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‘Nonsense,’ he denied stoutly, ‘It’s all good protein.’  And, since his ideas ab
out dietary health were rather vague, he quickly added, ‘Besides, with my active lifestyle I burn it all off.’

Kate would not even deign to answer this nonsense.  Besides, in spite of the turn her day had taken she had other things on her mind.  There was a very simple remedy for stress and uncertainty, and she knew just what she needed.  And it was a lot less fattening than pies and chocolate.  After making very sure that all the curtains were
very
tightly closed she threw off those awful, borrowed clothes and walked into the bedroom wearing little more than a smile.  She glanced back at him from under lowered eyelids and said demurely, ‘Well, my lifestyle isn’t half active enough.  Come and help me burn some off the calories off
before
we eat.’

As ever, Peter was not slow to respond.  In fact he was gratifyingly eager, which gave her ego a not unwelcome boost too.
  After the lovemaking, which was warm and familiar and precisely what Kate needed just then, she had the unaccustomed luxury of taking a bubble-bath while someone else cooked dinner for her.  A bath that restored her enough to make her put the phone on the hook before eating, albeit without much enthusiasm.  In the end she could only eat about a quarter of the massive portion of steak and mashed potato he finally dished up in front of her -and even that felt like it was adding at least half a stone to her weight- but being waited on was still a rare treat.  Although he did insist on her doing the washing up.  Cooking, it seemed, was acceptable male work in his mind; washing-up clearly was not.

To make up for this chauvinism he lit a fire, and with the minimal housework completed it was another unexpec
ted pleasure to curl up with him in front of a real fire.  At length, though, he broke the blessed peace by saying, ‘This is what we’ve both been missing out on all these months, you know.’

She quickly raised a slender hand to his lips and said softly, ‘I thought you didn’t want to talk about us at all?  Let’s just sit here for a while and enjoy it.  It won’t be for long, I’m afraid.  I have to write up my case notes and I want to listen to the tapes of my sessions with Grainne Riordan
again.  And I have to ring the hospital to find out how Sean’s progressing.  So let’s just sit and enjoy an hour of peace and quiet, okay?’

And she did not add,
And please don’t bug me about the future!

He did n
ot.  In fact he subsided into silence, and soon the situation was pretty much idyllic, which was why Kate was not in the least surprised when the stillness was shattered by the ringing of the phone.  She resignedly got to her feet, praying it was not more reporters, and answered it with a guarded, ‘Hello?’

A low, husky voice whispered, ‘You
got away lightly the other night, bitch!  If you don’t run back to England you’re going to
die
!’

The receiver clicked and he was gone, leaving Kate standing there with the phone in her hand and a blank, shocked expression on her face.

Peter got to his feet, a concerned look on his face as he saw her pale, aghast expression.  And he demanded, ‘What’s the matter?  Who was that?’

Kate told him
what the man had said, and his expression became savage, ‘This is getting ridiculous!  Someone has got to put a stop to this!’  He put the phone to his ear as if not quite believing that the caller was actually gone.  ‘Did you recognise the voice?’

Kate shook her head in numb, confused misery, ‘It was
disguised.’  She paused, ‘Mind you, there was something about it…’  She shook her head tearfully, ‘I don’t know, I just don’t know!’

Peter
put his arms around her, and she leaned back against his broad chest.  He kissed her cheek gently, ‘You’ll have to tell the police, get them to record any future calls.  Perhaps they could put a trace on the line or something.’

Kate nodded, and clicked down the bar on the phone before taking the receiver from his hand.  She dia
lled the operator and asked to be put through to Detective Headquarters in the Phoenix Park.  Mullins had gone home long before but she left a message on his machine detailing the call she had just received.  She also mentioned that the file Morrison had intended to collect from her was waiting for him at the porter’s desk in Trinity.  She replaced the receiver, and jumped when it rang again immediately, with her hand still on it.  She turned and looked at Peter with a scared expression on her face that made her look like a lost child, and he put a hand on her shoulder and said grimly, ‘I’ll deal with this.’

