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quickly? And even if marriage hadn't lived up to Alison's illusions, surely after so short a time there was still something left to build on?
    Or was Matt Lincoln's power over her really so absolute?
    Kate couldn't be sure, but she told herself the fact that Alison hadn't instantly accepted his offer had to be a hopeful sign.
    'Just as long as my interference doesn't push her into doing something stupid,' she thought gloomily, as the bus finally trundled into sight.
    When she arrived back at the house, Maria was waiting for her.
    'Felix phoned,' she said, holding out a slip of paper. 'With the information you wanted.'
    'Oh,' Kate accepted it gingerly. 'That was quick work.'
    'I think he had the impression that there was some sort of crisis going on,' Maria said drily. 'Is there?'
    'Something of
the
kind,' Kate admitted. 'I wish I could tell you about it, Maria, but—but it's a family matter.'
    'But not, thank God, the sort that Felix clearly imagines,' said Maria, an underlying note of laughter in her voice. She gave Kate's flat young stomach a long and meaningful look.
    'No, of course not.' Kate was appalled. 'My God, I hardly know the man!'
    'That could be best,' Maria nodded. 'That girl Felix mentioned—Lorna Bryce—apparently she was almost cut to ribbons when he finished with her, and Felix reckons that ordinarily she's quite a tough cookie.' She turned away, adding almost as an afterthought, 'Clive may not set the world on fire, but he doesn't leave charred remains behind him either.'
    In the studio, Kate stood staring down at the piece of paper in her hand, sorely tempted to tear it into a hundred infinitesimal fragments.
    But that wouldn't solve anything. She had no idea how deep the problems between Jon and Alison were, but she knew that this offer from Matt Lincoln could not have come at a worse time. If Alison were to accept, Kate was sure it would finish all hope of them ever working out their difficulties together. The marriage would end bitterly.
    And she didn't believe for one moment that Alison was as indispensable as she had been led to believe. Matt Lincoln was an experienced and cynical man. He would know a discontented wife when he saw one, and know exactly what kind of lure to offer.
    Drew had known too, she thought painfully. '
You have an exceptional talent'
she remembered. And '
There's this amazing quality of innocence about you, Kate
..'
    Tell a woman what she wants to hear, and she'll follow you anywhere, she thought.
    And this was how Matt Lincoln was treating Alison. But why? Because he'd only discovered when it was too late and she was married to someone else that he really cared for her? Kate's mouth curled. Never in a million years, she dismissed. If he cared, then his first thought would be for her happiness—not a selfish desire to plunge her into the kind of ugly recriminations which were inevitable if she went away with him.
    It was more probable that he wanted to boost his ego by proving to himself that he was irresistible. That he only had to beckon and even a bride of a year would run.
    Distaste rose like bile in Kate's throat. But she knew what she had to do. For once in his life, Matt Lincoln was going to have to think again before causing havoc in people's lives. Slowly she opened her purse and slid the slip of paper inside.
     
    The block of flats the taxi brought her to was a surprise. She had expected somewhere far more opulent and showy, but this place with its warm red brick, its balconies and windowboxes was positively old-fashioned, she thought as she paid off the driver.
    She asked, 'Are you sure this is the place?' and he gave her a look, half indulgent and half irritable.
    'Do me a favour, love! The name's on the wall over there if you don't believe me.' And he drove off.
    Kate went in through the revolving doors. She stood for a moment assimilating her surroundings. Stairs on the left, she noticed, and lifts straight ahead.
    'Can I help you, madam?' There was a long desk