“Robert! You startled me. I thought you’d have gone to bed.”

“How could I go to bed? My wife is taken ill and goes home in the middle of a restaurant meal, but over two hours later there’s still no sign of her. Where the hell have you been?”

“Darling, let’s go into the salon and sit down.” She took him by the arm, but he pulled away.

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me. It’s you that’s in the wrong here. You promised me you wouldn’t do this anymore. It was just a few nights ago—you promised!”

“Please, Robert. We don’t want to wake Céline, do we?”

He sighed—and with that sigh, she knew she had him. He might be furious, he might be frantic with worry, but his relief that she was safe was stronger than all his vehemence. And so she had him.

She switched on the ostrich-egg lamp, and they sat together in the canoe-shaped couch. He put his arm around her and drew her close, so that her head rested on his chest.

“I’m sorry, Robert.” She listened to the beating of his heart, its slow, comforting rhythm. “I went to see Lulu at the Coyote. I had to talk to her.”

“You made a promise.” His arm stiffened. “Why did you break it?”

“You hurt my feelings.” Her voice was thin, and she gave a little sniff. “Badly.”

“I did?”

“You ridiculed my poetry.”

“But that was just a joke. I thought you knew that.”

“A joke at my expense. You wanted to look big in front of your friends by making me look small. And you expected me to smile sweetly and put up with it, like a sweet little fool.”

“Now, honey. You know I didn’t mean to—”

“I invented the migraine because I didn’t want to make a scene. Think about who you’re married to, Robert, and count yourself lucky. A harpy like Druscilla Fanshaw would have shouted the restaurant down.”

“My love.” Robert wrapped his arms around her and held her so close that she could hardly breathe. “Please forgive me. It’ll never happen again.”

“Of course, darling.” She tried to pull away, but his arms tightened.

“I don’t deserve you, I really don’t.” He spoke the words into her hair and showered kisses on her head. “I haven’t trusted you as I should. If you only knew about…But never mind that.”

“Never mind what?”

His heartbeat remained steady, but its rhythm had ceased to comfort her. She felt trapped by it. This was all too much.

“Nothing, my love. Let’s go to bed.”

“Oh, yes, let’s. I’m so tired, and we can talk more at breakfast tomorrow.”

He swallowed heavily. “What I meant was that we should go to bed together.”