As if sensing she was being scrutinised, Anna glanced over. Their eyes met, and Paula’s heart thumped in her chest. Unconsciously, she edged closer to Tommy as the other woman’s eyes burned into her own.

Anna smirked, hoisted her backpack off, and set it to rest on the floor.

Paula looked away.

‘Mate, good to see you. Hi, Paula.’ Angus, Tommy’s pal, bounced up to them, Dermot hot on his heels.

Hands were shaken all round, and Paula tried to focus on the men’s conversation.

‘Did you see the lights last night?’ Dermot asked.

Paula turned her attention to him. ‘No, sadly I missed…’ Her words trickled to a stop as she realised Dermot wasn’t speaking to her, but to Tommy.

She blinked. Hadn’t Tommy said he had watched the Northern Lights with Dermot and Angus?

‘Yeah, I managed to catch them,’ Tommy said weakly, his eyes sliding sideways, away from his wife.

A few feet away, Anna smiled serenely, showing small white teeth. Paula put her hand over her mouth at the same time as Tommy darted a look at her, a warning glance. His hand reached out, his eyes narrowed, a signal not to cause a scene, to let it go. At that moment, the doors swished open and the crowd surged. She jostled her arm free from his grip and let herself be taken, shoved and pushed towards the door. Tommy’s face was flushed, his eyebrows knitted; his temper – no doubt at being caught out – was rising. Behind him, Anna had disappeared from Paula’s view.

Paula turned around and let the mob sweep her out of the doors and down the walkway onto Icelandic soil.

Alone.

There was an expression in Paula’s eyes that Anna hadn’t known the other woman could pull off. If looks could kill…

She was tempted to laugh in Paula’s face, to push her over the edge, but she held back. She couldn’t be seen to be needling the woman, not if she wanted to get her hands on the final prize. Instead, she ducked down out of sight, pretending to fiddle with the zip on her backpack. When she stood up, she saw the back of Paula’s head, a black hat in among all the others making their way off the cruise ship. Keeping enough people in between them, Anna put her own head down and blended into the middle of the crowd.

Tommy emerged minutes later, stationed in between Dermot and Angus. They were too far away for her to hear what he was saying, but she could give it a good guess. He gestured angrily with his hands, while his pals nodded sympathetically. He wasn’t going after his wife, she noticed. Instead, the three men swung left and headed for the coaches that lined the dockside.