‘Jordan’s a forbidden subject.’

‘Suppose I say he isn’t?’

‘Only a minute ago you told me you didn’t want to hear about anyone else.’

‘I’ll make an exception for Danvers Jordan.’

‘But I won’t,’ she said quietly.

His lips tightened with anger. ‘So it has to be on your terms, does it?’

‘You said we weren’t to talk about the past. They were your terms. I agreed to them. Do you think you can just change them when it suits you? Think again. I’m not dancing on the end of your string.’

‘All right, all right,’ he said quickly. ‘I give in. Your terms.’

She touched his cheek, smiling with rueful tenderness. ‘You don’t have to give in. That’s not what it’s all about. But let’s not spoil it.’

He took her hand and kissed the palm. ‘Anything you say.’

It was like driving at speed around a sharp corner, and only just avoiding the wall. You were left with a desperate sense of relief and a need to rediscover the road you were supposed to be taking.

‘So,’ she said, determinedly bright, ‘you were saying about cities looking the same. Didn’t you ever long for the hills of Tuscany?’

He nodded. ‘Or any greenery at all. In New York I always tell myself I’ll go to Central Park, but I’ve never been yet. Once I saw some trees as I was driving through London, and told the driver to stop the car. But then the phone rang. I was late for a meeting, so I told him to start it again.’

‘Where were you when this happened?’

He thought for a moment. ‘We’d just passed a huge round red building. I think the driver said they gave concerts there.’

‘The Albert Hall. The trees you saw were in Hyde Park. Let’s go there, then.’

‘Fine.’ He reached for the telephone.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Calling my driver.’

She placed her hand firmly over his. ‘We’re not calling your driver, or mine.’

‘Aren’t we?’

‘Nope. We’re going to go out and hunt for a taxi, and then nobody will know where we’ve gone.’

That turned it into a conspiracy, and suddenly everything was fun. They took the elevator down almost all the way, and Luca got out one floor from the last. Anyone who happened to be in the lobby saw him walk out of the hotel alone. None of them saw him turn the corner and meet up with Rebecca, who’d gone down the back stairs, left by the kitchen entrance, and was already hailing a taxi.

It was little more than a mile to Hyde Park, but the congestion had already started, and it was three-quarters of an hour before they arrived.

‘Green,’ Luca said, looking around him with joy. ‘Grass. Trees.’

He took her hand and began to walk, across the grass, and she hurried with him. It touched her that Luca, reared amidst savagely beautiful scenery, could still find pleasure in this place with its manicured lawns. It told a whole story about how cut off he’d become from his roots.

‘What’s that?’ He had stopped abruptly at the sight of a large stretch of water, snaking out of sight in both directions. ‘A river?’

‘No, it’s a long, thin lake,’ she laughed. ‘It’s called the Serpentine.’

‘And we can take a boat. I see them over there.’

‘Come on, then. I haven’t been on a boat on the Serpentine for years.’

They hired a rowing boat, big enough for her to sit facing him in a cushioned seat. Luca took the oars and began to pull on them strongly, while Rebecca leaned back, enjoying the chance to relax and simply watch him. After the turmoil of the last few days it was good to think of nothing but the beautiful day, and the pleasure of being on the water. She fixed her eyes on him and let her thoughts drift.

But this was a mistake because in a haze of drowsy contentment she found herself looking at his hands, remembering last night. He had touched her in so many ways, sometimes gently, intimately, sometimes fiercely, and she had responded ecstatically to all of them.

And the way she’d touched him back-she found it hard to recall details now. She had explored and celebrated him with reckless joy, revelling in his instant response, demanding more. She had not known herself capable of such vigorous possessiveness.

Her mind drifted back to her ex-husband, the man she thought of as ‘poor Saul’. He’d been entitled to pity because she’d had less than half a heart to give him, and almost no passion. He’d been infatuated and she’d yielded to his eagerness from hope of finding a purpose in her life.

But she had disappointed him, and in his bitterness he’d called her ‘the iceberg’. The kindest thing she had ever done for him was to leave him.

She returned from her reverie to find that Luca’s eyes were on her, and he was smiling faintly.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

‘I’m trying to behave like a gentleman, and not succeeding. The truth is that all I can think of is how badly I want to make love to you.’

