Of course Charlie wasn’t Terry, but still. She was quite sweet on him, really. But he’d been the gentleman with her for so long, doing little more than kissing. Oh, she let him fumble with her tits, and touch her downstairs sometimes. But Charlie never went any further. Now she was starting to get anxious. Didn’t he want to sleep with her?

‘Getting tired of the loan-sharking then?’ asked Nula.

Charlie looked at her, long and hard. Then he smiled. It was a standing joke between them. The loan he’d given her had never yet been repaid – in cash or in kind.

‘You’re a cheeky mare. But I like that in a woman, you know. And in answer to your question, no, I’m not tired of loan-sharking – and incidentally I haven’t forgotten you still owe me. Trust me, you will repay.’

‘Right.’ Nula didn’t feel in the least alarmed by that now. It was flirtation, the way they were staring into each other’s eyes, tossing words back and forth. ‘But as I told you, I can’t afford it. Not with the interest you keep piling on top.’

‘Yeah, it’s a problem, innit?’ Charlie’s eyes were dancing with suppressed laughter.

‘So what’s this new business then?’

Charlie tapped the side of his nose, took another pull of his brandy. ‘Secret,’ he said.

‘What, is it bad?’

‘Very.’

‘Right.’ Actually Nula found that quite a turn-on. She was having dinner in a swish restaurant with a very dodgy hot man, and though it was a crying shame it wasn’t Terry, it was Charlie Stone. Charlie was a boss to his boots, and she liked that.

‘How are you going to pay me then?’ he asked. ‘And when?’

‘In kind, I suppose, like you said,’ said Nula, and daringly she put her foot up under the table and touched it firmly to his crotch.

Charlie sat up sharply and Nula smiled straight into his eyes.

‘If that’s what you want? If you’re sure?’ he asked.

Nula gulped in a breath and ploughed on. Was she? ‘Yeah. Of course.’

Charlie was staring at her face. ‘I didn’t want to push it,’ he said. ‘I know your family’s religious, so I didn’t want to offend you. I thought maybe you were saving yourself for the wedding night.’

Nula stared at him. ‘Is there going to be one then? A wedding night?’

‘Yeah. Sure there is.’

‘Then we don’t have to wait. If you don’t want to.’

And then – when they were about to get down – at last! – to the real business of the evening – in comes Terry, with Jill all wrapped around him like always.

Terry and Jill hustled up to their table.

‘Terry,’ said Charlie in greeting.

‘We got some news,’ said Terry, beaming at Jill. He gave Nula a glance. ‘Sorry to interrupt.’

‘That’s—’ said Nula.

‘Yeah? What?’ Charlie asked.