Page 48 of One Forbidden Night In Paradise (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘They do good work.’ The International Marine Conservation Trust was one of many charities Monmouth Rock supported. ‘I like that it’s a joint initiative with marine archaeologists and biologists.’

They spent about an hour admiring the exhibits. Or rather Jemima did. He went back to admiring her. ‘Have you had enough?’ he said finally as they drifted slowly back through the gallery. ‘Or do you want to go to the after party?’

‘There’s an after party?’ she said, and he could see the excitement in her eyes at such a novelty.

‘Not officially, but this is New York, New York, baby. You’re in the city that never sleeps.’ He sang the words softly then spun her round, dipping her in his arms. ‘There’s always an after party.’

After the cool serenity of the museum, Le Bomb was packed and deafeningly loud so that you could feel the music move through your body. It reminded him of that first night in the Green Door, and he found himself wishing that he could reset time and start again. Instead, he pulled her against him. If they could just keep dancing then maybe the night would never end.

But it did. Finally at around three o’clock in the morning, he felt her start to flag.

‘Let’s go home,’ he whispered. As they walked through the foyer, he felt Jemima’s hand tighten around his arm. ‘What is it?’

‘There’s something wrong with that woman.’ He turned. A woman with dark hair was slumped on one of the velvet couches in the foyer. Her friends were patting her back, giggling.

Chase stepped closer. ‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s just been sick. She’ll be fine.’

‘Can she sit up?’ Jemima sidestepped past him. Squinting down at her friend uncertainly, one of the women shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘Shannon.’

‘Hey, Shannon. Can you hear me?’ He watched Jemima crouch down next to her. ‘Can you hear me?’ As the woman groaned, she turned towards him. ‘Can I borrow your jacket? And could you call an ambulance? Her breathing is wrong. I think she has alcohol poisoning.’

They waited until the ambulance arrived. On the ride back to the apartment, Jemima was quiet. Remembering how upset she’d got about the divers, he squeezed her hand. ‘She’ll be okay.’

But Jemima didn’t look okay. She looked pale and her skin looked taut around her eyes and mouth and he knew that she wasn’t just thinking about the woman. That it was something to do with whatever it was that she had been holding back.

She nodded. ‘Hopefully.’

‘Well, she’s got a better chance of being okay than if you hadn’t been there.’

Her face stilled. ‘I saw her earlier. In the bar. I should have done something then.’

‘Done what?’ He frowned. ‘Look, you noticed her, which is more than most people did, and you called the ambulance. You did everything right.’

‘You don’t know that.’ She was shaking her head.

‘I know what I saw, Jemima.’

‘I’m not talking about tonight,’ she said shakily. ‘And you don’t know what I did.’

Chase was so stunned by her words that he didn’t feel the limousine slowing in front of his apartment building.

‘Jemima?’

He reached out to touch her, wanting, needing to reassure himself as much as her. What could she have done? But she was already out of the car, walking so fast that he had to run to catch up with her.

They were standing in the lobby. As the lift doors opened, she stepped inside and flattened herself against the side as if he were dangerous. Or she were.

‘I don’t understand what’s happening here.’

It was more than that. He was sideswiped by what Jemima had said in the car, and by the sudden, violent change to the mood of the evening. She had not just withdrawn, she was in full-scale retreat, he thought, watching her eyes do a jerky circuit around the lift.

‘You don’t need to.’ He winced inside, hearing the echo of what he’d said to her on theMiranda: that their relationship was just about sex. Only it wasn’t true then, and it felt even less true now.

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