Andrew’s voice, when he answered, was revealing. It had a subdued exasperation that told her he’d been expecting this.

‘I’ve got a situation here that I can’t walk away from,’ she pleaded.

‘Another one?’

‘Darling, that’s not fair,’ she said, and sensed Justin looking quickly at her. ‘I didn’t ask for this to happen-’

‘You never do. Things just happen to you. Evie, did it ever occur to you that your life is too crowded? Maybe you need to junk a few things, starting with me.’

‘You mean break up?’ she asked, aghast.

‘Isn’t that where we’re heading?’

‘No, no,’ she said frantically. ‘I don’t want to do that. Please, Andrew, it’s too important to decide like this-’

‘Sure, let’s put it off for a while so that you can keep me dangling at your pleasure.’

‘Is that really what I do?’ she asked penitently.

‘I can’t believe that you really don’t see it. C’mon, Evie, be brave. Say you don’t care about me-’

‘But I do care about you. It’s just that tonight-please be patient. I’ll call you again tomorrow, and maybe we can fix something-’

‘Yes, sure we will. Anything you say.’ The line clicked.

‘Andrew-Andrew?’

She stared at the phone, trying to understand that dear, gentle Andrew had hung up on her.

‘Did he give you a hard time?’ Justin Dane asked.

‘I can hardly blame him,’ she said edgily. ‘Wouldn’t you be annoyed?’

‘Probably. You sound as though you’re leading him a merry dance.’

‘You’d have hung up long ago,’ she said.

But he surprised her by giving her an odd look and saying, ‘Maybe not.’

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she had no time to brood on her own problems now. Only Mark mattered. She couldn’t forget how he’d brightened at the sight of her, or how quickly he’d said she was hungry, an excuse to keep her here.

‘All right,’ Justin resumed in a businesslike tone. ‘You’re entitled to an explanation, so I’ll make things clear.’