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He frowned unhappily and tugged my
limp hand to his lips, sucking my fingers, one by one.

“I need you, Caro. Let me come to your room tonight, please, baby.”

“You can’t: I’m sharing with Liz.”

“Get rid of her!” he whispered, persuasively into my ear.

Suddenly someone rattled the door handle, and I could hear men’s voices outside.

“Fuck it,” he hissed, tucking himself in quickly.

“My panties,” I said, feeling panicky.

Sebastian grinned at me
, and searched around until he found them hanging disconsolately from a handle on the desk drawer.

“I think these are yours, ma
’am.”

“Thank you,” I said, hurriedly pulling them on
and straightening my skirt.

The door handle rattled again, and I held my breath, but the voices receded
into the distance, arguing with each other.

Sebastian
helped me up, and listened intently at the door. He hesitated, glancing back at me, then opened it cautiously.

“You
’re good,” he said, quietly, his eyes searching the corridor in both directions.

I raised an eyebrow. “You
’re not so bad yourself, Chief.”

He grinned wickedly. “Later?”

But then we heard more voices coming towards us; I smiled once, and hurried away.

He let me go first, and I
made my way into the reception area, where people who’d been invited to the dinner were circulating.

I was concentrating on calming my breathing when I heard someone
say my name.

“
Hello, Caroline.”

I
recognized that voice. And only one person called me ‘Caroline’.

A
cold shiver ran down my spine, and I turned slowly.

My ex-husband stood in front of me, a stiff smile on his face. He looked handsome
, in a silver fox sort of way.

“Hello, David,
” I said warily, as feelings of dislike and distrust swept over me.

“I heard you were here tonight: the famous war correspondent
‘Lee Venzi’, as you’re known now.”

I listened out for the sarcasm in his words, but I wasn
’t certain I could hear any. How odd.

“I see you
’ve been promoted, Captain Wilson,” I replied, keeping my voice neutral. “Congratulations, David.”

He looked
pleased and surprised. “Thank you.”

Meeting one
’s ex-husband was never going to be a Kodak moment, but this was perhaps more than usually awkward, bearing in mind my cheeks were still flushed from screwing Sebastian in an office about 40 yards away.

But David
’s next comment took me by complete surprise.

“I
’ve enjoyed reading your articles, Caroline. They show great insight into all this.”

He gestured around him to indicate all things military. Compliments from David were rare.
Very rare.

“Thank you very much
,” I said, as my eyebrows rose up to my hairline. “I’m… flattered.”

I thought David was going to say something else, but
what he saw over my shoulder made him lose his composure, and a familiar expression of haughty disdain transformed his features.

“I see you
’re still with him,” he said coldly.

I knew immediately who he was talking about
, of course.

“I m
ust say I’m surprised, Caroline.”

I felt
the heat of Sebastian’s furious glare as he came storming over.

Military protocol demanded that he salute a superior office
r, even one from another service, and David was Navy, not the Marine Corps. Instead, Sebastian shoved his hands in his pockets, with deliberate insolence.

David frowned, but
just when I was sure he would insist on his dues, he simply ignored Sebastian and looked back at me.

“
Good to see you, Caroline. You look lovely tonight. I hope you enjoy the evening.”

And he strolled away, greeting a few people as he moved through the room.

“What the fuck were you doing talking to that asshole?” snarled Sebastian.

“What are
you
doing making it so damned obvious that you care?” I shot back, angrily.

“Why aren
’t you wearing your ring?” he said, sounding hurt.

I guess he
’d been too busy fucking me over a desk to notice before.

“
I am wearing it – just not where anyone can see it. But right now I am so furious with you: all you’ve done is make it absolutely necessary for me to go to my ex-husband and beg him not to tell anyone about us. Have you any idea how that makes me feel, Sebastian? Do you? Because he’s the last person I’d want to ask a favor from.”

