their bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes, peeled off the lovely dress and flung herself face down on the bed. She knew he would not follow her. She half expected him to go out again, back to his mistress, to tell her the attempt at reconciliation had been a total failure and he was all hers. But he didn’t. She heard his heavy step coming up the stairs very slowly and then pass her door and go into the guest room. The door clicked behind him.
She was in the kitchen, sitting over a cup of coffee at six the next morning, when he appeared in his dressing gown. She looked up but did not speak. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite her. ‘You’re up early.’
‘There didn’t seem any point in staying in bed. Do you want something to eat?’
‘I’m not hungry. That buffet last night is still sitting on my stomach. It wasn’t that good, was it?’
‘No.’
He put his cup down on the saucer with a crash. ‘This is getting us nowhere.’
‘No, it isn’t.’
‘What do you want me to say?’
What she wanted was for it never to have happened, to be loved by him as she once was, to go back to a time when the thought of either of them cheating on the other was inconceivable. ‘Say what you like, anything that comes into your head. Just talk, can’t you? I want to know why, what I’ve done…’
‘You haven’t done anything. But then I haven’t done anything, either. Not what you think.’
She stared at him. ‘So, you do at least know what I think?’
‘You think I’ve been having an affair with Virginia.’
‘And haven’t you?’
‘No.’ He smiled, sure of his ground again. ‘I’ve been a fool, no doubt of that, but for you to think I’ve been to bed with her is very hurtful. She is your stepmother. I wanted to help her and help myself as well.’
‘Oh, I don’t doubt that.’
‘Don’t be sarcastic, it doesn’t suit you. I meant getting her a job as secretary to the chief executive. I have been seeing rather a lot of her, not to make love to her but to get information out of her. I suppose we must have been seen. That’s how rumours start. All so silly, really.’
‘But you’re already a councillor, privy to council business. Why do you want a spy?’
‘Oh, Barbara, you can be so priggish sometimes. It’s not spying.’
‘No, then what do you call it? And why do you need it?’
‘I’m a town councillor, not a county councillor, and there’s still a lot goes on behind the scenes that never gets made public, wheels within wheels, mutterings behind closed doors, that sort of thing. Old Bulliman confides in Virginia a lot, things that never come out in public meetings, things that are not always passed down to town level…’
Once she might have believed him, but not anymore. ‘And she tells you. Not very loyal of her, is it?’
‘Depends where your loyalty lies, doesn’t it?’
‘Do you pay her?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘I wonder why not?’
The sarcasm was lost on him, or if it wasn’t, he chose to take her remark at face value. ‘She is simply grateful for what I have been able to do for her, giving her the house, finding her a job, that sort of thing.’
‘Grateful enough to climb into bed with you.’
‘Barbara, haven’t you heard a word I’ve been saying? That’s your trouble, you never listen. What’s the good of talking to you…?’ He got up and stood looking out of the window onto the parched garden.
‘OK, go on. I’m listening.’
‘There’s nothing more to it.’
‘What about Paris?’
He turned back to her. ‘Virginia did come to my room one night. She came to discuss something about the negotiations, something that had happened after I left the meeting. I left early to buy the children’s presents. And yours too. You did like the perfume, didn’t you? You didn’t say.’
‘I had other things on my mind.’
‘Honestly, Barbara, she was only bringing me up to date. I never dreamt…’
She wanted to believe him, wanted it so desperately that she was halfway there, but it was difficult, especially when he mentioned perfume.
‘George, you came home reeking of Virginia’s perfume. You didn’t need to get that close to exchange information, did you?’
He made a valiant effort to look mystified. ‘Did I? I don’t know how… Oh, yes I do. We were sitting together on the train and she fell asleep with