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'Are you sure nothing's broken?' Matt asked.

'Positive. But it would be a good idea to get a wooden board and place it under the mattress. This one is far too soft. What a household!' Richard Collins remarked on his way to the door. 'I don't come here from one year to another, and now I might as well take up residence!'

'Oh, Matt,' Caroline cried when she was alone with him. 'What a rotten homecoming for you! And I was so sure nothing would go wrong this time.'

'They say
more
accidents happen in the home than anywhere else, and they must have based it on mine when they came up with the statistics!' He kissed her forehead. 'You get better quickly, darling; that's all I care about.'

He went shopping soon afterwards and returned with a large board, which he placed under the mattress. Caroline dutifully remembered to give a couple of tiny yelps of pain as she was forced to move, and then sighed heavily as she allowed herself to be resettled. The bed felt like a brick, but she was prepared to suffer for a good cause!

'Will you be okay if I leave you?' he asked after he had helped her to eat a lightly boiled egg and some toast. 'I haven't been to the office for a fortnight and '

'Oh,
do go,'
she said instantly, delighted at the prospect of being alone and able to walk around unseen.

'I've arranged for a day nurse to come and look after you,' he added. 'You might be embarrassed if I offered to help you to the bathroom.'

Her cheeks coloured and she looked away from him. If he truly loved her she would never be shy with him, but knowing how he felt made a genuine intimacy impossible.

'Do go to the office, Matt,' she reiterated. 'I'll rest more easily if I'm not worrying about you being bored.'

'I'm never bored when I'm with you. Even without make-up, and unkempt as you are, you're the most lovely thing I've seen.' .

A gift that he had bought himself for ten thousand pounds, she thought, and could not stop tears of hurt and anger coursing down her face.

'Sweetheart, don't cry!' Instantly Matt was beside her, cradling her close yet careful not to move her body. 'You're feeling weepy because of the reaction. You gave yourself a hell of a knock.'

'I know.' She swallowed the lump in her, throat and forced a smile to her lips. 'I'll be better when I feel more rested.'

Taking the hint, Matt went off to the office, and once she heard his car purr away, she jumped out of bed and danced a jig. She was in mid-leap when she heard voices coming nearer, and dived for the bedcovers, just managing to pull up the sheet as a middle-aged nurse came in.

Sister Dickenson—'but do call me Dora'—was plump, garrulous, but competent, and Caroline had to keep all her wits about her to keep her fooled. It was easier to do this with Doctor Collins, for he only popped in briefly each day, but the nurse was in attendance the whole time.

'The less you move, the better,' Dora said when her charge feebly protested that she did not need a bed-pan or a bed-bath. 'I'm here to take care of you, and I don't like getting money I haven't earned!'

Slowly the days passed. Matt slept in the dressing-room at night but spent each evening with her. He could not have been kinder, and plied her with books and magazines and trifling little presents to amuse her: a toffee apple—elaborately wrapped and delivered from some restaurant that had obviously made it especially for her—such a confection being beyond Consuelo's range: a lacy bedjacket hidden inside a fur tiger: a special contraption that enabled her to project the TV screen on to the ceiling, so that she could watch it lying down.

Fresh flowers arrived for her daily, each bouquet accompanied by a note from him, to show he had chosen the flowers himself and not passed it over for his secretary to do. On the few occasions when he had to do any business entertaining at home, he always came in to see her halfway through the evening, and made sure his guests left early so that he could spend some time with her before going to bed.

All in all, he did everything and more than was expected of him, and though Caroline was furious with him for not giving her his heart, she loved him because of everything else he so generously gave.

Tom also behaved with commendable brotherly affection and popped in regularly to see how she was progressing. She did not tell him she was faking her slipped disc, having decided it-was better to be discreet than sorry.

Matt always brought her mail along with him, and among the batch of letters she was delighted to find an invitation to Jane's wedding in six weeks' time. So her friend was going to marry her father's new partner, after all.

Towards the middle of her second week in bed she received a call from Penny, with the good news that the diet drink assignment was theirs.

