So justice had prevailed when his temper had cooled. Lee put her car in for repair, hired another and tried to feel satisfied. But it was hard when a promising opponent had caved in without a proper fight.

She was also troubled by the feeling that his name was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it and at last she gave up trying. She had a mountain of work to get through and little time to think of anything else. Meredith Studios was a big name in fashion photography but it wasn't yet at the very top, and nothing less than the very top would do.

It wasn't only ambition that hounded her, but also the responsibility of being the breadwinner in her family. It had been that way for eight years now, ever since she'd finally accepted that her husband, Jimmy Meredith, was, to put it mildly, unreliable. From the day she'd earned her first fee as a photographer to the day Jimmy had left her she'd supported him. After their divorce he'd married a woman of independent means, with whom he now lived an apparently contented life.

Lee had been temporarily alone as it was the Easter holiday and her daughter, Sonya, was spending the time with Jimmy. Lee's eighteen-year-old brother, Mark, who'd lived with her since their parents had died two years earlier, was on a hiking holiday. But three days before the start of term they both returned. Lee and Mark had inherited the same face from their mother, making Mark appear baby-faced and absurdly young. He was a brilliant natural linguist, headed for first-class honours according to his university professors. Lee, who'd left school early, only semi-educated, was full of admiration for her younger brother. But the admiration extended only to his academic talents. Of his common sense-what there was of it-she had the poorest opinion.