of his lips grazing her flesh there. ‘You are the best.’

Napoleon wanted to believe it, more than anything he had ever believed in his life. Yet the knowledge of her infidelities twisted in his mind like a blade and his body trembled with rage.

‘What is it?’

‘Nothing. Take your clothes off.’

She pulled away and looked at him. There was a wild glint in his eye that she took for passion and she murmured, ‘Yes, my love.’