'I've told the agency you're not free in October, because that's when you'll be doing more work on Matt's catalogue, and they're arranging to start filming the first commercial in July.. They really couldn't be more helpful.'

'It's nice to feel needed,' said Caroline drily.

'Hey, hey!' Penny exclaimed. 'Don't start feeling sorry for yourself just because you're spending a few weeks in bed. By the way, when will you be well enough to sign the contract? It should be in my office in a few days.'

'I'll be fine by Monday. I'll come in with Tom then.'

Caroline did not feel the elation she had expected.. In a few days she would have a contract for six expensive commercials that would give her and Tom a tidy nest egg each, and enable them to return Mark the money he had given her. Perhaps that was why she felt as if the bottom were falling out of her world. Once she tore up the agreement with Mark, she could walk out on Matt. The trouble was she could not tear him out of her heart.

Tom's jubilation when he heard that they were definitely accepted for the commercials did much to alleviate her depression, and she was almost able to look forward to their filming in Venice and then Marbella in Spain.

'As soon as we've signed the contracts,' she informed her brother, 'I'll leave Matt. I'd like to give
him
back the ten thousand pounds, but I don't want to tell him that I know he was behind Mark.'

'Why not?'

'Because if he has any principle and really loves me, he'll tell me the truth himself.'

'If he hasn't done so yet. I doubt if he will.' Tom sat down on the side of her bed, careful not to make the mattress move in case it hurt her back. 'Don't cut off your nose to spite your face, Carrie. You love Matt, and now that you've ... now you've lived with him, I don't see the point in '

'But I haven't,' she interrupted.

'Haven't what?'

'Lived with him—the way
you
mean.'

Tom goggled at her, and with a wry smile she told him all that had happened since she had moved into Matt's home.

'Do you mean to tell me you never had any intention of going to bed with him?' he asked as she finished.

'Never. But I didn't know how I was going to do it. Like Topsy, the idea just growed.'

'How did you expect to carry on for three months?'

'By making sure my slipped disc stayed slipped!'

He looked at her with admiration. 'If Matt knew you'd planned it all, he'd go berserk.'

'He's already berserk,' she said.

Tom grinned. 'Climbing up the wall with passion, eh?' He began to laugh, only stopping as he saw his sister's eyes fill with tears. 'Poor Carrie! You still love him?'

She nodded. 'I'm not going to tell Matt how I fooled him. He doesn't suspect a thing and I don't want him to.'

A door slammed in the downstairs hall and Caroline looked at her watch.

'Damn! I hadn't realised it was so late. That's Matt now.'

She reached for her compact, but somebody must have moved it, so she dabbed ineffectually at her shining face and told herself she didn't care if she looked a sight.

Matt strode in and beamed at her with his usual approval, before greeting Tom.

'Staying for supper?' he enquired placidly.

' 'Fraid not,' Tom said. 'I've a date.' With a hasty goodbye, he bent down to kiss his sister. 'Be seeing you,' he whispered. 'Phone me if you need me.'

As soon as Tom had gone, Matt moved across to the bed and gave her a long look.

'The only thing nice about you having a slipped disc,' he said, 'is that I always know where to find you!'

'In bed,' she laughed. 'But all alone.'

'Don't tempt me!'

'I'm sure I'll be up at the weekend,' she said comfortingly, 'and I think you can dispense with Dora after today. I managed to make it to the bathroom on my own.'

'Good,' he replied absentmindedly, and turned to wander around the room. There was a short silence and then he brought a cheque out of his pocket.

'This is for you,' he said abruptly. 'You remember that conversation we had on the beach in France, when I asked you to live with me?' She nodded, and he continued: 'I said you'd never have to ask me for money and—well, I know you don't need any for the moment, but once you're better, I'm sure you'd like to get yourself a few bits and pieces.'

A cheque fluttered down upon the coverlet and Caroline gasped when she saw the sum for which it had been made out. This would buy a whole dress shop—not merely bits and pieces.

'It's rather a lot,' she said stiffly.

'I give Helen considerably more.'

'She's your ward.'

'You're the girl I love.'

'Love?' she echoed. 'That's the first time you've used that word to me.'

