His cheeks flushed scarlet and he looked down at the table. He fiddled with his fork, then glanced back up at her, his mouth a thin line. She could see he was struggling not to show emotion. ‘I’m not a celebrity, though many people know who I am. But that’s not why they’re staring.’

‘No?’

‘It’s you.’

Carol gave a self-deprecating snort of laughter. ‘I’m disappointed. I thought your flattery would be a little more sophisticated than that.’

Tadeusz breathed deeply. ‘No, that wasn’t flattery. Which is not to say that you’re not beautiful enough to turn heads.’ He gave a short sharp sigh. ‘This is going to sound crazy.’

‘Oh yes?’ Carol reckoned Caroline Jackson would be suspicious by now and she worked on the matching facial expression.

Tadeusz studied his cigar. Impatient, he stubbed it out in the ashtray. ‘You have a remarkable resemblance to someone.’

‘What? I have a double who’s famous in Germany?’

He shook his head. ‘No, not like that.’ He shifted awkwardly in his seat. ‘You’re the spitting image of a woman called Katerina Basler. She was my lover. That’s why people are staring.’

Carol raised her eyebrows. ‘They think you’ve replaced Katerina with a lookalike?’

He shrugged. ‘I guess.’

‘How long ago did you two break up?’

He cleared his throat. She could see the pain in his face, but she couldn’t afford to indicate that she knew why he deserved sympathy. So she waited. ‘We didn’t break up,’ he eventually said. He reached for his wine glass and emptied the contents in one long gulp. ‘She died, Caroline.’

Carol had known this moment would come, and she had thought long and hard about how to play it. Shock, obviously. She’d have to act astonished. Appalled, even. Affronted would have to come into the equation somewhere along the line too. She let her face go slack, her mouth falling open.

That was the moment the waiter chose to appear, asking what they wanted to drink. Distracted, Tadeusz spread his hands in a gesture of confusion.

‘Scotch,’ Carol said decisively. ‘Large, on the rocks.’

‘Cognac,’ Tadeusz said, waving the waiter away.

Carol concentrated on keeping the look of pitying horror on her face. ‘She died?’

He nodded, eyes downcast again. ‘A couple of months ago. A road accident. A stupid, stupid road accident.’

‘God, I’m so sorry,’ she said. It wasn’t an act this time. She’d have needed a harder heart not to have been moved by his obvious grief.

He shook his head. ‘It is I who should apologize. I didn’t mean to impose this on you.’