‘I wouldn’t go.’
He shook his head. ‘Silly. But thank you. And now I really have to make that call. Would you mind …?’
I left the room, wishing I could stay and listen in to Jasper’s hotline to royalty. I tried to cast my mind back and recall if I’d ever read something about him and Ava Rose seeing each other, but nothing sprang to mind. Surely it would have been in all the magazines. He was pretty popular in that hospital soap, and she was the hot TV presenter of the day. It must have been a purely sexual arrangement.
It won’t last. It never does.
I sat on the stairs, then thought better of it and stood up, contemplating the dark wood panelling that stretched above me and on all sides, making a mental inventory of all the pictures and objets in the hall. There were loads, and I was still only halfway through when Jasper opened the living room door. He looked pale and a bit sweaty.
‘That’s done,’ he said ominously. ‘And at least there are better lawyers than mine on the case now. Let’s go to bed.’
‘Bed?’ I stood up, confused. ‘It’s five o’clock in the afternoon.’
‘The phone’s going to ring like fury from now until tomorrow morning. We might as well grab what rest we can while it’s quiet.’
Still exhausted from the open air activity, we lay in each other’s arms, waiting. The waiting kept us awake, so we talked.
He told me all about his brief affair with Ava. They had bonded at some TV awards and quickly – accidentally – recognised their mutual interest in BDSM. They had made a pact to meet in secret and play scenes once a month. Jasper had promised to destroy the one film he had made, but somehow had never been able to bring himself to. The affair had ended when Ava met the Saxenlandish Prince.
‘I should have burnt it there and then,’ he groaned. ‘I was a fool.’
‘You weren’t to know that Will was going to snoop around your private belongings,’ I said.
‘I should have been prepared for it. People pry; it’s part of human nature. I was so careful with that cupboard. I kept it locked.’
‘I think he must have some kind of master key.’
‘I made him hand them all over when he left.’
‘Well, he obviously had an extra one, or how would he have been able to keep breaking in whenever he fancied?’
Jasper turned to me with one eye open and I went cold all over, realising my mistake.
‘Whenever he fancied? He was in here more than once?’
‘Maybe,’ I mumbled. ‘Oh God. I’m sorry. I should have told you.’
‘Told me what?’ He had sat up straight now and his expression frightened me.
‘I saw him once before. That day we had the picnic by the lake.’
‘You didn’t tell me.’
‘I … I just didn’t want to … make trouble.’
‘Make trouble? What the fuck do you think this is? What did he do? What did he say?’
‘He just made vague threats. Said he was going to get even and all that kind of thing. I thought he was just blowing off steam.’
‘Well, you thought wrong, didn’t you? Jesus Christ, Sarah.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I pleaded.
His cold fury had the better of him.
‘Get out of here,’ he said. ‘I don’t want you here. Go on.’
‘I don’t want to leave you –’