Yanking off a red patent stiletto, Allie hurled it at Greg’s head. It missed and went skittering along the wooden floor.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ she squealed. She waved a hand down herself. ‘I put all this on and you’re not remotely interested? Am I that ugly?’

‘You’re being ridiculous,’ he said, picking up the shoe and handing it to her. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I just got back from a long business trip and I’m exhausted.’

‘You got back yesterday and you haven’t seen me for seven weeks. Any other man would be horny as hell if he hadn’t seen his wife for seven weeks!’

‘I’ve got a limited time at home and I’ve got a lot to think about before I head back to Germany. It’s not my fault I’m busy. Besides, I don’t let my penis rule my brain like other men.’

‘It’s called love,’ Allie cried. ‘It’s not about your penis or your stupid brain; it’s about finding your wife attractive because you love her. Don’t you love me?’

‘You’re being ridiculous.’

‘And you’re avoiding the question. Do you love me?’

‘I could ask you the same thing.’

‘I’m not talking about me… Stop twisting this all the time so the blame ends with me! Do you love me?’

‘I’m not going to answer a question like that while you’re being so irrational.’

Allie squealed. ‘Answer me!’

‘I’m not going to get drawn into this argument again.’

‘Because you don’t love me. Just admit it and I’ll stop asking!’

He took her by the arm and moved her from his path. ‘I don’t have time for this.’

‘You don’t have time? You’re supposed to be on holiday. Surely that law company you work for wouldn’t begrudge you a few days off? They already own your soul for the rest of the year, what could they possibly gain by making you work over your vacation too?’

‘They don’t make me work… I choose to work because I can’t afford to let things slip.’

‘But you let your family slip. How much has Josh seen of you since you got home? And me… I feel as if I have a stranger in the house. It’s bad enough that you’re away for weeks at a time but when you’re home you might as well not be.’

Allie’s lip quivered, her throat tightening. But she wouldn’t cry. Not now, not when the tears she’d already shed over the previous months had done nothing to soften Greg towards her. If anything they’d had the opposite effect.

‘You like this house?’ he said. ‘You like your car? The dresses and the shoes and the horse riding? I have to work to pay for all that.’

‘I’d rather have you. I didn’t marry you for those things.’

‘Really? Because that’s not what people in this village say. They say those things are exactly why you married me; after all, why would beautiful Allie Wicklow have married a man ten years older than her with a face like a spade with a dent in it if it wasn’t for money?’

‘Why are you saying that?’ Allie was wide-eyed, the tears she was fighting so hard now squeezing her throat tighter still. ‘I was crazy about you; you were everything I’d ever wanted.’

‘I’m not saying that… It’s what others say. It’s what they’ve said since the start, and you can save your tears and your protestations because I know it’s all true.’ He turned at the doorway and fixed her with an icy stare. ‘And that’s not all they say about you, is it?’

Allie yanked off her other shoe and threw it at the doorway as he left. Collapsing to the floor, she gave in to her tears. Even if Josh woke now, she wouldn’t be able to stop. Nor would she be able to explain it. She’d made a stupid mistake, and she could have argued that it was Greg’s fault anyway – she always felt so desperately lonely when he was away, and he wasn’t much better company when he was home. But since the village gossipmongers had dropped her in it, and Greg had discovered her stupid one-night stand, he hadn’t let her forget it. More than a year, and even though he’d promised he’d forgive her, that it wouldn’t split them, he brought it up every time he came home. And as for intimacy? He barely looked at her now.

When they’d first married, everyone had told her the age gap would be an issue, but she hadn’t thought so, and more to the point she hadn’t cared. Perhaps she’d been too young and too immature to cope with the sort of marriage that being with Greg would bring – one where his career would always come first – but she hadn’t cared about that either. Her mother had told her as much, and even on the eve of the wedding had offered a get-out clause, an escape, a no-questions-asked invite to go back to her childhood home. But Allie had been in love and, more than that, she’d been cursed with the stubborn arrogance of youth. She’d been adamant that she knew what she was doing, that life without Greg for months at a time was no problem as long as she had him there sometimes.

It hadn’t been like that in the end. She’d moved to the village that he’d grown up in but a place where she herself knew nobody, and she’d felt more isolated every time he’d gone away to work. When Josh was born she’d struggled, mostly alone, the baby she’d hoped would temper the loneliness only exaggerating it. Greg had asked her to move to Germany permanently with him so they’d be close to his base for work but she’d been too scared and she’d pretended she was fine in Cerne Hay, but it had been a lie. The years had rolled by like this. And then there was that one fatal night when Josh had been staying with his grandparents and she’d gone out to the pub down the road. She’d drunk too much, the alcohol magnifying her loneliness, and the one friendly shoulder she’d found to cry on had been in her bed before she’d even realised it was happening.

But she wanted to forget all that now and leave it behind her – she wanted Greg’s forgiveness and for them to move on together as a couple. She had tried to make Greg understand why she’d done it, but he’d refused to acknowledge the issue aside from adopting a granite-hard resolve to make sure she was never forgiven, no matter what he said to the contrary.

It might have been easier had he yelled and threatened, but he had done none of those things. Instead, he had simply distanced himself even further from his wife and the rest of the village and he had shot down the gossip before it got out of hand. She hadn’t loved the guy who’d ended up in her bed – hell, she barely even liked him – yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was the feeling of closeness to a man – skin to skin – that a fleeting night with him had given her, and it was just that which filled her head. It was all she wanted, and it was much more than Greg was willing to give her these days. Why couldn’t she get her happy ending? What had she done so wrong that she didn’t deserve it?

Her head flicked up as her worst fears were realised; Josh was standing in the doorway in his pyjamas with a look of pure confusion and distress.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

Allie dragged a hand across her eyes and tried to swallow her sobs. ‘I’m OK… Go back to bed now, you’ll be tired in the morning.’

After a moment’s pause, he shuffled over and wrapped his arms around her.

‘Sorry…’

She pulled back to look at him. ‘My gorgeous boy, what do you have to be sorry about?’

He shrugged. ‘I was naughty?’

Allie’s eyes filled with fresh tears. ‘God, no… you would never do this to me no matter how naughty you are! I’m upset about a grownup thing, but now you’ve given me your lovely hug, I feel much better.’ She forced a smile. ‘Now, you go up to bed and don’t worry about me.’

They looked up to see Greg in the doorway. ‘Come on, Josh, I’ll tuck you in.’

As he led their son away, he threw an accusing look at Allie that implied this was all her fault. Perhaps it was.