“I
’ll handle him,” said Sebastian, arrogantly. “I’ll…”

“You
’ll do nothing,” I hissed. “Absolutely nothing, do you hear me? Now leave me alone: you’ve already attracted enough attention tonight.”

I walked away,
leaving him standing, his expression wounded, angry and defiant.

I forced
myself to smile politely as I moved through the crowd, but inside I was fuming: Sebastian wasn’t particularly risking his own career, but he was damn well risking mine – again. Who the hell did he think he was?

I
made myself concentrate: I was here to meet the unit commander that I’d be embedded with, a Captain Ryan Grant. In all likelihood he’d resent having a journalist assigned to him; as far as he’d be concerned, having some hack looking over his shoulder when he was trying to do his job, was nothing more than an irritating, additional worry. I just hoped he’d behave with polite tolerance rather than make my position more difficult. At least I knew that someone senior to him had made the decision to give me access, which meant I shouldn’t have a problem with open hostility. I hoped.

I
’d been informed that I’d be seated next to him at dinner: I could wait until then for introductions.

First, thanks to Sebastian
’s ridiculous territorial display, I had to go and grovel to David. I hated the fact that he’d handed David the power to ruin my career with a few, quiet words in the right ear.

My former husband
was standing talking to an Army Major when I walked up.

“Hello, again,” I said, blandly.

He blinked, looking surprised, then politely introduced me. I was taken aback when he used my professional name: that was decent of him.

We chatted casually for a few minutes, before
the Major was claimed by a colleague and moved away.

“David,
” I said, taking a deep breath, “I won’t insult your intelligence: I’m here to ask you not to reveal what you know about me and Chief Hunter.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“It was certainly a surprise, Caroline, but no; of course I wouldn’t dream of saying anything that could hurt your career.”

I was
shocked he was being so magnanimous; I’d expected that he’d take the chance to belittle me. He’d been an expert at it while we were married.

“Thank you, David. That
’s very good of you.”

“I would suggest,
however,” he said, calmly, “that you advise him to act with more circumspection.”

“Yes. I
’ve already mentioned it,” I said, a little bitterly.

He
gave a thin smile.

“He seems just as hot
headed as ever.”

Yes, you could say that.

“You were taking a great risk, continuing your relationship,” he couldn’t help adding. “But despite what you may think of me, Caroline, I have never wished you ill.”

I
met his eyes, but saw only sincere concern.

“Thank you for that,” I said, with more warmth than I thought I
’d ever feel for him. “I will try to minimize any more… risk.”

He cocked his head to one sid
e, and looked at me quizzically.

“I meant it was a risk to continue seeing each other when he was…well,
younger.”

I stared at him, finally realizing what he was alluding to.

“David, that’s not it. I haven’t seen Sebastian for ten years. We met again by accident, eleven days ago in Geneva.”

He looked dumbstruck. “But I thought… The way he
behaved just now… Well, I see I was mistaken.”

At which point an announcement was made in English, French and
Pashto to call us in to dinner.

“I do wish you well, Caroline,” he said, briskly. “And I meant what I said: you look lovely tonight.”

He smiled briefly, and then offered his arm to escort me in to dinner.

I accepted,
baffled by his pleasantness and consideration.

He helped me into my seat, then with a half-smile, disappeared towards his place at another table.

Chapter 13

I sat at
one of the long banqueting tables in a state of mild shock. I had never known David to be so considerate, especially when it was anything concerning me. During our 11 years of marriage, he’d been a domineering bully and… No, ‘domineering bully’ said it all. Since the divorce, I’d had nothing to do with him; I certainly hadn’t known he’d be in Afghanistan. Maybe he was working at the hospital at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul.

My attention was diverted when
I noticed that the woman in green had swooped into the room and was eyeing the place cards. I had a strong suspicion that if I kept watching her, I’d see her swapping them around. Well, that was Sebastian’s lookout; I doubted he’d have too many problems with her – I was pretty certain he’d had plenty of practice dealing with slutty women. I tried to brush the thought away – I had other, more important issues to concentrate on tonight.