Lovers.
He sighed, forcing the hope from his mind. Hope would only cloud his judgement and he couldn’t allow that. Not just now.
Sliding quietly out of bed, he padded through to the living room and found Kim’s bag. Her mobile phone was switched off as he’d requested, but he took it along with the car keys and hid them in the bottom of his case, where she wouldn’t be able to find them in a hurry, though he prayed it wouldn’t come to that.
She stirred slightly as he got back into bed, and he kissed the top of her head, inhaling the soothing smell of her hair. Then, turning off the lamp, he lay back and closed his eyes.
He would tell her in the morning.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m deeply grateful to the following people:
Brendan McCusker, whose creative writing class started it all, and Chris Wild for the conversation that ignited the idea;
Andrew Oates for his valuable procedural insight, and Sarah Prince for introducing me to him;
Sally Spedding, Linda Regan and Lesley Horton for their guidance and encouragement, and Barbara Large for the excellent Winchester Writers’ Conference where I met them all;
Julia Painter, Kate Ranger, Martyn Heasman, Helen Lynch, Angie Moysak, and Eveart Boniface for their feedback on early drafts;
Nick Day, my literary wingman, for reading and commenting every step of the way;
Caroline Johnson, my copy editor, who hid a multitude of my literary sins;
Eve White, my agent, for finding me a wonderful home at Hodder & Stoughton;
and my editor Francesca Best, who’s more observant than the finest TV detective, and who helped make the story so much better.
Eye Contact Page 29