The words ‘make love’ were like a signal, starting a slow-burning fuse inside her. It was only a few hours since she’d risen, satiated, from his bed, yet with just two words she’d become ready for him again. It was shameless, and slightly shocking. It was also thrilling, and deeply, searingly enjoyable.

‘You’d better start rowing back, then,’ she said. ‘Careful! Don’t upset the boat.’

They rocked violently all the way back to the shore and climbed out with such urgency that they nearly ended up in the water.

‘Where’s the nearest exit?’ he demanded.

‘Over there.’

They made it in double-quick time, but when they reached the street an obstacle met them.

‘Oh, no!’ Rebecca groaned. ‘Isn’t the morning rush over yet?’

‘Your traffic jams are as bad as Rome,’ Luca complained. ‘Nothing’s moving.’

‘It’ll take hours to get back to the Allingham,’ Rebecca said.

He gripped her hand tighter. ‘We don’t have hours,’ he said firmly. ‘Where is the nearest hotel?’

She began to laugh. ‘Luca, we can’t-’

‘Becky, I swear to you that if you don’t direct me to an hotel I shall make love to you here and now, on the grass.’

There was a note in his voice that told her he might actually mean it. There was simply no knowing what this determined man might do. It made him thrilling.

‘I’m warning you,’ he said, slipping his arms around her.

‘Stop it! Behave!’

‘Find us a hotel, then, quickly.’

‘If we cross the road and take that turning there are quite a few in that street up there.’

Crossing the road was easy, since none of the traffic was moving. They found themselves in a street of small private hotels, some of which had notices bearing the word ‘Vacancies’ in the window. Luca dashed into the first one they came to.

This was a different world from the whispering luxury of the Allingham. There was a small hall, with a cubbyhole for the receptionist, who was absent. Luca had to ring the bell twice, and the second time he did so with such force that a harassed-looking woman emerged from the rear, looking indignant.

‘I’d like a room, please,’ Luca said. ‘Immediately.’

‘It isn’t noon,’ the woman said, with a glance at the clock on the wall that showed half-past eleven.

‘Is that important?’

‘If you take possession before twelve I’m afraid I have to charge you for two days.’

‘How much is the room per night?’ Luca asked, breathing hard.

‘Seventy pounds, per person, per night. You would be requiring a double room, I take it?’

‘Yes,’ said Luca, almost beside himself. ‘We would like a double room.’

‘Then that would be a hundred and forty pounds for one night, so perhaps you would care to wait half an hour, and only pay for one night, which will be cheaper.’

‘That’s not a good idea,’ Rebecca said hastily. ‘We’ll take it now, thank you.’

‘Very well. Name?’

‘Mr and Mrs Smith,’ Rebecca said promptly.

The receptionist showed, by raised eyebrows, exactly what she thought of that.

‘I see. Well, we operate a liberal regime here, although it did seem to me that this was a foreign gentleman-’

‘He’s a foreign gentleman called Smith,’ said Rebecca, poker-faced.

‘Well, if one of you would sign here…’

Rebecca hastily seized the pen. Luca was in no mood to remember what name he was supposed to be signing.

The room, when they finally took possession of it, was basic but adequate. Luca shut the door firmly, locked it and turned to her swiftly.

But she was ahead of him, tossing her clothes aside, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Slow coach.’

He needed no further encouragement, matching her for speed, until they were both ready to fall onto the bed and claim each other with feverish intensity. No subtlety. No pretence that this was anything but frantic, exuberant lust, relished for its own sake, with no holds barred.

She wanted him inside her. She’d wanted that since he’d left her only a few hours ago, and when she had what she wanted she kept tight hold of him, arching against him insistently and looking up into his face with a smile that made him smile back.

It was she who decided that the moment had come, moving faster, and then faster.

‘Wait,’ he told her.

‘No,’ she said simply.

He tried to hold her back but his own desire was uncontrollable, and they finished triumphantly together, laughing and crowing with triumph.

When he had the strength to move, Luca sat up, and blew out his cheeks. ‘I’ve been thinking of this ever since-since I got up this morning.’

‘So have I,’ she said, relieved at being able to admit it. ‘Luca, I don’t know who I am any more. I have never been like this in all my life.’

He raised himself from his back, rolled over and looked down at her nakedness with appreciative eyes.

‘Shall I tell you who you are?’ he asked, sliding his hand over her breasts again.