'But you don't normally wear the ring.'

'How do you know?'

He shrugged. 'I noticed that the tan on that hand was unbroken. Did you forget to put it on?'

'Yes. Will you please drop the subject!'

'Why?' he said lazily. 'Surely you can tell me if he's dead or alive or has merely divorced you?'

'All right, we're divorced.'

'Why?'

Davina stared down at her wedding-ring, her expression frozen then she raised her remarkable violet eyes and was not to know how bitter and sombre they were as she said, 'If you really want to know, he thought I was a frigid bitch-among other things.' She sat forward and put her unfinished drink on the table. 'I'll go now. I would hate to impose on you any further, so if you could call me a taxi, I'd be grateful.'

S. Warwick considered her for a moment before he said, 'Unfortunately, Mrs Hastings, I am unable to do that.'

'Why not? Look here.' Davina's voice rose a little shakily. 'I-'

'Only because there are no taxis on the island,' he said.

CHAPTER TWO

'Oh for heaven's sake!'

Davina rose and stared at him with acute frustration.

He shrugged and looked amused. 'It's a very small island, Mrs Hastings. Barely seven miles long and two miles wide and most of it is uninhabited. The permanent population is roughly three hundred souls and there are six hundred bicycles-the much preferred form of transport for the, as I mentioned before, four hundred tourists the place can handle. I myself have four bicycles-'

'Well if you're about to lend me a bicycle I must decline,' Davina said tartly. 'You-'

'You've never ridden a bike?'

'Of course I have! I simply do not propose to do so now, in the dark, with my luggage.'