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‘That would be that,’ she said again, and her voice was bleak As bleak as winter wind Then she forced a smile to her mouth It was a little twisted, a little wry—and very rueful

‘I didn’t handle things very well—did I, Theo? I should have been up-front with you After all, you’d been up-front with me, that time I came to see you after Aristides had done his Victorian novel stuff on e on the terms we made did make sense—was necessary So, when I finally realised you werea move on me, I should have been up-front with you, shouldn’t I? Simply told you that, unlike your other women, I couldn’t handle an affair—as it would have been, in essence—like the one you wanted And if you really thought our e meant you couldn’t or shouldn’t continue with other women, then I should have told you that you either had a choice of celibacy or dissolving our e earlier than we had intended to Because I just couldn’t handle anything else’

Her smile twisted painfully ‘So in a way it’s all beenup-front with you My fault for being stupid and weak enough to go along hat you wanted of me, and then, worst of all, to panic the way I did and let you totally misinterpret my relationship with Jem so that I could escape froain’

Her fingers started to pleat the edge of the duvet

‘I just should have been honest with you all along’ Her eyes rested on his face, as i at her steadily He had one arm crooked behind his head Absently, with a slice of pain that see every raw nerve in her body, she took in the roughened line of his jaw, the feathered sable of his hair, the co coluain She would not be seeing hi was sorted now—all the truth told Noas tier spent, poison lanced, all the secrets and lies disclosed They could both now get on with their lives

She would move to Devon with Jem to help run Pycott, visit her mother and Geoff in the autumn, hopefully even ain

That would be too painful, even now Especially now

Now there was only one more secret left—one more lie of omission

That could never be told Must never be told

Because there was no point in telling It would serve no purpose None at all So she would keep silent still, the secret deep within her to the end of her days

‘So why did you sleep with me?’

His voice startled her

He was looking at her, his expression still impassive ‘You say you didn’t want an affair with me, as you termed it, and yet you did sleep with me when I met you on the island I’m curious why’

There wasn’t any feeling in his voice, but it was not e water seeping into her shoes His voice was si

She gave a half-shrug ‘I just gave in, that’s all I mean, Theo, after all, it would hardly have coiven in You’re pretty hard to resist’