'Is it?' He looked surprised. 'Well, I do. I love you very much.'

She continued to look at him, praying for him to go on talking; to confess how he had got her to come here.

'I'm starving,' he said abruptly. 'Let's eat as soon as I've changed.'

Leaning back on the pillow after he had gone, Caroline reflected miserably on what might have been. Living in close proximity with Matt these past few weeks had shown her a new side of his character. He had become a companion, not only an intended lover. But the one flaw in his character remained; his inability to give himself completely to a woman. If only he could forget his disastrous marriage! Tentatively she referred to it later that night, as he relaxed on a chair beside the bed.

'It's terribly corrosive to be bitter about something that can never be changed,' she said.

'Meaning what?' he questioned, instantly alert.

'Your marriage.'

'I'm not bitter about that any longer. The word you want is wary.'

'Wary to the point of ridiculous caution.'

'It's never ridiculous to be cautious,' he answered. 'Which reminds me, Helen's marrying Mark in a month's time.'

Caroline absorbed the news. 'Are you pleased?' she asked.

'Why shouldn't I be?'

'Knowing how you disapprove of marriage, I'm surprised you approve of theirs.'

'I approve when both parties concerned want it,' he said laconically. 'In our case, I don't, and I never will.'

And that was that. He was so emphatic, it left her no room for doubt.

Caroline stifled a sigh. She had no option but to leave. To remain with him even one day longer than necessary put her in danger. She glanced at him, her bones melting at the sight of his lean, well co-ordinated body and firm-featured face. He was not a man one could bend, and in a way she was glad of it. He had to bend of his own accord, and if he did, she prayed she would still be the girl he wanted.

On Monday morning she got up to see him off to the office, like any dutiful wife, then returned to her room and arranged to meet Tom at Penny's office mid-morning.

It took only a short time to sign the contract and she and Tom then deposited it with her bank manager, who smiled happily when she presented him with the large advance cheque the agency had given them.

'A very handsome sum,' he commented. 'Diet drinks must sell at a high profit if they can afford this kind of payment.'

'Diet drinks and soap powder,' Tom said cheerily. 'Without them, commercial TV would collapse!'

'I'm afraid we'll be paying out most of our advance,' Caroline told the bank manager. 'We—er—borrowed some money from a friend, and want to repay it.'

'Of course. No trouble at all. This cheque will be cleared in a few days.'

Caroline wrote busily in her cheque book, tore out the narrow pink and white piece of paper and handed it to Tom.

'For Mark,' she told him. 'See he gets it at once, please.'

'A pleasure,' Tom grinned.

It was nearly lunch time when Caroline returned to Regent's Park and went up to the bedroom to pack. She glanced around the room with sadness, remembering Matt's kindness to her during her supposed confinement in bed. He had been tender and loving in a way she had not believed possible, but it was for one end—desire. He wanted her body only, but was prepared to seduce her mind, if need be, for that purpose.

As she stood among her disarranged clothes she heard footsteps on the stairs, and a moment later Matt came striding into the cluttered room, clutching an armful of brochures and leaflets. He stopped in his tracks and looked from the bed to her open cases.

'What's going on?' he asked.

'I'm packing.'

'I can see that.' His voice was calm. 'Why?'

'I'm ending our affair.'

'You can't end something that hasn't started.'

'Don't engage in semantics. You know perfectly well what I mean,' she replied coolly.

'No, I don't. Why this sudden change of heart?'

He flung down the brochures and she saw that they were travel ones.

'It looks as if you're planning to go away too,' she remarked.

'Yes.' He said no more but went on staring at her. 'I'm entitled to an explanation, Caroline. You can't just walk out on me.'

'Yes, I can.' She kept as calm as he did and was delighted by her acting ability. 'If I remember correctly, you were the one who told me that the nicest thing about our relationship was that we could part without any recriminations.'

'Now who's engaging in semantics?' he replied sarcastically, and gave her another searching glance. 'Well, I'm waiting. Are you tired of me?'

'Hardly.' She closed one case, then put her hands in her pockets to hide their trembling. 'But I've had a better offer than yours, and I've accepted it.'