He raised his eyebrows, faux-lasciviously, and Natalia laughed. How did this man manage to disarm her so thoroughly, every single time?

‘I thank you. But I will not give you the details, OK?’

‘I so don’t want to know the gory details, darling.’ Ben camped it up and Natalia laughed again, leaning forward to kiss him over the table.

‘I love you, Mr Movie Star.’

‘And I love you, Nat, from the bottom of my heart.’

When they left the restaurant, they were too wrapped up in one another to notice the paparazzo lurking in the bushes.

NEW BRIT ON THE BLOCK SQUIRES BLONDE WITH SHADY PAST ran the headline. Oh, shit. Shit shit shit. Natalia looked in dismay at the gossip rag that Georgiou had placed in front of her, on one of the horrible Formica tables in the seedy bar on the outskirts of Saint-Tropez.

‘I think that this interesting new development makes my knowledge of your past all the more valuable. Do you not agree, Talia? I think perhaps it would not be so good for your pretty new boyfriend’s career if it came out that he is fucking a former teenage whore, hmmm?’

‘I had no alternative and you know it, Georgie.’

He put his head on one side and pretended to consider. ‘Hmmm. I don’t think the big studios would see it like that. The movie-going public can be quite puritanical, and a scandal like this could ruin him.’

‘You are disgusting,’ said Natalia.

‘Still, you have done well for yourself, I will not deny that.’ He started drumming nicotine-stained and heavily ringed fingers on the table. ‘Now you have a nice life, a comfortable life. It would be a shame, would it not, to jeopardize what you have now? You can easily afford to keep me happy …’

Natalia sighed, resigned to what she had to do.

‘OK, you bastard. How much do you want this time?’

She had to write the letter five times as she kept soaking the thick cream paper, her tears mingling with expensive black ink to form rivulets that blurred her carefully chosen words. She had considered telling him it was all one great big lie, that she had never loved him, had just been using him for his beautiful body. But in the end she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do so. She knew he’d never buy it; what they’d had together had been too all-consuming. And she didn’t want to hurt him unnecessarily, to cast a shadow on what must now remain just a wonderful memory for both of them.

He had his entire life ahead of him, a future glittering with promise. He’d get over her soon enough.

My Darling Mr Movie Star

I have gone away. Please do not try to find me. I thought that maybe I could escape from my past, but I cannot, and it is not good for you to be seen with me. You must focus on your career now – you are going to be big, big star. I thank you with all my heart for the time we have spent together. I have never known such happiness, and I shall never forget you. I hope in time you will be able to remember me with fondness.