Kate’s expression firmed up as she returned from wherever she had momentarily retreated, and she shook her head, ‘I’m a big girl now, Pete
; I can handle it.’  He frowned at her in concern but she turned him away with a gentle touch to his cheek before picking up the phone and snapping, ‘Yes?’

‘Kate?’  It was Michael Riordan, ‘Hi, how are you?’  He paused
, and when she made no immediate response added, ‘Is something wrong?’

Kate shook her h
ead, still feeling shell-shocked.  Unconsciously she turned her back on Peter and moved away from him, ‘No, Michael, I’m fine, it’s just been one hell of a day.’

‘Well, let me help you forget your worries.  How about
dinner tonight at the best restaurant in Dublin?’

‘I don’t think so
.  I’ve already eaten, thanks.’  Another time she might have laughed aloud; that had to be the understatement of the year.  Except she didn’t feel much like laughing right now.

There was a silence, then, ‘Do I take it then that I’m not forgiven?’

‘What?  Oh.  No, it’s nothing to do with that.  To be honest, so much has happened in the last few days that I’d almost forgotten about that.’

‘So what is it then?  I don’t like pursuing people or appearing pushy but I really thought we could have something good together.’

Kate sighed, ‘It isn’t that simple.  Life never is.  Not mine, anyway, and especially not at the moment.  I like you, Michael, but I don’t want a relationship with you.  Besides, the truth is that my ex-boyfriend is here with me right now.  He’s over from England and he’s staying with me for a few days, perhaps until the bastard who attacked me is caught.’

‘I see,’ he said softly, ‘So I’m surplus to requirements now that he’s back on the scene, is that it?’

‘Don’t be childish, Michael,’ she said tiredly, ‘it doesn’t suit you.  It isn’t like that at all.  Peter and I have a long history together, and he’s always been there when I’ve needed him.  Like now.’

‘You’re back together
?’

‘No.  Well, I don’t know.’  And then, acutely conscious of Peter standing behind her and speaking more to h
im than to Michael, she added, ‘Probably not.  This might just be a last hurrah.  But even if we split up again there seem to be things still unresolved between us that need to be worked out before either of us can get on with our lives.’

There was a long silence and Kate held her breath; had she hurt him?  Peter, that was; an ego like Michael’s was more than capable of withstanding a rejection, and
she wasn’t interested in his reaction.  It was the silently listening Peter that mattered.  However, causing even minor pain, to anyone, was not exactly a thrill for her so to mollify Michael she added, ‘There is some good news though, about Grainne.  She had another episode today that I think suggests she’s starting to engage more with reality.  In fact, I think she’s ready to start responding to therapy, and with luck really could be well again someday.  Perhaps in as little as a year.  I really am that hopeful.’  She was perhaps exaggerating a little but it was in a good cause and seemed to have the desired effect.

‘That’s the best news I’ve heard in a very long time,’ he said quietly, ‘Do you really think she could be well again in a year?  I could have my little girl back?’

‘Well, maybe I’m being over-sanguine but it’s
possible
,’ said Kate with a brightness she didn’t feel, conscious as she was of Peter’s still presence behind her, and the eyes she could
feel
boring into her back, ‘I think she’s almost ready to start talking, to let out long repressed memories.  And that’s a large part of the battle.  Talking about old traumas is a bit like lancing a boil; it lets the poison out and allows healing to begin.’

‘Thank you.  You’ve no idea how much this means to me,’ said Michael in the same quiet tone, ‘But listen, I’d better let you go.  You have company and I have things to do.’

Like finding a new dinner- and bed-mate for the evening? 
It wouldn’t have surprised her, but having just turned him down in favour of another man she couldn’t really complain if that’s what he had in mind.

‘Me too.  Okay, I’ll talk to you soon.’

