‘Don’t be stupid, Alex! I know it’s hard, but try not to be laughably, moronically stupid. If that’s what I wanted I wouldn’t be warning you now, would I?’

‘No,’ he said hastily. ‘Sorry. I didn’t-I just fly off the handle sometimes. I don’t mean to. I shouldn’t have said it.’

‘It doesn’t matter. It’s the children who matter. Just try to see Bobby as he is, and not as “Alex Mead’s son.” How I’ve come to hate “Alex Mead’s son”!’

‘What the devil do you mean by that?’

‘He’s a character who’s hung around our home ever since Bobby was born. He has plenty of “boy’s interests.” He likes the “manly” sports and anything that involves getting dirty. He’s got no time for art or music or thinking, and he’s the opposite to Bobby.

‘That boy has spent his life so far pretending to care for things that bore him rigid because that was the only way to get your attention. He knew ages ago that he didn’t fit the picture of your ideal son. In fact, the only person I know who does fit it is Mitzi.’

He was silent, too shocked to speak.

At last she got up and brought him another brandy.

‘Thanks. I need it.’

When he’d revived his courage a little he managed to ask, ‘If I’m so hateful why does he bother to pretend?’

‘Because he adores you,’ Corinne said. ‘He worships you. He’d go through fire and water for you. Haven’t you got that through your thick skull yet?’

She broke off and gave a sigh of frustration. ‘We’re quarrelling again.’

‘Yeah, well-’ He shrugged, sharing her frustration.

He was saved from needing to say any more by the sound of his cellphone coming from the hall. He answered it with relief.

It was Mark Dunsford, his assistant, as zealous about business as he was himself. Mark was jealous of Kath, who had been with Alex longer and had his total trust. He tried to compensate by giving himself to the job, body and soul, twenty-four hours a day, and making sure that his employer knew it.