The second reason was that Peter would have been made to pay for the mayhem he and the other directors had brought to Sarah's old company. Revenge would be sweet.

But for some reason, it hadn't worked. As she opened the telephone booth door, she heard a representative of the government intoning his philosophy: "If it's not hurting it's not working".

"Bastards", she thought. "What do they know about the real consequences of their high interest rates?" The words echoed and re-echoed harshly in her mind as she made her way back up to Peter.

By now she had been expecting to be able to make her excuses for the rest of the stay here in Somerset - mother or children ill was her favoured choice.



Her overnight visit to the inn with Peter was the culmination of weeks of careful if reluctant planning. After quizzing David about the lunchtime eating habits of his colleagues, she had engineered her 'chance' meeting with Peter in the park.

Deliberately, she had nurtured their friendship through every stage, leading him on as fast as she could to the stage where she could hint that she wanted more from him than just friendship. The day by day difficulty of keeping her real identity hidden from his probing questions. All that work. How could it have gone wrong?

She felt dizzy. David's promotion would have been enough to save the family home from the Bank's threat of imminent repossession. Now all that unpleasantness was still hanging over them.

In addition, she had been unfaithful. She had never intended that. Her plan had been to get Peter to link her computer with its viruses to his mainframe in the early evening and then, as soon as the viruses were transmitted, say she had changed her mind about the weekend. There would have been time to continue her journey to her mothers. If only the message had been delivered on time…

David would never have known what she had done to get his promotion. Hard working and diligent, he would have made a success of his new job.

She found it impossible to believe it had all been for nothing. Thoughts of the events of the previous night crowded into her mind in a desperate jumble. She shivered miserably at the memory although the corridor was warm with beams of light slanting through the small panes.

Hesitating outside their door of their room, she squared her shoulders telling herself to be positive. Perhaps the viruses needed more time to work. She had to clutch at any solution. Perhaps, if she could get him somehow to call up his computer again, the viruses may be transmitted the second time round. All might not yet be lost. Anything was better than her family losing everything they had worked for over half a lifetime.

With the flower patterned curtains drawn back, their bedroom was bright and sunny. As she shut the door behind her, she smelt polish from the early morning cleaning and flowers from the garden outside.

Clad only in an unbuttoned shirt and nothing else, Peter sat legs akimbo on a wide fitted seat that ran round the bay window. He had his heavy reading glasses on. His fingers idly combed through the thick hairs on his chest and his eyes glinted in concentration as he got to grips with the local entertainment guide.

"Like a great ape", Sarah thought. "Completely at home in his nakedness". He seemed so different from the formal man she had first met on the park bench.

"He's so thorough too", thought Sarah. "Everything well researched, analysed so boring. And judging from that stomach - far too many rich meals". He looked up at her quizzically.

"Found out what you wanted to know?" The question wasn't phrased exactly as she would have expected for a courtesy call to check on family. The thought flashed across her mind. "Does he know?" She changed the subject.