Henry? And are you doing OK? I won’t ask if you miss me too.
Right, I’m off to bed now. Will you even read this? Maybe you just delete my mails without looking at them. But don’t worry, either way I won’t expect a reply.
Sorry. Just needed to say it.
I love and miss you, beautiful Martha, more than you’ll ever know. But I do understand.
Be happy.
All love,
T x
Tony watched the computer screen shimmer into life. Had he gone over the top this time? Might there be a letter waiting in his inbox from Martha’s solicitors, warning him that his messages constituted harassment and any more would result in his immediate arrest?
Then his heart did a flip, because there among the list of emails that had come in overnight was one from Martha. For the first time in weeks, she’d sent a reply. Tony concentrated on keeping his breathing under control. For several seconds he couldn’t bring himself to open it, in case her reaction was too cruel to bear. If she announced that she was blocking his address he would have to accept that he must never attempt to contact her again.
How could he bear that?
His hand shook as he moved the mouse.
Click.
And there was Martha’s email up on the screen.
Very short and to the point, she’d written:
I miss you too.
***
‘Ooh, I’ve missed you so much!’
‘I can’t breathe.’ Niall was grinning at her, his hair slick with rain. ‘You’re choking me.’
Roo loosened her grip on him; when he’d come through the front door she’d launched herself at him like a monkey. ‘I can’t help it. I’m excited. Did you have a miserable weekend too?’
‘What do you think?’ He’d been forced to spend it at a business conference in Southampton. ‘I’ve had sales targets and expansion strategies up to here. God, let’s not talk about it now. You’—his fingers deftly unfastened her navy satin bra—‘are looking spectacular.’
‘Not so bad yourself.’ Roo retaliated by sliding off his suit jacket and removing his tie. She wasn’t going to ask him how Yasmin and Ben were. She wouldn’t even think about them. It was Monday lunchtime, Niall had rushed over from work, and they only had forty minutes before he had to race back. They had no time to waste. Hence the fact that she was wearing scarcely any clothes in preparation…
Thirty minutes had passed in the most glorious way imaginable. Her skin sheeny with perspiration, Roo lay on her back in the bed and stretched pleasurably, like a cat. In the bathroom across the landing, Niall had already jumped into the shower. In ten minutes he would be on his way back to work but she wasn’t going to whine about it. He’d be over again tomorrow evening. She would be cheerful and understanding, the kind of reaction that would make him want to see her again, then maybe in a few months when—
De-dee-doo-ding.
Roo stopped breathing and turned her head. It was a muffled sound, quiet but instantly recognizable, signaling that Niall’s mobile had received a text.
Which wasn’t unusual in itself. But in all the months she’d known him, it was the first time Niall had left his phone unattended. Normally it went everywhere with him, even into the bathroom. The two of them were never parted. Now, like a child glimpsing Father Christmas and finding herself unable to resist investigating further, Roo slithered out of bed and followed the direction the noise had come from.
And there it was, in the pocket of the trousers he’d so hastily discarded earlier. She held the phone in her hand and saw that the text had come from a contact listed only as V.
V… V… Offhand, all she could think of was Vivica, one of his former co-workers. She had left the company a couple of months back; Niall had gone along to her leaving party. He’d also mentioned in passing that she was a bloody good saleswoman, single, and hardworking.
Roo stood there, naked and clutching his mobile, her mind in a tizz. Partly because it was the first time she’d been able to clutch his mobile. But also partly because some sixth sense was telling her she really should be opening this text.
Her thumb hovered over the button. If she pressed it, the message would appear.
If she pressed it, Niall would know she’d pressed it.
The next moment, in the bathroom, the shower was turned off. A jolt of adrenaline coursed through her, because now she had less than a minute left. If she was going to