‘Like what?’

‘Staying with her, when every day that goes by, I loathe her more. No worse than that. I loathe myself for getting into this situation. I’m ashamed of myself. Ashamed that I put my career before everything else when I agreed to marry her. Because she helped my career along I stood by while she spun increasingly out of control.’ He looked up at Evie, his face a picture of misery. ‘I should have stood up for myself and refused to marry her.’

‘You had little choice about that. And you were helping her. If she’d had her baby, things might have been different.’

‘If she’d had the baby, things could well have been worse. Can you imagine Veronica as a mother?’ He let out a long sigh. ‘But the truth is she feels less of a woman because she hasn’t had a child. And that’s what was getting under her skin with you yesterday.’

‘I don’t understand at all, Arthur. Plenty of other women have babies. This can’t be the first time she’s come across an expectant mother at the Penang Club.’

‘She doesn’t care about the other women. They’re all in thrall to her – or scared of her. She queens it over them. Her problem is with you because from the very first time she met you, you refused to be cowed by her.’

‘What?’

‘That time you met her in London. She was spitting tacks when she got back to the hotel. She wanted to boss you around, have you hanging on her every word, doing as she told you. Just like everyone else.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Arthur, I was absolutely terrified of her.’

He looked up and smiled. ‘Maybe. But you didn’t let her see that. You didn’t give way to her. You’ve always known your own mind, Evie, and Veronica can’t bear that. She wants to play cat and mouse and you refuse to be mouse.’

‘But that doesn’t excuse what she did yesterday to Mary Helston.’

‘She knows Mary’s your friend. It’s all a game to her. A game that’s completely out of control.’ He brushed a hand through his hair. ‘But most of all, she’s angry because she knows how I feel about you.’

Evie was horror stricken. ‘You told her?’

‘I don’t need to. Veronica’s not stupid. She can tell. I never looked at another woman until I met you. I can’t hide it. She knows me too well. Even on the ship she realised I was falling in love with you. That’s why she’s always been so beastly to you.’ He put his head in his hands again and gave a sigh as if he were carrying all the troubles of the world. ‘I can’t disguise how I feel. It’s obvious that I worship the ground you walk on, Evie. And I can’t sleep at night for thinking about you. For wanting you.’

‘Stop, Arthur, please! This isn’t right.’

‘That’s the trouble. It’s the only thing that is right. You and me.’