Peter had taken a step back and now Kate put down the phone and slowly turned to face him, hardly able to meet his eyes.  He was looking at her calmly and now raised his eyebrows and said, ‘Well?’

‘Michael Riordan,’ explained Kate nervously, ‘My patient’s father.’

‘So I gathered.  Do I also take it that the newspaper stories weren’t lying.  That you
have
been seeing him?  Sleeping with him?’

Kate took a very deep breath, ‘We had dinner together a couple of times.  And... Well, I’m sorry but there’s no easy way to say this.  We... yes, we slept together.  Once.’

Peter’s face was an unyielding mask, giving nothing away, ‘I see.  When?’

Kate shrugged, ‘A few days ago
.’

Peter was silent for several moments and then said, ‘Everyone’s heard of Michael Riordan, Ireland’s answer to Superman, the man who’s going to save us all and lead us out of recession.  Not that he’s achieved much in
that line yet.  I read in the papers about his meteoric rise to political power, and how no one can explain it, but I guess he’s just a quick worker.  In every department.’

Kate felt a flash of resentment but bit back the angry retort that rose to her
lips when she saw the pain in his eyes.  For all his size and strength, for all his physical toughness, she had hurt him in a way no one else could. But in spite of her guilt there was still an edge to her voice as she said, ‘We were finished, you know.  Living in different countries, in fact.  Both of us were free to do whatever we wanted, with anyone we chose.’

‘I know,’ he said simply, ‘I’m not criticising
you, or complaining.  You were and are free to do whatever you please.  But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.’

There was no answer to that, not a single thi
ng she could think of to reply.  After a long pause she finally said, ‘I am sorry.  You know I didn’t intend to hurt you.  I didn’t even know you were coming back to Ireland, much less that…that anything would happen between us again.’

He held up a hand to stop her and subsided tiredly onto the sofa, ‘I know, I know.  I know how the rest of the story goes.  You’ve nothing to be sorry for, right?  Like you said, we were finished.  Maybe we should have stayed finished.  But anything you did while we were apart is your business, and
has nothing to do with me.  And vice versa.’

That reminded Kate uncomfortably of the episode with Rachel, and how she had felt just on seeing them walking down the street together, and another wave of guilt shook her.  Neither of them spoke for some time, then Kate said, ‘Perhaps you should just go.’

He shot her an angry look, ‘With a maniac attacking you at work and ringing you up at home to threaten you?  Are you kidding me?  I’ll be sticking as close to you as ever, at least for tonight.  Maybe tomorrow you can arrange to stay somewhere else, or have someone else stay here.  But for tonight at least I’ll be staying here.  On the couch.’

Kate sighed, not far from tears;
why did her personal life always have to go to shit?  Especially when they had just been so happy?  But although she had avoided the truth she couldn’t have lied to him; that would have been just begging for worse trouble in the future.

‘I don’t even know why I did it,’ she said softly, ‘And now I’m so sorry I did.  If I could take it back I would.  But I can’t.  Anyone can make a mistake, you know.’

‘If it
was
a mistake,’ he said heavily, not looking at her but staring into the fire instead, ‘Perhaps
this
is the mistake.  Maybe you’d be better off with this Riordan fellow.  Certainly he can offer you far more in the way of wealth and position than I ever could.   But you could have told me before we...got back together.  You
should
have told me.  After all, you said that the
Sunday News
article was all lies!’

‘Yes,
’ she said simply, ‘I know.  That story
was
all lies; nothing happened that night.  Or since.  It happened before that.  But I should have told you about it.’  And in truth she didn’t know why she
hadn’t
told him earlier.  She had told herself it was because she hadn’t wanted to ruin that perfect night they had, but was that the truth?  And if so, why had she spoken like that to Michael now,
knowing
that Peter could hear every word?  Surely she hadn’t
wanted
to drive him away again?  Was she that screwed up, that self-destructive?