‘Time we were going,’ said Douglas. Evie noticed he had a restless look about him, as if something was preying on his mind.

After saying their goodbyes, Evie sat in the front seat of the old Ford beside her husband. He let out the clutch and guided the car down the steep hill.

‘Thank you for taking me up here. I enjoyed meeting the Hyde-Underwoods, and seeing how the estate worked was so interesting.’ She was pleased she’d remembered to call it an estate and not a plantation.

Douglas said nothing. His face looked tense. She wanted to ask him what was the matter but something made her hesitate. They drove in silence for several minutes, passing ranks of rubber trees on either side of the road and stretching up the hillside beyond. There was a palpable tension in the car. Doug suddenly jerked the steering wheel, and the car left the road and bounced along in between the trees on a rough track. She glanced at him, puzzled, but he remained silent, his jaw set hard and his expression inscrutable. Where were they going? Evie wanted to ask but her mouth wouldn’t form the words.

After a few minutes, when the main road behind was no longer visible, they pulled into a small clearing. A single-storey wooden hut stood there, a collection of metal buckets and implements stacked neatly outside, under the overhanging roof.

Douglas halted the truck and jerked on the handbrake. Evie looked to him for an explanation but he was already out of the car and moving round to her side. Pulling the door open he reached in and grabbed her hand, drawing her out of the vehicle.

They went towards the hut, Douglas moving so quickly Evie had to scurry to keep up with him as he still had hold of her hand. He pushed the door open and they went inside. There was an unglazed window in the rear of the small room, but it was close to the rows of rubber trees which blocked most of the daylight so the room was dim and gloomy. Evie had no time to look around what seemed to be an empty space, before he was upon her, pushing her roughly against the wooden wall, pressing his body against hers, as one hand pinned her there and he fumbled at the front of his shorts with the other. She felt his mouth on hers. It was the first time he had kissed her, and she wasn’t prepared for it, or for the hunger with which he did it. She found herself responding to him, excited, feeling her legs weaken under her as her mouth returned his kiss. He was gasping, pulling at her dress - pushing his hands up underneath the skirt.

‘Wait,’ she said, her own voice barely audible. She lifted her frock over her head and immediately felt his mouth on her neck as his hands moved behind her to release her brassiere. His mouth closed around her left nipple and she gave a little cry of pain then he pulled down her pants and entered her quickly. Evie cried out again. He wanted her. He desired her. There was nothing of husbandly duty about this. It was raw desire. She gave herself up to the moment, oblivious to the hard wood of the wall, rough against the bare skin of her back.